It’s all a bit daunting, if you join the dots.
New Zealand stun India with a three-Test whitewash in their own backyard.
An injury-depleted India nail Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth, of all places.
England, meanwhile, completely outgun the Kiwis to go 1-0 up in New Zealand.
So forget the ICC Test rankings. Just consider that form line instead.
If the theory that you’re only as good as your last game carries any credence, then it could reasonably be argued that England are the best team in the world, and Australia don’t even warrant a spot on the podium.
And, as if the Aussies don’t have enough to worry about against Jasprit Bumrah and his mates, need I remind you that next summer the Poms will be out here, intent on regaining the Ashes.
The real worry is not so much that England dominated a decent Blacks Caps team, nor their freewheeling “Bazball” approach to scoring runs.
It’s their whole wildcard mindset, which seems so much more positive and proactive than Australia’s, and indeed every other team as well.
They’re willing to gamble, and to hell with the consequences, as evidenced by the bold selection last week of young all-rounder Jacob Bethell for his Test debut.
Bethell has shown some potential, scoring spectacular half-centuries for England in ODI and T20 matches, but he hardly seemed a red-ball option, judging by his modest performances for county side Warwickshire.
In 20 first-class matches, he has been unable to score a century and averaged only 25, usually batting at No.6 or No.7 and bowling left-arm spin.
But when Ollie Pope was required to deputise behind the stumps because Jamie Smith was unavailable, England felt they needed a stopgap first drop.
Jacob Bethell. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
And while their Australian counterparts tied themselves in knots over who to pick to open with Usman Khawaja in Perth, the Poms just backed their instincts and named Bethell as their new No.3.
The 21-year-old repaid the faith with a 37-ball unbeaten 50 to help England chase down the 104 fourth-innings runs needed for victory.
Whether Bethell retains his spot is another matter altogether, but the point being that England coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes were brave enough to include him in the first place.
One suspects that if Sam Konstas was a Pom, there would be zero debate about whether he was ready for Test cricket. They’d just pick him.
McCullum and Stokes have achieved the desired result by renovating their squad, in particular the bowling attack. While the retirements of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson left a massive void, handy reinforcements have emerged in Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse.
Atkinson is England’s version of Scott Boland, taking 43 wickets in his first nine Tests with nagging accuracy and nippy pace. He’s also scored a Test century.
Carse is a 29-year-old late bloomer with an unremarkable first-class career. But after taking 23 wickets in 19 ODI appearances, he was chosen for his Test debut. He now has 19 wickets at 17.1 in three Tests and could well be even more of a handful on bouncy Australian pitches.
Meanwhile Smith, who replaced the inconsistent Jonny Bairstow as keeper, is averaging 42 with the bat and already has one ton and four half-centuries from his first 15 Test innings, all scored at an impressive 72.3 strike rate.
Not forgetting, of course, that Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook should be entering the prime of their careers, while Stokes remains a formidable force.
The Poms have shown they are not only willing to blood young tyros, but also usher proven performers out the back door.
In contrast, Australia’s selection policy would appear to be perfectly encapsulated by Adam Zampa’s quest to win a Baggy Green cap on the tour of Sri Lanka.
Zampa is a great white-ball spinner, one of the best in the world. But he is 32 and, up until his comeback for NSW against Tasmania two weeks ago, hadn’t been sighted in the Sheffield Shield for three years.
Adam Zampa bowls during the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Tasmania at Sydney Cricket Ground. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
So in other words, it sounds like Australia’s selectors are open to the idea of picking a short-format veteran, possibly for a one-off assignment, which hardly augurs well for Todd Murphy, Matt Kuhnemann, Tanveer Sangha, Lloyd Pope, etc.
The Poms had no such reservations two years ago when they named 18-year-old leggy Rehan Ahmed to make his Test debut in Pakistan, after just three first-class games.
All of which highlights the role reversal England and Australia have undergone in recent years.
We used to laugh when the Poms trotted out their “Dad’s Army” touring parties, featuring old relics such as Gooch, Gatting and Emburey, well past their prime.
We were the ones who would unleash prodigies like Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Phil Hughes and Pat Cummins while they were still on their L-plates.
At some point in recent years, that whole mentality has flipped. Whereas England’s team has evolved, thanks to regular transfusions of fresh blood, Australia have relied on basically the same group of players for a long time, and several of them are not far from the end of the road.
In an ideal world, let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that the Aussies fight back to win in Adelaide, and parlay that into a series triumph against India.
Then they head to Sri Lanka and win over there.
That’s pretty much the best-case scenario, ensuring the vast majority of the current squad retain their spots because they have been contributing to a winning team.
That would certainly set up one hell of a home Ashes series against an English side at the peak of their powers and with youth on their side.
But what happens afterwards? Even if Australia were victorious, it could well be the last hurrah for a host of their longest-serving champions, the perfect point at which to retire.
One way or the other, it’s looking suspiciously like a no-win situation is looming on the horizon.
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