SYDNEY: Stability has been one of the pillars on which England has built its success over the last 18 months and it looks unlikely it will be panicked into major changes despite the crushing third Ashes Test defeat. England's loss by 267 runs in Perth Sunday not only leveled the series at 1-1 but must have been a big blow to the confidence of the tourists, who had previously dealt with every challenge they had faced since their arrival in Australia. Captain Andrew Strauss was left with little option but to criticize England's fragile batting performance – they managed just 310 runs and lasted less than 100 overs in two innings – but said there would be no knee-jerk reaction. “Now's not a time to panic,” he told reporters at the WACA after the defeat. “You've got to look at this in the context of the whole tour and two bad performances doesn't mean you should be jumping around looking for replacements here and there. But at the same time we've gotta be better than we were.” Ian Bell, who has scored 213 runs at an average of 71 in the series, was one of the few pluses in England's otherwise dismal display and calls persist for his elevation above Paul Collingwood (62 runs at 15.5) into fifth in the batting order. “Ian Bell looks in very good form, he's very confident and he's played beautifully throughout this tour,” coach Andy Flower told reporters in Perth Monday. “Jiggling with batting orders and personnel is always an option but you also have to be careful about altering a side that's been very successful over the last 18 months. Of course those options are always open.” England's bowlers were subject to less criticism, although the harshest pointed out that they had allowed the Australians to recover from 69-5 to post a first innings total of 268. Pace bowler Chris Tremlett, described as “outstanding” by Flower, certainly justified his selection in place of the injured Stuart Broad with eight wickets for 150 runs. With the fourth Test, which starts on Dec. 26, and the fifth match in Sydney separated by just three days, the bowlers face another tough two weeks but Flower said England would not be tempted to play another at the expense of a batsman. After months of misery and recrimination, Australia rejoiced in the thumping Ashes victory over England. “Bring on the Boxing Day test,” read the front page lead in the Telegraph. The fractured finger that may prevent skipper Ricky Ponting playing in the fourth Test in Melbourne. “Ponting's team won because it dared to play Australian cricket. It is a culture, not a civilisation,” wrote Peter Roebuck in Melbourne's The Age daily. In The Australian, Malcolm Conn paid tribute to the role played by WACA groundsman Cam Sutherland in preparing a pitch that allowed the four-strong Australian pace attack to prosper. “He has spent five years nursing the WACA Ground's once renowned wicket back to life,” he wrote. Spin-bowling great Shane Warne cautioned against picking a pace quartet, calling instead for a test debut for left-arm spinner Michael Beer. “There will definitely be a spinner in Melbourne, it is a drop-in wicket, it is flat and as we saw in the England tour match against Victoria it is hard work for the fast bowlers, it really is a new-ball wicket,” Warne told the Herald Sun. MCG eyes record crowd The fourth Ashes Test could attract a record crowd of more than 90,000 to the MCG later this week, according to Cricket Victoria. The record verified attendance for a cricket match was the 90,800 who turned out to watch Australia play West Indies at the MCG in 1961, although unverified crowds at Kolkata's Eden Gardens are believed to have reached 100,000. Wright appointed Kiwis coach New Zealand installed former Test captain John Wright as Black Caps head coach Monday, handing him the formidable task of lifting the team's woeful form ahead of next year's World Cup. Outgoing coach Mark Greatbatch paid the price for the Black Caps' run of 11 successive One-Day International defeats, with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) hoping Wright can emulate his success in charge of India from 2000-2005. New Zealand also appointed a three-man independent selection panel, relieving captain Daniel Vettori of selection duties amid fears his dual roles within the team had become too much of a burden. Greatbatch would remain as batting coach and head of the selection panel, which also includes former Test players Lance Cairns and Glenn Turner.
