Australia’s cricketers have praised England’s eighth consecutive Test victory, but say talk of breaking the Aussies’ Ashes supremacy is premature.
England mastered South Africa by seven wickets in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday to eclipse the previous record for English consecutive Test wins, which had stood for 75 years.
Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist and champion leg-spinner Shane Warne acclaimed England’s success, but suggested it is too early to say whether England are capable of supplanting Australia as the world’s number-one Test cricket nation when they meet in next year’s Ashes series in England.
”It’s a fantastic win for them. They’ve played great cricket, they’ve won eight Test matches in a row now and it’s a good team that does that against any opposition,” Gilchrist said on Wednesday.
”I think they’re shaping up as a very formidable opponent for anyone.
”But there’s a lot of time between now and the Ashes — there’s a lot of cricket to be played between now and then.”
Australia regained the Ashes from England in 1989 under Allan Border and haven’t lost in seven subsequent series.
”[It is an] excellent victory for England. With guys like [Steve] Harmison and [Andrew] Flintoff, they’re obviously a very good cricket side,” Warne said.
”But we’ll have to wait and see. I think everyone in England’s been saying ‘bring on the Ashes’ for 12 months, but they’ve been saying that for the last 15 years. We’ll wait until it gets a little closer.”
England, who whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 and West Indies 4-0 at home before going to South Africa, strung together seven consecutive Test victories between 1928 and 1929 under Percy Chapman.
Only four sides have won more Tests in a row, with Australia holding the world record with 16 under Steve Waugh. — Sapa-AFP