If you are English you can sit through the remaining scenes and celebrate.
If you are Australian you can hope the plot calls for a Sydney upset. Then claim that the ending is intentionally left open to interpretation by the director
For most however the character that will capture all imagination will be the most unlikely of villians Ricky Ponting.
The winningest Test Player ever. A captain that outdid Clive Lloyd and Steve Waugh. A batsman as good as the best ever of his era. A fierce fierce competitor.
He doesn't exactly fit the role of a villian. But he is being made out to be one.
Who knows what Ricky Ponting's destiny has in store for him. I hope he weathers the storm. I hope the director has something up his sleeve and that Ponting is really one of the good guys. That there is some as yet unfathomable "greater good" in his deeds. That behind the veil of his pride, seeming arrogance and astounding and foolhardy stubbornness is a much misunderstood man.
Its tough.
His team, his skills and his leadership have underperformed consistently against a centuries old enemy. Three battles lost is three to many for most Australians.
He could well come to take the fall for what seems like a collective failure in the making. If Australia make Ricky Ponting into a symbol of their recent failures that would indeed be most unfortunate.
If the Ashes were a movie and if the script does not call for a final twist, then I would say Ricky Ponting was horribly miscast as a villian.
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