Australia has “turned a corner” and would have won the third Ashes Test if not for the weather, former Test captain and selector Allan Border said. Border, in a members-only section of the Cricket Australia’s website, wrote that England has reason to be worried.
“The way this side is going over the next few months, look out. Australia has the momentum,” he said. Border led Australia out of its mid-1980s slump to win the 1989 Ashes and begin 16 years of domination over England. Clarke’s side has been mired in a similar slump and went into the third Test at Manchester on a run of six straight Test losses. “There’s no doubt we were going to win the third Test before the rain arrived,” Border said. “The Poms were playing catch-up cricket from day one, going slow with over rates and doing everything they could to negate our chances of winning. At the end of the day rain saved England — it’s as simple as that.”