Ashes 2013: Aleem Dar feels the wrath of Australian newspapers after controversial Test defeat to England Of course it was going to be an inside edge about as thick as a Tally Ho paper. Of course there was going to be infinite doubt about whether it was out. Of course the decision would go against Australia. Then there is Aleem Dar. His performance in the past five days was so telling it would not surprise if Wills and Kate name their first born after him. Australia came so close despite some major deficiencies in its top order. They are major deficiencies that have been bubbling along and band-aided for several series. Major surgery is required before the second Test at Lord's to fix it. Start with No 3. The Age, which shares the same writers as the Sydney Morning Herald, used its front page splash slot to complain of an "anti-climactic" end to the Test. It added that Haddin's edge was more of "a graze, a squeak" then a genuine nick. In the Sydney Daily Telegraph renowned Australia cricket writer Malcolm Conn also complained about the Test being decided by the Decision Review System (DRS), although the epic Ashes Test did not find its way onto the front page of the paper, with touring Manchester United receiving pride of place. England used DRS to review Dar's not-out decision after Brad Haddin had edged the ball through to Matt Prior off the bowling of James Anderson. The replays showed a minuscule feather that Dar had missed, but for Conn this was unsatisfactory. "What a tragedy that this brilliant first Test ended with the umpire decision review system making the final decision," he wrote. The DRS was originally introduced to get rid of the howler but in this match all matter of margin calls were judged by technology while the howler stayed. Until cricket finds a way of using technology to get rid of the howler then the game will continue to make a fool of itself. Writing in The Australian, Wayne Smith was more interested in scrutinising Cowan after failing with the bat in both of Australia's innings. Smith questioned why Cowan, some way short of being the Australians' best batsman in the writer's eyes, was placed at No 3 in the order. "In his first innings, when admittedly he [Cowan] was coming down with the stomach virus that had hit team officials, he launched an ambitious cover drive at a Steven Finn delivery so wide it was a wonder he could even reach it," wrote Smith. Cowan went out to bat on Saturday knowing nothing less than a significant score would stop the wolves from circling him, but after having fought bravely for the best part of an hour to keep his wicket intact, he then threw it away on what turned out to be the last ball before lunch. Worse, he fell for the sucker punch - taking a swing at a tempting delivery from part-time England off-spinner Joe Root. The Western Australian made sure to include the fact that the Test was decided by the "replay umpire" in the introduction to their main match report, but aside from that the piece was fairly neutral. Instead the newspaper reserves its criticism for Cowan, with the Australian No 3 once again being called up for his underwhelming display at Trent Bridge. In a piece headlined 'Cowan at the crossroads', John Townsend suggests that Cowan "has one more chance to salvage his Test career." He added: "Time is now running out and his place is in extreme jeopardy. A golden duck and 14 in the first Test of the series are not sufficient in their own right to end a career, but Cowan's declining performances and his identical means of dismissal at Trent Bridge suggests he needs to find an escape clause soon. Cowan passed 1000 runs during the second innings, but has only one half century in his past 13 starts. An average of 31 suggests that he gets out of the blocks well enough but cannot convert them into the substantial innings the team needs to create winning opportunities.