Ashes rivals face a challenge to maintain the rage WERE he writing today, David Stove, the Australian philosopher, might have occasion to rethink his oft-quoted explanation of why Australia's margin of superiority in Ashes contests at the time of his writing was slight but consistent. After all, we are in a rare moment in time that cricket historians will look back on and recognise as a period of English cricketing dominance. After 2005, when Michael Vaughan's team turned back the tide of Australian mastery, there was a brief reminder of the old mongrel, as Ricky Ponting led his team to a green-and-gold wash in the next series, but since then, in 2009 and 2010-11, England have not just regained and retained the Ashes, but looked superior in every way; in planning, in fitness, in batting, bowling and fielding - even, occasionally, in press conferences. The results have been no fluke.