Social media takes centre-stage as Australia, England battle for Ashes

The English have been dubbed the hometown heroes, while the Australians are the villains doing whatever it takes to live up to their convict heritage.

The narrative kicked into hyperdrive on Monday morning when the forecast rain arrived to deny England a chance at levelling the series 2-2.

Instead, Australia will retain the Ashes courtesy of a dominant 4-0 victory at home in 2021-22 followed by a 2-0 start to the current campaign.

The response in England, however, would have you believe otherwise and it's reflective of a bigger shift in sport and life.

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With so much talk of a "post-truth" world in the age of social media and online misinformation, one has wondered if the Ashes have entered that sphere.

While sport has always featured layers of nuance and story lines, the ultimate arbiter of truth has always been the scoreboard. But in the Ashes, the scoreboard apparently does not reflect reality.

So passionate are former players, commentators and fans that the outcome has seemingly been determined online, not on the field. For those watching along at home, the winner depends on where you live and which team you support.

Where members of the general public often wonder whether shock jocks actually believe what's coming out of their mouths, one has started to wonder if the English cricketers are simply deflecting from another failed attempt to regain the urn or if they genuinely believe their so-called moral victories are more important than actually winning Test matches.

During the first Test it didn't matter that Usman Khawaja produced a batting masterclass, the English "entertained the world" and felt like they won, which apparently is all that matters.

At Lords, the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow became the only talking point of the match, not the fact England had blown another Test they had every chance to win.

When England claimed the third Test, it was proof Bazball worked. That despite Australia playing without their most important bowler, Nathan Lyon and coming within three wickets of wrapping up the urn.

Now the rain is apparently the only reason England failed to defeat their opponents in the fourth Test. Anyone criticising the decision not to declare "doesn't understand the game as much as we do" according to captain Ben Stokes.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for videos to emerge of Bairstow dismissing batters in controversial circumstances, dismissals labelled at the time as brilliant or genius. Similarly, old Tweets from Stuart Broad praising the rain after the weather saved England during the 2015 Ashes contradict recent comments labelling the result "unjust".

It comes as no surprise Piers Morgan, the biggest shock jock of them all, has been a vocal voice during a series seemingly played out on Twitter rather than an actual cricket ground.

Merv Hughes, not one to take a backwards step, has engaged in a running battle with Morgan, while a host of former England stars have rushed to praise their team, despite the results. Ricky Ponting has provided a voice of reason on multiple occasions inside the commentary box.

It's been equal parts entertaining and tedious.

On one hand, the back and forth between big personalities has added an intriguing layer to this series. On the other, it's time the action on the field took centre stage and the Australian players receive the praise they deserve for retaining the Ashes.

Ultimately, the scoreboard doesn't lie and this Australian team will be remembered for one reason and one reason only if they wrap up the series at the Oval next week.

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