1. Australia v England at the Sydney Cricket Ground. January 2014.
Australia won by 281 runs.
What was begun with mystery in Dubai, ended in fire in Sydney. Two of Test cricket's worst batting series ever; England were paralysed by spin then slain by pace. The sublime batting of England in the early Flower period was now only myth. From UAE onwards the batters were fallible. The bowlers tried, but years of toil in a four man attack had left Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Stuart Broad tired and often enraged. Repeatedly they would get the team back on its feet only for the batters to stumble. Everyone knew the dressing room was divided along those lines.
England had retained the Ashes in 2013 in a series of lethargy and little excitement. The last thing they needed that winter was to return to Australia to defend the prize fought for with such determination. Since England had last been down under, the Australian strategists had experienced a eureka moment. A pale, unhealthy looking male that no one remembered, appeared out of an office no one knew about, waving a sheet of paper and dancing crazily on the spot like he had discovered gold: we always beat them in Perth! The coaches looked each to each, and wordlessly hugged each other. The Ashes were going back to Australia.
England were bounced out from Brisbane to Boxing Day. Former figure of fun Mitch Johnson became their destroyer; an inexorable, pitiless, mustachioed superhero. The England batters couldn't resist and the bowlers could no longer breath life back into the corpse. England succumbed more abjectly then they ever did to the merciless Steve Waugh. The Ashes were gone in 13 days.
England arrived at the SCG like a defeated cavalry returning to the fort. Some long serving stalwarts had been lost along the way, like Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar and Jonathan Trott. There were new fresh faces who had been introduced into the disarray, like Boyd Rankin, Gary Ballance and Scott Borthwick. There were passengers whose reason for being there was barely comprehended like Chris Tremlett and James Tredwell. And no one at debriefing was able to account for what had befallen Steve Finn. The selection had become amorphous, perhaps leaderless, enveloped in a kind of group insanity. The XI who took the field at Sydney makes no logical sense at all. And the Aussies, though the England team had given up long ago, relentlessly taunted what little was left of their dignity.
Credit to Ben Stokes for his first Test five wicket haul, an emerging player with something to fight for. And respect to Stuart Broad, who resisted longer than the other regulars. The Mitchwash was completed in only three days. One of the pricklier winners, Brad Haddin, again propped up their batting, this time with Steve Smith. Johnson took six wickets, and his brilliant pace bowling partner Ryan Harris finished off the series with match figures of 8-63. Most could take empathetic satisfaction from his recovery from a horrific ankle injury.
After the complete destruction of their side in Australia, England elected not to change their captain or dismiss their coach, but sack their leading batter in the face of such great odds, Kevin Pietersen, with motives which are still not known. Michael Carberry, who fronted up better than most, was not seen again. England put Paul Downton in charge of post series reparations, Ted Dexter having retired to the Cote d'Azur... The consequences of these decisions are still being felt and the mistakes made led directly to the melancholy World Cup attempt of 2014-15. England shed the goodwill and loyalty of a large number of their supporters because of the partiality of their actions; no other England defeat comes close for the damage borne and the disillusionment stomached.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/592401.html
I always say that everybody's right.