Now or Never for Australia

The Ashes are gone, and Australian sports fans everywhere are in mourning.

And everywhere people are looking for someone to blame.Lets not kid ourselves - it wasn't the pitch. Both teams had to bat on it and the Test was lost when Australia made just 160 in the first innings.

The series was lost on the final day in Cardiff, when Australia failed to take the remaining wickets on a deteriorating pitch with numbers 9, 10 and 11 at the crease in the last hour.

At times the team has performed superbly - indeed the win at Headingly was one of the biggest Ashes wins of the modern era. Michael Clarke, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle were excellent and with all still in their mid-20s, the future is bright.

The has been overwhelming positivity from Cricket Australia and the selectors who have said it's too early for wielding the axe. But the closeness of the series and a number of good individual performances shouldn't mask the fact that there is plenty of work to do for this team. The selectors have to take their share of the blame - for not picking Stuart Clark at Lords, and for not picking Nathan Hauritz on a raging turner at The Oval.

And they face even tougher decisions in the years ahead.Michael Hussey, despite his gritty century in the final test, has surely played his last test innings. It's a tough way for a great batsman to go out, but Hussey is 34 and has an average of just 35 in the last two calendar years. It's simply not good enough.

It might also be time to usher Simon Katich towards the exit door. Katich is also 34, and while his form is good, he probably stands in the way of Phil Hughes who will surely open for Australia for the next decade or more.

Brad Haddin is also one on the edge. His wicketkeeping was moderate bordering on poor throughout the series, and his batting didn't have it's normal dynamic. And his decision making - particularly the crazy slog in the second innings at The Oval - wasn't good enough for the situation his team found itself in. Graham Manou appears to be a much safer pair of hands and he has impressed with the bat at state level for South Australia.

It's a time for tough decisions, but not reckless ones. Ponting should stay on as captain for at least this summer, because unlike the 2005 Ashes, he didn't do a great deal wrong this time around.

He fluffed his lines at the end of the Cardiff test with his bowling selections, but his captaincy elsewhere was good if not brilliant.

Above all a spinner must be found. Hauritz was servicable, and while it's unfair to compare him to Warne who came before - that would be unfair on anyone - he played this series in the shadow of Graham Swann who is no world-beater. The hope that Warne would inspire a generation of talented spinners has faded.

The upcoming series against Pakistan and West Indies should be seen as the perfect training ground for some of these young players to find their feet. Against weaker opponents, the next generation - young men like Hughes, Manou, Callum Ferguson, Shaun Marsh, Luke Ronchi, and others - can find the skills and temperament required for the heat of the next Ashes battle in 18 months time.

But even success there must be geared towards winning back the urn in England in 2013. Three in a row for cricket-mad Australia would be unforgivable.