THE momentum from the 2005 Ashes victory was never really allowed to gather pace.

First the 2006 World Cup overwhelmed the next home series before, even worse, England meekly surrendered the Ashes in a winter whitewash less than 18 months after those memorable, drunken celebrations.

The golden generation of England cricketers turned out to be more of a golden summer.

The way events, personalities and luck combined to produce the series win was unforgettable – but also unrepeatable.

We should be realistic about the Ashes, vintage 2009.

There is no two-decade run of defeats to overcome, no unbearable arrogance from their opponents (apart from Glenn McGrath’s clockwork-like 5-0 prediction) and this is no longer the best two cricket teams in the world going head-to-head.

But it still should be a fascinating series. It is the first Ashes series since the Twenty20 phenomenon gripped the sport and it will be interesting to see how audiences re-engage with the five-day format.

An England win is a necessity for this to happen and to also show that 2005 doesn’t turn from an English sporting milestone into millstone.

But the series is critical for the sport as a whole. It has already lost a lot of ground in the last four years in England and needs to stop the slow slippage down the sporting priorities of the nation.

Otherwise there is the danger that the sporting public will hardly notice by the time the Australians return in 2013 to once again compete for the urn in games lasting five days.