You can tell when a team is great whenever there is an open bus parade when they are beaten in one series
Indeed, very much so. What pisses me off is that people try to be oh-so-clever in hindsight and decry that joy which we all felt so much in 2005, by saying we partied too hard, reflected too much, blah-blah-ils.
So that victory, and that sensational series, wasn't worth celebrating, was it? Bull****. That victory was a phenominal achievement by England, one which they deserved to celebrate every bit as much as they did. The MBEs were a bit OTT, especially in the cases of Collingwood (though I'd say he earned his in the CBS closing stages in 2006\07), Bell and Jones, but that was nothing to do with the cricket fraturnity, just a publicity stunt, a means of showing how cool Mr Blair was (I admire him in many ways, but his use of sporting honours I recognise for what it is I is afraid). And in hindsight it's probably done everyone concerned more harm than good, given that people who don't have a clue have wrapped that into the "they reflected too much" bandwagon.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, which has happened since makes that triumph in 2005 less celebratory-worthy. It was worth an open-top bus-ride and everything else (except perhaps some of the MBEs - Fletcher, Flintoff and so on certainly deserved them) and the success of Australia since perhaps just goes to show how what an achievement that truly was.