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London: Former England captain and all-rounder Ian Botham has described the Ashes series victory as a perfect pick-me-up for the country as a whole, and he is ready to drink to the dawn of great new era for England cricket.
"This Ashes win has come along to put smiles on the faces of a nation and give everybody something to be happy about at a time when there is just so much doom and gloom elsewhere," he writes in an article for The Mirror.
"This result is enormous for England cricket and I really feel it can be the start of something special and not the end like 2005 turned out to be," says Botham.
Coming to the Oval, he says the series was on a knife edge and that is where heroes are made and this game has created some new English stars that give us something to be very optimistic about not just now but for the future.
He also says that Stuart Broad has come of age as an England cricketer.
"Broad has really stood out. He realised that he's not an out and out quick bowler, but someone who can nag away like a Glenn McGrath. If he can do that, he will have a great career," Botham said.
Graeme Swann did the job he was supposed to do on a dry turning pitch by taking eight wickets in the match.
As for Jonathan Trott, making your debut in such a match was never going to be easy, but the way he played and handled the pressure is just what we need in our middle order and he gets a big thumbs up, said Botham.
He also praised wicketkeeper Matt Prior, "because he has got better and better as a keeper throughout the summer and he is creating an air of security behind the stumps that Alan Knott or Bob Taylor had. It is having a positive effect."
Others coming in for praise were fast bowler Steve Harmison and captain Andrew Strauss.
He also said that England will miss the presence of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who he described as a "galvanising force that money just can't buy".
