We Won The Ashes

I'm afraid i've been too busy to blog about the Ashes.

But we won it, so all is good with the world :)

The End

OUCH!!

Nathan Hauritz just got an injury to his bowling hand. He bowled to Strauss who offered up a very dificult return catch, that caught the end of his finger and then almost went to the boundary.

He knew he was in trouble stright away and has gone straight off.

Lunch Day 1

England are 126-0 at lunch, with Cookon 67. Strauss is just short of his half century.

The Aussies seem very flat today, maybe struggling with the Lords slope or expectation.

Second Test Underway

England won the toss and are batting first in the Second Ashes Test at Lords.

Freddie Flintoff was passed fit this morning, so the only England change is Graham Onions coming in for Monty Panesar.

England have made a good start on what appears to be a fairly slow pitch, and are currently 65-0.

Mitchell Johnson has been a bit all over the place for the Aussies.


And Freddie decided yesterday that he is retiring from Test cricket at the end of this series. The injuries have finally caught up with him, and I think that he has made the correct decision for himself.

Missed The First Test

The Ashes finally start and I manage to miss it.

Had to go down to London on work for a few days, so didn't get chance to watch any of the game.

Was on the train back up on Monday when it finished.

Sounds like it was a real nail-biter. Hope the second Test at Lords tomorrow is a better one for England.

The Ashes Are Coming

Less than a week before we kick off the Ashes, with the first Test starting in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Ricky Ponting is struggling, but Mike Hussey got 150 to find his form.

For England Steve Harmison took four wickets in his bid for a place in the line-up.

Can't wait for it to start

What Do I Know!!

Proven wrong again yesterday as Pakistan sauntered to an easy 8 wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final of the Twenty20. Shows how much I know about the game.

I actually think this result proves my point that Twenty20 is a lottery. Sri Lanka and South Africa were by far the better teams throughout the tournament, but they were unable to put together performances when it mattered. Pakistan put together a perfect team effort to cruise to victory when needed - at the final.

Englands women also won easily in the Womens competition, beating New Zealand by 6 wickets in a very one-sided final.

Interesting Semi Finals

The two semi finals of the Twenty20 should be good. We have South Africa v Pakistan and Sri Lanka v West Indies.

If everything goes to plan it should be a South Africa v Sri Lankan final as these two have been the stand-out teams in the competition. But as we know, Twenty20 games can be a lottery and I wouldn't be surprised if the West Indies got their.

My money is on the Proteas to win, but I think that the Sri Lankans stand a very good chance if they get to the final.

And yes, I have written off Pakistan for no other reason than I have not been very impressed with them so far. But like I say, any one of these four are capable.

And We're Out

England lost last night to bow out of the Twenty20. It was decided after Mr Duckworth and Mr Lewis got involved due to a number of rain delays.

England made 161-6 off their 20 overs, but that was revised down to 80 off 9 overs when the West Indies took to the field.

I do feel a bit sorry for them, because I don't think that this Windies batting line-up is capable of sustaining its scoring rate to chase down the full total. And it did have to be the first rain-affected game of the tournament.

Bopara hit a maiden Twenty20 half century, and then the West Indies were reduced to 16-3, but the bowling seemed to go flat to let Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnarash Sarwan see them home with 5 balls to spare.

It did seem to be a strange decision to drop a batter in favour of another bowler, but I really can't work out the best way to set up a team in this format so I think I'll leave that to others to pass judgement.

Never mind - at least they all have time to get prepared for the Ashes now.

A Cold Wind

We blew cold then last night :).

The South Africans are a great side at present, and are going to be difficult to beat in this competition.

As for England, it all depends what team turns up over the next couple of games because we are going nowhere playing like that.


In better news Freddie finished with 2-30 off 12 overs for Lancashire, and took a couple of slip cathces to round off a good return.

Freddie's Back

Better news for Lancashire and England is the return of Andrew Flintoff a week ahead of schedule.

He has been taking part in bowling sessions in the nets for the last week, and has today started his first County Championship game of the year. If all goes well over the next couple of weeks then he should be ready for the Ashes.

And he already has a wicket at the Riverside. Keep it up Freddie!!

Big game

The clash between Engalnd and South Africa should be a good game today. The Proteas have a great team which really knows how to play Twenty20, and England will either blow hot or cold as usual.

But the main interest will again be the ego-off between Graeme Smith and Kevin Pietersen. Smith has said the right things in the lead up to the game, but neither player can stop themselves once they get out in the middle.

Whatever the result, it should be a fun game to watch.

Pot Luck

We're just a few days into the World Twenty20 and it has already proven to be as much about luck as it is about skill.

We start on day one with the Netherlands beating an England team that just a couple of days later easily beat a strong Pakistan team. And Australia go down to the West Indies.

This is another good reason to stick with Test cricket, as the 5 day game does not throw up these stupid results.

The batting has been pretty spectacular though, so maybe I should get over my problems with this form of the game.

Symonds Sent Home

Andrew Symonds, the Aussie allrounder, has been sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup squad.

Apparently he has again managed to seriously breach team rules. You would think that he had learned his lesson after being left out of the test test squad to play the Ashes, but i guess not.

"The decision has been made after Andrew, in the last 24 to 48 hours, has broken a number of team rules," says James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive.

"In isolation those breaches are not significant but in the context of the commitment that Andrew has made to his team mates and Cricket Australia over the last six to 12 months they are the final straw."

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said "He has let himself down, his team mates down and Cricket Australia down. There is no doubting his credentials as a player but there are a number of his own commitments that he has broken over the last 24 or 48 hours."

What has he done this time? Alcohol related issues have been cited. Not the first time for him then.

Symonds Past Comes Back To Bite Him

Australia announced their squad for the Ashes this week, and their was one major omission that caught every one's eye.

Andrew Symonds, the troublesome all-rounder, has been left out despite getting publicly backed by Ricky Ponting the day before. Whatever his past failings, Symonds is a devastating batter who has experience of an Ashes contest. He is also a useful back-up spin bowler who can either hold up one end or turn a few to unsettle batters. Since we are all expecting turning pitches this summer I'm surprised that the Aussies have not included a player who could be a real bonus. Most importantly, the Australian batting line-up doesn't look quite as strong without him.

Phillip Hughes will be confident after scoring a bagful of runs for Middlesex in a short stint that helped him to acclimatise to English conditions. Middlesex got a fair bit of stick for giving Hughes the opportunity, and now Gloucestershire are trying to bring Stuart Clark over on a short term deal before the Ashes starts.

Before the Ashes starts though, we have loads of one-day and Twenty20 games to play. Too many for my liking, but it may be a good build-up for the Ashes. The main worry during these economic times is that fans will make a decision as to which games they can afford to attend and we will see empty grounds for many of the games of the World Twenty20.

Lets all make sure that the Ashes are sold out, to prove that Test cricket is still the most important form of the game.

England Won - Now For The Important Stuff

England managed to finish off a very poor West Indies side by an innings yesterday, despite losing over a day to bad weather. At least the crowds were a little improved over the weekend, as England bowled the Windies out twice on a track that had seemed flat from the first ball.

Now we can move on to the main event; the visit of the Aussies.

For now I am going to ignore the fact that the first test is not being played at Lords, which is scandalous. I will return to this at a more appropriate time.

Ricky Ponting has been getting a few digs in early. He has promised to put extra pressure on Andrew Strauss, as the Australians always target the opposition Captain. He has also stated that both Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison will be back in the England side.

I can't see Harmy getting back in, but it will be interesting to see how Vaughan gets on with Yorkshire over the next few weeks. Personally, I think he has left it too late. Ravi Bopara seems to have taken a firm grip on the number 3 slot after his two centuries, which leaves Vaughan with no place to go.

The main question mark will be over which bowler loses their slot if and when Andrew Flintoff returns. My feeling is that we could end up with just Stuart Broad and James Anderson, with two spinners, if the weather is as expected. If not then Graham Onions has done himself no harm. I'm not convinced that he will be a big enough threat against the Aussie top six, but I will be quite happy to be proven wrong.

Anderson has really come of age in the past year. He now has great control over his bowling, being able to vary his style to suit the conditions. Having worked hard on his batting he can now be trusted with the night watchman slot. He's probably the second name on the team sheet at present.

Wait On a Bit

Why are we playing Test matches at this time of the year?

This has been a bugbear of mine for a few years now. It's cold, the football season has reached its critical part, and players have only just got their kit out of the garage and dusted it off. We keep being told that international cricketers play too much, so what is the point in playing these games now.

I know that we can never guarantee the weather later on in the summer either, but one 5-test series is enough for a summer when we have so many other international games to play. I would much prefer to see the England players have a few weeks with their Counties to sort out any glitches in their game.

Durham Deserted

England won the toss and chose to bat first. At lunch they are apparently 85-1, though not many people have seen it.

The Riverside Ground is very quiet, as only about 3,000 tickets have been sold for today.

Maybe Chris Gayle has a point.

Durham has done its time, putting on tests against the lesser nations over the past couple of years. So why have they again been given an early season test when Cardiff gets to stage an Ashes Test for its first.

It really is no wonder that the people of Durham have decided to stay away. They should have the game against Australia, while Sophia Gardens should have staged this one.

The ECB needs to take a good look at its decision-making process.

Is Cricket Dying?

I have decided to start this blog because I am worried about the state of my favourite game.

The West Indies captain, Chris Gayle, has spoken out over the last few days about his views on Test Cricket. He feels that the Twenty20 format will become more important than Tests to him.

I cannot believe that a West Indian captain could say such a thing. How will his players feel about the test that starts today? Their motivation must be so low if the captain feels this way.

Now don't get me wrong; I think Twenty20 has been a breath of fresh air that has done much to raise the profile of the game. And i realise that the huge sums of money on offer to players who take part in tournaments like the Indian Premier League are hard to ignore.

I also think that one-day cricket is a good format. The 50-over game is the correct one, rather than 40-overs, and this is the form that needs to be played in the County game.

But 4 and 5 day cricket matches are the pinnacle of the sport. This is where players hone their skills and make a name for themselves.

Does the West Indian captain really believe that these forms of cricket should be abandoned to be replaced by roadshows of Twenty20 competitions? Or is he just disillusioned with the game. He has always been a very laid-back individual. Maybe he has become bored with all the things that come with it.

Of the captaincy he said: "It's definitely not something I'm looking to hang on to. I need some time for myself, to be honest with you, it's a lot of travelling. There's always something you have to go and do, you know, extra.

"Lunch or dinner, some other thing, there's always something for the captain."

I know that cricket in the West Indies has been struggling for a while now, but surely the captain has to exude confidence and enjoyment for his whole team and indeed for his country.