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.

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

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.

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 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.