It’s been a rough few weeks. First we had our noses put out of joint; then we had them rubbed in the dirt by our understandably elated antipodean cousins. However, if the bookies are to be believed, we should get our revenge in 2015: they make England slight favourites at odds of 6/5. Basically, the bookies have looked at the real stars of this winter’s Ashes – Rogers, Harris, Haddin and Johnson – and concluded that Australia’s difference makers will be different themselves in two years time...
Well what did you expect? Day four at the MCG
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear. Say hi-di-hi to the worst England tour of all time. In 2007 an injury ravaged team, robbed of their inspirational captain and three key bowlers, lost 0-5 to one of the best teams ever to play the game. This time, a seemingly healthy team recently ranked number one in the world – a team with several players averaging nearly fifty with the bat – will lose 0-5 to an Australian team cobbled together four months ago; a team...
Settee: The Search for Extratesttrivia Life
How have you coped without live Ashes cricket for nine long days? Did you return to your normal daily routines, watch the endless re-runs of ‘England’s best days’ on Sky, or hibernate for a week – recharging your batteries for another emotional roller coaster? At TFT we’ve been tracking down fresh writing talent; looking for like-minded cricket fans keen to share their musings. As a result we’ve unearthed this fella, who goes by the name Paul Grin Hopi. We...
Foregone conclusion? I don’t think so – day four at Trent Bridge
Andrew Strauss has been a great addition to the Sky commentary team. But like many of us he made one bad error of judgement at the start of day four: he said England already had enough runs when the lead went past 250. Wrong! We really could’ve done with another one hundred runs in the end. As it happened, we got another sixty. Game on. After Watson and Rogers’ excellent start, it looked almost inevitable that Australia would chase the necessary 311 for victory. Then we took a couple of wickets...
