Well, we did it. Or to be more accurate, the rain did it. Despite losing three quick wickets in the only short passage of play possible, we got an ill deserved draw and retained the Ashes. Hallelujah. The problem is, it all feels a bit empty. Nobody wanted it to materialise this way. Call me daft as a brush, but I didn’t want it to rain today. I wanted us to bat out the day with no alarms, just to demonstrate our blatant superiority: to show the Aussies that days 1-4 were an aberration, and...
Teen drama rescues Aussies as Erasmus plays pantomime villain – day two at Trent Bridge
England 215 & 80-2 Australia 280. I hate teen dramas. From Dawson’s Creek to bloody Twilight they make me shudder like Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake. Every time I hear a baby faced actor or actress stressing about their relationship, or moaning about their parents, I want to slap their hormonal face. Therefore, you can imagine my incandescence when Ashton Agar, a teenager who was picked for his bowling principally because England had no footage of him, scored an incredible 98 yesterday...
Here we go
So the day has finally come. The players have talked the talk; now it’s time to walk the walk (not that we’ve seen many Aussie batsman walk over the years). Everyone has made their predictions. The country seems split. Some think 5-0 is on the cards. Others are jumping on another bandwagon: the one which claims the Aussies are actually a good side and it will be closer than people think. However nobody, and I repeat nobody, in the UK actually thinks Australia will win. Even Glenn McGrath...
Buttler serves up a treat. And farewell to New Zealand.
England 287-6 (50 overs). New Zealand 253 all out (46.3 overs) Cricket has a great way of making people look foolish. For 45 overs of England’s innings in the 3rd ODI against the Kiwis, experts were calling the pitch ‘sticky’, ‘two-paced’ and rather slow. England’s batting was laboured to say the least, although it was certainly better than the tortuous affairs witnessed in the two previous games. Enter Jos Buttler – the newcomer who had taken T20 by storm, but had yet to really cement his...
Job done – day five at Headingley
Andy Flower’s deadpan persona is great at making the media look stupid – even its most cerebral members. When Mike Atherton interviewed our team director after we wrapped up the win yesterday, he asked him whether his team had squandered an advantage by not enforcing the follow on. Flower looked quizzically at Atherton – a bemused look which certainly contained more than a smidgeon of distain – and scowled “well, I don’t know what advantage you’re talking about … we won the game”. It’s...
Time to be ruthless
If you want witty asides or jovial pre-Ashes banter, look away now. This is a serious post (for once), with a serious message. This time last year, England were busy beating the West Indies in what was an appetiser for the summer’s main event: the three test series against South Africa. Although we beat the West Indies fairly comfortably, our performances were far from convincing. Our bowling attack looked toothless at times: the Windies tail wagged profusely, and the likes of Darren Sammy...
