Ok ok ok. I know I said I’d try harder. So here it is. Me trying harder.

Before the year runs out and I haven’t posted anything at all, I thought I’d better get my thoughts and expectations for the sporting year ahead. Sadly I’ve already missed the boat on the Australian Open, but if I had had chance to blog about it before the event I would have written about my hopes that Andy Murray would do well. You can imagine my delight that he did very well indeed. It is a shame that Roger Federer still exists! I did manage to catch Murray live in his second round match against Marc Giquel and I was stuck by how much more aggressive he looked on court. I had high hopes. I guess the only disappointment was that Murray couldn’t take that final set against Federer. I guess we all knew The Fed would prevail, but I had hoped Murray would take a set or two off him. Still, I have hopes for Andy. I have no doubt he will win a major one day, I just don’t think it will be Wimbledon. He seems far more at home on the hard courts of Australia and the USA.
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England reclaim The Ashes

WARNING: This article contains information that some Australians may find distressing.

Blimey! What a result!

Before I begin, I’d like to just take a moment to revel in my Englishness as I wallow in a jacuzzi of Australian misery. After all, I am an England fan, and this is the best thing thats happened for some time! For the next few weeks, every time I speak to an Aussie, there will be a twinkle in my eye and a wry and knowing smile. England getting one over the Aussies doesn’t happen very often, and I am in pole position to make the most of it.

As the article continues, I will try to become more objective, but right now, all I can say is, BOO YA!
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Freddie's Last Hurrah

Well game on then. For England the equation is simple. 1 Test match. 1 Win needed. 1 Ashes series. For Australia, the equation is equally simple. Despite the fact that they need only a draw, I can guarantee that Ricky Ponting’s men will be all guns blazing. They will want to leave England 2-1 winners. So what a game we have in store. I only hope that the game proves to be the nail biting finish that this series deserves, and that we are not robbed of a good contest by the weather or a placid pitch.

England head into this test low on confidence and middle order ability, and it would be an astonishing turn around were they to upset the odds and win this week. But in order to do so, they must display the determination and aggression that will be needed to wrestle the urn from under the number 1 ranked team in the world. And if they have the will, they can certainly do it. After all, aside from the 1st test and the 4th Test debacle, England have been on top in this series, and must take heart in the fact that, if they bowl in the right places, and don’t give their wickets away, they have every chance.
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Andrew Strauss contempltes England's short comings

What a shocking weekend. I left work on Friday night looking forward to watching what could be the defining test in this Ashes series. Although I had a bad feeling about this test match, not in my wildest nightmares did I envisage such a car crash of a performance then I have done this weekend. Now, as I write this, with England 172-7, still 150 odd runs behind, I have every expectation that they will be all out by the time I finish writing. As an aside, my lacrosse team also got hammered, and the only bright spot, was Carlton’s win over Geelong.

In all fairness, I thought Australia were outstanding. Their bowlers finally delivered the sort of performance that has been expected of them ever since the series began. Making best use of the seam and swing friendly conditions, they tore through the England batting line up as if they weren’t there. A small figurine made out of cheese with a wooden stick would have been more successful then England’s middle order. Australia could have performed at half the standard they have done, and they would still have won by an innings.
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Andrew Flintoff gets five-for

It is with a sense of Titanic relief that I am writing about an England win.

I woke up at 4am on Monday (Australian time, about 7pm the night before in Blighty) and hurriedly checked the Day 4 score. I then tossed and turned for hours after I learned of Clarke and Haddin’s mammoth stand. My Inner-Australian was getting a bit lairy and hurling empty tinnies against the inside of my skull (I don’t know where he came from, he just turned up one day with his mates and an esky full of VB). Surely England couldn’t throw this away. Surely!? I kept running all the possibilities through my head. “If Haddin and Clarke add another 100….”

This fear comes from a very deep place in my psyche. It is born of 27 years supporting Manchester City and watching the England Cricket Team. If you’ve never been an England fan, or even a sports fan, you’ll never understand. But as the day’s play drew nearer, I sought reassurance from my fellow sufferers in England. They failed to provide any, so, thinking positive and before heading out the door to go to the pub, I declared to no one in particular that England would have it won by lunch. Positive thoughts.
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Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar hold out

Talk about sore winners. Or drawers. Or whatever they technically are, but such is the media reaction to England’s remarkable escape from the jaws of defeat that greeted Australia this morning.

I must admit, I remained in bed for half an hour this morning, dreading the thought of checking the cricket score. The previous day, prompted by the wickets of Cook and Bopara, I had gone out to the shops to purchase a digibox which would enable me to watch the Tour de France rather then the cricket. If I can’t see it, it’s not happening. But despite this, I was still drawn to the cricket like some kind of crazed drug addict. I think I skulked off to bed around lunch (11pm here) and resigned myself to the inevitable, trying to formulate come-backs for the pommy-bashing I would no doubt receive in the morning. There was still a small voice of hope in my head, but he was being violently suppressed by my subconscious Riot Police.

You can understand my joy then, when I did finally drag myself out of bed. Suddenly, a day of work wouldn’t be so painful.
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Can Australia defend the Ashes?

Less then 24 hours to go now and I am cautiously excited. Only cautiously, because I think my subconscious is protecting me from any potential Pommy-Bashing that will undoubtedly come my way should England make a poor start to this series.

So, with less then a day to go, where do we stand? England announced their squad for the first test the other day with few surprises. Some may have argued for the inclusion of Steve Harmison after his performance for the Lions, but the selectors seem to be leaning towards playing 2 spinners for the first test. In the Australian camp, the major news is that Brett Lee will miss the first test, and possibly the second test with a side injury picked up in the warm up game. It is a bitter blow for the paceman who seemed to have done enough to regain his test berth. But Australia’s loss is England’s gain, I had the feeling that Lee’s pace and aggression would have been a crucial weapon for Australia. Stuart Clark looks set to replace him, and he is a heck of a replacement to have.

Superstitious England fans will be delighted to hear however, that Glenn McGrath has predicted a 5-0 whitewash for Australia. Cast your minds back 4 years and remember the last time he made that bold prediction. I seem to remember a certain key bowler picking up an injury on the eve of the first test also!
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Andrew Symonds

Chapter 1.

I’ve been “behind enemy lines” for 2 years now, but only now is it starting to get dangerous. If I had followed my original life plan, I would have timed it nicely to return to England in time for the 2009 Ashes. But then when I made that plan, I didn’t envisage Australia being this much fun! So instead I must prepare myself for the constant banter and ribbing that will no doubt come my way should Australia win this Ashes series. But I’m not complaining, it didn’t rain today.

To business then. You’ve probably all read that Australia have selected their Ashes squad for the trip to England, and there were certainly some surprises. The biggest shock was no doubt the omission of big-hitting all-rounder Andrew Symonds. It seems that the Australian selectors have had enough of his errant ways and lack of commitment and it is now difficult to see a way back for him. I have always been of the opinion that he is slightly over-rated anyway (with Shane Watson being the better player in my book) so, in a twisted kind of way, I thought it was a shame that he wasn’t selected.

The Australian public seem divided on the topic, with most merely questioning the selection of all-rounder Andrew McDonald. I think the fact that the selectors didn’t pick Roy is more about making a statement then anything else.

So what do the Aussies have in store for us?

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Bopara and Cook rack up the runs

So England continue their build up to the Ashes series with an excellent start against a very lackluster West Indies. It is encouraging that we are scoring runs again, and although the Windies are among the weaker sides in Test Cricket these days, you can only beat the opposition put in front of you.

It appears England have finally found a solution to the problematic number 3 batting position. I’ve blogged before about the options available at number 3, but I must admit I got this one wrong. I never saw Bopara as a potential number 3, more an alternative Collingwood if anything, but you can’t argue with 3 successive hundreds in that position. True, he doesn’t have the air of a world class number 3, but he certainly has the potential to grow into one. His future in that role will no doubt be decided by his performance in this year’s Ashes series. With his place now cemented, he will be keen to test himself against the best. Read More

Rob Key, Ian Bell, Michael Vaughan

It really annoys me when England lose a test match, and indeed a test series, when they should have won it. You could argue that we should have won that series 2-1. I don’t lay much blame on Andrew Strauss though. I think he will mature into a fine captain, and is the right man to lead us going forward (I was never a fan of KP). I agree that maybe he should have declared before lunch on the final day in Trinidad, but cricket is always full of ifs and maybes. I think Strauss has been too afraid to make a mistake on this tour, but I think his captaincy will improve as he learns what risks he can and can’t take. Still, it’s not all doom and gloom and we must start to look forward to the Ashes.

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