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Where will you follow the Ashes from?

By Will 2 years ago, at the end of October Leave a comment on this post

Was just talking to Neil, a big cricket fan based in the USA, about following the game from the Americas (short post on his club coming shortly)…and it got me thinking about this year’s Ashes. At Cricinfo we’re gearing up for the late nights, and are utterly up for the entire series. It’s going to be epic - not only the cricket, but covering it on the desk. But what about you ‘orrible lot? Are you, like Neil, in foreign climes all crowded around a scratchy television (or more likely nowadays in front of the computer…at cricinfo.com we hope!)?

Neil’s even having a party on the eve of the first Test at an Australian pub near where he lives. It’s a pretty awesome thought, imagining thousands of people all around the world trying to find out the score. Stuck up mountains with Test Match Special glued to their ears; running out of bars to get reception on their phones. Will you be one of the tragic foreign followers and if so, how will you be following the game? Or will you be under the duvet, radio barely audible so as not to wake the missus (until the fall of a wicket when all hell will break loose)?

Discuss

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39 Responses to “Where will you follow the Ashes from?”

  • Jusrcoz wrote:
    October 24th, 2006 at 10.29 pm

    As Will said, we in the USA will be preparing for the first test on the eve of the 2 day Thanksgiving holiday, starting at 7pm: so we get coverage at a convenient time, with the first test almost uninterrupted by work!

    How we will watch is either on Satelite on DirecTv (www.directv.com) - with TiVo set in case of interuptions (like eating turkey), or less conveniently on the computer at www.willow.tv.

    Some of us will also have a slingbox (www.slingbox.com) set up to sling our home TV signals to remote hotel rooms and offices - just in case.

    A few bars will potentially have the game on in Manhattan - the most regular location I know of is Eight Mile Creek on Mulberry Street in Greenwich village:

    My club - the Mad Dogs (www.maddogscricketclub.com) are planning a big night out on Friday for the 3rd day of the first test at Eight Mile Creek… where we will do battle in the bar with our arch-rivals - the NY Kookaburas (well - they’re mates really).

    How different this is compared to the last Ashes tour of Australia where it was just the Wisden.com interactive scorecard.

  • Cov wrote:
    October 24th, 2006 at 10.54 pm

    I expect i’ll ending up doing what i have done for the last three Ashes tours: listening on the radio until i fall asleep and then waking up to find that England have thrown away a promising position :)

  • SpryCorpse wrote:
    October 24th, 2006 at 11.34 pm

    I’ll be at ‘work’. :-)
    The tea-rooms with the giant TV screens will be standing room only, I imagine. And everyone else will be at their desks with headphones on tuned in to the radio feeds over the internet.
    I can already see the stampede from desks to TV screens with the fall of each wicket….

  • Emma wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 12.16 am

    The missus? I’ll be trying to steal the television from four cricket-hating housemates to watch the highlights, and be dreaming of a digital radio as I try to leave my laptop on all night without anyone noticing the electric meter drop.

    Though, Ladies’ Cricket are considering an ‘Ashes breakfast’ one day

  • Angus wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 3.20 am

    Our building in Montreal doesn’t allow sattelite dishes, so I will be flying back to Scotland for the series. Most of the cricket fans here will be watching the games, illegally, through pirated American sattelite (Direct TV). It’s unbelievable that we live in a global market, yet some territories are so slow to adapt. The last Ashes smashed pay-per-view records in Ontario, for any sport, and yet here in Montreal, with 46 cricket teams, we can’t buy it legally. We have to go to the States, buy a dish, and subscribe through a US bank account. I’m all for internet TV at a market price. Hopefully, Will, for the sake of all the Quebecois, you will be posting free live stream here.

  • Ollie wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 4.46 am

    I’ll either be trying to fit all-nighters in front of Sky around a normal daily life (or more likely bunking off lectures!) or listening till late at night on the wireless and falling asleep to the strains of Aggers et al. Very inconsiderate of the Aussies to go and live in a different time zone really. Whats that? We sent them there? Well serves em right really doesnt it, criminals the lot of em.

  • Alan R wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 7.10 am

    I haven’t looked into my options yet, but it could be bleak here in Paris if ECB TV doesn’t carry the Ashes at a reasonable price. The English pubs here won’t be open during the matches, because of the time difference. Presumably TMS radio will be available on the net here (it isn’t for the current ICC Champions matches, but then maybe that’s just as well…).

    There’s also the problem of having to work. It looks like I’ll be off work for the Boxing Day test but otherwise I’ll be pretty busy. Not being a Pom or a Convict, it’s more of an interest than an obsession for me, but I’ll definitely be keeping track.

  • Wraye wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 10.45 am

    Never just an interest, very much an obsession, I will have the radio glued to my ear all the time. We have an Aussie bar here in Bonn, but am not yet certain if I will be there - the tempation of mixing the XXXX and then going to work might be dangerous! My boss is fairly tolerant regards me listening to the cricket and I cannot risk this fragile working relationship!

  • Caroline wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 2.00 pm

    I’ll be watching some of it, at least, from the Podium West stand at the WACA. I think that is the most run down stand in the ground, and staring straight into the afternoon sun. CAN”T WAIT!!!!!!!
    Hopefully some of the matches will go to day 4 and 5, as I work during the latter part of the week, and am off Mondays and Tuesdays. When I’m home I’ll probably have all TVs on around the house so I can TV hop whilst doing the cleaning, washing and generally pandering to short people who are, inconsiderately, on school holidays . . . Perhaps the participants in my anxiety management group will want the TV on on Friday mornings at work? No - that might make them more anxious!

  • slips wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 3.25 pm

    Well, I’ll be watching the Adelaide test from somewhere in the Members Enclosure - or the Members Bar! My wife and I already have our excuses for absence from our jobs worked out, and a mate who’s a doctor, so sick certificates won’t be an issue - he’ll be at the macth with us! The trick is to pretend to be a little off-colour in the week leading up to the Test. As it happens, two days are over the weekend, so work’ll get by without us for three (if the match goes the distance).
    For the other matches: well, most coincide with summer holidays, so I’ll be strapping myself into the lounge with my Talking Boonie and a shitload of beer…

  • Will wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 9.43 pm

    Angus: free live stream? I wish. But you can bet your bottom Canadian dollar that someone will be posting highlights of each day to Youtube! That’s if you can find them, among the dross of Shahid Afridi…

  • Will wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 9.45 pm

    Slips: sounds like you’ve got it absolutely nailed!

  • loofer wrote:
    October 25th, 2006 at 10.38 pm

    I’ll be watching the Sydney Test from various points around the ground… :)

    I’ve already booked leave from work for every day of the other Ashes Tests, and will be watching NSW take on England in a one-day at the SCG.

    If things go pear-shaped and I have to come into work, I’ve just set up a television next to the server room….

    crictorrents.com is a much better bet than YouTube….

  • leithj wrote:
    October 26th, 2006 at 2.13 am

    Day 1 of the Second Test at Adelaide Oval, I’ll be watching from Row F of the Chappell Stands with my 80 year old father and my 14 year old son.

    Go you Aussies!!

  • Jim wrote:
    October 26th, 2006 at 11.28 am

    Day 1, Ball 1. The Gabba, Brisbane.

    The rest of the series, my sofa, 22nd floor of an apartment block in Hong Kong, courtesy of ESPN Cricket Channel.

    First ball is bowled at 8am local time, stumps round about 4pm. Happy Christmas.

    An English summer is even better. I watched almost every ball of last summer’s Ashes without taking a day off work or losing sleep. First ball in Hong Kong is at 5pm. Stumps at 1am.

  • Will wrote:
    October 26th, 2006 at 12.17 pm

    Yup, Jim’s got it made

  • Reverse Swing wrote:
    October 26th, 2006 at 7.17 pm

    First Test - Laying in coffee, Pro Plus, amphetamines… (whatever it takes) The missus and I will be up all night watching, then off to work in the morning.

    Second Test - Realising how sh*t we felt during the First Test, we’ll both contract ‘flu’ for the duration of the Second.

    Third Test - We’ll be in Sydney when it starts, then on the road down to Bateman’s Bay, NSW.

    Fourth Test - MCG

    Fifth Test - Melbourne/Yarra Valley.

  • Jim wrote:
    October 27th, 2006 at 1.45 am

    I will be returning to the UK for the 4th Test. My Dad is holding his 60th birthday party in a small Yorkshire hotel which is fully booked with his guests. The theme is ‘60 not out.’

    Proceedings kick off at 7pm, with a large screen beaming in the live pictures from the MCG at midnight. It’ll be a long and large night.

  • Kathy wrote:
    October 28th, 2006 at 6.38 am

    From my living room in Wellington, NZ, where, for the first time in years, I’ll be able to watch England play without ruining my sleep.

  • Stijn VB wrote:
    November 9th, 2006 at 12.49 pm

    I’m in Belgium where Willow TV don’t do live stream. And I’m afraid ECBtv won’t have it either. Is there anyone who knows whether I can get a live stream in Belgium ?

  • Bennox wrote:
    November 13th, 2006 at 11.27 am

    I was wondering similar. I’m in Poland. Can I not find it on the internet somewhere? I may have to emigrate!

  • Nik Patel wrote:
    November 16th, 2006 at 7.46 pm

    I have ordered the brand new One Day Australia shirt and i am pumped up for the ashes. I will be watching the entire ashes series on www.willow.tv on my computer. You can also watching streaming cricket on www.cricketon.tv

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 19th, 2006 at 3.58 pm

    I’m from England now in the USofA, I tried to order the Ashes from direct TV yestreday and they told me its not in there computer system yet….when I told them it starts in 4 days time, they told me to try back on Monday/Tuesday…..anyone else had this problem? You would think that they would have it by now? Thanks.

  • Justcoz wrote:
    November 19th, 2006 at 6.02 pm

    Do not worry - it is SOP for DirecTv. The games are in their schedule (ch 2028).

    Dealing with their PPV is a pain - the TiVo directory rarely allows you to set a future timer. At least their pic quality is far superior to Dish

    Neil in New York

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 19th, 2006 at 7.15 pm

    Thanks Neil, I just got direct tv at the weekend, just to watch the Ashes, they told me it was on channel 117 I don’t have a channel 2028? Do you have to have the international dish, someone told me you do and then then someone told me you don’t? They didn’t give me one and I specifically told them when I did my order that I wanted to watch the cricket. Thanks again.

  • Justcoz wrote:
    November 20th, 2006 at 12.45 am

    You are right - I do have an “international” dish. But I do not think you will miss any cricket, they usually mirror the broadcasts on one of their regular PPV channels.

    So - My guess is that the Ashes will eventually be assigned a 101 or 119 channel

    Its a spin of the roulette wheel when you get these people on the phone. The international dish is an eyesore (1M) and has no programming beyond the cricket.

    Interesting that they have added a 24 hour re-run cricket channel; but the channel seems to be dedicated to the greatest innings of Sunil Gavaskar… well there aren’t enough hours in the day.

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 20th, 2006 at 12.59 am

    Thanks Justcoz, I’ll wait and see what happends when I call them again on Monday/Tuesday.

  • Fred wrote:
    November 21st, 2006 at 3.46 pm

    Does Willow.tv stream to the UK?

    I’m desperate to watch, even if it means up all night, but not willing to subscribe to sky for 12 months for the privilege…

    What is the general experience of willow.tv, I sent them an email asking them the same question and the reply was just so dodgy I thought I should run a mile, but it seems some people here have had good experiences?

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 3.06 am

    Well, I called direct tv today and I was told I have to get the international dish because it is not being offered on regular pay per view. Only thing is that it will not be installed until Friday - so I’ll miss 2 days of the 1st test. I wish they would have told me this when I signed up for direct tv. Bad cusomter service or what!

  • Justcoz wrote:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 11.25 pm

    Bijesh: The Ashes are on Directv channel 117… just checked - you may be in luck!

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 11.33 pm

    Jackpot, I just called them and paid to watch it on channel 117! Go England….Thanks Justcoz.

  • Justcoz wrote:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 11.39 pm

    Now we just have to hope that the coverage starts on time… they normally show the pregame, but nothing on 2028 yet.

  • Bijesh Kanani wrote:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 12.06 am

    Lift-off………first ball wide! But I feel a wicket coming! Come on England!

  • brentcu wrote:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 12.16 am

    All I want is an audio feed that I can listen to in the USA. Both the ABC and the BBC limit where their feed goes.

    Anyone know of a free audio feed?

  • Justcoz wrote:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 12.30 am

    You will struggle

    CA limits the rights deliberately

    In the US they are held by Directv who resells them to www.willow.tv for online purposes.

    I believe they sell the 5 match package for $99

    N

  • brentcu wrote:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 12.34 am

    I just got the BBC audio feed to work. http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/live/live_sportsextra.asx

  • kevin wrote:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 3.03 am

    audio feed of TMS via penguin radio.

  • fasil wrote:
    November 26th, 2006 at 6.48 am

    these northamerican countries are to expensive a student like me i cant afford to but a package for ashes but i realy love cricket and i am hoping that poeple over the internet sometimes provide free links so lets hope i get one but i think there should be some way to watch cricket free or to watch cheap but noone cares about anyone so i guess its waste of time but i am just sharring this because i was realy feeling bad that we cant even watch cricket in canada

    www.cricinfo.com for score check

  • T wrote:
    December 15th, 2006 at 3.51 am

    A canadian spent 2005 in England and hooked on cricket a great audio feed to at least listen to the ashes…

    We are finaling getting premiership football on the TV so we should have cricket in about 20 years.

    Enjoy the ashes!

    http://stanjames.teamtalk.com/StanJames/Ashes_Popup


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