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Andy Zaltzman’s BBC show, “Yes It’s The Ashes”
By Will 2 days ago, about 9ish, No Comments; be the first!
Andy Zaltzman - comic, Bugler, cricket blogger - starts his own BBC radio show tomorrow, at 11am on BBC Radio Five Live. It’s called either “Yes It’s The Ashes” or “Andy Zaltzman’s Alternative Ashes”, I’m not sure which.
He’s slightly lining his underwear about it, but I’m sure it’ll be sharp, different and entertaining - so lend your ears tomorrow morning, or download the podcast shortly afterwards.
Update: Here’s the MP3:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/altashes/altashes_20090704-1313a.mp3
No Comments »Where and how to watch the Ashes in New York
By Will 6 days ago, in the late evening, 4 Comments »
Sadly, I don’t have the answer. This is a plea that someone might know. New York must have hundreds of cricket fans and Nancy needs your very urgent help:
How about watching the 2009 Ashes series (well, parts of it) live on TV at a bar, or other public place, in NYC? Daily coverage begins at 6 am, our time - know of anyplace that’s making a special effort?
Hurry - she hasn’t much time to plan her days off before the series of all series gets underway…
4 Comments »Australia: flat, unconvincing, undecided
By Will Saturday, last week, 3 Comments »
Four days against Sussex hasn’t helped Ricky Ponting decide on his lineup for the first Test. Have a read of my colleague’s bulletin, the whirlwind and unstoppable force that is Alex Brown:
These are worrying times for the Australians. A flat final day performance on a flat Hove pitch has given Ricky Ponting few signposts as to the composition of his best bowling attack 11 days out from the first Test in Cardiff. Only seven Sussex wickets fell on Saturday - a concerning development for a team containing five specialist bowlers - as Carl Hopkinson, making his maiden first-team appearance this season, raised a stirring century that ensured a draw, and almost forced a famous victory.
The only comforting thought for Ponting ahead of the practice match against Ian Bell’s England Lions on Wednesday is the availability of Mitchell Johnson, the ace in Australia’s pack. Peter Siddle will almost certainly partner him in Cardiff - Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, described him as a “lock” selection on Saturday - but the make-up of the attack thereafter remains unclear and, in the absence of strong performances in Worcester, could be determined by conditions on the day.
The lack of a frontline spinner has upset their balance something horrible. Intriguing, wonderful, fascinating week coming up.
3 Comments »Jackson’s dead. Let’s talk about Hauritz and Flintoff
By Will Thursday, last week, 3 Comments »
Yeah, so Michael Jackson’s dead. Why isn’t the world talking about the big news of the day, that Nathan Hauritz - Australia’s only specialist spinner - was carted all around Hove like a rag doll in a strong breeze?
I can’t help find it funny. Sure, Australia may blitz us with their four-pronger at Cardiff, but the fact remains they have a hopeless spin attack for the first time in years and years. Most of my life was spent worrying about Warne and his flipper and what it did to our hapless batsmen, so spare me this brief foray into chuckling at his rather less scary replacement.
I’m sure he fields and bats better than Monty, though.
In other news, Alastair Cook cracked a 100 from 57 balls - yes, Alastair Cook of all people - while Flintoff’s found form with 93 from about four balls. I watched a bit of Wimbledon when I got home this evening, and in it Leyton Hewitt was (inevitably) asked about the Ashes. This damned, brilliant series just gets under everyone’s skins. It’s omnipresent - I almost prefer the build-up and the anticipation to the matches themselves. Much in the same way that Christmas Eve was always better than the 25th…
3 Comments »Adam Gilchrist’s 2009 Cowdrey Lecture
By Will Wednesday, last week, 2 Comments »
An eloquent, thoughtful and insightful speech made by Adam Gilchrist today. He supported the rise of Twenty20 but defended Test cricket, urging administrators to leave it alone as much as possible. He also pushed for cricket to be included in the Olympics, which isn’t something I know or care much about, but I can see the good it would do for the publicity of cricket.
The post-speech question-and-answer session was excellent, featuring Gilchrist, Graeme Swann and Dave Richardson, the former South Africa wicketkeeper now working for the ICC, and a good man he is too. Shared a couple of beers with him in South Africa and he’s a very serious student of the game, with its core values at the heart of everything he does. When asked this evening his predictions for the Ashes, he quipped: “It’ll be 2-1 going into The Oval, with England in front, and the chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke, will prepare a featherbed for the final Test” which was a bit of a surprise, and not one Clarke will too overly pleased with I bet.
I put up the transcript of the speech at Cricinfo, so do give it a close read, and MCC will have an MP3 of the recording later.
2 Comments »No Vaughan, no Harmy, but Monty makes it
By Will Monday, last week, 5 Comments »
All rather predictable, I felt - England’s squad announcement, that is. But one man’s name did surprise me: Monty Panesar. He’s been flayed all around Division 2 of the Championship like a particularly forlorn-looking rag doll, and with his batting as sadly inept as it is, will England really risk him at Cardiff? Given Adil Rashid’s impressive pluck shown in the World Twenty20, he could well get a game alongside Graeme Swann for the first Test. Though as a colleague said today, plonking such a young bloke in to make his debut against the Aussies is a quickfire way to kill his confidence and ruin him for years. It’ll make or break him, but I’d rather see his name than Monty and his 70mph rockets, and hapless fielding, and putting it in the right (or wrong) areas (singular - there is only one area)… etc.
Ian Bell, meanwhile, has been told to grow up with his elevation to captaincy of the England Lions - a good decision. It’ll be absolutely fascinating to see how he reacts to it, how he manages the likes of Harmison (selected for the Lions, but not for the main pre-Ashes squad).
Your thoughts?
5 Comments »Music to inspire England in the Ashes
By Will 1 month ago, 5 Comments »
I’ve recently become a bit of a fan of Spotify, the peer-to-peer music-streaming service which rules all. Even more recently, I see you can create and share playlists, which lends itself perfectly to me to ask you the following: what music can or should inspire England in the Ashes?
Spotify users, create and share a playlist with songs you think might rally the troops this summer. Non-spotties, offer yours below. Suggestions should ideally be English, without wishing to sound like that turbo-powered racist arsehole, Nick Griffin.
I think Elgar needs to be included at least once, possibly as a replacement to the drone of the UK’s national anthem. If we’re talking about the national anthem, and it appears I am, I’m all for Billy Connolly’s suggestion - a comedian and character I would happily forsake two limbs to pick his brains - that it should be replaced by the theme tune to the Archers. And that’s saying something, considering I’ve often veered off the road in sheer depression when inadvertently listening to a programme containing a character called Shula. Cracking theme tune though.
So, Elgar, the Kinks, something from the Rolling Stones, or the Stone Roses and…?
5 Comments »Harmison delivers Ashes message
By Will 1 month ago, 4 Comments »
It may be a trend, Steve Harmison starting the season well for Durham to yet again persuade England’s selectors that he should be picked. It’s a depressing one though, isn’t it, when his domestic performances are laced with evidence of extreme talent which has only emerged occasionally in internationals, interspersed with nervous and occasionally appauling efforts for England. When he came back last summer, he looked energised and refreshed, and sporadically deadly, but will England risk him for the Ashes again?
George Dobell spoke to the man after a devastating performance against Warwickshire, against whom he took 5 for 39. And smashed several players on the head, arm and other limbs:
Nor was the damage just on the scorecard. Harmison also landed three crashing blows on the head, hand and arm of Tony Frost, Ian Bell and Chris Woakes respectively. It was, one lot of five wides apart, a top-quality spell of fast bowling that will not so much nudge the England selectors as grab them by the shoulders and shake them.
“It’s the worst thing in the world when you hit somebody,” Harmison said afterwards. “I really don’t like it at all. I **** myself when I hit Tony Frost. I was upset by that. And the same when I hurt Ian Bell.
“But on flat, slow wickets, you have to do something different and my variation is being aggressive and bowling bouncers.
“There’s not been a result here in 20 championship games and you can see why. There’s not much pace in the pitch, but it does have good carry. You have to have something different if you’re going to win here. If we can make them follow-on we can put some nervous twitches inside the Warwickshire dressing room.
“I showed my experience today. In the last two weeks I haven’t had to exert myself because of the wickets we’ve been playing on. I’ve had rewards in all three games, but this one is the most pleasing because it is a flat wicket. I had to exert myself a lot more today.
“And I came up against good players. Belly is a really good player. For him not to be in the Test team is something I struggle to comprehend. And the way Frost carried on after being hit on the head was credit to him.”
One thing is for certain: the selection for the England Lions match will be crucial and fascinating.
4 Comments »The Ashes Song by Tuffers and the Wooden Urns
By Will 1 month ago, 4 Comments »
Time will tell whether this Marmite-sponsored song really does become The Ashes Song of the summer, much as Embrace’s Ashes did in 2005. But it’s good fun, takes a healthy dig at the Australians and helps to create that friendly rivalry which will no doubt become fever-pitched in the coming weeks. Proceeds for the single, which is available to download on iTunes, goes to the Cricket for Change charity. A worthy cause and worth your pennies.
Or listen to it below for free (at Youtube), you tight bastards.
4 Comments »Ashes to Ashes by Marcus Berkmann
By Will 2 months ago, 6 Comments »
Marcus Berkmann, who wrote one of my favourite books, Rain Men, has scribbled a new one called Ashes to Ashes
In summer 2009, by far the most popular event in the cricketing calendar comes round again - the Ashes series between England and Australia. The anticipation will be intense, the hype absurd, the sense of expectation never remotely likely to be satisfied, for two good reasons. England won in 2005 by a whisker. We can’t expect anything so good again, possibly for the rest of our lives. The second reason is even more brutally realistic. For the truth is that, over the past twenty years at least, Australia have usually won very easily. We begin with hope, we end in despair. For the many of us who follow English cricket closely, it’s a strange and terrible form of biennial punishment for crimes we didn’t know we had committed. ‘Hell is other people,’ said Jean-Paul Sartre, and as so often he was completely wrong. Hell is Ricky Ponting winning the toss on a perfect batting strip on a glorious sunny day. Hell is what happened in Australia in 2007, when the home side won 5-0. Of course we look forward to 2009. But we also dread it, as we would dread exams or major surgery. We would be foolish to do otherwise.
You need to buy it immediately. There are a torrent of Ashes-related books coming out, as you’d expect, so keep your eyes peeled on Amazon
Ashes poll - neck and neck
By Will 2 months ago, 14 Comments »
The poll’s been up only a few days, but it’s neck and neck at the moment.
Who will win the Ashes?
- Australia (50.0%, 30 Votes)
- England (50.0%, 30 Votes)
Total Voters: 60
Cast yours at the site (right hand side).
Andrew MacDonald? Ronald MacDonald more like (titter)
By Will 2 months ago, No Comments; be the first!
Guffaws all round today as Bob Willis fired the first, err, jibe at Australia. The Sun ran with it and, being the special people they are, photoshopped Ronald MacDonald’s mug atop Andrew’s body.
God love you, Bob. You’re fast becoming a treasured national institution; as gaffe-prone and eager to stir the shit as Fred Trueman. More! More!
No Comments »Public support for the Ashes
By Will 2 months ago, 14 Comments »
One of the big differences between the 2005 Ashes and those before was the support of the public. Granted, this was helped by the Edgbaston win, but even before that, in the one-day series, there was a tangible sense that Britons had had enough of doffing their cap to the Australians.
You could see it with the guard of honour at each match, which got up the nose of Ponting when the kids were waving flags in their faces. The crowd at matches were baying for Australia’s blood. When Ponting was run out by Gary Pratt, prompting his red-mist at Duncan Fletcher as he made his way up the pavilion steps, the initial reaction was shock. But it quickly dissipated into derision. All these little things helped make 2005 the series to beat them all, but in particular they helped England win.
Someone on TV said the other day that for England to win this year’s contest, the public will have to be right behind them. I hope so, purely as I want an even and drama-filled series, but I just can’t see it happening now that cricket is no longer on terrestrial. The ECB made a killing out of Sky, but will it come back to haunt them if it hasn’t done so already?
Here’s an infantile clip which never ceases to make me chuckle.
14 Comments »South Africa and Australia yet to be separated
By Mark Tilley 4 months ago, 72 Comments »
If Australia’s series win in South Africa has taught us anything, its that they are not, repeat not, to be underestimated, especially by the English, ahead of this summers Ashes clash. Their mini resurgence has seen new players step manfully into the breach and come out victorious. Phillip Hughes, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Marcus North, etc; men who have been drafted in when the team was in a period of crisis and who have partially lifted their side out of the doldrums.
South Africa’s innings victory over the Aussies in Cape Town has levelled their six match rivalry spread across two tours at 3-3. If we were looking for any indication as to who is the best Test nation in the world, then it looks like we’re going to be kept guessing, at least for a little while longer. The manner of South Africa’s victory today suggests that the momentum is with the Proteas and it was the first defeat by an innings suffered by Australia since India crushed them in way back in 1998.
One could also argue that Australia’s defeat in India last year is further proof that they are in no shape to brand themselves the number one side. They are a team in more in transition than Martin Johnson‘s perennially developing England rugby side. Siddle and Hilfenhaus have done the jobs asked of them by Ricky Ponting and they have done them well but the imposing figures and reputations of Brett Lee and Stuart Clark must be looming large over them and predicting Australia’s line-up for the first Ashes Test in Cardiff in July is nigh on impossible.
South Africa, for their part, are also not 100% certain on a definitive starting team. Opener Neil McKenzie was dropped for the last Test, making way for debutant Imraan Khan. Khan didn’t have too memorable a debut but makeshift opener Ashwell Prince certainly did, ruthlessly blasting the small matter of 150 runs. Paceman Morne Morkel was also not called upon; brother Albie Morkel was drafted in instead, taking one wicket and scoring a helpful fifty in support of AB de Villiers. South Africa are not in crisis, not by a long stretch, but the series loss was unexpected in the wake of their heroics down under and they certainly have some improving to do before they can once more lay claim to being the top of the pile.
Three Test match victories each is a perfectly fair reflection of the two sides’ efforts against each other in both series. Australia looked dead and buried after defeats in Perth and Melbourne but have fought back in the manner of a wounded champion. The pretenders of South Africa were shocked by the resurrection from the Australians in the first two tests but their victory today has at least reminded doubting observers of their quality and potential.
By the by, how well is Mitchell Johnson playing at the moment? More wickets than he can possibly count and now a maiden Test hundred. The boy gets better and better with every passing game and he looks set to play an impossibly crucial role in the Ashes.
72 Comments »Warne to figure in 2009 Ashes
By Will 5 months ago, 4 Comments »
He may no longer be terrifying Englishmen with his leggies, but Shane Warne will continue to wind up the old enemy by commentating on Sky for the summer. This is a good thing, and Warne has the charisma and confidence to become a really good commentator. I’ve listened to him on and off during the winter for his occasional stints on Australian TV and have liked his wit, cheek and general piss-taking of his colleagues (particularly Michael “Slats” Slater).
There is also the distinct probability of Warne making one or three howling howlers or un-PC comments, which can only be a good thing for the world in general.
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