Big thanks to big Fred for a big win!

So England won The Ashes, and they did so against all odds after the horrendous defeat in Leeds just over two weeks ago. Amidst all the celebrations and back slapping there has been a general feeling that Andrew Flintoff did not play well in this match. That his younger and fitter colleagues conspired to give the limping old hero a magnificent send off. Not so, not so at all.


Yes, Stuart Broad bowled an immense spell on Friday afternoon, putting the Australians in all sorts of brown water. And yes, captain fantastic Andrew Strauss scored plenty of runs, leading from the front as he has done splendidly for the last 18 months. Add a fine performance from 8 wicket Graeme Swann and a ton on debut for Jonathan Trott and evidence of Flintoff’s fading seems compelling.


Two factors though, must dispel the idea that Freddie played a limited role in this match. Number 1, Ricky Ponting’s run out. I am not the first person to point out the importance of this moment, and I will not be the last, but mention it I must. What does seem to have been overlooked, however, is that Australia’s captain was beginning to look completely invincible, adding 127 runs with Michael Hussey for the third wicket. Without that run out England would probably have still won, but, it would have been a lot closer. And who can say what might have happened if Ponting and Hussey had been together at the crease for two more hours?


The second factor is Flintoff’s sheer presence in the side. Competitive at Lord’s and Edgbaston, the home team arrived in Leeds to find that their number 7 was out of the match. How much impact this had on the psychology of the other players we will not know until the autobiographies start appearing, but one thing is for certain; somehow England turned innings defeat into almost 200 run victory in two weeks.


Stuart Broad will surely become a fine all rounder, as will Graeme Swann, but neither currently has the impact on the team that Flintoff has. All the big man has to do is show up, put his whites on and jog onto the pitch and all around him are uplifted. So yes it was not vintage Freddie, no big wickets, no big runs, but to think England would have won the Ashes without him is foolish, just look back two weeks for the cold hard proof. Thanks for the little urn Freddie and let us all hope that you will be performing in the blue of England for many years to come.

Fifth Test? I can’t wait but hopes are not high.

Last night I had a dream, and it most definitely was not a good one. In it, and I do not remember how, England captain Andrew Strauss became unfortunately deceased just a few days before a deciding Ashes Test match. Thankfully I awoke, in a cold sweat I might add, to realise that this awful vision was just a bad dream. To lose Strauss to injury now, let alone anything else, would be an unmitigated disaster, akin to losing your premier all-rounder a few hours before a big match in Leeds.


Hope was high after Cardiff escape, was followed by Lord’s victory, but since then expectation levels have dramatically collapsed. If the draw in Wales was a miracle, then there is no biblical equivalent to what is required in South London this week, especially after the debacle at Headingley. And to achieve anything, even pride in defeat, without the skipper, top run scorer, and only English centurion of the series would surely be impossible.


Strauss stands alone among the home batsmen this series, against an attack that is apparently not all that good. Which begs the question, was the Australian revival in Leeds merely a mirage in the desert of Test cricket? Were Ponting’s men really that good or did England’s boys just play so poorly that Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Clark were made to appear world beaters? English cricket has a tendency to implode once in a while, only to return looking stronger, having learned from its mistakes. We all remember the 51 all out in Jamaica just a few short months ago, and the swift improvements that followed.


At the Oval, international reputations are at stake, as England try once again to rise phoenix-like from the, ahem, ashes of disaster. Ian Bell, brought in to replace the injured Kevin Pietersen has so far belied the myth that he can be a test cricketer of the highest quality. Left out after the mauling at Sabina Park, he was supposed to have rediscovered his form, proved himself once again a top notch cricketer. If he fails this week then I am afraid that should be the end of the line for Bell, three series of failure against the Aussies is quite enough, thank you. Players are needed who can compete against the best; after all, it is only 15 months until the beginning of a certain series down under.


Paul Collingwood is another of England’s top order that looks to be drinking in the bar, next door to the last chance saloon. A quick glance at Michael Clarke’s figures this series, show what a genuine Test match number 5 should be doing. One gritty knock at Sofia Gardens, plus a couple of quick fire half tons are insufficient from that position, if you are hoping to compete against the world’s finest. And as for Ravi Bopara, well perhaps Ravi should be given some time off and then dropped down the order, everyone deserves a second chance, after all.


England’s selectors however deserve praise for not making wholesale changes before such a big match. People talk of Jonathan Trott being under immense pressure, making debut in the Ashes decider, I disagree. For me he is in a win-win situation. Score runs and his place in the side will be assured for the winter’s tour to South Africa, fail and any fingers pointing, will not be doing so in his direction. This should allow him to bat with freedom and with any luck patience too, the one thing England’s batters, Strauss and to a lesser extent Cook aside, have lacked all summer. The bowlers too, need to learn this most important of virtues, put the ball in the right area over and over again and you will create pressure. A Test match is five days long, not two and a half. We can only hope England have learned from their hefty mistakes a fortnight ago, and that this match is still exciting come Monday afternoon. Although on recent evidence, an England victory may just be too much to dream of.

75 years? No problem.

Three days on from the ‘miracle at Cardiff’ the two teams arrive at Lord’s for the second Test. So what have we learned since Monty Panesar and Jimmy Anderson blocked out for nearly eleven, gut churning overs, on Sunday evening? First, Ricky ‘Roland’ Ponting is not only a bad loser, he is a pretty bad at taking a draw too. Yes, England may have indulged in a tiny bit of blatant time-wasting, but don’t think for a minute that the Australians would have behaved any better were the roles reversed. They would, however, have been a little more subtle than sending on the world’s largest physio for no reason. And on Wednesday we learnt that Andrew Flintoff will retire from Test match cricket after this current series. Probably for the best, it is no good having a player who cannot be relied upon to play game after game; it is unsettling and upsets the balance of the team.


The second Test promises to be a very different match indeed, and it will be extremely interesting to see how both sets of players respond to the extraordinary events of Sunday. Australia will be smarting, Ponting knows that he blew it, missed a trick, looked a gift horse in the mouth. All the talk of England delaying the game is a smokescreen, erected by the Australian captain to defend himself from the many accusations of poor decision making. Why Marcus North, full time batter, part-time bowler was sending down gentle turners to England’s last pair is anybody’s guess. Siddle and Hilfenhaus must have wondered what they had done to upset Rick, one good length Yorker and Panesar would have been back in the Pavilion, and the Aussies 1-0 up.


Still Ponting’s mistake is Andrew Strauss’s gain and I fully expect a very different England team to take the field today. The personnel will be similar; Harmison for Monty, and Onions for the injured Broad, but the attitude and application should, and hopefully will, be much improved. If England could win at Lord’s, for the first time since 1934, etc, then Australia may find it hard to stomach and recover after that first Test finale. The batters will have to stand up and be counted, do to the Aussies what they did to England last weekend. The bowlers must rediscover their aggression too, don’t let the Aussies settle, don’t give them easy runs, and hit them. Hit them with the nice hard shiny new ball, it excites the crowd, it excites the players and it will ruffle the Australians. I don’t care how good a player you are, getting struck by a cricket ball at 90MPH is both frightening and painful.


Australia will win the toss and bat first, but that will be all they win this week. England are going to come out firing on all cylinders, the crowd will be behind them, and Ponting’s men will be all out for around 200 and bowling by 5 o’clock this evening. I’m off to try and get tickets outside the ground, wish me luck!

England survival cannot mask the need for improvements all round.

Before this Ashes series began there was a lot of talk, a lot of hype and a huge amount of expectation. On Sunday evening, we found out just why everyone was looking forward to it so much. Rarely does Test match cricket come down to its final hour, but when it does, just like at Edgbaston and Old Trafford in 2005, there is quite simply nothing to match it for sheer drama. Sunday was a test for the players, a test for the umpires, and a test for the supporters in the ground. Australia, by far the more accomplished team throughout, taking 19 wickets compared to England’s 7, came up just short thanks to the belligerence of Collingwood, Anderson and Panesar. The drama was simply epic, with every dot ball receiving an enormous cheer from the near capacity Cardiff crowd.


At lunch with England teetering at 94 for 5 there seemed to be absolutely no chance of survival. The top order had collapsed, given up, and whilst a little resistance from the tail was hoped for, the home side would surely be well beaten. But then, minute after minute, over after over, the close of play loomed nearer. First Broad, and then Swann, showed the top order how to hang around and take time out of a test match, before Monty and Jimmy came together to see England home. The unlikeliest of heroes with bat in hand. If the tension was unbearable, at home then heaven knows how it must have felt watching in the stadium, whether from stand or balcony. Strauss, Cook, Bopara and Pietersen looked on as the match was saved by tail-enders.


Kevin 'It's just the way I play, and I'm not going to change' Pietersen, in particular, needs to look long and hard at his performance and his attitude. I am sure KP would like to be considered one of the world's finest batsmen, if indeed he doesn't already believe this to be the case. However, to be the world's finest batsmen you need to be adaptable, you cannot play the same way in every situation. This is The Ashes, this is Australia. On the first day, given the nature of the pitch, England had the chance to rack up a massive total, to put the Aussies under pressure. Instead the entire top order got in and then got out, and while Pietersen is not the only culprit, his inability to accept fault sets a bad example to the rest of the team. Had Strauss and co put on the 700 runs that pitch deserved then the pressure on the Australians would have been huge and maybe it would have been them fighting to save the Test on Sunday evening. Kevin and the others should take a long hard look at the Australian innings to see how Test match innings are accumulated over time.


The batsmen are certainly not be alone in shouldering the blame for what was, even in the aftermath of Sunday's drama, still an abject all round performance by the English. Lacklustre fielding was at fault too, James Anderson in particular missing a run out opportunity on Saturday as he sulked back to his mark, good work from Cook wasted. More importantly the bowlers need to look at themselves, and ask why only seven wickets were taken in two full days in the field. Yes Australia batted supremely but their job was made easier for them, pressure was not applied for long periods, new batsmen allowed to get away to quick starts. Anderson and Broad have looked fine bowlers for England during Flintoff's recent absences, does having the big man back cause them to lose focus. Is the sense of responsibility reduced in the knowledge that Freddie is there to pick up the mantle, to dig his colleagues out of a hole.


Massive improvement is required when the teams step out on Thursday for the second Test so what changes, if any, will England make? The batsmen will all survive, for now, but changes to the bowling attack will be required if 20 wickets are to be taken. Graeme Swann had a terrible game with the ball in Cardiff, but as England's best spinner for 18 months; one bad game should not see him axed. With Swann taking the sole spinners role at Lord's, Panesar, the hero with the bat will make way for Graham Onions, or maybe Steven Harmison. Anderson and Broad also bowled well below par last week, but like Swann, they should not be cast out for one bad game. Broad, however, will certainly be the more vulnerable of the two if Strauss and Flower decide a double change is needed, to liven things up. Flintoff, untouchable with the ball, and once again looking dangerous with the bat, will have another big roll to play. The one word for England to remember come Thursday is patience, you cannot win the game with the bat in a session, and cannot take a wicket every ball. Show discipline and stomach for the long game and Strauss could still preside over a victorious summer of cricket.

Please God, make it stop, or rain at least?

I’m not entirely sure at what time it stopped being fun and started feeling like really long, painful, dental treatment. It is hard to say. Maybe it was Friday afternoon when Clark and North batted through the afternoon session, after Anderson had given us the briefest of hopes. Maybe it was Saturday morning when I was finally able to sit on the sofa, in the living room, and watch it live on the TV. There was, in my mind, at least, still a glimmer at that point. Knock ‘em over cheaply first thing, put another 400 on the on the board and leave them a little chase on Sunday afternoon and who knows. Of course this was always a ridiculous notion; the game was up when our boys failed to get big scores after bright starts.


It was over when we applauded Matty Prior for his ‘cracking little knock’ of 56. It turns out that that wasn’t such a good innings after all. Marcus North has since re-educated us on what a good innings from a Test match number 6 looks like. In comparison to North’s relatively chanceless 100, Prior’s quick-fire contribution now looks impulsive and ill-disciplined. Australia could literally have batted all day and all night, everyday, until their plane leaves in September.


Now we all remember the dark days. The days before first Nasser Hussein, and then Michael Vaughan helped to transform England from a team of bottlers into a side that could triumph under pressure and take on the best in the world, and win. Obviously this one bad display does not mean we have immediately regressed by 10 years. But, on Friday and Saturday that is how it felt, particularly as the Aussies came out and took wickets straight away before tea. The home attack was lifeless, without inspiration or hope. The tourists pumped out their chests and made themselves some chances with determination and passion.


All that said, we may still sneak a draw from this shambles of a performance, if the batsmen can finally reign in their suicidal instincts, the threat from within far greater than anything the Aussies can offer. Even a defeat is not the end of the world, if 2005 is to be taken as an example. However, Lord’s in 2005 was different, fight was shown, gauntlets laid down, Ponting’s men won that test but we made them fight for it and left them a few scars to remember it by. This Cardiff Test match, the experts said, offered England their best chance of a win this summer. The pitch will turn, they have no spinner, confidence was high. Instead the Australians have taken that confidence we had and smashed it to the boundary for two, long, sapping days. England need big improvements, and quickly or else Glenn ‘5-0 to us mate’ McGraaaaaaaaath, may prove to be the wisest man in cricket. And nobody wants that.

Arshes!

I am often ridiculed by friends and colleagues for my unflinching optimism, even when all the evidence suggests otherwise, I like to look on the bright side. After 40 years of disappointment and failure I still believe that England might win the football World Cup. Kate Moss is still unmarried, I am still unmarried. Stop laughing now, you never know, oh all right, maybe you do. Dapper Max will perhaps, sometime in the future, learn the recipe for proper cheese on toast and make up for his errors on quarter final day 2003. And Steve may one day get a round in, ha ha.


But perhaps the next two paragraphs will stretch the limits of feasibility even more than the examples given above. Here we go. Deep breath. England can still win the first Ashes test in Cardiff. There i've said it. I know that it is a long shot, Ponting and Katich looked as vulnerable as a titanium Rhinocerous yesterday, giving only a single half chance between them in about 4 hours of cricket. England's bowling, one or two brief spells aside, looked lacklustre, devoid of ideas and lacking in self belief. But, and this is a big but, today is another day.


Yesterday is gone, today, Katich and the rodent-like Ponting are new batsmen, fresh in. The bowlers have had a night to sleep on the failures of Thursday, to analyse where they went wrong. Pick up a couple early doors today and who knows what could happen. We were told this pitch would spin, that is why Swann and Monty are in the team, and it might still do. If England can get the Aussies out without them getting a lead then this effectively becomes a two-day game. A two game in which Australia have to bat on a fifth day pitch and England have two spinners that can, just maybe, win the game. Expect England to recover some bowling pride today and skittle the Aussies sometime between lunch and tea with the scores about level. At close the hosts will be 120 for 2.

Into The Ashes - Day 2

So, a tremendous day yesterday, rounded off with a quite wonderful homemade chick pea and mushroom tikka massala, all cooked in a world record time of 22.456 minutes. The cricket turned out pretty good too, with England just having the edge thanks to 6 of the top 7 all chipping in with decent runs. Just a shame that no-one had the patience to really kick on, and punish the well below par Aussie attack.


The only downside, cricket wise at least, was Channel Five's woeful highlights package at 7.15pm. As if only having a paultry 45 minutes of highlights on terrestrial television was not bad enough, why let Five spoil it for everyone. Mark Nicholas was great in 2005 as he fronted the live coverage, guiding us through the drama and tension like a friendly uncle. On Five though, he attempted to use the same gravitas as if we all hadn't been listening to the radio, or glued to the internet all day following the action. In fact the only thing more wasteful than Five's use of their 45 minutes, was Pietersen's getting out shot. Just under 9 minutes of the show was lost to adverts, or the never ending Wine advert from the firm kindly sponsoring proceedings. And do we really need 3 minutes of Simon Hughes sitting in the back of a lorry showing us slo-mo's of Ricky Ponting's huddle. The analyst was a great innovation when Channel 4 had all day to fill, but in a highlights show? Why? Channel Five need to realise that we are tuning in to see all the fours, wickets and catches we were told about on the radio earlier, not to find out the frigging score.


As for the Aussies, I would like to give a special mention to Peter Siddle for simply looking like such a reprehensible antipodean. Just seeing his snarling, sunblock covered, freckly boat race charging in made me, in an instant, forget that there was no Gilchrist or Glenn '5-0 to us mate' McGraaaaaaaaaaaaaath to aim my buckets of scorn at this summer. In the end my prediction of 302/5 came up short on both fronts and Straussy failed to get the ton that was there for the taking if any of our batsmen had shown some real patience. Still being wrong has never stopped me from spouting my opinion before and I don't intend to let it now. Expect England to just sneak over the 400 hundred mark today with Stuart Broad playing an attractive cameo and getting a quick 30. The Aussies will then find that this years bowling attack has as much about it as in 2005 and be teetering on 200/7 by close of play.

Strauss’s men get top marks as England move onto tougher tests

It was, quite frankly, vitally important that England managed to bowl out the West Indies to complete a 2-0 series win on Monday. Yes, the opposition were underprepared and have subsequently underperformed hugely. And yes, conditions at Lord’s and Durham were chilly and completely alien to Chris Gayle and his men. But, there is an old adage in sport, ‘you can only beat the team put in front of you’. And England not only beat the West Indies, but they have done so ruthlessly and with plenty of time to spare. In other words, they have done it like the Australians would have done it.

In the Caribbean, England had The Windies on the rack in 2 of the 4 completed tests but were unable to finish them off. In both Antigua and Trinidad, defiant and obdurate batting displays had frustrated England’s fielders, leaving them just short of victory on both occasions. As Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Lendl Simmons came out to bat on Monday morning, there existed a niggling doubt that the bowlers might fail to grab the win their performance deserved. Could the West Indies hold on long enough for the weather to come to their aid? As rain forced the players off for the second time in the opening session, that niggle began to grow.

But then out England came, and with the ball suddenly swinging the tourists middle order was gone. Five wickets fell in the 11 overs immediately before lunch, for just 25 runs. After that, it was merely a question of how quickly England’s bowlers could finish the job. The excellent James Anderson claimed four of the last 7 wickets. Tim Bresnan, finally given a prolonged bowl, picked up his first three test victims. For Bresnan, it was crucial he took wickets. If he couldn’t succeed against such average opposition, how could Andrew Strauss possibly trust him against the Aussies? Just maybe Bresnan has a future in test cricket after all.

England’s attention now turns to the shorter form of the game. Three ODI’s against Gayle’s side are followed by the Twenty20 World Cup. The West Indies will certainly provide sterner opposition in the coming weeks, starting at Headingly on Thursday. England should be strong enough to claim a few wins, but nothing should detract from solid progress made in the last two games. Test Cricket is a unique discipline, and England can now look forward to the Ashes with confidence.

Anderson, now looking the finished article, has completed the transformation from support bowler to talisman. Stuart Broad reminds one of Simon Jones, tall, athletic and with the knack of taking important wickets at crucial times. Graeme Swann is now the teams premier spinner and capable of regularly troubling the world’s top batsmen. However, the real bonus for England is the cast of support bowlers who are waiting in the wings. Monty Panesar could feature in Cardiff if the rumours of a spin friendly pitch prove well founded. Graham Onions has had a great start to his Test career and will be relishing a possible return to Lord’s on July 16^th. Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Harmison, both look in good form for their counties and will be hungry for wickets if called upon. And with Andrew Flintoff certain to return if fit, England’s bowling options are in rude health.

Equally encouraging is the batting situation. Questions over Alastair Cook’s technique outside off stump must be silenced, for now at least, by the sheer weight of his runs. Strauss is cementing his authority as captain, after a quiet start to the summer he will surely step up when the Aussies get to town. Ravi Bopara has three tons on the bounce and looks confident coming in first wicket down. Matty Prior looks a Test batsman at six while Broad and Swann are both capable of getting useful scores. And with Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood yet to get going this season there is no shortage of runs in this team. Should things go badly in the first couple of Tests, there are batting options in reserve too. Ian Bell is averaging over 93 in first class games this season and was in the squad for the last match. While the suspicion remains that Michael Vaughan, conqueror of Australian teams gone by, has one last hurrah left in him for England.

One glaring conundrum remains unanswered. How can England be judged against opponents as poor and disinterested as the West Indies? England have not yet had to bat on a 4^th or 5th day pitch to chase a win or save a match. They haven’t toiled in the field for two days while the opposition put 500 on the board with only 5 down. But the West Indies arrived and were not just beaten but thrashed, you can’t ask anymore than that. It remains to be seen how good the Australians are. Will they be the team that got beaten at home against South Africa or the side that comfortably defeated same opposition away? Don’t forget, they were also beaten heavily in a Test series by India last autumn. Australia may still be favourites but England are stronger now than people might think. Get off to a good start and we could be in for another cracking Ashes summer, lets hope we get the same outcome as 2005.