Ashes 2009
Being an Essex Englishman in Melbourne Australia the banter regarding the Ashes is building.
It's an exciting time so the next 6 weeks will be either full of joy or full of abuse from my Aussie work colleagues. So bragging rights will be high! Not to mention the 100 Aussie Bucks* worth of Grog** side bet with Mick McCoy the Spurs fan, (more on Aussie Mick at a later date!)
Take a close look Dave, you could buying a few by the end of August!
The general consensus from the man on the street is that it will be quite a tight series but they believe they will triumph. They admit they are a team in transition and no longer have the players such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn but they still have Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich and Michael Clarke who still have the scares of 2005 and want revenge.
As far as their opinion of our team goes they feel our attack is average at best although we beat the West Indies a few months back they believe beating the West Indies these days is like conquering Lilliput and playing Australia is more like confronting the land of the giants.
They believe Strauss has no bottle, Pieterson has potential but it's almost guaranteed he will make a silly mistake and he is full of excuses and Flintoff is not who he was in 2005.
I hope the boys can prove them wrong! But as things stand coming in to the last day of the first test I guess I will be keeping a low profile and I pray we can do something we have not done since 1934 and win at Lords! I just want to wear my England cricket shirt to work with pride!
The television coverage here is on Fox Sports (AKA Sky Sports) and it's the same commentary apart from breaks in the cricket. The radio coverage is concentrating on the 5-0 Win in 2007 and they believe we were lucky in 2005!
So all I can say is COME ON ENGLAND and UP The BLUES!!!
(And there's no respite Dave, weather in Cardiff is fine and the game is on, hope your asleep! EEB)
* £48 ** alcohol