Sickness(cont.)

Ok, back to the stats.

Strauss described Cook's 235 not out as "one of the best hundreds I've seen by an England player." Cook's score was the highest in a Test at The Gabba, his highest in a Test, the highest score by an Essex batter in an Ashes Test, and his and Trott's stand of 329 was the highest score by an England pairing in Australia, and the highest score by any visiting pair at The Gabba. It was also only the second time ever there have been two triple-hundred partnerships (Hussey and Haddin for the Aussie's) in the same Test. Oh, yes, and the highest partnership score ever at the Gabba. Eevr. Phew! There are more but quite frankly I'm confused by all the numbers...

So, they drew. After all that excitement it seems bizarre that neither team actually yielded any points. But this is good; it means it's all in the balance. The next Test is deliciously soon - starts on Friday in Adelaide. BRING IT ON!

And the tennis. Oh, the tennis. Ray-ray/GoNads semi-final was amazing. Best match of the competition by far. Ray-ray was so close to victory but, crucially, GoNads won the vital points; the deciding points. It really was a great match. A very wise friend of mine told me, with great authority, that Ray-ray would have won had it been a five-set match. I am inclined to agree.

So the final - GoNads, world number 1, winner of three out of four Slams in 2010, versus The Fed, world number 2 and all-time best tennis player (in some peoples' opinions) ever. What a way to end the season. Was it a Wimbledon final 2008 special? No. But it was a pretty good match nevertheless. Three sets, which is always good. Fed completely dominated the first with some amazing serving, great attacking play, and a very effective cross-court backhand. GoNads looked out-of-sorts, out-played and out of ideas, but GoNads being GoNads he fought back bravely in the second set to take the match to a decider. So we were into a third set to see who wins the last prize of the 2010 season. In the end, The Fed kind of ran away with it - I think GoNads' epic with Ray-ray took more out of him than he thought. But that's taking nothing away from The Fed's performance. He was truly awesome. Everything was working. He had his Fed-head truly on. The win ties him with Sampras and Lendl who all have five year-end titles to their names.

So that's goodbye to tennis for a few weeks. How very sad. Thank goodness I have the Ashes to occupy my mind and blog.

I'll keep you blogged...

Sick Note

Hello folks. A sickness has kept me from you but I'm back, fighting fit and raring to go.

First I must talk about the crazy first Ashes test. England did not have a good time of it their first innings. They were bowled out for 260, and could hardly make an impression on Australia who reached a monstrous and seemingly test winning 481 (with Hussey (195) and Haddin(136) producing a record stand of 307). Things were looking pretty grim as England needed to reach 221 just to make Australia bat again. Grim, that is, until Strauss and Cook strode onto the field.

Strauss, who'd been bowled for a duck in his first innings, hit a calmly impressive 110 before Trott(135no) and Cook(235no) put on 329, the ninth highest England stand in history. And that was not the only record to be broken. By the time England declared on 517-1 (yes please!) a draw was all but decided and so it proved the next day when Ponting ended their innings early, settling for that draw.

Will write more later... just realised the time and I have tennis to play!

I'll keep you blogged...

Day 5 at the O2 and first day of The Ashes

Tonight I babysat and was able to watch Sky Sports in HD on a big screen... It was pretty darn good. I saw Ashes highlights and Ray-ray beat Ferrer to go through to the semi-finals belongside The Fed. Group A will play their final round robin matches tomorrow but people seem pretty certain it'll be a GoNads and Djoko show. GoNads is pretty much a dead cert., but if Roddy beats GoNads in straight sets and Djoko loses, Roddy goes through. If Djoko loses and Roddy loses Berdy goes through. If Djoko wins, Djoko goes through. So yes, anyone but GoNads and Djoko is unlikely, but nowhere near impossible. I'm still going for the Rodster!

And the much anticipated Ashes? Well, not the best start in the world I have to say. Strauss was bowled for a duck on the third ball, Trott went soon after, and pretty soon England's batsmen were dropping like flies. Helped enormously by a sterling performance by Australia's Peter Siddle who got a hat-trick on his 26th birthday. Pretty good going. England were bowled all out for 260 even. The Aussie's are currently 63-0. Hmm. Time for Swann, I think. We need to make a break through here.

I'll keep you blogged...

Day 4 at the O2

Ok, last night Ferrer played The Sod and was beaten 7-5 7-5. Sod was solid and pipped Ferrer to the post on the important points.

Today I was at the O2 again and saw a pretty bog-standard doubles match and a mostly bog-standard singles. Ok, that's a little harsh. Both matches were great because they're tennis but the doubles didn't ever really take off and Moody and Norman won pretty easily in the end. There were a few great shots - some excellent cross-court volleys - but mostly it was pretty cut and dry. Blimey, how many cliches can I find to describe what was essentially a dull match?

The singles was a lot better for the first ten games. Berdy and Roddy were serving very well indeed but also returning well. It was a pretty fast-paced match. They were both looking good and I was having good feelings about the match. I could see it going all the way. At five-all it looked for all the world that the first set would go to a tie-break (especially after Roddy missed two set points on Berdy's serve at 15-40) but then Rod inexplicably lost his serve and Berdy held his and suddenly Rod was a set down. The second set was over in a blur of decent play (Berdy) and bad grace (Rod) with Berdych beating A-Rod 7-5 6-3. Not the match I was hoping for but on the plus side I was really close to the players and had a magnificent view of their derrieres.

Shallow? Moi?

And tonight GoNads crushed Djoko 7-5 6-2. Djoko had some bizarre eye issue and said he 'couldn't play' from 5-5 in the first set. I hate to be cynical but doesn't that just sound like Djoko? I mean, you can't imagine The Fed or GoNads ever complaining about an eye problem and claiming they couldn't see the ball. I don't know about Djokovic. I want to like him but sometimes he makes it so hard.

Arsenal are making me unhappy.

THE ASHES HAVE BEGUN!!! Oh boy, Strauss got bowled for a duck. That may not be a good start.

I'll keep you blogged...

Fed/Ray-ray (cont.)

And the master-class is over. The Fed beats Ray-ray 6-4 6-2. Fed was awesome and Ray-ray was not so much.

"Surprised how clean the result is but I don't think Andy played his best match, that's for sure."

He is a shocked man. Seems bemused that it was so easy. Lovely and eloquent as ever. Think he's going to have a shower then go out and see the sights.

Ray-ray will have to beat Ferrer on Thursday to have any chance of going through. It's not all over, but he needs to pick himself up quickly. He needs to up his first serve percentage and his groundstrokes need more on them and more penetration. Basically, he needs to be better.

Tonight Ferrer plays The Sod, both of them battling for any chance of making it through. I will, of course, let you know what happens there. And tomorrow I'll be at the O2 again, watching the beautiful Roddy play one Tomas Berdych, in another must win match. Bring it on. Come on A-Rod!!

I'll keep you blogged...

Fed/Ray-ray (cont.)

Oh dear. The Fed races into a 4-0 lead with a double break over an annoyed and uninspired looking Murray. He's shaking his head and arguing with the Umpire. He is not a happy boy.

He manages to save two break points and gets a game on the board in the second set, only for The Fed to breeze through a service game to 15. It's 5-1 and Ray-ray's chances are looking pretty darn slim. Not the huge game everyone was talking about then.

I'll keep you blogged...

Fed/Ray-ray (cont.)

Ok, The Fed claims the first set 6-4. Not too shabby but Ray-ray never really got off the blocks. He was a looking a little livelier towards the end of the set and even got to 0-30 on Fed's serve in that last game. He needs to pick his game up if he wants to take this all the way.

I'll keep you blogged...

Fed/Ray-ray (cont.)

Ray-ray seems to be having some wardrobe malfunctions. He's changed his top already and is yanking at the shoulders of his new one like it's too small. Very odd. But then, that's Andy Murray for you. He's a break down, serving at 1-3 but is 40-15 up.

His shorts are pretty tight, I did notice that as he walked out. Tighter than he usually wears. It's a very slim-fit outfit in general. Tis like a lady when she loses weight and starts wearing tighter clothes to show it off. Who knows.

Ray-ray is not happy out there. He's not won too many points on The Fed's serve which is very unlike him, but more than that he's not even really made Fed play on his serve. Very very unlike him.

Uh oh, the muttering has begun. Never a good sign.

4-3 to The Fed, still with a break.

I'll keep you blogged...

Fed/Ray-ray

Fed wins the toss and elects to receive. How very interesting. 30-30...

Ray-ray has got his game-face on, big time. 40-30...

A deuce in the first game. Tension is palpable.

Ray-ray can't seem to get a first serve in.

Break point Fed!

First 'Come on' from Ray-ray as he makes a good first serve. Deuce again.

Game point to Ray-ray after he pulls Fed out wide and forces him to make a forehand error.

Game Ray-ray. Phew. I hope they're all going to be like that.

I'll keep you blogged...

Tour Final Time

Howdy Doody.

Ray-ray made a more than impressive start to the final competition of the season with a 6-2 6-4 win over a surprisingly flat Sod. (Hahahaha...) He said the court is unusually slow for a hard court which doesn't bode well for anyone who has to face GoNads (Oh, Roddy, how unlucky you are). Well done Ray-ray - It's the big Fed next and I have to say he was in mighty impressive form last night. I was there, with the Fathership (still harping on about Spurs, I might add), as The Fed crushed Ferrer (that was a mouthful for the Umpire, believe me) 6-1 6-4. I'd barely got through my second hot dog by the time it was done. The Fedhand was working to perfection and some of the shots he pulled off were unbelievable. Ferrer did not play badly (although his serve was a little ropey), just Federer played really really really well. I worked out that it was the first time, unbelievably, I'd ever seen Fed play in the flesh so was pleased he was somewhere near his best. It was a pretty awesome sight. He's just so effortless and a really classy guy. And his skin colour is even better in real life. Like caramel. Yum. Plus he gave me one 'Come on!' which I truly appreciated. Still nothing sexier.

Today I watched poor Berdy battle hardy but with little joy as he was soundly beaten by a clinical Djoko, 6-3 6-3. Berdy looked out-of-sorts and continues his poor run of recent weeks, but that's not to say that he didn't try everything to make some kind of impression on the match. He's really been struggling for form and Djoko's love of long rallies and scrapping wasn't helping him find any at the O2. Lets hope he can find something for his next match.

Tonight Roddy plays GoNads in what I'm hoping will be the first great singles game of the competition. Come on three sets! I feel good about Roddick. It's his year I think...

I'll keep you blogged...

Wednesdays child...

Oh, I can't believe it. Spurs beat Arsenal at home (The Emirates, that is) for the first time in 17 years, and what a weekend to do it.

Chelsea lost to Birmingham (what now?) and this was our chance to go top of the table and really assert ourselves. Yes, ok, Chelsea losing to Birmingham was unexpected but who are we to look a gift-horse in the mouth? This was our time; our chance; our moment. And we couldn't take it. Now we're lagging behind in third, on the same goal difference as Man U. Not good. Not good at all. And to make matters worse, I've had my Spurs-fan father gloating all afternoon. Bleurgh.

On a brighter note, just got home from a Thanksgiving feast at a friend's house and feel full of good food and laughter. Thank you Fryer Boys!

I'll keep you blogged...

Brilliant

Commentary comment of the week (month/year):

"These lads are the peas and pies of sport."

I love it.

I'll keep you blogged...

Online!

I'm finally back online! I went to an internet cafe in town yesterday to blog and got through a marathon one, was about to post, when the stupid screen went blank and I was reliably informed that my 'session had timed out'. My session? What now? I was not told I only had a certain amount of time. I wasn't working to a deadline. I was casually perusing the good old internet and taking my time over facebook stalking, idle shopping, and looking up tennis tickets. Stupid stupid stupid.

But here I am, back in the comfort of my own home, with a fully functioning internet connection. Ok, lets go.

DARTS. I love darts. I love how they come on to ridiculous songs and high five awaiting fans. I love how they kiss their wives/girlfriends/sisters/mothers before stepping up onto the Oche. I love how they all have nicknames like boxers. I love how Ted 'The Count' Hanky throws his little rubber bats out into the crowd. I just love all the hype and drama. The other day I watched Mark Webster (who I think is cute. So sue me. My brothers say it's because compared to other darts players he's the only semi-normal looking one, but I still think he's cute.) play Gary Anderson. Mark had to win 5-1 otherwise he wouldn't make it through to the next round. A tall order right? That's what I thought, but pretty soon he was 4-1 up and had six darts for the finish. Six darts. He didn't do it. I could believe it. The poor guy looked close to tears as he closed out the match 5-3. A win, but not good enough to progress. Tough. Tis on ITV4 every night - if you're in the mood for over-weight red-faced men, bling to the max, drunken dancing and singing fans and pretty impressive maths, give it a watch.

FOOTBALL. So England were pretty dismal again. Lost to France last night 2-1. The scoreline is a poor reflection of the quality of the match as England were out-played and out-classed for at least 80% of the game. Crouch restored our blushes somewhat right at the end by scoring a pretty decent volley with practically his first touch after coming on as a sub, but all in all we were poor. So what else is new?

On a brighter note, the premier league had a great weekend. If you're an Arsenal fan, that is. Man U drew, Chelsea lost (to a brilliant Sunderland), and Arsenal won. Thank you very much.

TENNIS. The Sod beat Monfils to win his first Masters and overtake Ray-ray as number four in the world. Ray-ray moves down to fifth ahead of the Tour Finals at the O2, starting this Sunday. It makes the competition very interesting, however, as Djoko, The Sod and Ray-ray will be competing not just for a victory but for third, fourth and fifth places in the rankings. Could Ray-ray win and therefore finish the year third in the world? That'd be good. He's got The Fed, The Sod and Ferrer standing in his way; and that's just the round-robin stage. I'll be there on Sunday evening and know now I'll be seeing The Fed play Ferrer. Can't wait.

F1. VETTEL WINS FORMULA 1 2010 (by four points)!! Very exciting last race. All Alonso had to do was come third (where he started on the grid) and he would be the champion. Easy, right? Not so much it turns out. He ended up coming in 7th and Vettel's sensational drive (starting on pole and sticking to it) meant he stole the title by four measly points. If I were Alonso I'd be seriously peeved at my tactical team for getting it all wrong. Vettel becomes the youngest driver to win the title (taken from Hamilton) and the weepiest. He was crying like a babe in arms. But good for him. I like Vettel. He's all cute and smiley and I think deserved to win. Yes, he may be a little impetuous, but then so is Hamilton and I like him too. Good for you Sebastien Vettel.

CRICKET. Australia have names a 17 man team for the Ashes. 17. That's a lot. More than England, which is very unusual. But Australia have many an injury/fitness issue so having some back ups is highly necessary. And they should be worried because England are looking good in their warm-up tests. They won, then drew (mostly due to bad weather), and are currently most definitely up against Australia A, even without their four first choice bowlers who are all happily aclimatising in Brisbane ahead of the first Ashes test on the 25th November. The second-choice bowlers got Australia A all-out for 230 (mostly thanks to Tremlett - 4-54) and are currently 335-5 thanks to a Bell(118)/Collingwood(74) partnership worth 198. Another good day at the office and another warning to Australia that England are well and truly up for this Ashes series. Bring it on!

Gosh. I think that's it. Time for a shower and some Christmas shopping methinks.

I'll keep you blogged...

YAY!

Roddick completes London line-up!!

Oh, how very happy this headline made me feel. Roddy will be joined by GoNads, The Fed, Djoko, Ray-ray, The Sod, Berdy, and Ferrer. Those are some potentially great matches. Who would I like to see the most? Hmm, probably The Fed. I haven't seen him for years. The Fed against Roddy would be the ideal. Yum, yum and yummer. The Fed's lovely skin... Roddy's lovely shoulders/arms/stomach... Yes please. Come on organisers - make Sunday night a Fed/Rod match please!

Ray-ray fought impressively against Cilic to beat him in three tense sets - 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 6-3. He's into the quarter-finals where he will play Gael Monfils (whose impressive win over Verdasco - 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 - ended Verdasco's hopes of qualifying for the tour finals, and therefore helped Roddy get his place so I am an even bigger Monfils fan at the moment... if that made sense...) which should provide another stern test for him. The Fed went through, as did Dave and Melzer.

It's times like this I wish I had Sky Sports...

Cricket and Collingwood (94) helped England reach a respectable (but not great) first-innings score of 288-8. They need another stella bowling performance to keep South Australia's batsman at bay and give themselves a chance at another victory.

Oh yes, and Joey Barton is a thug.

I'll keep you blogged...

Football Wednesday

Lots of football matches happened today. I've just got back from an excellent evening of tennis, cheese and flirting so feel in fine spirits and wanted to update myself and your lovely selves on the goings on of Football Wednesday - that exciting time when we get an extra MOTD (which I missed).

The main event was the Man U v. Man City derby and, as ever, it was disappointing. 0-0 draw that was pretty dire by all accounts. "I don't think I've seen a more awful performance in all my years as a City fan." I think that pretty much sums it up.

What else? Liverpool drew with Wigan - hah! Villa beat Blackpool. Everton drew with Bolton. Blackburn beat Newcastle. West Ham drew with West Brom. Chelsea beat Fulham - Boo!! They're on 28 points now, Man U are on 24 and thanks to Arsenal's 2-0 defeat of Wolves today they're up to 23 points. Chelsea just need to lose a couple of matches and I'll feel good about everything.

Elsewhere, Ray-ray came through a tough match to beat Nalbandian in three sets - 2-6 6-4 6-3. He'll play Cilic next which will prove a stiff test indeed. The Fed saw off home favourite Richard Gasquet, an out-of-sorts Djoko defeated Juan Monaco, and Roddy crushed Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-4 and will meet Ernest Gulbis in the next round. He needs a few wins in Paris in order to secure his place at the ATP tour finals. I really hope he gets in.

I'll keep you blogged...

Big time sport news!

Arsenal lost to Newcastle today. They lost to Newcastle. I mean, come on. Newcastle. No offence to Newcastle but... NEWCASTLE! 1-0. Just not good enough. To make matters worse (people say it's a good thing but I see it as a golden opportunity lost), Liverpool managed to beat Chelsea 2-0, which would have meant we'd be only two points behind them. But no, because we always lose at shocking times we're still five adrift and Man U have leap-frogged us to second. Not good enough.

In brighter, better news, England won their first warm-up match Down Under thanks largely to great bowling (Swann especially) and Strauss making a 120 not-out. Pretty decent start all round because they won against some odds which always helps when preparing for a big event. You want to have to work for a victory. To feel as if you've really had a good scrap in order to get the mojo working. England have done that beautifully over the last three days. I'm really excited about The Ashes, not only because it's always a good competition, but also because I really think we have a good chance this year. And in Australia. That would be amazing.

Elsewhere in F1 Vettel beat Webber for a Red Bull one-two in today's Brazilian Grand Prix to clinch the constructor's championship and also keep the title race alive. It was a pretty bog-standard race after they'd all managed to pass poor Hulkenberg. Hamilton was passed by Alonso after a poor corner and Button managed to finish fifth. It leaves Alonso, Webber and Vettel all in contention for the title ahead of the final race of the season. Hamilton could win but would need to come first and for none of those three to score, which is unlikely, you have to admit. My brother wants Alonso, I'm all for Webber... we'll see.

What else? The Fed beat Djoko in Basle which gives him his fourth (out of eight finals) title of the season, and his 65th career title which pushes him one clear of Sampras's record and fourth on the all-time list. The Ray-ray Bro's (love it!) also won their first doubles ATP tour title in Valencia, which is amazing. It was truly hard fought as well - 7-6 (8/6) 5-7 10-7. I wish I could have seen that match. Good on the brothers!

I'll keep you blogged...