Ashes Triumph

I have recovered from all the excitement of The Ashes sufficiently enough to be able to talk about it. I'm still buzzing though.

We must not underestimate the achievement of winning out in Australia. I know I've said it a million times but beating them at home for the first time in 24 years is a big big thing. After the 86/87 Ashes, England had been resoundly thumped by Australia for 18 straight years (ok, that's only 8 actual Tests but it's still a hell of a long time). 2005 was a great year for English cricket and winning The Ashes for the first time since the mid-eighties proved that, but the whitewash in Australia in 2006/07 brought us back down to Earth and it was clear it'd take something (someone) special to win away from home.

For me, Strauss was that someone special. His calm, no nonsense, relaxed but decisive captaincy, and his ability to lead by example (think the last Test and his explosive 60 from 58 balls), no doubt inspired the rest of the team to the greatness we knew they were capable of. And with the self-assured Cook likely to follow, the future, in my humble opinion, is pretty rosey.

The Aussie Open starts tonight which is very good news indeed. I've got a two hour tennis lesson from 8-10, then a couple of hours later I'll be snuggled up in front of my TV with The Fed for company.

I'll keep you blogged...

Straussism...

"...you've got to be very anal with the way you treat the ball and keep it dry."

Beautiful.

I'll keep you blogged...

Last Test: Day 4

England reached a magnificent total of 644, which is a record folks! The previous biggest score in Australia by us Brits was 636 in that stella 1928 Test, in which Wally Hammond made 251. Prior, Bell, and Cook all made centuries, and the tail enders heaped up an impressive amount of runs, with Swann at one point hitting 17 in one over off a crazily wayward Mitchell Johnson.

It was all set up, however, by a superb innings by El Capitan himself, Andrew Strauss. He stormed out of the blocks, set the pace, and left Cook to get another huge score. The rest of the boys followed his example nicely and all in all it was a beautiful day's batting.

The Aussie's came into bat and had to had to had to get a good start to have any hope of achieving the HUGE score they needed. Did they start well? Um, not really. Watson and Hughes had a comedy moment of 'to me to you' and a grinning Pieterson ran a bemused Watson out. Not great. And it didn't get any better. They finished the day 21...

00:56 - ENGLAND WIN THE ASHES BY AN INNINGS AND 84 RUNS!! TREMLETT BOWLED BEER OUT AND EVERYONE WENT A LITTLE CRAZY. MY BROTHER AND I JUMPED AROUND THE ROOM LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY.

CANNOT TYPE RIGHT NOW...

TOO EXCITED...

MORE LATER...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!

I'll keep you blogged...

On the verge...

England are on the verge of an historic victory in Australia. Having already retained the Ashes in the last Test, they are looking to win the Series in Sydney and win in Australia for the first time in 25 years.

Days two and three of the final Test couldn't have gone better, especially for Cook and, later, Bell. England have reached the ominous total of 488-7, a 208 lead at stumps. Strauss got England nicely into the groove with a very un-Strauss-like innings of 60 off of 58 balls. He went storming out of the blocks like a man possessed and had chalked up a very impressive score in no time at all. Twas a shame when he edged inside to hit his own stumps but the Captain definitely made a statement. Cook, scoring a lot more slowly than Strauss, took over the mantel and made steady progress as he saw Trott (0), Pieterson (36), Anderson - the Night Watchman (7), and Collingwood (13 - his last Test perhaps?) come and go. When Bell arrived, Cook was in desperate need of a long-term partner, and England were in need of a fair few more runs. Bell stepped up to the challenge. Together they put on 154 before Cook edged a drive to gully off Watson for 189.

Cook has now made 766 runs this Series, second only to Wally Hammond's 905 in the 1928/29 Ashes series. He's surpassed the likes of Geoffrey Boycott and Graham Gooch to become England's second highest run scorer in a single Ashes series. He's spent a record breaking 36 hours at the crease this series, which is just completely ridiculous. Not only has Cook smashed all these records, he's also 26, has an awesome name, has beautiful hair and possibly the best jawline in sport. I know, I know, I'm fickle and false - how quickly I've forgotten my Broad - but life is short and we all have to move on. I think Alastair's a better fit for me anyway. I've never really liked blondes...

After Cook went, Prior came on and together with Bell built an impressive 107 runs before Bell was finally despatched for 115. England ended the day on 488-7 and have all but secured at least a draw in Sydney, and therefore a win. YES PLEASE!!

I'll keep you blogged...

Last Test: Day 1

When I left you yesterday Australia were 53-0. They were scoring but not too heavily and certainly not quickly. The conditions were cloudy and there was some swing but it was a slow old start. Lunch was looming and not a lot was happening when Tremlett made the first breakthrough - Hughes edged to the safe hands of Collingwood for 31. That was a big wicket.

The Aussie's plowed on after lunch and reached 105-1 before Bresnan struck. He forced Watson (45) into edging a shot to Strauss who took a pretty comfortable catch. Swann took out new boy Khawaja (the first Muslim to play for Australia) for a respectable and exciting 37. Clarke, ready to impress in his new role as Captain, will be mightily disappointed that he went out for a measly 4. The Aussie's finished the day on 134-4 which I'm pretty sure they were not happy with. Lets see what tonight brings...

Oh, and a quick word about Darts (again, I know). John 'Boy' Walton and Martin 'Wolfie' Adams played the best, most exciting darts game I've ever seen this evening. Wolfie won the sudden death leg and scraped through into the quarters. Sudden death in darts (in this round) means they've reached 3-3 (sets), 5-5 (legs). That's a whole lot of darts thrown, I can tell you. It was awesome - so awesome, in fact, that I'm watching the highlights of it right now even though I watched it in its entirety earlier.

TENNIS: Aussie Open count down has begun... 13 days, people, 13!!

I'll keep you blogged...

Darts: Magic

Brother: I like O'Shea.

Me (instantly and with some intensity): The 'Silverback'? Oh yeah.

And yes, people, you heard it right - Ted 'The Count' Hanky is back from injury and will be battling with Scottie 'Too Hottie' Can't-remember-his-last-name tomorrow at 1pm. Be there or miss out on the bat-throwing madness.

The final Test of the 2010/11 Ashes has begun. The Aussie's won the toss and have chosen to bat first and are currently on 53-0. Come ON England!!

I'll keep you blogged...

Darts

"Alan Soutar is the fittest man ever to take on the oche." Rob Walker, 2011