The Yorker on the Ashes: The Late Nights are Worth it for England Fans

With only a few days to the first Ashes test in Brisbane, Ashes fever is starting to kick into life. It seems over the past few days the Ashes coverage has become more prominent and the excitement of a successful winter down under has whetted our Cricket taste buds. I may be in a minority, but after a night out last Tuesday I found myself engrossed in the warm up match between England and Australia ‘A’ until glancing at my phone and noticing the time was 5.35 am! Keeping up to date as the Ashes unfold will certainly be a lot different and far more difficult than the long, lazy summer days spent listening to Test Match Special when the sporting spectacle is contested in England’s green and pleasant land. Now, only for the very keen, it will mean long nights of solitude following the team’s progress and drinking lots of caffeine the following day to stay awake!

Since the very first Ashes in 1882, it has become one of sport’s biggest rivalries. The current overall standings naturally has Australia in first place with 31 series wins to England’s 29 (with the remaining 5 series being draws).

We have to go back quite a way to the 1986-87 season to when England last tasted success in Australia. After a win in the Summer in 1985 they retained the Ashes with a 3-1 series win. A rather depressing era of Australian dominance followed throughout the 90s and into the new millennium. The Australian team was brimming with world stars from the star siblings of World Cricket, the Waugh Brothers, to the emerging talent of an Ashes legend, Shane Warne.

However, the new century did signal a change in English cricket and this was highlighted in the enthralling 2005 series. The country was taken by Ashes storm as England pulled off a hard fought 2-1 victory perhaps with a little luck on the way most notably with a well placed cricket ball under Glenn McGrath’s foot.

So, can we expect a win for England this time around? Let’s hope so. After the 2009 win, England have got to be slight favourites despite the Aussies being at home. The England team over the past two years or so has been moulded into a solid unit with the work begun by Peter Moores and followed on by Andy Flower. Led by the ever impressive Andrew Strauss all areas of the team are looking strong. We have the best spinner in world cricket, Graeme Swann and personally I believe Stuart Broad could play a huge part in this Ashes series. I am big fan of Broad and his development into a full international all rounder has been exciting to watch. We have the youthful exuberance of Steve Finn another exciting young bowling prospect along with the Irish magic of Eoin Morgan who will be a key player, especially in the shorter form of the game. This, coupled with the Ashes experience of players such as Anderson, Collingwood and hopefully a rejuvenated Pietersen they will hope that the trophy will be travelling back on the plane with them.

As for Australia, their team is a lot weaker than previous series. They have reduced their squad down to 13 for the first test at the Gabba and there are some less well known names in there. Of course we must not forget the extremely experienced Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke who along with Hussey will be Australia’s key men at the crease. Not forgetting Marcus North and the newly crafted opening batsmen, Shane Watson. However despite some experience in the aforementioned there will be an Ashes and Test debut for Xavier Doherty, a slow left-armer. Australia’s bowling attack is certainly nothing on England’s, taking into consideration the poor form and injury-prone Peter Sidell and Hilfenhaus.

It’s going to be an exciting spectacle and I envisage a few late nights ahead this winter, but in the end, I expect an England victory. But only just.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.