With Christmas over, too much food eaten and lots of alcohol drunk, it can only be time to look forward to what next year brings us in cricketing terms.

England start the year in New Zealand with 5 ODI’s followed by 3 test matches – and hoping to get back on the winning trail in those test matches. The series against Sri Lanka was a huge disappointment, but New Zealand aren’t all that brilliant either at the moment and will be there for the taking. Just a couple of months after that series we play them again in England, with 5 ODI’s and 3 tests again. Lets hope it doesn’t turn out to be a “revenge” tour for losing in their back yard!

The more exciting series for me is going to be against South Africa in the latter part of the summer for 4 tests and 5 ODI’s. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see a decent amount of this series, and it could be a close one. South Africa are right up there in the second tier of test match nations, but they have just lost to West Indies in the first match of their current series. They always provide a bit of entertainment though and this should be an exciting summer.

In September we have the ICC champions trophy (yawn), before travelling to India which should be a real test of our side at that point in time. The only shame is that we are only playing 3 tests and then a huge 7 ODI’s. That will take us up to the end of the year, and although not strictly in 2008, Jan ‘09 sees us in the warmth of the West Indies (which sounds quite nice at the moment!)

So quite a good year possibly ahead, playing some good nations and trying to build ahead to June ‘09 when the Aussies return!

When I wrote my last post I honestly thought the 3rd test match would yield a result. The following two days made that presumption look very silly indeed, as the pitch looked as dull and lifeless as the previous two pitches in Sri Lanka as the home side batted away without much trouble.

Never one to let things roll along boringly, England decided to spice the game up on the 3rd day by batting like a bunch of absolute muppets. It was horrifying to wake up and see us at 40 odd for 4, and 81 all out was just disgraceful. Do the guys want to get home early for Christmas or something, as that what it bloody looks like!

Watching and supporting England never fails to shock and surprise…

Just a quick post with a possible betting tip! The 3rd test match which starts tomorrow is being delayed a session for the wicket to dry out – which means the test match is shortening, bringing the odds for a draw way in. However, the wicket is going to be damp and with both teams wanting a win, I think a result will be seen here. If Sri Lanka win then they move up to 2nd in the test rankings, if England win they salvage a draw in the series.

Odds for an England win are around 7/1, Sri Lanka about 2.5/1. I’m going to chuck a couple of quid on England at those odds, and I suggest you pick your favourite and value of the two and stick a couple of quid on it! Nothing too big mind, just in case we get a ton more rain out there and the test match becomes even shorter! And when you win money, remember where you read it first!!

It looked to me like it was going to be a draw in the 2nd test between Sri Lanka and England from about the 2nd day, and so it turned out. The scoring rates weren’t particularly fast, and the pitch was never going to break up enough to cause anything that difficult for the batsmen to face. But at least this time we managed to bat for a day and a bit without falling apart!

I didn’t actually see an awful lot of this test – the timings for people at work are awful (I need a day or 5 off), and the action has hardly been that exciting that I had to make sure I was around to watch the highlights in the evening.

One positive out of the game was the amount of overs and effort that Harmy put in, in his return to the side. Sidebottom continued to impress, and Broad had an ok, if not outstanding match.

Prior had another good game, and has probably cemented his place for the New Zealand tour, but things don’t look too good for Ravi Bop. With KP chosen to bowl quite a few overs (of spin) over Ravi (medium pace), you have to wonder what he is in the side for. There is the possibility though that we could drop a front line seamer, bring in Swanny for his first test, and then utilise Colly and Ravi for a few overs here and there.

It will be the first test match at Galle since the ground there was devastated by the Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, and seeing the pictures from back then are incredible. How the pitch will play is anybody’s guess!

Why oh why can’t we save matches?? It always feels like when it is England trying to put the pressure on to get a couple of wickets to win a game the opposition go into a mode where the stumps seem non-existent, but put England under pressure and away you go, you’ve won the game.

We can of course look back to Adelaide last year which was embarrassing, but today was pretty shocking. Even last night with just a couple of overs to face before close of play, Cook manages to complete a disastrous game by getting out for 4. This put us under pressure straight away, and then today the night watchman Anderson out scores the other opener, captain Vaughan. Then, apart from Bell and Prior, the other top line batsmen all get double figures but still get out cheaply, which really isn’t acceptable. In this situation you really need your middle order to defend for their lives so that the lower order isn’t even troubled, despite how “boring” it might be seen to be. And, unbelievably, Vaughan even has the balls to PRAISE the team for the fight they showed…. are you kidding – we lost!!

That’s the depressing England side of the game anyway, the Sri Lankan view was a lot happier. Jayasuriya played well in what turned out to be his final test match before retirement, and Sangakarra continued his fantastic form from the Australian series. And then of course we had Murali taking the world record for most test wickets. Warny and Murali have been trading the record for a while, but it is now Murali’s for a very long time I would imagine.

Where do England go from here though? There will probably be a doubt over Hoggy’s fitness, which could see Harmy return. Or do we decide to go with two spinners? And is Ravi Bop what we need at 6 seeing as he bowled a mammoth 9 overs in this match? More questions than answers after this performance…

This is something that we won’t see over in England, but last year when I was in Australia I was caught up a bit in the marketing hype, enough so that I want to post about it!

Victoria Bitter, or VB as it is more affectionately known “down under”, is an Australian lager and the company behind them have supported cricket for quite a while. The past few years they have released plastic dolls or manikins, such as the one shown to the right, which are mine! The first year was just David Boon on his own, and last year for the ashes they had Boony and Beefy (Ian Botham obviously!). Wow, so nothing special you say… well how about the fact that they talk to each other! Put these little bad boys near the tele, and when you settle down to watch Australia take on some second rate outfit from another country, they start chirping up! Its witchcraft, I tell ye! However, when I brought them back to this country they had to be moved downstairs as they were talking as I was trying to sleep!

Anyway, onto the point – this year the ambassador for VB is none other than Warney. They have changed the format slightly, so its just Shane this year, and he’s sat down in his armchair. If you’re down under you can get him if you buy a nice big pack of VB (lovely stuff, by the way – but bloody difficult to get in England!), or from the 1 st December you can get him from the online shop at www.vbwarnie.com.au Or maybe you want to buy an inflatable chair, t-shirt or hat! Also on that site there are a couple of addictive little games, desktop downloads etc. Never say I can be taken in by marketing spiel again!!

As a sidenote I think this would work ok in England, but the brands which support cricket (Marston’s), are a little more reserved and I don’t see them attempting this. But imagine how many people would get one of these with Freddie or KP on… My commission fee can be sent to me at….!