Now, I may be a little late to the party on this so if you already knew about it, great, if you didn’t – read on. I received an e-mail last night from Amazon which caught my attention since there was a picture of KP on the front of a computer game called “Ashes 09″. Pretty crappy name for a game if you ask me as people don’t immediately know if you’re playing a game or talking about the real thing, but never mind. When I read a bit more about it, it was clear that it was from the same people as the successful “Brian Lara” series of games, updated for 2009.

There is a demo on the XBox marketplace for those of you inclined like that, or you can wait until the game is released a week on Friday (7th August). I would normally pre-order it straight away from somewhere like amazon, but since my xbox is broken I’m going to have to hope a mate buys it instead for the moment!

Game wise, there is a lot of talk about new features, upgraded gameplay and graphics etc. The last game was pretty playable, but was horribly unfinished and full of little annoying bugs that hopefully they’ve ironed out this time. From the videos I’ve see, Ashes 09 should continue the series pretty well, although it is only “licensed” from the looks of things by the ECB and Cricket Australia, which might mean they are the only teams with “proper” names, which may only sound like a little bugbear, but doesn’t help with the “realism” experience.

Anyway, since I can’t play it at the moment I shall leave it to you in the comments to let me know what you think of the game (demo or otherwise)!

I had a great Monday morning this week watching us knock over the five remaining Aussie wickets without much of a problem. Going one up in the test series was a must to keep the country positive that we can regain the Ashes, and it was mainly built around a great first innings with the bat and ball for us. Captain Strauss turned up with the bat and super Jimmy with the ball, but it was Freddie in the second innings who really captured the countries imagination, bowling with real intention all morning and making what could have been a tense day very enjoyable.

Yes, Ricky Ponting could argue certain things didn’t go their way but that’s test cricket and to give him his due he took it pretty well in the post match interviews. I’m sure that off camera though he wasn’t quite so begruding, and I reckon we’ll need to watch out as he’ll want to come out in the next test and really show what he and the Aussie team can do. It probably good for us that its at Edgbaston, a ground where the crowd really come to life so hopefully they won’t have a chance to settle.

There are a few injury doubts before the next test, but we still have another week to go which should give various members of the team a chance to rest and recover, as I’d like to go in with the same 11 and give them a real chance to take a two nil lead going into the final two tests. It won’t be easy and we’ll still have to play bloody well, but it is do-able and imagine the feel good factor around the country if we do it!

Edit – As I wrote the above I hadn’t heard about KP’s injury being as bad as it turned out and requiring surgery. He is now out for the rest of the series which is a huge blow as he is the sort of player who has the ability to put together a match winning innings, something I’m not sure we can say about those now in contention to replace him. As much as I moan when he gets out playing a stupid shot which isn’t in the best interests of the team, we still need him big style – but now is the time for someone else to step up to the plate… Michael Vaughan…. fancy coming out of retirement?!

For a while during the first Ashes test match it felt like I was back in Australia like 07/08 watching us get hammered by the Aussies, but for a few hours on Sunday night we pulled off a great escape when it looked almost certain to be a lost cause. If it wasn’t for Collingwood we wouldn’t have got there, if more of the top order had his determination and cool-headedness we wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Still, a dramatic end after what was a slow to get started Test Match in what we hope will be a great Ashes series.

The batting was a real worry, as Ponting said, there was nothing in the pitch as they showed by scoring 670 before declaring. Maybe it’s the tenseness of a the first Ashes test, maybe the England guys believed some of the hype that the Aussie bowling attack was weak but it just looked like the Australians wanted it more. Bowling wise Broad and Swann didn’t have good games but they cannot be dropped despite one newspaper hack calling for Broad to be dropped. They just need to go with clear heads into the next test, maybe with better plans for each of the Australian batsmen and an additional seamer in for Panesar (we don’t need two spinners at Lord’s) and we can bounce back from this.

Well, obviously not at batting, but as a captain, according to former Australian pace bowler Jeff Thompson. When I heard the interview last night I laughed as it isn’t one of those quotes taken out of context, he honestly believes that Ponting is a rubbish captain and isn’t afraid to say it.

I know there are ex-players out there with some forthright opinions (hello Ian Botham), but to actually come out and call your captain crap just over a week before the first ashes test is genius! My guess is that it won’t affect Ponting, he probably already knows what people think about him now as he’s been captain of Australia long enough, but still, hardly a good vote of confidence!

England’s pre-Ashes squad was announced today and there were two main things – No Harmy or Vaughan, and the inclusion of Rashid. On the first point, I said a while back I wanted Vaughan in the side, but he’s been playing county cricket without playing well enough to force the selectors to pick him in the squad, and Bell probably deserves his place in the squad. Harmy has done well, but I fear him letting us down on countless occasions when we expected big things from him has gone against him. Rashid coming in is exciting – he showed promise in the Twenty20 and it could be argued to give him a go ahead of Monty and alongside Swann. Monty has definately dropped down the pecking order over the last twelve months, maybe paying the price for not being multi-dimensional enough, but he gets a chance in the Lions team to play Australia prior to the first test.

I was impressed with the returning Sidebottom in the Twenty20, bowling with good pace and aggression which suggests his immediate injury problems are behind him. I still struggle to see him getting in the side though with Anderson, Broad, a fit Freddie and debut sensation Onions in front of him. Nothing too much to discuss on the batting side – its probably quite settled with Prior at 6, Freddie at 7 and Broad 8 in the lower middle order for me and I’d be quite confident going into the Ashes with that line up.

In just over 2 weeks time it’ll be time for the talking to finish and the action to start, I can’t wait…