A comprehensive test series win over the West Indies sets us up nicely for the rest of the summer, although I think its safe to say that we won’t get too ahead of ourselves. We showed that we lost the dull series in the Caribbean earlier in the year mainly due to the pitches out there which offered absolutely nothing and that we are in fact a much better test match side than Chris Gayle’s men.

49 or so days until the first Ashes test which will be the real test of the summer, and hopefully we’ll have some good weather and media buzz around it. We still have an ODI series and Twenty20 World Cup before then, which will give players like Bopara the opportunity to continue his good form, but aside from Flintoff’s recovery I reckon our test match side is probably sorted for the first test at the Swalec Stadium on July 8th (hopefullly Prior’s fingers will be ok after Collingwood had to take the gloves in the last test!)

The Aussie squad has been announced to some discontent down under – I’ll reflect on that in another post in the next week or so!

I’m sorry, it’s not normal for me to get excited about the demise of a team, but seeing Australia battered by South Africa on Australia Day is just a little bit sweet for a pom such as myself. Just two short years ago we were on the receiving end of an Australia Day hammering, but the two years since havn’t been kind to the Aussies, and their team as I’ve mentioned already this month is a pale shadow of that one.

South Africa have been playing some good cricket of that there is no doubt (and you have to, winning both a test and one day series in Aus), but we beat the Saffers in the ODI’s 4-0 so they can’t be that good!

I’m looking forward to the Ashes even more (162 days and counting)!

Following Matty Hayden’s retirement from the International Scene, the Australian team which makes its way to these shores will be rather different from that which beat us in the first test match of the 06/07 Ashes series. Hayden is the 6th player from that team to retire after yesterday’s announcement, and with Lee and Stuart Clark currently out injured (and possibly for some time), that will leave just three players in Ponting, Hussey and Michael Clarke who set the Aussies on the road to a series whitewash still left standing.

So what does that mean for us and them though in the build up to the Ashes? There is no doubt that losing all that experience and quality makes it difficult for a team to keep up to the high standards they are used to, which was shown in their recent struggles against SA. Maybe the players in the 06/07 Ashes series were hurting after being beaten by us in ‘05 and wanted revenge, the squad of players which arrive on our shores this summer will be raw and not have experienced either the winning or losing of an Ashes series. They’ll still want to win of course, but will they have the desire to push that bit harder like they did to regain the Ashes?

England still have 8 players in and around the squad from that same game game in November ‘06, players that should have been embarrassed by what happened and will be wanting to claim back that little urn. That, topped with a dose of home advantage and a crowd right behind them will hopefully push the advantage our way – lets hope so!

Quite a lot has happened in the world of cricket since I last posted here – had a bit of time off the computer over Christmas, as I needed to recharge my writing batteries for all that 2009 brings!

I’m not going to go into too much depth right now since the test series against India is done and dusted, suffice to say there were signs that we were doing ok, without having the talent/belief to close a result out. Since then we’ve heard that captain KP and coach Moores aren’t getting along too well which doesn’t really bode well. It’s unclear how this will be resolved right now, but the ECB aren’t going to want to upset their captain and best batsman before the vital summer we face, and the Ashes series along with the Twenty20 world cup in this country.

Speaking of the Ashes, I’ve been delighted to see Australia beaten in their own back yard by South Africa! It looks like they might claw back the 3rd test, but with SA already 2 up they will win the series – the first touring side to do so in Australia for a long time. Australia really don’t look the same side they did when they beat us 5-0 in 06/07, so we could be in for a treat of an Ashes battle this summer.

Anyway, lots more to come on this blog over the next year, so keep coming back and let me know if you want to voice your opinion about any of it and I’ll be more than happy to post it here!

It didn’t take long after the first set of Ashes tickets went on sale for them to already be sold out – just a few hours. The Edgbaston test match was the first match tickets were available for, and even at the steep price of £75 all 20k odd have gone for the first three days at the end of July. I didn’t even realise they were available!

I had a right laugh at Edgbaston earlier in the year and it should be a cracker of a test to watch and a good place to enjoy your cricket. I’m sure everyone who goes will love it, even if we’re two-nil down when we get there (just being pessimistic as always..)

To be honest, I might just book some holiday off work, buy a nice new big tele and watch it that way (Ashes in HD anyone?!).