Thursday, September 08, 2005
Oval-time
It is 18 years since England last won an Ashes cricket series, and today, in about an hour, they go into the fifth test with every chance of once more re-claiming the urn.
The hype is unbelievable - newspapers, radio, TV, are all full of it. Everyone is an expert it seems, or has a view. The bookies make England 3-1 outsiders to win this game. Simon Jones is out with an ankle injury and England therefore have to make their first personnel change of the whole series - Anderson (perceived positive move) or Collingwood (negative). The pressure to "not-lose" is intense. Glenn McGrath is fit for Australia. The Aussie batters are due to get runs in a test. Warney is taking wickets at an incredible pace. The pressure to "win" is intense.
Pressure has dominated this whole series: England could not maintain pressure after a great first day performance at Lords; England applied pressure at Edgbaston and held on to win; The Aussies coped (just about) with the pressure at Old Trafford; England struggled with the pressure at Trent Bridge but still prevailed. Who will handle it better today, and for the next few days? I don't have the answer, but in the spirit of my predictions on this site always being wrong, I'll go for the Aussies.
The toss will be crucial again (two-all in the series...), with England expected to bat if they win it. If Punter calls right (he always calls heads) will he bat, or put England in due to the fact he has to bowl us out twice? I reckon he'll chose to bat, and apply pressure through attacking fields and bowling later. Then it will be a case of seeing if England can cope. If England do bat first, whoever wins the toss, the hope is that they can bat Australia out of the game; the danger is they fail and are then chasing a large Aussie total in order to save the game - a scenario they will dread (and ultimately fail against).
That's it. A long summer of cricket is drawing to a close. This is the last match of the series. It could be a fantastic few days, or it could be that my newly grown little fingernail will be getting a good chewing once more!
Play!
The hype is unbelievable - newspapers, radio, TV, are all full of it. Everyone is an expert it seems, or has a view. The bookies make England 3-1 outsiders to win this game. Simon Jones is out with an ankle injury and England therefore have to make their first personnel change of the whole series - Anderson (perceived positive move) or Collingwood (negative). The pressure to "not-lose" is intense. Glenn McGrath is fit for Australia. The Aussie batters are due to get runs in a test. Warney is taking wickets at an incredible pace. The pressure to "win" is intense.
Pressure has dominated this whole series: England could not maintain pressure after a great first day performance at Lords; England applied pressure at Edgbaston and held on to win; The Aussies coped (just about) with the pressure at Old Trafford; England struggled with the pressure at Trent Bridge but still prevailed. Who will handle it better today, and for the next few days? I don't have the answer, but in the spirit of my predictions on this site always being wrong, I'll go for the Aussies.
The toss will be crucial again (two-all in the series...), with England expected to bat if they win it. If Punter calls right (he always calls heads) will he bat, or put England in due to the fact he has to bowl us out twice? I reckon he'll chose to bat, and apply pressure through attacking fields and bowling later. Then it will be a case of seeing if England can cope. If England do bat first, whoever wins the toss, the hope is that they can bat Australia out of the game; the danger is they fail and are then chasing a large Aussie total in order to save the game - a scenario they will dread (and ultimately fail against).
That's it. A long summer of cricket is drawing to a close. This is the last match of the series. It could be a fantastic few days, or it could be that my newly grown little fingernail will be getting a good chewing once more!
Play!
