The Ashes Has Begun!

The media build up has made The Ashes seem the biggest cricketing event for decades. Some cricket commentators have suggested that England will win "10-nil". Why did the Australians waste the air fares?

In actual fact the series will be quite tight in my view. Both sides have decent bowling, although England's is a little more experienced and reliable and as the "experts" keep telling us, bowlers win you games which would suggest that England, coupled with home advantage, are favourites in a two-horse race.

The problem for both sides is that their batting is fragile. Australia's top order lacks experience and seemingly the ability to "bat long" in most cases. Michael Clarke is the exception and a class act, but there are large question marks over his fitness. England's batsmen have been in patchy form and seem to be pinning a lot of hope on Kevin Pietersen, who also seems to be made of digestives.

The captains are interesting to compare as well - Clarke is inventive and will outshine England's Alastair Cook who has a plan A and leaves the rest of the alphabet redundant. Australia, having already been written off, have nothing to lose.

The Ashes is a fearsome contest between two great rivals and pressure through expectation will prove a factor, but don't kid yourselves, these two teams are better matched than you may think. Since South Africa aren't playing they cricket on offer won't be of the highest quality, but do expect a close contest, not dominance of the home side over a former colony!

Long Time, No Blog

For those of you who have been checking, you'll have noticed that I haven't blogged since, well ages ago! Sorry about that but I have been quite busy.

So here's a whistlestop of my sporting and musical thoughts:

1. The Premier League - yawn! Manchester United are by far and away the best side and are going to win with about 5 games to spare. Terrific! Bye bye Roberto Mancini. QPR are proving that money doesn't guarantee anything and Reading decided to stick with the players that took them up - error.
2. The Championship - no-one actually wants to go up it seems as all the sides at the top keep dropping points. It's a great league though as it's so unpredictable. Come on Brighton! If they go up (via the play-offs) they will come straight back down, but there you go. Blackburn Rovers - oh dear!
3. Cricket - England did really well in India (who are pretty poor) but came a bit unstuck against New Zealand. I've always liked New Zealand as a side - some great players but not enough of them. England need to blood some young batsmen and sharpish, but Australia shouldn't prove too tough to beat this summer (I know we're playing New Zealand too, but it's The Ashes!). The Aussie got what can only be described as a drubbing in India.
4. Work - the end. Don't want to talk about it!
5. Depeche Mode have a new album out called "Delta Machine" - it's really good!
6. Rex The Dog have a new single and video - watch below:

I will get back into the habit of blogging so have no fear! Lots of stuff to go on about...