Time For Talk is Over

There’s just one hour to go until it all gets underway.   I’ve exchanged my last texts with Perksy and got a bit choked up listening to Gladstone Small recounting a catch he took in 1986. Now The Ashes dominates our lives until 6th January next year.  Personally, I hope we’ve already won (or at least guaranteed retaining) them by the time the final Test in Sydney gets underway but then I’m wonderfully optimistic as already eluded to.  All day, I’ve been humming Jerusalem and I’ve been more than happy to explain the little curiosities to my uninitiated colleagues.  Why is the trophy so small?  Why’s it called the Ashes?  How come the same teams qualify every year?  Bless them.  The hairs on the back of my neck have been vertical all day.

As much as I love the banter, I’ve been trying to consider why I love this series more than other Sporting rivalry.  For lots of people the nature of the rivalry is represented by the iconic 2005 image of Freddie Flintoff consoling Brett Lee at Edgbaston but there was a more pertinent moment at The Oval in 2009 that does it for me.  You’ve read how I like to bait The Aussies and in particular Ricky Ponting.  I experienced the intense rush of excitement when Harmi sent a bouncer through his visor at Lords on the first morning in 2005.  I’ve sung the songs about him and Glenn McGrath being romantically involved and I could watch the Gary Pratt run- out all day long.  But I’ve never been as proud as when the entire crowd at The Oval gave Punter a standing ovation after his final Ashes innings on English soil.  It demonstrates the respect Cricket fans have for each other and the guys in the middle.  Rivalry was put aside to recognise a legend.  It’s the reason I love cricket more than any other sport.  Warney, Langer, Hayden, Brett Lee, Gilchrist and even Jason Gillespie:  The banter will never stop but my respect is without boundaries.  If Glenn McGrath would stop predicting 5-0 before every series, I’d add him to the list.

It was important to say that.  If for no other reason than my future in- laws might be reading this in Sydney and consider retracting their blessing in the light of what I’ve already written!

The first morning is going to be vital in setting the tone for the series.  The recent memory of Steve Harmison bowling his first delivery to second slip needs to be erased quickly.  It’s a psychological advantage the Aussies hold over us and we all know how that series panned out.  Just a thought, but I wander if any Indian bookies took a massive punt from a man with a Geordie accent on the first ball of those Ashes being a wide?  To a cynical observer, it certainly looked like he made sure.  Of course this is never to be considered and I feel dirty for even joking about it.  This is The Ashes after all.  It was the culmination of some terrible preparation and a lot of nerves.  Thankfully 2010’s build- up has been the antithesis of 2006.

Four years earlier Nasser imagined some low cloud and chose to bowl at the Aussies who made 364-2 on the first day and the writing was on the wall for another monumental failure.  1986 was the last time England had a good first day in Brisbane and it was the last time we returned home with the Urn.  1978 was even better where we had the Aussie’s 26- 6 on the first morning after they chose to bat.  We went on to hammer them 5-1.  If anything like that happens tonight I won’t be able to contain myself and I definitely won’t be sleeping.

Here’s hoping we win the toss first and foremost.  Then by the time England wakes up tomorrow morning, we’ll have made around 300 runs and we’ll still have two recognised batsmen at the crease.  I’m getting excited (very excited) just thinking about it but it’s time to stop imagining and start witnessing the reality.  Maxee predicts 3-1 England.  Come on the boys.