All excitement here, as anyone who knows me will attest, with the first day of the Ashes Test. Not to be slowed down by things like school or work, I was able to follow all the action via Baggygreen on the projector all day. With a cricket day forecast in the classroom, my students did plenty of maths using cricket stats, practised reading lists through quizzes about cricket records, and examined the history of the Ashes (I’m not joking, by the way). The upside was, we got to watch the commentry click over as well as rejoice when Langer made a 50, and Punter made his century.
I’m not sure where they got the on-line commentators from, but they were pure gold… unless you were an English supporter of course! I thought I’d list a few of their completely unbiased observations… I hope they are with us for the whole Ashes series! Oh, and by the way, the image is an unabided look back to my glory days… Newman Cricket, the mecca of world cricket. If only I was famous enough for them to spell my name correctly…
- Harmison to Langer, 1 wide, and it’s wild and woolly, a massive wide taken by first slip. Welcome back to Australia, Steve
- Poor, wayward start from Anderson. Poor, wayward start from England too. They’re rustier than a bag of spanners left out in the winter rain
- Hoggard to Hayden, no run, too wide for Hayden to worry about it, leaves it well alone. Perhaps this is Hoggard’s tactic…
Want to read more gold?
- 10.5 Anderson to Langer, no run, that’s nicely bowled from Anderson – that’s the line and length, forcing Langer forward and forcing him to defend his stumps. It’s not rocket science.
- 40.1 Harmison to Ponting, no run, a good ball from Harmison – yes, no need to re-read that last sentence
- Ineffective over from Giles, that. I wonder how Monty Panesar is feeling in the dressing room. Pretty glum, I’d imagine
- Security Rottweilers confiscate an inflatable balloon that was clearly threatening public order
- Andrew Miller reports that the first chants of “Hoggard’s a w****r” have been heard. Almost like Headingley …
- 33.3 Anderson to Ponting, FOUR, pulled with real class but not quite timed … however, Hoggard’s progress round the boundary was more Julie Christie than Linford Chrsitie and he bent for the ball like a 70-year-old as it trickled past him for four
- Reasonable over from Giles…but nothing more than reasonable.
- 27.3 Anderson to Langer, FOUR, Langer is feasting on this. Wide and smeared to the cover boundary. Anderson shakes his head, as well he might. Expect another complaint about the ball …
- Even the Barmy Army have tired of the two-word “Barmy Army ” chant… Aha. They were distributing new song sheets. Hymn No. 2 “Engerland, Engerland”
- Pietersen to Hussey, no run, semi appeal but no one seems sure what for, especially those making the appeal
- Giles to Ponting, no run, “Bowled Gilo”. Hmm.
- New ball due in four overs. Who will take it? Who can bowl straight?
- Pietersen to Hussey, no run, “Bowled, Kev, bowled,” go the cries and indeed Kev did bowl the ball.
- Giles to Ponting, 1 run, that could have been tight if the throw, from mid-off, had gone to the non-striker’s end. As you worked out, it didn’t
And it wasn’t just the English players that came in for treatment.
- A contented burble in the stands, but the Barmy Army have been stunned into silence by the legendary awfulness of the teatime entertainment.
- Oh my God. We have an American-style national anthem sung by a Kylie wannabe … the ceremony must have been organised by a republican.
- They thought about having another over, but Steve Bucknor’s dying for a drink and he flicks off the bails. Tea.
- Giles to Ponting, no run, There’s a big shout for lbw, there as that ball pitches on middle but the shout’s turned down. Billy Bowden, wannabe showman that he is, does the umpiring equivalent of a dummy and looks as if he’s about to give the finger, before scratching his nose.