Not quite a whimper, but....

....as Rahul commented, certainly not the nail-biting exciting finishes of the last three matches that everyone was hoping for. Australia had a chance when they had England at 199 for 7 before tea- but Kevin Pietersen simply took it away. The ending was a bit farcial with the Australian openers returning to the pavilion on account of bad lights and a bit of confusion reigning over the official announcement of a by-then forgone result.

Kudos to England for regaining the Ashes (after 18 years) - I can understand the excitement of the supporters from nation where hype and expectations have mostly trumped real achievements in the field. After the first test, England certainly had the better of the exchanges with the decisive factor being Freddie Flintoff - he provided the balance in the English team - bowling fast and reverse swinging to get cruical wickets and then coming in 4/5 down to score important runs. He is probably the best all-rounder in the game at the moment. Eventually, as another cricketing-cliche goes, it was the game that was the winner. A standard has been set for competitive test cricket. Unfortunately, the two other series (Ind-Zim and SL-Bang.) currently in progress certainly won't provide that kind of intensity.

What an ending.....

(...no this is not about ending the blog)

My last post was about the first day of the second Ashes test. Haven't had time to write in between (will comment on that in another post) - but fittingly, I am coming out of hibernation to write about the last day of the last test - going on now. So much has happened since that second test, which England went on to win, followed by a draw and yet another win for England. This Ashes has lived up to all its pre-series expectations and hyperboles and even more. Sometime you wonder if someone actually scripted all this drama as an advertisement for Test cricket. And just when you thought that there could be no more twists and turns - with England, helped by the weather, seemingly in control of the last test (a draw will win them the Ashes 2-1), Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, those two old war-horses, pick up a couple of wicket's each on the last day morning, to leave the test in a tantalizing position. Can Australia get England our cheaply and chase down 200 odd runs in quick time ?
As the master of malaproprism said and has been subsequetly hackneyed by cricket commentators, 'It ain't over 'til it's over'. Looking forward to an exciting two sessions.