The Ashes

[albertjohn]

In a little under 9 hours, at 00.01 GMT on Thursday 25 November 2010, Australia will host England in their attempt to win back the Ashes. If you are English or Australian, this is likely to be the most important sporting contest there is.

 

It promises to one of the most closely fought Test series in years and is always very spicy. Can't wait.

 

Why The Ashes? See below

 

http://www.lords.org/history/the-ashes/

[BT Bob]

Ah yes - I'll be following closely.

 

With the added buzz that my brother lives in Sydney - so a bit of rivalry going on there. We have a small wager going on there, so bring 'em on..

[milod]

<chortle>

 

When I saw the way this thread displayed on my browser, my first thought was, "Gee, is he having some sort of problems with insects around his guitar."

 

Ashes and insects? <grin> The clacking little handheld device?

 

Opened it to see... Oops... cricket as in the game.

 

Ah, yes... separated by a common language at times, we are...

 

m

[Jeff-7]

Yeah I thought you were going to post a video of you going postal on some 6 legged creatures.

[sparky scott 29]

Wood Bores'

[Duende]

back on topic; Yep we will be watching all we can and hoping we can end the years of pain. Football is my sporting passion, but as you know being an England fan is not an easy ride LOL. Lets hope we can restore some pride on the cricket field!

 

Matt

[mcmurray]

Good luck guys.

 

You'll need it

[mcmurray]

Siddle is the man!

 

Day One report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8158896/The-Ashes-2010-Australia-v-England-first-Test-day-one-report.html

[albertjohn]

Dream start for the Aussies. Siddle must be on cloud 9.

 

But this is not the England team of 4 years ago.

 

Gonna be a long winter.

 

Any chance of rain is Brisbane? :lol:

[EuroAussie]

Definitely first day must go to the Aussies, amazing what a hat trick can do :-)

[Duende]

ha ha! We won

 

Matt

[albertjohn]

It just like watching Australia for all those years.

 

England have learned some harse lessons in Aus over the years and it's great to see Strauss and the team being utterly ruthless.

 

Still 3 tests to go and all to play for. Mitchell Johnson is bound to be recalled and I reckon the groundsmen in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney are under strict instruction to produce result wickets with nice green tops. This won't help Swann but Anderson, Finn and Tremlett (?) will love it.

 

One thing missing from this Ashes series is the relentless Aussie sledging. The most famous one was Glann McGrath to Eddo Brandes, Zimbabwe's No11 who occupied the crease for longer than Mcgrath thought necessary.

 

"Hey Eddo, why are you so fat?"

 

"Because every time I f*** your wife, she gives me a biscuit!"

 

The sport of Gentlemen

[TommyK]

Awww shucks. I thought this thread was about bugs.

[Duende]

LOL!

 

After so many football disappointments I was thrilled to be woken up to hearing England won for once! They certainly have turned this around so far!

 

Matt

[DanvillRob]

<chortle>

 

When I saw the way this thread displayed on my browser, my first thought was, "Gee, is he having some sort of problems with insects around his guitar."

 

Ashes and insects? <grin> The clacking little handheld device?

 

Opened it to see... Oops... cricket as in the game.

 

Ah, yes... separated by a common language at times, we are...

 

m

 

And I thought it had to do with Buddy Holly!

[milod]

Rob...

 

Only if you knew Peggy Sue.

 

All kidding aside, Americans used to know nothing of "soccer/football" and now they do - but I seriously doubt that cricket will be a game understood very well here at all.

 

I've noted that there may indeed be references to the game prior to 1800 in the 13 American colonies and nascent United States, but... I ain't seen one myself. Our "baseball" is obviously something of a derivative, but...

 

m

[DanvillRob]

Rob...

 

Only if you knew Peggy Sue.

 

All kidding aside, Americans used to know nothing of "soccer/football" and now they do - but I seriously doubt that cricket will be a game understood very well here at all.

 

I've noted that there may indeed be references to the game prior to 1800 in the 13 American colonies and nascent United States, but... I ain't seen one myself. Our "baseball" is obviously something of a derivative, but...

 

m

 

 

Milo, yeah...I've not seen an actual match either....

 

I was thrown off by the subtitle, (a cricket related thread)... I kind of recall that the Clearlake, IA plane crash resulted in a fire.... could have been an "ugly thread"!

[Duende]

oh dear

[Tman]

My sister lives in Melbourne and my good friend with whom I've actually seen a cricket game with lives in Monmouth, England. I cheer for both. The game is incredibly infectious I must say although I still don't understand it well enough to talk strategy.

[milod]

Actually I knew Clear Lake, Iowa, rather well when the plane went down.

 

So... if one might make a parallel here, knowledge of the topography and weather made that plane crash quite meaningful to me even that age, well beyond the matter of listening to the music.

 

The game Cricket is perhaps not dissimilar.

 

I don't now the topograpy (rules) of the game. I don't know the players involved. So... in a sense, one might suggest that we've very different cultures involved. I doubt most Brazilians cared much about the plane crash in Iowa because they weren't involved. Ditto you and I with the Ashes thing.

 

Whatever... Actually I don't recall any references to the game in the "colonies" from, say 1690 through 1800, in any original sources or "histories" I've read.

 

m

[DanvillRob]

Actually I knew Clear Lake, Iowa, rather well when the plane went down.

 

So... if one might make a parallel here, knowledge of the topography and weather made that plane crash quite meaningful to me even that age, well beyond the matter of listening to the music.

 

The game Cricket is perhaps not dissimilar.

 

I don't now the topograpy (rules) of the game. I don't know the players involved. So... in a sense, one might suggest that we've very different cultures involved. I doubt most Brazilians cared much about the plane crash in Iowa because they weren't involved. Ditto you and I with the Ashes thing.

 

Whatever... Actually I don't recall any references to the game in the "colonies" from, say 1690 through 1800, in any original sources or "histories" I've read.

 

m

 

Ain't it funny...you can say "Ashes & Cricket" to one set of people, and they immediately think of a scenario... say the same words to another set of people and get an entirely different scenario! Probably one reason why people give totally different accounts of the same event.

[albertjohn]

Actually I knew Clear Lake, Iowa, rather well when the plane went down.

 

So... if one might make a parallel here, knowledge of the topography and weather made that plane crash quite meaningful to me even that age, well beyond the matter of listening to the music.

 

The game Cricket is perhaps not dissimilar.

 

I don't now the topograpy (rules) of the game. I don't know the players involved. So... in a sense, one might suggest that we've very different cultures involved. I doubt most Brazilians cared much about the plane crash in Iowa because they weren't involved. Ditto you and I with the Ashes thing.

 

Whatever... Actually I don't recall any references to the game in the "colonies" from, say 1690 through 1800, in any original sources or "histories" I've read.

m

 

Please see attached.

 

http://www.lords.org/history/mcc-history/

 

The MCC, who are based at Lords (that's not very far from Abbey Road for all you Beatles fans tuning in) is the traditional "home of cricket". A form of the game was played in 16th century but the foundations of the modern games and its laws (and more importantly the Spirit) was developed by MCC.

 

It was exported to most of the large British colonies and is still played there. It is bordering on a religion in India and Pakistan and both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have national teams playing at the highest level. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have long established national sides. Zimbabwe (formerly the British colony of Rhodesia) have a national side but for political reasons do not play on the national level.

 

But it has never caught on in USA and Canada, although Canada do participate in the World Cup but are not a Test Match playing nation.

 

The Ashes (today a series of five, five day Test Matches) date back to the 1880s and are arguably one of the fiercest rivalries in sport (if you are English or Australian). Australia have dominated for most of the second half of the last century and England have not won an Ashes series in Australia since 1986/87, 24 long years.

 

It's a big deal!!

 

England are 1-0 up after 2 matches and will retain the Ashes if they win or draw the series overall.

[Duende]

Cheers for that interesting read

 

I will definitely have to get a football thread going soon! After all, football (soccer to Americans) is THE biggest spectator sport in the world and played by the whole world too. I just wish we were a little more proficient at it LOL

 

Matt

[Tman]

Cheers for that interesting read

 

I will definitely have to get a football thread going soon! After all, football (soccer to Americans) is THE biggest spectator sport in the world and played by the whole world too. I just wish we were a little more proficient at it LOL

 

Matt

 

I'll look forward to that Matt. I was in Berlin last summer sitting outside at a restaurant eating Flammkucken completely surrounded by Britishers while watching the England - US game. Now that was something! I must say the English fans were way harder on themselves than they were on us. I am hooked for life now, love the game.

[Duende]

Cheers my good man!

 

I love football the most, but enjoy watching Boxing and Rugby too.

 

 

In the World Cup, teams like Ghana and the USA played with exceptional team spirit and positive attitude. An excited Ghana fan hit the nail on the head when he said that Ghana, despite having less 'name players' than the England team, were better because they worked together. England were like 11 egotistical session musicians who were all excellent in their own right, but as a group sounded aloof and had no musical rapport. That is my musical analogy of their play! LOL

It was England's most lack lustre and draining performance I have ever seen in a major tournament.

 

Every night their are football games on Sky sports I am there! I support FC Barcelona but more a fan of players than teams I suppose!

 

I have adopted Spain as a national team to support (I know that is cheating but I play Spanish guitar if that qualifies me LOL)

 

Sorry Albert for footballising your cricket thread LOL

 

Matt