Well, here it is. Play starts at midnight tonight. It's challenging for us working people to follow, I typically try and wake up early at around 5am to catch up each day and check score on the iPad then will put TMS on while I get ready for work. On the weekends I try and stay up late and try and catch a hour or 2 in the evening.
Stephen Fry will read an adaptation of the 'Land Of Nod' by Robert Louis Stevenson on TMS coverage tonight before the first test starts:
"From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod...."
For all you fellow TMS listeners that will fall asleep with your headphones on...here's to you!
Bring on the Gabbatoir! Roooooooooooooooooot!
Comments
All the jaw jaw coming out of the aussie camp, they sound a bit concerned.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
They always do that in the run up to a home Ashes series. It is a ritual of sorts.
Another ritual of mine is the free exchange of faintly insulting e-mail with a couple of Strines.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I too am concerned about our batting against serious pace.
Oh Ben where are you ....
I'm actually not worried about the lack of Stokes. With so much focus on one man, it might well get the team stronger together to not have that headline maker in the side.
The Australian selection policy is wild. Bringing Tim Paine back is like the FA phoning up Peter Shilton for a night at Wembley but it is a measure of the lack of backup in Australia. Sam Whiteman might well have played had it not been for a serious finger injury earlier in the season. Pace has been decided to be the way to victory. Jarrod Kimber's article on Cricinfo now nails it:
http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1126665/in-pace-we-trust
When the Aussie selectors get stuck into a process, they run with it even when the evidence says no. Their obsession with all-rounders after 2005 and Flintoff saw them fuck Shane Watson up by never finding him a consistent role. They've dabbled with all-rounders in recent times, Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Marsh, and Glenn Maxwell being the obvious ones. When they found a calm young opener in Renshaw, they've unceremoniously dumped him and brought back Shaun Marsh, the eternal second choice.
Like us, the selections scream one thing: that first class cricket is being shat upon by the shorter formats and fucking up the development of Test players.
So we shouldn't fear their seam attack. Accept that with Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood, it's likely that there will be one or two sessions minimum when they kick the shit out of us. But the same is true of their batsmen. A lot of that side know Anderson is dangerous and a lot of that side will remember Broad killing them at Trent Bridge. In Ball, Woakes, and Overton, we have some good canny seamers. Moeen is fine, we might spring the Crane surprise at Sydney if it looks like a two-spinner wicket..
It's going to be a real up and down Test series, much like the last one we played against South Africa.
In comes Root, we need him to get a start and dig in.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
Not sure about the TV coverage, Nice having Boycott on commentary, but it doesn't seem as polished as Sky.
Lyon bowled absolutely beautifully. If he's getting that amount of turn on the first day, then Moeen should have some fun. Might even be worth getting Malan on with some leg breaks before intervals or after drinks breaks when concentration might not be as it should be.
I liked the commentary. It made a refreshing change. That said, TMS came on after 30 minutes as usual
Excellent day of Test cricket.