Sunday, August 7

Sunday

What was a scintillating Saturday should make for an overwhelming weekend as England are poised for a famou win. Spearheaded by the talented, spirited, passionate and thoroughly enjoyable Andrew Flintoff, England are on the brink of an Ashes victory that actually matters, squaring up a series that is justifying all the hype that preceded it. This the second match truly was a crucial one- a win for Australia would pretty much ensure which way the Ashes were blowing- the same theu have been for 17 years. In the face of that, England have come up with a spirited performance in a seesawing match- in the process entertaining us no end. While this is hardly conventional Test cricket, no one can argue that this is afr too entertaining to condemn. One day hangover or carelessness, who cares?

Meanwhile theother cricket for the Sunday has turned out to be a semi final with the West Indies oulling off a surprise win over Sri Lanka yesterday. And, this was a Lankan side that included Murali, Zoysa and Jayasuriya. Today, though, they will be without the consistent though irritating Chanderpaul, leaving them a terribly inexperienced side (um, they have been one all tour, actually). Kumble and Yuvraj come in from the previous match, but I have still seen pretty much nothing of the series, and it promises to stay that way.

The Ashes, on the other hand, are coming out of my ears- and I would not have it any other way. Who cares who to support, when there is such fantastic cricket to see, and cricket with such an edge.

2 comments:

Ashwin Ramachandran said...

It was pretty amazing! I decided to watch the Ind WI match and in the middle of a rotten Indian top order batting show a stunned Ian Chappell announced that the Aussies had almost done it. I almost choked on my coffee and any thoughts of live blogging the match went out the window. But BBC Radio had already ended its coverage by that time...damn! But the Yuvraj-Kaif show was refreshing but the bowling was pathetic once more. After having them at around 120-6, they allowed WI to 255. I thought, this is a day of amazing fightbacks. I like the look of this WI team, if the bowlers can get a little more discipline they have the pace to trouble any top-line batting team. And they just need a Gayle and a Sarwan to become a top-notch one-day unit. Awesome but somewhat bemusing day all round.

shakester said...

very bemusing day, to saythe least! I dont have access to the Sri Lanka series, and just as well- I could foocus completely (liek I had a choice) on Edgbaston, which was nerve-racking. I can only imagone what the English and Aussies must have gone through...brilliant stuff