Definition of the week - "Reverse Swing"

Going to a couple swapping party and ending up with your wife.

Back to good old banality

The Ashes have ended in a stream of superlatives from players, commentators and fans - "It's been absolutely fabulous...", "Outstandingly breathtaking, really", "I'm speechlessly speechless..", "'ere now Aggers, leave me alone wi' me Shampane" and so on. I feel it is my duty to jump onto the bandwagon. For a change, it won't quite be off the mark.

An exhilerating summer has sadly come to an end. A summer which rekindled a love for the game, not just in me, but in several others who were slightly worried about declining standards and the negative effect of the one-day game on proper cricket. Watching the Ashes has been akin to turning the cellphone off and taking a long, comfortable (and well deserved, mind you) mid-weekday nap. A wonderful break from the real world to get a glimpse of some exotc parallel universe where everthing is beautiful - especially the cricket.

Sadly now, its back to the banalities of real life like Champions league games between the inevitable struggling but spirited crap team and a team that can buy it up several hundred times over. Or worse still, the India-Zimbabwe series and the ball-by-ball coverage on cricinfo with moments of sheer genius like this one, "...played down to mid-on region, this time fielder attack the ball and cut offs the single."

Gas Chamber of Good Health

Allright, so I was wrong. Harmison wasn't the bowling hero... but atleast he was the joint highest English wicket-taker in the game.

Well, it's all shaped up nicely so far. Vaughan's captaincy has been inspired at times, especially in comparison to Ponting's whose strange decisions have evened up the series. On paper, Australia should be destroying England, given how accomplished almost the entire squad is, but Ponting's perpetual poor choices and apparent lack of insight into the game have made it more of a contest. A lot of critics have questioned his decision to bowl first at Edgbaston and his constant affinity for defensive fields even when his team had a slight edge during a session. I feel one of the things that's going to change by the next series in this Australian team, irrespective of the result of this one, is the captaincy.

A lot of people are getting carried away with the tension and extensive media coverage of this series and forgetting that the India-Australia series early last year was almost equally exciting. Yes, this has been a brilliant Ashes, but there have been some great test series before this one. They're just not as fresh in our memories.

In any case, here's to hoping Simon Jones sucks in enough oxygen in that chamber of his to be ready for the Oval and win me some money. Champagne is on me, in such an eventuality. (I could actually tell him a thing or two about a lack of oxygen, what with all my adventures in the company of Yellowbottom.... but I digress - that is a story for another blog)