The Ashes 2025/6

Well day 4 panned out pretty much as expected. Our last hope was for Stokes an Jacks to stay there for a bit longer, but they did well to survive for a whole session. Gus Atkinson should have done better, he does have a Test century to his name after all; with 7 fielders on the leg side he seemed to want to give Australia catching practice. Not that they needed it, they took every chance they created in this match. So we are 2-0 down with three to play. We've been here before (in 2023), but we had Broad and Anderson back then. There has only been one previous occasion when a side has won the Ashes after going 2-0 down, which was Don Bradman's side in the 1930's. We had hopes that the Storm brewing might help us, but to no avail. Storm brewing? Apparently not. Heading for defeat but still enjoying ourselves. L:R Mary & Steve M, Steve B, the author, Ian D, Paul, Shaun,Tim, Bill D. Photo credit: Steve Bramley. At some point the Aussies copied the the rather bizarre field ...

Well not a good day Australia posting 2^9 -1 anyone would think they were computer scientists... England in reply were pretty abysmal being 48-0 at one point we thought things might work out. The Sunday headlines are going to be brutal I got arrested by Starwars stormtroopers when leaving the ground, on account of being an England fan, and not a computer scientist. These guys had a whole block of seats in the ground, it was a mass of white, the could've doubled up as the sight screen. There must have been 300 of them at least, and all organised by one guy apparently Star Wars: The Oversight edition (in joke ask Steve Bramley) photo credit: Ian Dutton. The moon came up over the ground at about 8pm, but I failed to get a decent pic, so here is a pic of the moon over the Hollies stand at Edgbaston last season. Edgbaston: The Moon's a balloon So let's see what happens on Day 4 with Stokes and Jacks at the crease 4-letter Sri Lankan 11 I commissioned the Kray computer at QUT to...

By the time we get back to the hotel it's too late to file copy,  So there are some belated comments on Day 1 in this post. Firstly here is the score card of Joe Root's historic innings on day 1. An Aussie supporter near us was diligently scoring the game ( I used to know how to do this when I occasionally scored for Warwick Ramblers 40+ years ago) Joe Root not out 138 Can't help feeling that we haven't got quite enough runs to play with (334), which is not surprising given we had three of our top batters out for nought. If we don't get a result here it will be difficult to recover  Moving on to Day 2 Arriving at the ground (with a snap courtesy of an Aussie fan) by the huge replica urn As we entered the ground we saw Harry Brook in the nets while the rest of the team were playing their keepy-uppy on the outfield prior to the start of play. Clearly the England management had had words, and it was a naughy-boy net. Harry Brook in the nets with batting coach Marcus T...

Well the day started well enough with a slap up lunch and some good pre Test discussion from David Gower, Glenn Mcgrath, Mark Waugh and Jonathan Agnew, hosted by Damien Fleming  So we got to the ground okay in high anticipation of a good day's play. The three musketeers, Davis, Bramley & Dutton at their seats high up in the stands Panoramic pic from our seating position  it was a great view of the whole of the pitch The opening ceremony A brief snapshot of some action It was all a bit glum when we were 5-2, or 2-5 if you insist, with Duckett and Pope both going for nought. I thought Zak Crawley showed som good mental toughness coming in off a pair and making 76, but then getting out to a loose shot off the trundler Neser. He really should've converted his score to a ton. Harry Brook again disappointing. When he came in he had one job: to stay in and support Joe Root by keeping the scoreboard ticking over, but he couldnt do that, because he's a flashing blade and that is...

A very convivial afternoon at the  River Bar and Kitchen, welcoming the folks who have joined the party for the  second Test tomorrow. Excitement is building. The consensus is that it this Test is not nailed on for Australia.                                     During some relaxation over coffee this morning we picked an England Team, the qualification for which was the family name of the player must be 4 letters or fewer. It is a good well balanced side! A relaxing evening after the social event was spent by the river Picture of the day :- night-time scene of some bridges across the Brisbane river ( note: this snap was not taken by Ian Dutton) It's only a brief post today. More tomorrow obviously...                                                     ...

We are all gradually arriving in Brisbane (or Brizza as it seems to be known as here). It was great to meet up with everyone again after our separate adventures, and people we know from previous tours who have joined the party. The only cricket news tonight apart from the sad death of Robin Smith , is that at the Stamford Plaza we bumped into Jonathan Agnew , Alex Hartley , and Phil Tufnell who were signing pink balls and possibly tampering with the ball that will be used in the upcoming Test! Jonathan Agnew, Alex Hartley, Mrs. Tufnell, and Phil Tufnell  (photo courtesy of Ian Dutton)