This blog will record my trip to Australia following the England cricket team in pursuit of the Ashes starting in November 2025

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  1. Anonymous13 November 2025 at 09:44

    Huw Williams here. I shall follow your thoughts from the home front

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Ashes First Test Day 2 (aka the final day), November 22, 2025, Optus Arena, Perth

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  Well that was interesting. To win a Test match you've got to take 20 wickets. Taking 10 cheaply to secure a first innings lead isn't enough. Attendance over the two days was close to 100,000 (51,000 yesterday and 49,000 today), by far the biggest crowd Ive ever been to for a Test match. When you think that the capacity at Lord's is 26,000 and that is our biggest ground, you get the idea. I had an elevated view today which enabled me to look at the whole field of play at once see the pic below We lost this game because key wickets were thrown away with daft shots ( "How to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory" by B McCullum is a good reference) and our bowlers just didn't perform today they all looked knackered with no stamina. Okay there were  a couple of controversial umpiring decisions. Was Mitchell Starc's catch off his own bowling to dismiss Zak Crawley for his second first over duck of the match clean?. The law regarding a clean catch is not a...
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Emotional intensity is hotting up

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  Okay, things are getting emotionally intense now, the night before the first day of the first Test. I met others in my tour party, and then on to a cricket Australia for a session with Ricky Ponting followed by Jonathan Agnew and Mark Taylor , and finally Phil Tufnell ,  MC'd by Alison Mitchell who is great and a fantastic sports journalist. In summary, Ricky Ponting concluded that both sides have their strengths and weaknesses (!), but he predicted 3-2 to Australia,  Agnew and Taylor discussed fishing and piloting light aircraft, and Tufnell was, well, he was Phil Tufnell. Its emotionally quite intense now and it dawned on me tonight that I am witnessing something MASSIVE, and I am so lucky to be here. The room was full of about 500 people half of whom were Brits, and I had a lovely chat with an Aussie guy who is taking his elderly father to his first Test Match. I dont mind admitting I cried a bit I'll give a Day 1 update tomorrow. I did take some pics of downtown ...
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Arrived Safe and Sound

 Ive just arrived at my hotel  in Perth. I need food ( I didn't eat anything except a banana on the second leg from Dubai to Perth) so I'm off to the restaurant. I'm told by Graham (my driver who picked me up from the airport) that the weather forecast is not too good for the first Test. likely to be a bit damp and cloudy, so whoever wins the toss will probably bowl. I met someone on the first leg from LHR to Dubai, who like me has an Australian naturalized daughter (his here in Perth, mine in Sydney). and his granddaughter is one of the flag carriers to welcome the teams onto the pitch at start of proceedings, so that's nice
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