Five days
For those that follow these things, the Ashes — or at least the first test — has been a bit of a low point. Fourteen months of gloating that we, the English, are the current holders of the Ashes was undone in 4 and a bit long, long days, ending in a 277-run thrashing.
From my man on the street in Australia, the word on the street (for where would a man on the street hear his news otherwise?) was Ricky Ponting could not make England follow on so that the test would spin out for five days and thus not affect ticket revenues for the remainder of the series. I suspect, to some extent, that this is true, though I also think he wanted to help himself to another few easy runs and get the confidence of Langer and Hayden (his opening batsmen) up, too.
But the first test is now over. England are 1–0 down and things are much the same as last year's series. There are reasons why England will retain the Ashes and there are reasons why England won't — nicely summarised here. I suspect England won't win, though, having known to be wrong before, I might be calling a double bluff. We can only wait, stay up long into the winter nights, and see...
Filed in Sport