Having always been an avid football fanatic i never really liked, or even understood, cricket. And then 2005 happened. And i saw how enthralling it could be. Then 2007 happened. And i saw how utterly terrible England could be. Then 2009 happened. And cricket caught my attention again.
For the first time i realised how a 5 day test, and even a five test series, can have all the ups and downs, shocks and realisations, flukes and certainties & heroes and villains as a 10 month football season. Yes, it's a sport for the upper middles class, yes it seems boring, yes it takes all day and then five of them to complete one test, but if you get into it, it's rather like a giant game of chess. Who bowls when? What order should they bat? Who goes in at number 3? How will the weather affect the bowling? Who should stand at silly point? Where the fuck is silly point? Who the fuck named it silly point? You get my silly point.
So let's look at the Ashes 2009:
Cardiff, and England were terrible, Australia fantastic. One nil to them from down under. Except no. England batted out the final afternoon with their tail enders. A draw! Fantastic. Then it was Lords. The Freddie Flintoff show. Having announced he would retire after the Ashes, he produced a superb bowling display to help win the Test, and suddenly England are one up. Third test is at Edgbaston. Here we see England at its best. Not the team, but the weather. Rain leads to the inevitable draw. Things are heating up.
We go to Leeds knowing a win will secure the Ashes once more. Flintoff is out injured. We win the toss and opt to bat first, despite overcast weather implying good conditions for bowling. I blinked, and England are bowled out for 102. The writing's on the wall. It's one all, and all to the Oval for the deciding test.
England post a modest first innings 332 all out. Then a new hero is born. Stuart Broad. Australia are 73 without loss, and then Broad bowls a devastating spell and Australia are 111 for 7, eventually bowled out for 160. Another hero is born. Jonathan Trott gets a century on his debut. By the forth day it's all over. And in his own way Flintoff produced his own bit of magic. A superlative throw to run out Ponting just when Australia looked like they might do the unthinkable and get close to winning. He picks the ball up and throws it in one flowing movement and the stumps and bails are gone. He stands, with his arms aloft, as if he's just scored a 30 yard screamer in the World Cup final. Only this isn't football, this is Cricket, and his equivalent to a stunning strike. It was to be his swan song in Test Match cricket.
And the funny thing is, the much maligned Monty Panesar, who didn't do much in this series and received a lot of critisism, was one of the tail enders who helped secure the draw on that final day of the first test. And whilst the headlines, rightly so, will go to Strauss, Flintoff and Broad, it was that resiliance on the final day by Panesar, and Anderson, that perhaps set England up for this historic victory.
I don't love cricket, oh no. I like it. A lot.
(When the Ashes are on).
