Ashes Fever (The Ashes)

Name: SticMan

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Product:	The Ashes
Date:	12/09/06 (301 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cricket in prospect, intense rivalry and passion.

Disadvantages: If it is a one sided contest, fans/media will lose interest.

The Ashes
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The Ashes is the name given to the Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is the oldest cricketing rivalry and traditionally has been fierce and highly publicised

History
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Although the legend of the Ashes did not arise until 1882. The series is currently played at approximately two yearly intervals, alternately in England and Australia. The Ashes are “held” by the country which last won a series and to “regain” them the other country must win more Test matches in a series than the country that “holds” them. If a series is “drawn” then the country holding the Ashes retains them.

In total 62 series have been played with the results as followed:

Australia won : 30
England won : 27
Drawn : 5


Recent Ashes Series
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At present England hold the Ashes following their victory in 2005, this marks a sharp turn of events as Australia have dominated the Ashes series ever since 1989. Over that period Australia progressed to be the best team in world cricket and England slipped further and further down the rankings. Recent Ashes series before the 2005 have seen many one sided contests, as Australia’s 'golden generation' swept all before them. However 2005 marked a new phase on the Ashes era and resulted in much increased publicity.

Indeed the 2005 series, which England won 2-1 was one of the most competitive and hardly fought contest in recent cricketing history and was compelling viewing for cricket fans across the globe. The English public in particular was encapsulated by the nature of the series and the high quality of the cricket played. Many stars emerged from that series, including Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones, Kevin Petiersen but above them all was Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff. His charismatic performances during the series were instrumental to England's victory and resulted in him winning BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year award.


2006/07 Series
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The failure of England to regain the Ashes for 16 years from 1989, coupled with the global dominance of the Australian team, had dulled the lustre of the series in recent years. Now for the first time in many a series England have the pressure of defending the Ashes, while Australia have the pressure of confirming their status of worlds number one team. For this reason the upcoming Ashes series is the most intriguing in living memory.

The series will be played in Australia between 23rd November 2006 and 5th January 2007. The five match series will comprise Test matches at Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

The forthcoming series will go a long way to deciding where the balance in world cricketing power lies. England prior to the Ashes 2005 series had won 7 series (against other nations) in a row and went in to the contest in great form. Australia have rarely been threatened over the last 10 years in cricket however the defeat to England presented them with a new challenge to the reign at the top. Indeed many critics held the opinion that Australia had past their peak and with many of their top players well into the 30's it was seen as though their dominance was now over.

Certainly Australian cricket changed policy after their defeat and the emergence of many new and young players into the team was testament to that. Players such as Mathew Hayden, Gillespie and Martyn who were among the top player in the world a few years back were no longer guaranteed of their place. Coupled with the injury problems to star bowler Mcgrath a new face of Australian cricket began to emerge. On the face of it, the team has performed well since the Ashes defeat recording 12 victories of out 13. This still has not silenced the critics as they still argue that their appears to be many hidden flaws within the team. One such flaw maybe the over reliance on the top players, i.e Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne and Mcgrath. The replacement to the older generation of players do not appear to be of the same standard yet.

There are also critics amassing against England and there appear to be a few reasons to suggest that they will be unlikely to repeat the success of 2005. The first reason appears to be injuries. Since the Ashes victory England have suffered greatly to long term injuries of key players. Captain Vaughan, Simon Jones, Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff have all had time off the game nursing injuries. Indeed it is unlikely that Simon Jones will play in the Ashes at all and Vaughan will most, if not all the tour as well. Considering the performance in the last series both of these two will be big losses.

The second of the major worries is about performance of the current team. Since winning the Ashes England's performance has blown hot and cold. They lost to Pakistan away but then beat them at home. The other two series against India and Sri Lanka resulted in draws. There are questions marks gathering around some of England’s top players. Marcus Trescothick is a big worry. His record against Australia is not the best and he has problems against Mcgrath. He has also be involved in recent problems off the field which resulted in him returning home early during the India tour. His performance against Pakistan on the recent tour was particularly poor. The other batsmen have performed well of late in particular Ian Bell. However there are doubts on the ability to perform well against top quality bowling which was witnessed during the recent tour of Pakistan. The batsmen were able to perform well against the bowlers of lesser quality but once the quality bowlers returned from injury the England top half struggled.

Given the fact Australia are not the bowling force the once were, England may find that they can get big scores. It will be imperative that they are on top form and players like Strauss and Kevin Pietersen score big hundreds.

Predictions
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Although it may not constitute as a prediction I hope for the same quality of cricket as we witnessed during the 2005 series. It will be difficult to match the tension and drama of that series but if we get anywhere as close then we will be in for a great series. As for who will win it is a difficult decision, given that England only need to draw the series to retain the ashes many will fancy them. However Australia at home is a different prospect and with Mcgrath, Warne and Ponting in the side it will be hard to predict anything but an Australian win. I am happy to be proved right or wrong just as long as we get a entertaining and interesting series.

Summary: The most anticipated Ashes series, is upon us for at least 20 years.