having decided early in the year to go down under to follow the ashes i thought nothing would be easier.   that is until i saw what the acb were doing with the tickets.   however, i have been very lucky indeed and have got tickets for all of the 5 tests and 6 one-dayers.  

i will try and report back with stories and events i get myself involved in; both with the "friendly" australians i meet and of course the barmy army.

having been to the warm up match in sydney, i can report that  australia has some great grounds.   the scg is very modern except for a few old stands which give it some taste of its past. [Editor’s note: sounds a little like Lord’s!]

looking at both teams, you would have to make the home team favorites, despite their "dads army" feel, against an england team most of whom have never travelled down under to play test cricket.   both teams have some good batsmen, e.g. ponting, and pietersen and strauss.   i think it will all depend on how each team starts their innings.   when i first thought about this piece, i was thinking about who would do better out of tresco and langer.   however, as we know, tresco has gone, so it falls now to cook.   it also looks like giles might play ahead of monty, but we’ll have to wait and see.   also jones will keep wicket and i suspect that anderson will play as well.

i think the series will be a close contest with the home team just edging, or maybe a 3-1 score.   However, as we all know, anything is possible.

i will try and update mtwd on at least a weekly basis; more often if i hear of anything that you folks might want to know about.   hopefully, with a connection or two i have out here, maybe i can get a word with joycie quite soon.

[Editor’s note: Many thanks to “lower case” for this dispatch.  Keep them coming, old man, and be sure to make good use of those cleft sticks we issued to you]