Its got to be an Ashes summer!

Sorry, I 'borrowed' that headline off Sky, but it is very relevant.

After Cardiff many of us thought heading to Lords that we just needed to improve our performance, do abit of hanging on and get a draw.

But who would have thought we would have beaten Australia for the first time, at Lords, since 1936? Its got to be an ashes summer! Espically when you think back to last week watching Monty and Jimmy block ball after ball to help us knick a draw. What a difference a test makes.

The performance at lords has filled us all with great confidence and the usual English expectation that we can go on to win the ashes.

Ricky Ponting said that he thought his side lost the game within the first four hours of day one, and i can see his point to an extent. Cook and Strauss opening partnership was the only upside to our 1st innings and it has pulled us through to win. Strauss 161 was a captains and winning innings but come on Ricky, you had to bat twice yourself! you lost it. Your bowling attack, well, you need Brett Lee back.


(Picture from BBC Sport)

Englands batting wasn't that great, Strauss hit a big score, and it was good to see Jimmy Anderson hit some tail end runs to pull us over the 400 mark which had a big influence on the games proceedings. Priors innings in the second innnings was also very important to get the runs onto the board quickly so we could declare over night and have the chance to bowl at the Australians for two days.

With Pietersen expected to be out of the third test, and the continuing injury doubts over Flintoff, who has struggled with the bat but can do it, we may struggle. Players like Ian Bell will be coming into the squad who have been dropped because they aren't in form, and what will they do about Flintoff if he can't make it? Two Spinners? Harmison would be a nice addition as he can generate the same dangerous bounce and pace that Flintoff brings. Shame about the consistency!

Englands bowling in the last test was heavily criticised which was fair, but England's bowling attack can do it, we have seen it and after this test hopefully we can continue in this form! Andersons four wickets won us the game too in essence by leaving the Aussies 181-8 i think it was after day two. It was going to be an uphill struggle from there. Onions came in to the attack instead of Panesar and failed to shine but hopefully he will get another chance and not just be dropped straight away, that won't do anyone any favours.


(Picture from BBC Sport)

Andrew Flintoff though deserves his own paragraph. The man even though failing with the bat again was the inspiration behind the bowling. I, and i hope the rest of you do, get so excited when you see Flintoff steaming in from the his run up. The man has a presence about him that just pulls you in and he will be missed in test cricket. So many times for England he has put in that bowling spell to turn a game around, or with the bat hit quick runs to help England get out of a mess. His career has had its ups and downs, but the man is a legend. Lets hope he will keep his promise of being fit for the last three test matches!

So, three tests to go, alot of cricket to be played, England maybe without Pietersen and Flintoff, Australia will have more options in Lee, Watson to pick from...its not going to be simple. England are going to have to up there game in the batting department and surely, its got to rain!? i will take a 1-0 victory and sacrifice my summer.

Wiltshire in the open!

The Open started today with the Wiltshire flag flying high! even though the Wiltshire flag isn't the most impressive, David Howell and Steve Surry are flying it anyway!

David Howell, the more recognised golfer, is from Swindon and Steve Surry, who comes at Cumberwell Park got into the tournament through the qualifiers last week.

Steve Surry can be proud of his efforts after a round of 69, finishing 1 under par and still in the pack to push on in the second round. I suggest you all follow the man, as in Golf you never know who is going to win, even though obviously Woods is the big name and the best consistent player, it is often the unknowns who come through in these tournaments.

Its also great to see David Howell back, the swindonian (not sure that will catch on) has had many injuries. I was listening to an interview of his and he seems happy to be back and says his game has improved alot. He came bursting onto the scene a few years ago and says that back then he wasn't as good as people made out. He now though at the open has his chance to put himself back into the top Brits and back into contention for the Ryder Cup in 2010.
Howell today finished on two under and is in the pack of the leading Brits, so he is doing very well and like Surry, a good round tomorrow will make or break his chances.

Jimenez at the moment leads the tournament on six under followed by Ben Curtis, Tom Watson and Kenichi Kuboya on five under. Tiger Woods had a bad round of one over and even lost his cool after hitting the ball into the rough and threw his club to the ground. Not a good day for Tiger.

The Open is always a fascinating tournament and Ian Poulters choice of clothes is usually the main reason. I'm not saying watch this instead of the Ashes because that is illegal, but keep an eye out for the Wiltshire lads!

Man City make their move.

The summer of money has continued rolling today after Man City started to make there big name moves, that actually have an outside shout of being realistic!

The news that Tevez is set to sign for city has shocked me slightly. United were willing to match the 25.5 million price tag but he decided to move on. However, you never know that if Tevez was told what to do or did what he did because he wanted to. His agent, Kia Joor..(thats as much as i know!) has nothing but a disgrace to football. Tevez to me must have moved for the money, and probably because of Kia's (his agent) best interests even though now Man City are believed to be the sole owners of the player, which is great news. However, back to Tevez.
Tevez, now is at a club with promise because of the money and he will be desperate for first team football and this leads me to my next thought, Emmanuel Adebayor.

Man city today are also said to be making a 20 million move for Adebayor and Arsenal would likely sell. City already have Santa Cruz for 18 million and with that strikeforce, who will fit where. They all justify a spot with the money spent and it will end in a disaster for one of the players. I'm hoping its not Tevez as he is a top guy and footballer and just can't settle in England because of the press and his agent. He showed glimpses when he got ton the pitch for United of his skill and i hope at least at city he will get regular games.

I said in my last blog that Man City aren't big enough to get the big names, but Tevez is a real start, and with Robinho too already, they are looking a formidable force upfront, there defensive however is looking shaky! Dunne surely is past his best now, even if he did win player of the year 5 years in a row...that ain't hard considering Citys last 5 seasons before last. Hart going to Birmingham on loan is good for him, and city will benefit in the future from him which I'm sure they know.

You guys are thinking, why care about city? i find it interesting, they are spending alot of money, in a hope they will buy success and we will see if it works for definite as this is the first time a smaller premiership side have been taken over with this financial backing as before clubs taken over have been the bigger clubs anyway.

Talking about money, Swindon today spent £100,000 on a defender called Scott Cuthbert, i will be ready to see if he is worth it. I hope so but i wish we would buy some strikers! our defence might be good next year but it looks like all games will be 0-0!

Money, Money, Money!

must be funny, in a rich mans world! Some of you are thinking, what does he have to say about Abba? Well, nothing, but money, at the moment is just funny in football.

Platini has been moaning for a while now at the premier league about the vast amount of money that is being moving around from club to club. Now, Spain are getting back into the act, well Real Madrid are as they plan to once again conquer European football after 2 or 3 years of being forgotten about and not liking it!

Real Madrid have broken the record fee for a player twice this summer. They have got the record fee of 80 million for Ronaldo. They have also spent 30 Million for Benzema, 56 Million for Kaka and there is talk of Madrid wanting Ribery who could cost up to 50 million. Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president is treating football as his playground. I had to settle for monkey bars rather than the game of football! how times change. We have seen it in the past with Roman Abramovich(owner of Chelsea) and the new Man City Owners are trying the same too but have gone to a club who have no popularity in world football so will have to wait till they have a good season to splash the cash.

No player is worth this amount of money. Should there be a cap on how much a player can cost and then the player decides where he wants to go? How much would that do for the little clubs? The big clubs would still have the money anyway. The big clubs will continue to get bigger and the smaller clubs will have to try and survive.

Money in football isn't shared fairly and for obvious reasons. Use the example of the Premier League, It's better than the other English leagues so gets on TV more. More TV means the better sponsors are willing to get there product assoicated with it. The better the football, the more 'fans' the big clubs will gain therefore bigger grounds and then more sales in shirts etc....it all goes round in a circle for the big teams.

Being a Swindon Town fan, spending money is rare, if the club buy a player, everyone watches them so much closer to see the club are spending the money on a worthwhile player. We are lucky though to have the chairman and board we do who have cash to spend to keep us afloat and clear our debts. Thanks again Mr Fitton! This is why supporitng Swindon is great, its always interesting, Swindon's season is always unpredictable whereas to me the premier league is in danger of going stale and being more predictable every year.

Don't get me wrong, the standard of football in the world is brilliant, and with the money involved, players will have to continue getting better, but is one bloke who can kick a ball worth 80 million pounds, and 150,000 grand a week in wages, when people in this country earn 15,000 a year. You have to agree its madness.

The Football league, or maybe even FIFA, have to watch the situation and start thinking of ways to keep clubs afloat and to try and make football once again the anything can happen game. Now the best clubs have there own world, and the rest just have to battle knowing that they won't win anything.

It's a situation that can't be changed, as if people have the money they are going to spend it. Its the fact of football now. Its all about the money.

I don't like cricket....

I love it!


What summers were made more, the Ashes! 5 days per test, 5 test matches, and if 2005 was anything to go by, get your snacks in, your comfy chair out, sit back and enjoy.

The last ashes series was an embarrassment, so we will not reflect on the past, but in true British style as we won in 2005....lets talk about that instead! We had a captain who lead from the front, and a set of bowlers who, if one wasn't performing, you could call on another to get that important wicket or breakthrough.

Instead of Michael Vaughan, who today announced his retirement, we have Andrew Strauss as captain. Strauss was in the 2005 winning team which will bring valuable experience of the pressures involved in an ashes series and has got a few test matches under his belt as captain against the West Indies. Strauss has a good international average with the bat, and lets hope he don't fall into the trap of when someone becomes England captain they forget how to hold a bat. Strauss can lead us to victory, he has a good knowledge of the game, I'm not sure he will be as tactical as Vaughan was in 2005 but Strauss definitely can lead from the front and can be trusted.

Englands bowlers in 2005, Harmison, Hoggard, Jones, Giles and Flintoff were a strong unit, they all backed each other up when needed. Now we have Broad, Anderson, Onions, Sidebottomm, Swann, Panesar, Rashid and Flintoff to choose from to be our main bowlers with probably one spinner to be picked. I'm not as comfortable with the depth of bowling as we had in 2005 but Anderson has come along way in recent years and so has Broad. I think this series will truly show how good they both are, they both picked up wickets against the West Indies recently but to be honest, that doesn't mean alot at the moment in test cricket. The real test will be the Australians.

So, who would i start in the first test in Cardiff? Here we go:

Strauss (C), Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior (Wk), Flintoff, Broad, Swann, Sidebottom, Anderson.

We have to stick with some experienced players, mixed in with the players on form. Bopara has to stay at three, he has been in form in test cricket and there is no reason why Bell should come back in to the squad when Bopara has been in the form he is in. The batting line up for England goes down to number 9 now with Broad and Swann both being capable of hitting runs and England will need a long tail. Sidebottom just edges it for me at the moment ahead of Onions because Sidebottom has the left arm variation that could be useful. It might not be, but i think Sidebottom has proven in the past he can take test wickets. Onions in the County Championship this season has taken over 50 wickets already, being ahead of the wicket takers by a long way, so he will be right on Sidebottom, or any of the bowlers if anyone has a bad test match.

Some people might think, wheres Good ole Monty? i love his beard and dancing. Sadly for me, everyone has realised he bowls the same ball at the same pace. He is being found out and even struggles in the County Championship. Until he realises that i think he could even be overtaken by young leg spinner Adil Rashid. Swann can bat, and had a good test series against the West Indies and should be in. He can mix it up and take chances which is what Test cricket is about, you have to mix it up.

The other players in that team i don't think need explanation. They all are of the highest quality and if in form, and on there day could probably destroy the Australian bowling attack. Flintoff is still a question mark over fitness, but when fit, he is a devasting bowler and has got to be in aslong as he is fit, if he isn't, then i think it would be a bad decision to put him in just on reputation, we got to have 11 fully fit players ready to play.

A prediction is hard to do, with Australia now without there veteran go to guys, i think they will find it tough with some less experienced players. Hauritz is trying to fill big shoes in Shane Warne and Brett Lee will have to be the main strike bowler who can be very good, or just manic. I think it will be just as close as 2005 for a different reason. 2005 was because both teams were playing at such a high level that mistakes were rare. In this test there are players that could be prone to some mistakes through inexperience, but i will be optimistic and say 2-1 to England.

July 8th to 25th August, book it off work, ditch your friends, and order sky now if you don't have it! Its going to be great...(that could be understatement of the century) Come on England!