Sunday, August 07, 2005

Ashes Level After Thriller at Edgbaston

After a crushing two-run victory over the Convicts, the Ashes is level at 1-1.

Don't let the winning margin fool you, we were just softening them up so we could break their hearts and keep them down for the third test.

As mentioned previously, the People's Republic had a presence on the fourth day, expecting the match to be finished before the traditional visit to the bar when licensing starts at 11am. Despite the close nature of the game, please be assured that the People's Republic was never in doubt over the final result, a result due to a combination of Glenn McGrath's pre-match injury (the ball didn't come from the Eric Hollies stand, honest), a poor decision by Ricky Ponting (humid!? anyone in Birmingham on Thursday knows it was fresh - get your central heating sorted mate), a stunning batting performance on the first day (at over 5 an over - started due to Marcus Trescothick's involvement in the Twenty20 finals day perhaps and carried on by the rest of the lads), a particularly stunning performance with bat and ball form Freddie (the 9th wicket stand with 9 Aussies on the boundary and that over being highlights) and a half decent catch from wicket keeper Geraint Jones at the end (his glove may not have been on the bat, but then Ian Bell was never out). To give the convicts some credit, the two deliveries which dismissed Andrew Strauss were not bad either.

A special mention must go to the crowd for the following morale-boosting tunes:

We don't live in a convict colony
Get those f****** stars of our flag
Where's your misses gone (aknowleged by the target Shane Warne)
You should have batted first
We're gonna win 4-1

The greatest test ever? Probably - after all it was in Birmingham.

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