Aside from the almighty relief that I didn't curse England I appear to have had the opposite effect when complaining about taking turns to share centuries in recent years. Flippancy aside it was a truly remarkable comeback and one that can only instill further belief in this team. Whilst we may have improved as a team the idea that we had yet to be really tested was a valid one and the reason why many followers would not have been surprised to see us capitulate. The resolve shown hopefully extends off the pitch and allows us to put this performance in perspective and concentrate on the rest of the series. The effort of getting over the line and the consequent resting on laurels has been an issue not just in cricket but the Rugby World Cup in 2003 also demonstrated how an ageing team achieved it's the last hurrah before breaking up. Both teams are now showing promise after being rebuilt, more so in the case of the rugby union side which had more retirements and has therefore taken longer to rebuild - also the cricket team had more people out through injury which caused as much disruption particularly as we always had the shadow of Flintoff hanging over team selections until his eventual retirement. Refreshingly a number of young players have now established themselves in both teams, hopefully allowing them to be around for a few years as they and the team continue to improve.

A pleasant surprise to see an England team not capitulate and show a bit of fight. I write this one hour before the final day's play so anything could yet happen but it is reassuring nonetheless to see the resilience shown so far in only losing one wicket on the fourth day after being 220 runs behind on 1st innings. There is still a nagging doubt that it could all end in tears after a couple of good starts in the summer saw us lose our way in the middle order whilst Pietersen was struggling for form. Flaky opposition and an incredible knock from Stuart Broad papered over the cracks then but do not hide the fact that Collingwood needs runs as well as KP and Bell looks to be in form but is still re-establishing his place. The trouble seems to be a lack of serious competition amongst the batsmen and the only other player to feature recently is Eion Morgan, a fantastic one day player who has yet to be properly tested in the five day format after replacing the injured Bell against Pakistan. Prior has plenty of competition in Davies and Kieswetter to keep him sharp and there are a number of bowlers who are waiting in the wings who have all played recently but not featured either through form or injury such as Onions, Plunkett, Panesar and Mahmood. After a bad performance it is often the bowlers who are dropped or occasionally we may decide to select an extra seamer / spinner and they also acquire a greater share of injuries. Batsmen on the other hand are a closed shop and any poor run of form is underlined with the proviso that we must persevere with them and "a big score is just around the corner". The trouble with England batsmen recently is that they appear to take it in turns to score the century that cements their place for the forthcoming series. Out of six batsmen, if one scores a century and a second gets a half century while the others scrabble around for scraps that usually gives us enough runs to be competitive and the centurion can all but relax and score ducks in the other tests and let someone else take up the mantel. This perceived anomaly gives rise to the situation that we don't really know who to drop and let someone else have a go. At the moment Collingwood is most vulnerable because he's not scoring heavily and he's also perceived as expendable in that he's not recognized as a flair player but a dependable anchor (an often underrated attribute) and a fantastic fielder. He's also one of the older members of the team and as such someone who will having possible replacements discussed. The rest of the batsmen have their reasons why the management can't drop them: Strauss - captain; Cook - vice-captain and being lined up to replace Strauss; Trott - the newest member who has made a good start and been in the team long enough not to be the automatic drop; Pietersen -star man whose recent bad run has shown that he's bulletproof; Bell - the one everyone likes and is frustrated by who needs to convert his "natural talent" into runs but is in good form.
   Other than that the possible contenders would not frighten the opposition as they are not (or barely) tried and tested. Barring injury Morgan will be carrying drinks for the duration of the tour and the only other batsmen with recent experience are Carberry and at a push Rob Key, Owais Shah or even Luke Wright. No doubt the A team will look to provide replacements and I relish the thought of some younger players getting a chance - only I find it hard to envisage them being able to get that chance and if they do that they will be afforded the luxury of a decent run to establish themselves and not summarily dropped after a couple of low scores on debut - Usman Afzaal anyone?

So the Ashes is underway...I think.

I think I preferred listening to the cricket when I couldn't hear it. It promised so much and working a night shift with a radio seemed a reasonable compromise but that was before I attempted to tune it in to long wave near industrial machinery and control panels. The rest of the evening was spent straining to catch the odd phrase and guessing the state of the match and I felt like Caldicott and Charters from "The Lady Vanishes" who were more concerned about finding out the cricket score than the events unfolding around them. This wasn't entirely successful and I initially thought Australia were batting when I heard mention of Shane Watson near the start of play so assumed the Aussie opener must be batting. Strangely some commentators came through clearer than others with Christopher Martin-Jenkins winning the audible cup, with Jim Maxwell a distant second, and it was during his spells of commentary that I managed to just about keep up along with a couple of updates from my managers phone. When he came down about an hour before the shift end with the full scorecard (we were four down at that point) it felt like a cheat but I lapped it up nonetheless. Anticipating uninterrupted coverage in my car as I drove home I assumed the state of play was pretty much the same as no loud cheers had broken through the white noise to announce a wicket but had not counted on Peter Siddle taking a hat-trick by the time I handed over, got changed and walked to my car making the drive back more sombre than I was hoping.
   No doubt tonight will be spent in a similar vein but the hope that our bowlers can put pressure on Australia will leave me wishing the commute home will be happier. The overall sense of anti climax after Strauss was out third ball on reflection is not as bad as Harmison's first ball on the last tour which set the tone for the whole series - epitomised by Justin Langer when he more or less pitied him. You know you're in for a tough time when Australia are disappointed in you knowing that you no longer offer a challenge. At least this time it was disappointing for England to lose an early wicket but not disastrous and we did recover fairly well before the hat-trick.

Much has been made recently on how poor a job Fabio Capello is doing and his inevitable villification and while he certainly has faults the criticism is overdone. He has not become a bad manager overnight and his CV speaks volumes but all the negative press against him overlooks one important fact: England are not a very good football team. Whilst the manager is excessively criticised for poor results so the players are lauded as "The Golden Generation" or "one of the top three players in the world" on the back of a couple of decent performances. This is not a new phenomenon but it seems that if we repeat the mantra often enough we start to believe it. The Premiership is often cited as the greatest league in the world and since the English players mainly play in that league it leads people to conclude that they are the greatest players ignoring the foreign contingent which actually raise the standard. Currently the transfer market has been skewed by Manchester City and to a lesser extent by Chelsea before them and just because they pay £20 million plus for an English player does not mean he is a £20 million + player.
   The recent friendly against France showed how we need to develop our youth but if and when we do it would be reassuring that any young players are not thrust into the spotlight straight away on massive wages with the threat of losing any hunger and repeating the cycle that the next Golden Generation does not become like the current one.