Thrilling cricket
Cricket played well is a marvellous game. I’ve heard some people say The Ashes have lost meaning to them for various reasons. Maybe last night’s thriller in Edgbaston will change their minds.
I didn’t give Australia any odds going into the last day, needing over 100 runs to win with two tail-end wickets remaining.
The tension towards the finish was as tight as anything you could get in any sporting code. The relief and celebration from England probably greater.
I’m sort of glad they won. A loss would shattered them, confirmed Australia’s invincibility and reduced the remaining contests. Now it’s game on!
I was at the MCG and saw every day of the 1982-83 thriller, which remains one of my favorite sporting memories.
Allan Border and Jeff Thompson needed 74 to win and came within three runs of pulling it off. Admission was free on the last day, but 18,000 people turned up, when it could have been over in one ball.
You’d reckon it was 78,000 with the noise they made and the claims from people who said they were there.
The two teams were evenly matched then. I still think Australia is a class above England, but the gap is closing.
Australia’s strength is the bowling talent of Warne and McGrath. They’re both nearing the end of their careers. What then?
These articles might be of interest:
