A is for....

A is obviously for Ashes. While this series has been highly anticipated, what has taken me by surprise is how much I am into it. Just little things like an 8pm start, which has conveniently become the kid's bedtime. Also the fact that the coverage is back on Channel 9 - I don't know, it just feels like home, like my favourite pair of Ugg boots that have been repaired in numerous spots with strapping tape. 

A is for A38 Bristol Road, which seems to be a harvesting patch for Edgbaston pitches. Early on there is very little in this deck for the bowlers. We've been told that Baz and Ben (who I really want to call the Flower Pot Men) have requested pitches of the like for the series. 

But A is also for Ali. I don't mean to start this blog with any reference to the greatest of all time - possibly the original G.O.A.T. - A reference that is bandied around all too often for my liking. Whether it be Tom Brady for NFL, Wayne Gretzky for NHL, Nathan Lyon for Australian off-spinners who used to be groundmen at the Adelaide Oval (a niche market to be a GOAT) or even Ma Long - obviously the greatest table tennis player of all time - ranked World Number 1 for 64 consecutive months and an absoulute maestro (look him up).

No, I mean A as in Moeen Ali. While Mo has been out of the test side for 648 days, I have not written my Ashes blog for much longer - so much so, that I forgot my bloody password to try and log into the damned thing, and I had to make a new one - this one. For those new to the Ivo Ashes blog, here is my previous version: The Original Ivo Blog

23rd of September, 2015. While Ma Long could calculate it in days, I'm not able to say anything beyond "it's been a while". On to the line ups for the The First Test - Edgbaston - which I've always found an unnerving name for a cricket venue. Edges are the last thing you want crossing your mind as a batter...but onto the cricket. 

It was a joy to watch England bat. It was a very different start to Tony Stark bowling Rory Burns with the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes. Spider Crawley absolutely blasted The Skipper through the covers and Bazball had officially started. The run rate reaching 5 per over will definitely keep the crowd interested, the Barmy Army singing, and the allure of Bazball as regularly searched on the Interweb by pundits. 138 by over 30. 282 by over 60. But the wickets did fall regularly (minus the 23 over partnership between the two Jays - Joe and Jonny). While the runs flowed, it did seem that they were allowed to flow. I saw fields set I haven't seen since Australia hosted Pakistan in 2010 at the SCG. The English were allowed to gather 27 singles in the first hour of play, with an number of boundaries. It seemed the aura around Bazball worked well. Root batted well for the first ton of the series - 118 with red ink at a strike rate of 77. Not too shabby!

The final indignity / genius of the first innings was that Captain Stokes actually declared on the first day to have a crack at Dave and Usie before the close of play. Luckily, the boys resisted and finished the day at 0/14. But it was an intriguing day's play. For me the highlight was Bairstow batting with gay abandon; 78 off 78 balls, with 12 boundaries and not showing the effects of a broken leg from a golf tour accident.

Bring on Day Two.

JT