The Ashes

"Australia VS England" in Ashes would have been an undetermined cricketing tournament may be during the early period of Ashes but not now. When Ashes was started in the 1882, the only prominent cricketing nations took part nd it has managed to continue its reputation even during dis era. It is supposed to be a very honorable tournament right from the inaugural series. Though Australia has been the irrefutable Ashes champions for a very long time now.

Surprisingly speaking, a cricketing tournament has a history to talk about. The birth of Ashes is one of the most interesting or rather a fascinating piece of info to share. And here it is, In the 1882 test played between Australia and England at Oval, Australia won it comprehensively and the England cricket was considered to be dead. England cricket team was given the "RIP" certificate by the then Sporting Times magazine nd the ashes of the dead English cricket was taken to Australia.
Later in the same yr, England began its popular cricket tournament against Australia which was regarded as the "Quest for the Ashes" and eventually England won it. The England cricket team was awarded an urn (by few English female officials) which contained the ashes of the pair of bails used in the test match dat england lost earlier dat yr. The aftermath of dat tournament resulted in the two teams meeting often to fight for the Ashes. However, Ashes is currently being played biannually, alternatively in England nd Australia.


England however dominated the Ashes in the earlier stage by losing just 4 matches of 23, however its been the Aussies who have dominated the Ashes under various captains. The 2005 Ashes was considered the most memorable series for the England in the recent times, which the English won 2-1 under the captaincy of Michal Vaughan. But in the 2007 series, the Aussies made a magnum revenge by clinching the Ashes 5-0. It was after dis memorable Ashes dat the likes of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn retired from all forms of the game. Considering this fact too seriously its high time England try to steal the Ashes from the Aussies once again in 2009.


England have done an extraordinarily good job to draw the first Ashes test dis season. Ponting shuld have very badly missed Glenn Mc Grath or Shane Warne after having failed to grab the 10th English wicket in de second inning to win the first test. With the ineffective and tyro Australian pace attack, it wouldn't be a totally surprise package to the cricketing world if England tend to win the Ashes '09. This would be de elongated downfall of the Australian cricket. Lets hope for a very interesting Ashes '09


Pradeep KC

The most hyperbolized Cricketers

There have been lots of player who have always kept their expectation-meter very high wen big matches come up. Rather not all hav performed as anticipated. This excerpt in the blog would reveal the most over-estimated cricketers but have actually led down their team miserably on important occasions.

1. The first on the list wuld be the hunk Kevin Pieterson alias or abbreviated KP, who has always been high on the expectation-meter right from the start of his career. KP who bagged an ooping $1.5 million for his ILP champign seldom performed for his team.The $1.5 million for KP in de ILP auction just showed how much does Mr. Vijay Mallaiya has to be thriftless. This has not been the first time dis big man has let his team down. He has time and again succumbed despair when his England team has most wanted him to perform.


2. The next on cards is KP's teammate Andrew Flintoff, who also bagged the $1.5 million tag to represent the Chennai Super Kings nd led them down as far as possible. One has to believe dat he has missed more matches than he had managed to play in his career, may be due to his ghastly fitness or ban due to indiscipline acts off the field. Flintoff''s retirement from de test arena yields England in finding a far better player. Teammate Paul Collingwood, who is not too much in de limelight is sure a far better player than de formers.


3. Shahid Afridi comes next on the list. Nevertheless, a frightening batsman of one time nd still manages to be de nightmare of world's worst bowlers. But all this doesnt gainsay a place for him in this list of most over-estimated players of the world.Anyway, after nearly 3-4 yrs of miserable form he was able to grab both de semi-finals nd finals for pakistan in T20 world cup.
Pradeep KC