Like so many people I talk to at the moment I have been eagerly watching the Ashes Cricket tests. Having grown up for twenty odd years in NZ it is hard to resist the urge to just support anyone playing Australia out of sheer force of habbit, and while Simone does accuse me of bashing her country’s sports teams, the truth is that far more than supporting one team or another I am simply revelling in the fact that for the first time in what seems like more than a decade there is genuine competition within the Cricketing world.
Ultimately if one team wins every time (as the Australians have done for many years now) it take all the fun out of watching the sport. Now however you don’t know what is going to happen. I I mean the other day I found myself thinking that if I had been anywhere near england I would have been buying tickets to the first day of the test (which is usually completely unlike me, because traditionally the first day of any test is relatively slow and tactical) because the matches of the current tour are hard fought, skillful, and most importantly exciting.
I can only hope that it is the start of a broader trend. It really would be fantastic to see some good indian, pakistani and West indian teams get back into the fray as well.