h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

this is gonna be fun - current results of poll on ABC website here in Australia
"Who will be Englands dangerman with the bat this ashes tour"
Flintoff 7%
Strauss 14%
Pietersen 4%
Trescothink 5%
Vaughan 14%
Key 1%
Don't make me LAUGH - None of 'em 55%

My God what happened with both teams in the first innings? Neither hitting more than a double century, positively shocking. The Aussies seem to be making the second innings count though, hopefully the boys from Blighty will have an equal second wind when they bate or, dare I say it, an even better one.

ha ha ha
i loved listening to those Englich commentators crapping on about how good England are and how Australia had under estimated them (inbetween Australias 1st innings & Englands) and then at 5/25 they weren't saying a word about England but started telling us how bad the pitch was - wasn't mentioned much in Aust innings (in fact they we saying it looked like a good wicket - making Englands bowling look brilliant)

(is under estimated 1 word??)

Yes, underestimated is one word.

Do you think once again our huge lead will make us too cocky?

By the by, I'm not fully sure on the years The Ashes are held, can someone explain why sometimes its every 2nd year, sometimes its 2 combined years and sometimes its successional years?

Well, um... I was thinking about this earlier; the Ashes are obviously held during the English summer (July/August) on a four year cycle and then during the Australian summer (December/January) on a different four year cycle (or at least, they have been as far back as I can remember, but my memory only goes back just further than Warne's debut match...)

Looking at http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/BY_OPPONENT/AUS-ENG/ I seem to be right for my memory at least, but before 1989 there were more Ashes series (almost one a year it seems).

So in recent times the England home series have been 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 ... and presumably every 4 years from now on... and the Australia home series have been 1990-91, 1994-95, 1998-99, 2002-03 ... so there's a 1.5 year gap and a 2.5 year gap, which is why it feels as though they're not evenly spaced out.

In fact closer examination in that link suggests that the four-year cycle trend goes back a bit further - to 1977 in England and 1978-79 in Australia. There are a couple of random tests thrown in there (centenary tests, it would seem) as well.

Hope that makes some sort of sense!

sorry to belatedly laugh in your face, was just browsing cricket and came accross this conversation. oh how wrong you were. this is your face - and i am laughing in it thus .