The Ashes
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The Ashes
Deborah Knight looks back at the series so far
The First Test
After the disaster that was The Ashes
Down Under in 2013 - if you’re English
that is - it was time to start all over
again, this time on English/Welsh
wickets and with a Duke rather than
a Kookaburra ball. Now, I’ve never
played cricket but I do know that
conditions and the variety of ball
makes a whole heap of difference.
Even with the shape the England
team had been in when soundly beaten
in Australia any sane cricketing person
should have known that without
anything having changed in the home
camp, the much vaunted 5 nil for the
visitors was highly unlikely!
We had however had a glimpse
of changes as far as England were
concerned during the very enjoyable
series against New Zealand. With the
limited overs cricket in particular in
mind it felt that the joy had returned,
oh and the memory of what the piece
of wood (otherwise known as a cricket
bat) was for. The question would be
could the change of attitude and form
translate into the red ball game - and the
hugely important Ashes red ball game
at that?
The Ashes returned to Cardiff for
the first Test - and I had tickets days 3
and 4. England had won the toss and
elected to bat on Day 1 - that seemed
to have been a disastrous decision on a
cloudy morning when England found
themselves on 43 for 3 with Adam Lyth,
Alastair Cook and Ian Bell losing their
wickets cheaply! Listening from afar I
wondered if I’d have cricket to see on
Day 4!
However I had no need to worry,
one Joe Root came to the rescue - he
4 Issue 42
scored a wonderful
134 runs. He was
kept company
firstly by Gary
B a l l a n c e
scoring 61 he faced 149
balls hitting
eight 4’s but showing
his
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