Trying to psyche us out
In my very fed-up state of affairs I was inspired to blog by Ricky Ponting
going on with himself earlier today. This helpfully made me recall one of the primary motivations behind this blog. The urge to be rude about Aussies.
You think
this nonsense is going to keep us down do you Ricky? Think it's going to ensure you get your whitewash and people might manage to forget that YOU WERE THE FIRST AUSSIE CAPTAIN FOR 19 YEARS TO LOSE THE ASHES? Think you can upset our preparations for Summer 2009?
Well you can think again Deodorant Boy.
The big Geoffrey debate
I like Geoff Boycott. I think he talks a lot of sense, unlike a number of the more recently retired ex-pros who tend to be up-the-arses of the current players. As I have said to KT below, Boycott is a bit like Simon Cowell; even though you might not like him you know he's right. However, I know that he divides opinion (to say the least).
So what do other people think, is he a woman-beating self-obsessed Yorkshire tw*t or a straight-talking cricketing legend?Your thoughts please....(in the meantime here's some great footage of crowd-pleasing Geoffrey at his best:)
The mystery of Mad Dog?
I notice on the comments to an earlier post that one reader has speculated that the, "bald tosser with a silly beard next to McGrath" in the
picture of the Aussies celebrating their Ashes triumph, is in fact Mad Dog (a regular agitator on this site).
I can exclusively reveal, with the photo evidence, below that it is not the aforementioned Mad Dog, but rather one half of Britain's recently
first divorced gay couple.
Normal service is resumed
So after the euphoria of 2005, normal service has been resumed and the Aussies have regained 'their' trophy.
I have to say that unlike others on the site I was always skeptical about our chances. Instead with McGrath, Warne and much of the Aussie top-order coming to the end of their careers
I had hoped that by the time of the
next series, our young team would be in a position to regain the Ashes on home soil and then go out and retain them in 2010. However, with the likes of Hussey, Stuart Clark (neither of whom are spring chickens but you'd expect to be around for a while) and Michael Clark in the team already, and Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and numerous young Australian batsmen to come in, then I think that the Aussies are looking in good shape for the future.
My hope therefore is that England will start planning now, today, for 2009. If that means radical surgery to the team so be it. Is Flintoff the right captain? Is either Jones or Read the answer as wicketkeeper? Does Stephen Harmison have the desire to play cricket for England? These and other questions need answering now. Some may argue that it's not the time for a knee-jerk reaction, but although we've competed at times during the series, when it has come to the crunch moments we've been seriously lacking in class and fight. Now is the moment to start planning for the future.
A friend sent me this great photo of the aftermath of Adelaide, it kinda sums it all up really.
Arse
Requiem for El Rey
Lines on the cricketing death of a king
So, farewell then, Ashley Giles,
You were an England player,
And the very King of Spain.
How fickle fans we are.
Have we forgotten how we used
To cheer you as a hero,
Those spells holding one end tight,
The useful gully fielding,
And those twentysomethings at number eight,
So utterly devoid of character,
Yet occasionally so crucial?
Now you’ve been usurped
By someone younger, sexier,
Sikhier,
With more dip and revolutions,
And more natural batting style.
We love him to distraction,
And it’s you we’ve cast aside.
Alas, poor Gilo.
In truth, your greatest quality
Was that accidental nickname,
Derived when some deaf eejit
Returned to Warwickshire an order
Of mugs that should have read:
Ashley Giles – King of Spin.
Now, again, you’ve become hated
For something not your doing:
Duncan Fletcher’s stubborn nature
And his dour Zim safety firstness.
Let’s hope you don’t become,
Like Gogol’s famous Madman,
Confined to an asylum,
Convinced you’re really head
Of the Spanish royal court.
(Though somehow I think that's unlikely.)
Monty-vescent
This is real! This is actually happening!
So said the unnecessarily amazed Aussie commentator as England started their first innings this morning... after we had bowled out the convicts for 244! Oh yes, this is actually happening!
Okay so we lost two early wickets (but from the sound of things Bell got a pretty good ball) but the Ashes start here.
I'm not a fan of Western Standard Time so I have no idea how well we played before about 7.30am this morning but I imagine there was some Monty-vescent involved.
And it's not just about the five-wicket haul. Given all the pressure of public expectation and the fact the Aussie game-plan was surely to go after Monty, knowing that by destroying him they would finish off all English hope, Monty's performance must go down as one of the greatest. The Collective salutes our new English legend.
Also hats off to Harmison. He hasn't been match-fit but he deserved our continuing faith. I thought he bowled quite well in patches in Adelaide without much luck so am chuffed he got some this morning. The McGrath wicket might have been questionable but in setting up Stuart Clark a few minutes earlier he proved that the world-class bowler is back.
The miracle of Christmas
The strangest thing happened this morning. I woke up to see Monty Panesar taking five wickets and Steve Harmison in the middle of a fast, hostile and (amazingly) accurate spell of bowling, having clearly now benefited from having some overs under his belt.
If I hadn't of known better I could have sworn that this is what was supposed to happened at
the start of the series. NOT when we were already two down. Oh well, shouldn't be too picky. It's a definite improvement but big pressure on Strauss, Collingwood and KP tomorrow...
Church Notices
1) We have a new member of the Collective joining us tomorrow. Keep your eye out for our daily postings from the boundary rope with our new friend. All to be revealed tomorrow.
2) Monty is playing. Is it going to be enough?
3) Some of the Collective will be watching the third day in the Sports Cafe on the Haymarket in London. Join us.
Glass half full?
I've just noticed that the remaining Tests now all start at 02.30 GMT instead of midnight as previously. I can't, however, work out if this is a good thing or not. On the one hand it means that staying up for the start of a day's play is going to be harder, but that's balanced by the fact that you will get see more of the play when getting up to go to work in the morning. Thus one can watch England's latest inevitable batting collapse or poor bowling performance with your own eyes, rather than be greeted with the news on teletext or the internet when you wake up!
Rocket Man Revival
As other members of the Collective will testify, football fan and little known musician Elton John was a hero of mine long before Freddie thrust him to global fame with his iPod sessions at the end of each day in that amazing series.
So it was with optimism that
I read the team had gone to see the Rocket Man after their failure in Adelaide.
If they really are Made in England, Elton's Sad Songs will Say So Much to them that they will be prepared to make the ultimate Sacrifice in Perth.
They better not Go Breaking My Heart, otherwise Saturday Night Will Be Right for Fighting and the Bitch in me will be Back.
Do you think they Can Feel the Love Tonight?
Explaining an ongoing theme
I have found it hard to rationalise my intense dislike of Australian cricketers. Could it be that our shared colonial past makes me jealous of their relative success; a jealousy felt by the siblings of the prodigal son? Or could it be that I suffer from underdog syndrome? Or is just plain prejudice.
But at last I have the answer. And provided by an Australian, no less. The real reason is that Australia's best players across the last 100 years have been anti-social, obnoxious and supercillious. This is the best way to describe Ricky Ponting:
"Ricky Ponting is not an immediately impressive guy. He's got one of those faces that tends to pop out of your old school photographs and make you wonder: "What was that little twirp's name again?" I have never heard an interesting word come from his mouth, and I strongly suspect that if you took away his cricket stardom and dropped him in the middle of a nightclub, he'd find it tough to get anyone to speak to him, let alone leave on his arm. "I mean, he gave the finger to a 66 year old man. Disgusting.
Read the full diatribe
HERE.
(This post is by way of a sideshow while we prepare for the defence of the Ashes to re-begin later in the week. Normal service will be resumed in the next 24 hours)
Monty Panacea?
You've got to love the great British media and assembled voices of cricket punditry. We've already had the
not-playing-Monty-backlash and now some of the papers are having a
Monty backlash-backlash, arguing that no one player would have made a difference to the results of the previous Tests.
However as far as I'm concerned this misses the point. No one can seriously think that Monty would have single-handedly changed the course of those games. The point was that ditching him and going for the conservative and 'safe' option of Giles pretty much gave the psychological advantage to the Aussies. It sent them a message that we were much less concerned with winning games than we were with not losing them. Is it any wonder therefore that on that fateful last morning in Adelaide the England team's mindset was 'let's get a draw' while the Aussies were thinking 'how can we win?'
Caution has been the watchword for England's selection policy. Saj Mahmood was ditched in favour of Jimmy Anderson because, according to Duncan Fletcher, 'we know what we can get out of Jimmy on a day-to-day basis'. In other words Jimmy was the 'safer' option. But hold on, if the ball isn't swinging isn't Matthew Hoggard the one who is expected to keep one end tight? And what about Giles? Isn't his role in the England team one of containment? How many containing bowlers do we need?
Choosing Panesar and Mahmood would have been the bold option, but the closest England have come to Bold of late was when the kits where washed before they left for the tour. I don't mind us losing. I do mind us rolling over without a fight, which has been the case up till now.
What a bunch of wank
Apologies for my silence yesterday. I was in Brussels, a cricket-free zone. Just as well.
I received the news in the form of a text message from the Napoleon of our Collective. I was sitting with some MPs. I said, it looks like we lost the Test! They asked, what does the text message say? I said I couldn't read it out, but reading between the lines, it could only mean one thing.
I've included the wording of this text message somewhere in this post. Can you spot it?
My only comments on the amendation of the Collective Manifesto below is that I note the Collective is only going to celebrate hard, aggressive and passionate cricket rather than great cricket. In that case, it will have a reasonable amount to celebrate from Australia - and still, I hope, from England, in patches at least.
But had the Collective been out to celebrate only great cricket then it wouldn't have that much to celebrate even from the Aussies. Here's the really ugly truth: this isn't a brilliant Australian side. Ponting is brilliant, and so's Warne. But that's it. Clark's been very good. Not great, just very good. McGrath and Lee have been good in bursts, but not, repeat not, world-beaters. And aside from Punter and Hussey, the batting's only decent. Haydos should be put out to pasture, or, better, shot and turned into glue. Martyn's rubbish. Clarke's good. Not great, good. Gilchrist still looks a shadow of the player he used to be.
An Aussie side from a couple of years ago would murder this lot.
Anyway...
Yours in cheese.
Fletch lives?
What a fickle lot we are. 18 months ago Duncan Fletcher was being feted as Cricket's answer to Jose Mourinho, today he's more Sven-Goran Ericsson and the calls for him to go are getting louder all the time.
Some may argue that this is not the time for kneejerk reactions,
but there is no doubt in my mind that he has a case to answer.
Clearly team selection has been a massive issue. The Monty vs Giles and Read vs Jones debate has been done to death, but what was once one of Fletcher's great strengths - his loyalty to players - is now perhaps his greatest weakness. Similarly major mistakes have been made in terms of preparation for the series and the tactics adopted (with disastrous consequences this morning). Add in England's truly abysmal one-day form and Fletcher's monosyllabic approach to dealing with the media and I suspect that the pressure on the coach to resign could soon become irresistible.
Of course this begs two questions, who would take over (Is Bob Wolmer cricket's Brian Clough) and is it wise to replace the coach just before the world cup? At the moment I'm not sure whether I know the answer to either, which suggests that for the time being Fletcher should stay.
A statement from The Collective
Collective ResponsibilityWe are the I Don't Like Cricket Collective.
You will be familiar with our
manifesto. You will be familiar with our identities.
You will know our differing personalities. Perhaps the only two things that tie us together our shared loves of cricket and cheese.
But what we have is a collective identity and will; a collective desire for England to win the Ashes; a collective energy to attack the Australians wherever possible; a collective responsibility to play our part, whatever that may be.
And we have done that. We have entertained, informed and harassed in equal measure.
Its just a shame that the team we have backing so ardently for the past 114 days lack this notion of collective responsibility.
Let's not kid ourselves about how we nearly won this Test. In the wash-up it was exactly the same as the First Test - one big innings and one abysmal and embarrassing innings. A patheticness driven by negative selection (to secure an extra twenty reasons at the expense of the ability to take twenty wickets) and the killer extinct of a vegetarian Labrador. And some poor, poor bowling.
The question that has to be asked is: where is the hunger?
This is no longer a question about selection or tactics. It is a question of whether they are bothered. The Australian's woke up thinking they might win today. We woke up thinking we could get a draw and that would be a good result.
We went from a winning situation to a drawing situation and then, of course, things got much worse.
How can we stand here and barrack John Buchanan for predicting the Convicts will win the Test, when they actually do? How can we ridicule Glenn McGrath's 5-0 prediction when they are well on course for this? How can we mock Shane Warne for being Shane Warne?
This wasn't the greatest comeback in Test Match history ™. This was a capitulation on England's part.
The Collective are changing our mission. We will now look to celebrate hard, aggressive and passionate cricket wherever we find it in this series.
Signed
The Collective.
(To understand quite how bad this result is for England and this series, read
this cricinfo article or go to John -
our spiritual aussie equivalent.)
Group Therapy
The Collective are preparing a statement on behalf of the nation that will be published at 2pm GMT. Check back for more info.
In the meantime, to help us deal with this terrible day together, it would be nice if everyone who checked in could write a little comment telling us how they feel.
Thank you.
Oh dear
Having
tempted fate last night I am inclined to metaphorically throw myself on my sword and take full responsibility as Australia move seamlessly towards winning the game and almost inevitably the series.
However on reflection England have been so quick to run up the white flag that I think it would be unfair for me to have to cop the stick for what has been a truly awful last day capitulation. As I write a part-time bowler - Kevin Pietersen - and Ashley Giles have been giving the task of saving England, and there are no close-catchers around the bat trying to take wickets. Pathetic.
But hold on...we've just taken a wicket! Just delaying the inevitable i think.
Fate tempting with light blogging
Well Cov may have lost his committment to the Collective and to the Series, but I am still here blogging to the very last.
As its the last day and will inevitably bore on to shapeless draw I am only planning some light blogging. I'll give you the service you deserve with updates on my state of mind every couple of minutes. However, I think being the current Collective record holder for longest blogging stretch I might sign off earlier than usual.
In other news, a coup is going on in Fiji and a German won the Turner Prize.
Fingers crossed, eh.
1.42 - Oh dear. 75-4. Fred and Collingwood to save the match. I told you it would be bad. I've let you down by missing the wickets so now I'm signing off. To have non-cheese inspired nightmares.
1.13 - And just as I say that Strauss goes down the pitch to Warne and is caught at short leg bat pad without much of an appeal. Oh dear. I have an ominous feeling about it now.
1.11 - Gav reckons he will stay up longer than me. Hmmm. Well how come I'm the champion blogger in that case then Gav? Shouldn't be asassinating an archduke somewhere or other? Anyway. In the cricket its 69-1 - moving slowly along - but Warne and Strauss are having a nice little contest: old man versus great hope.
12.53 - You will notice that cheese hasn't featured this evening. Its the start of the week - a long boozy, pre-Christmas week - and so when I do knock off I want to retain my serenity (as serene as this very slow but competent start in the actual cricket is) and don't want any Lincolnshire Poacher-inspired dreams. Incidentally, that's my third succesive post without talking about the match.
12.47 - Oh my god. Now some students in Manchester have suggested different types of tea for each TMS presenter - Boycott is Yorkshire Tea Premium Gold and Agnew is a Twinning and Chocolate hobnob. Geoffrey is loving it so much he can't stop laughing.... it really doesn't bode well.
12.41 - You won't believe this, but already Agnew is bored. He's doing a bit of product placement for some airport novel he's bought called "The Consultant's Temptation". Already insane. Its going to be a long night.
12.30 - Warne opens the bowling to Strauss. His run up - according to Agnew - is into a hot wind. Yet another childish giggle from TMS. But then I guess that Warne has been talking a load of fart over night.
Tempting fate
I wont be staying up to watch the cricket tonight (Although i'll probably wake up during the night to check the score from time-to-time.) This is partly because of an important work meeting first thing in the morning, but also because I am confident that the game is heading inexorably towards a draw. Therefore if England somehow conspire to lose (note how I have ruled out the possibility of us winning it) I will take full responsibility...
Live blogging from the Hot Water Bottle front
I'm back in town tonight. And a bit of a prelude before the cricket. I've been round a friends for a bit of a do and I want to make two comments.
1) Sorry for not often making the live blogging past 1.30 but we have things to do in the morning so sometimes we just fall asleep. We are doing our best Rhian so please be forgiving - I notice your boyfriend isn't doing any live blogging.
2) On the other hand Rhian has just supplied some lovely brie and a wonderful bit of Lincolnshire Poacher - so tangy it made my gums tinkle. Having eaten so much of it I must stay up all night otherwise I'll be having some crazy dreams.
So here we go third day. Lets hope for a wicket or two before lunch. Realistic scenario for this hard day will be 300-4 at the close and a draw likely
2.31 - That's it. Ponting gets his 50 and its lunch. What a great session for England. Now I've won the race, I'm going to have a kip. See you all in the morning when its 250-7 and the aussies are panicing about the follow on.
2.27 - Three minutes to lunch. Collingwood could have run out Ponting, but instead it goes for overthrows. Annoying. In other news, I am now the live blogging endurance champion of the IDLCC.
2.16 - John Buchanan's an idiot. We all know that. Read
this for his attempt to say that Warne and McGrath's worst ever figures weren't actually that bad. Knob.
2.09 - According to CMJ, Ponting has just come across his stumps to the last ball (Jones caught it) and the slips had to do the tidying up. I know its childish, but don't tell me you didn't laugh. In 10 minutes time I will have done the longest session of live blogging of any member of the IDLCC. Winner.
2.01 - This session really is throbbing. High quality over from Fred. 87-3. While thinking what to post, I came across
this article on the five live blog. An interesting read that is so right about the differences between the barmy army and football hooligans - responding to some absolute shite by an australian regional paper. James Anderson has replaced the Hog and nearly takes a wicket with his first ball. Hog's spell was 9-1-16-2 this morning. Absolutely brilliant.
1.57 - A bit quiet now as we recover from The Drop. So to prove I'm still awake I'm noting the bowling change. Harmy replaced by Fred. A good opening spell, I think. V fast and in the right channels. Fred is bowling round the wicket to hussey and the wind is gusting round the flat.
1.43 - OH MY GOD!!!!!! Gilo has dropped Ponting at square leg with 35 runs to his name. The Hogster bowling. Ball hit straight at him but fast and high. He should have got it. Will we regret this on a dead pitch like this. The one thing we can be reassured about is that Monty - genius that he is - would never even have got close. But oh my god.
1.42 - Harmison bowls a knee high full toss at Ponting who hits the deck and wants to get angry about a beamer. If only he hadn't made a twat of himself he would have realised it was no such thing. Worrying about Harmy's radar, but pleased that Ponting is rattled.
1.37 - Hoggard is on fire. Aggressive and in your face. After an intense first over against Hussey he fields the final ball of the over himself, hurls it back and takes out the middle stump. That is what we want: proper hate and aggression. We can win this game, if only we forget the hype and concentrate on the team. (Time to admit that I am David Brent, maybe?). Meanwhile it is mighty windy in Tooting tonight.
1.30 - Am I in heaven? The over before the drinks break and Martyn is CAUGHT IN THE GULLY! Bell does the business for Hoggy. 65-3 - Martyn scores 11. Geoffrey thinks that Hoggy set Martyn up by encouraging him to drive. GB has just invented a new word in describing this word: Apparently Hoggy "out-patienced" Martyn.
1.19 - Harmy goes for 1 off that over. Very tidy. Nice one Steve - in the channel (given how little the corridor guys like the Collective, I won't use that word) and asking questions of judgement from the batsman. In the meantime there are predictions of a timeless test from Geoffrey and the first every personal detail from Bill Frindell. He was born on the first day of the timeless Test and therefore is 67 years old at the moment. Astonishing. The machine has a personality!
1.12 - Maiden over from Harmy. Nice one. And if that Australian keeps going on about Barmy Harmy then I will back Geoffrey Boycott in any necessary violent action that he takes. I will be a completely reliable witness when I say: "I didn't see anything, gov."
1.02 - Harmison's first over. Sounds like he's bowling in the right zones but the Australians are still finding a way to get some runs. 50 comes up for two. And now I think the Lincolnshire Poacher is paying me a second visit - this time under the covers.
12.53 - Paul Collingwood is off the pitch at the moment. Has anyone seen Gary Pratt - the guy fielding at short mid-wicket to Ponting looks remarkably familiar.
12.48 - Am I going to be proved massively wrong? Hopefully. Hayden caught behind by Hoggard. It shocked us all so much that the TMS commentators were more interested in talking about yesterday when it happened. This surely has to be a crucial breakthrough in the whole context of the game. Predictably the BBC is missing the point and has taken the opportunity to send Radio 4 listeners to the shipping forecast.
12.43 - Fred to Ponting. A small appeal for LBW. Not much in it, but vital to keep the pressure up on the little one. Get in his face his boys.
12.38 - Fred took the first over. Hoggy now bowling the second. A snorter first ball. The crowd is wondering whether Harmy will get a bowl in the next couple of overs.
Mea Culpa
Having watched Paul Collingwood score an amazing double century last night and then just watched Mark Ramprakash dancing around a BBC studio like a big girl's blouse I have to admit that I may have been mistaken in calling for the
latter to replace the former in the Test team.
In future I shall stick to making comments about cheese...
Three lions on the square!
Well done to our three lovely lionhearts - Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen. It's enough to make you proud of being English, or South African, or ginger, or really quite short indeed.
Marvellous!
(No need to mention that at Adelaide in 2002 we finished day one on 295 for four but were all out for 342 on day two. Or that we subsequently lost the test by an innings...)
Live blogging from my advent calender
Well here we go. Its 1 December and the countdown to Christmas has begun. Let the fun begin.
For the cheese afficianados out there, all I have beside me is a Maltesers advent calender and pint of water.
1.34 - Need I say it? Strauss gives his wicket to the mid-on fielder. Nice. 32-1.
1.31 - Monty's on. Brilliant. Our dreams have come true. Err... Sorry to disappoint - he's just bringing on the drinks after the first hour's play. We are going to see Spain's finest bowling in this Test, not the real thing unfortunately. But one hour gone, no wickets down, 32 on the board. Can't complain. We need to score more quickly, but I guess we'll settle for this with the new ball.
1.17 - A bit of politics in the commentary box. The australian commentator is mourning the ban of the barmy army's trumpet player, condemning Australia as "the most over-regulated country in the world." You can feel the TMS stuffed suits bubbling with fury at the thought that music and fun should be allowed at a test match. Did I ever tell you about the time CMJ condemned my behaviour live on TMS? No. I'll save it for another time, but I do feel honoured to have been called "a disgrace" live on the radio.
1.08 - In the comments box someone has urged us to click on his link and help make him the "coolest guy in the world". Two things: 1) How cool are you that you have to beg for friends on random blogs. 2) At least pretend to know something about cricket before you beg for our friendship. I urge the rest of the Collective to ignore his pleading. In the cricket meanwhile this pitch is slower than a Northern Line train on a Monday morning.
12.59 - Four lucky runs for Cook through the slips. "The little margins of cricket" according to CMJ. God, this is really quite benign. Everyone keeps talking about intensity, but I think the only thing that will keep me up tonight is an intense burn from rolling over on to my hot water bottle. Apparently Geoffrey Boycott doesn't have a chair in the commentary box and his view on this is: "A joke. Half the commentary boxes in the world are a joke." Don't mince words GB.
12.51 - Back from the kitchen and I'm already feeling the benefit of my HWB. 9-0 after five; sounds competently safe. My views on Boycott are
well known, but I love his brazen partisanship - he's just been celebrating the bodyline test at this ground. We all love to see an australian batsman take a few body blows, but normally no one has the guts to say it. Well done Geoffrey.
12.39 - Cook gets the first runs. McGrath looking safe but no cigar. Having to concentrate on my laptop in bed is quite chilly. Am going to get my hot water bottle so there had better not be anything happening in the next couple of overs.
12.35 - Maiden from Lee. But not tough for Strauss - no risk of that rogue pull coming into action. McGrath comes on from the other end - round the wicket to Cook. Three slips and a gully this time round. He's got a blister on his heel - has anyone got a rusty pin to burst it with?
12.31 - Lee opens. Two balls wide outside off stump. Only two slips and a gully. All sounds like Ponting doesn't trust Lee's bowling. Bring it on.
12.29 - the umpires are on the pitch and the crowd are singing Swing Lo Sweet Chariot. Well done aussies - can't tell the difference between a cricket song and a rugby song.
Live blogging from my bed - the prelude
Well as Steve is too pissed to blog tonight you have me from my bed tonight, listening in on TMS as Aggers and the team rather than watching the Sky coverage.
And great news England win the toss and bat. Brilliant. All of a sudden the beautiful Adelaide Oval becomes a truly beautiful.
Teams on unchanged. Doesn't it remind you of 2005? England crap in the last test but unchanged and the Aussies worrying about McGrath's fitness? Omens omens.
I'll be back in 30 mins to give you some live coverage.
In my very fed-up state of affairs I was inspired to blog by Ricky Ponting going on with himself earlier today. This helpfully made me recall one of the primary motivations behind this blog. The urge to be rude about Aussies.
