Gee wiz, I’m not prepared. Suddenly, out of the dark, damp cold of Melbourne winter, when my focus is on the increasingly good form of my Tigers and surviving the slightly torturous season of Vets footy I’ve imposed on myself, The Ashes has loomed.
I’ve watched with casual interest the scores from the Tour games, happily noting the two centuries Australia’s third Mitch and second Marsh has made on tour. Surely we’ve finally found a viable alternative to Watson I thought, but still it didn’t actually occur to me that the Tests would be happening so soon.
Less exciting news was the re-injured knee of Ryan Harris. AFL fans will note that there is very little chance of Ryan Harris disappearing, only to be replaced by Ryan Lake. A truly gutsy performer was big Ryan. He wrecked his knee to get Australia back to the top of Test cricket’s tree. It’s a shame his career is ended, but he was old, and we’ve got plenty of oldies in this side.