Dancing On The Ashes

I've come a long way from my first times watching and listening to cricket test matches from the subcontinent. First of all, the radio I use to listen to cricket is much better now. And even more, the events are more important: The series on now is the Ashes, which is the only event any cricketer wants to win--assuming he comes from England or Australia.

In 2005, England won the Ashes for the first time in 16 years, so the expectations are high this year, which is probably why they have all but pronounced it over even though it's only the first match.

This morning, I was listening to the end of the match on BBC Five Live Sports Extra as English captain Andrew Flintoff mis-hit a ball that was caught on the fly--which, as in American baseball, means the batsman is out. At that point, you would have thought the whole contest was already over, based on the commentators' reaction. But hey--it's only day four of a five-day test, and there's four more of these to come.