Cricket - England v Australia 2005

Not oftern that I find myself watching or listening to Cricket any more, so I have decided to have some me time doing just that. To that end I have decided to go back in time and watch the highlights of the 2005 England v Australia test series which started with a massive defeat for England in the first test, after a promising spell in the first innings. It was a series that was played true spirit of the game and on that will be remember for a long time to come.

 

The First match started 21st July 2005

England Capitan Michael Vaughan after being given out for 4 runs

Australian Capitan Ricky Ponting takes a blow to the face

English bowler Steven Harmison who took 8 wickets in the first match

Australian spinning legend Shane Warne celebrating a wicket

 Freddie Flintoff the blowing hero of the series for England

Australian Glenn McGrapth, the greatest bowlers in cricketing history

England batsman the explosive and talented Kevin Pietersen

Justin Langer the best Australian of the series Justin Langer

It was a moment in time that inspired the nation with the series on a knife edge to the final afternoon of the final test. It was a series that showed that test cricket could be as enthralling as the twenty cricket that has become so popular today. It was a magic time and in the end the whole England team were award MBE's and a victory parade with the England's women's team who also beat the Australian women's team being cheered on by a cast of thousands. It was a high point in English cricket and the start of England rising to the top of the game.

Well Done Andy

After all the excitement of last years Wimbledon when Andy Murry was the runner up there could only be one way to better it, by winning the title and becoming the first British man in 77 years to lift the trophy and that is just what he did.

Winning in straight sets again the world number one he proved himself to be one of the finest, if not the finest, mens tennis player that Britain, and more specifically Scotland has ever produced. So great was his achievement that as he lifted the trophy the village church bells ran in celebration of his achievement.  I hope this is just the start of a special summer for this man that all his hard work in the past will see him once and for all become the world number one.

And So It Has Started

In what can only be described as an amazing opening ceremony the Olympic Games opened earlier in London with a speech from the Queen and the lighting of Olympic the flame. The whole thing made you proud to be British for a while even if we had to take the "make do approach" due to the double dip recession.

There were so many highlights including the transformation of the countryside and the forging of the rings which looked amazing. I just loved the James Bond and the Queen spoof on getting to the games and flying the helicopter under the rings on tower bridge. Just wish the Queen had a little more time to speak. It is quiet amazing that her father and grandfather before her opened the games in the past. The lighting of the cauldron and the cauldron itself were just wonderful. It is an amazing idea and a wonderful bit of art. 

The boring bit, for me was, a load of people walking around smiling and waving flags. They looked like they had a great time, smiling away, the television commentators were wetting themselves with excitement as the spotted potential medalist, but for me it leaves me a bit cold. Looks good but it just goes on and on and on, but I guess it just part of the show and it all can't be amazing. 

Back in late nineties I was in a play called Romero and Juliet, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, directed by Michel Birch. There was a group of core actors with the speaking parts to which he added a cast of about 80 supporting young actors. At the time I could feel what he was trying to create but I never had a ture understanding or vision of what it looked like until I saw the same thing on a massive scale at the opening of the Olympic Games. Watching the first 25 minutes what was created by everyone taking part was such an impressive feat.

I thought it was interesting what  Sarah Lyall of The New York Times had to say, summing it up as a "slightly insane portrait of a country that has changed almost beyond measure since the last time it hosted the Games, in the grim postwar summer of 1948." The fact is she is so right, the Great has been taken out of Britain through the failures of successive governments and waste opportunities. 

All the same it showed we can put on a show and a good one at that, and I enjoyed it and many others did, going by the comments on Facebook and Twitter and that was the main thing, and so now on with the games.

British Pair win the Mens Doubles

For the first time in seventy six years a Briton has being in the winning pair at the Mens Doubles at Wimbledon. Jonathan Marray teamed up with Frederik Nielsen and having played just three tournaments together they had to apply for a wildcard to get into the tournament. They went on to bushed all opposition away and win a nail bitting five set final beating last years runners up.

It was a great match, I sat cheering at the computer as I watched it online on the BBC website. It was so wonderful to see a British man win something at Wimbledon it has been far too long coming and we have another shot tomorrow. Lets hope we see Andy Murray lift the silverware tomorrow in another great final. It will give the country something to be proud of for a change.

Well Done Andy Murray

Today saw a little bit of history being made when Andy Murray became the first Britain to make it through to the mens finals. The game looked like a walkover in the first two sets and turned into real match when Andy Murray's game dipped in the third set and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga settled into the match.

In the end he won the forth set in a set that swung one way and then the other and it all came down to a disputed line call in Murray's favour. This has set up a final with probably one of the best players of the game in modern times, Roger Federer on Sunday which will keep a nation glued to there seats and biting there nails.

New BBC Football Homepage

It wasn't a very nice surprise coming across the new BBC sport page. After they redesigned a lot of the site I guess it was bound to happen but the new page really doesn't work as well as the old one. The football page being a massive disappointment to anyone that follows the lower league clubs, like myself.

Of course on the BBC Television and Radio they are all saying how good it is. The problem is it is harder to navigate and find your football team if they aren't in the premier league and the same is true in other sports, for example, finding county cricket scores will be harder with you having to search the menu system. There is an old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and that is the case here. The old site worked well and it was easy to find what you were looking for. The menu system was intuitive and fast. The whole site worked well on machines with limited processor power like netbooks and tablets, so why improve what didn't need improving? It is no better than it was before, in fact it is in my opinion worse. 

Andy Murry

I have always loved a thrilling game of mens tennis. It is a wonderful game when it full of rallies that shows off the skills of the players and I was lucky enough to catch the end of one such game by accident yesterday. I guess I'm like most people, unless the games are being played int the England you don't play any attention to the games. It turned out that listening to the end of this game turned out to be a pleasure.

The game was the mens semi final of the Australian Open. It was an amazing display of skill from the two players Andy Murry and Novak Djokovic Everything you could want from a game of tennis. A real nail bitter of a finish, that after five hours of play went down to the last game without you knowing who was going to win. Either player could have wrapped it up. In the end the unstoppable Novak Djokovic won the day. But it wasn't all bad for Andy Murry who game has come on so much recently. So much so that Jonathan Overend the BBC tennis correspondent said of Murry's performance and the game:

Murray should take enormous pride from the way he ran the best player in the world so close and the way he hauled himself back from tricky situations, like set points down in the third, 5-2 down in the decider. Djokovic has improved immeasurably over the last 12 months and here was evidence that Murray has the ability to do the same. Stepping up the court, hitting with depth and purpose, going for the lines on massive points. These were big positives. Shining through almost five hours of skill, pain, joy and heartache, should come a whole bundle of hope for the season ahead.

The whole game was inspirational and I hope it motivates more younger people to play the game. We could all do with a bit of cheer at the moment and having someone like Andy Murry winning some finals would be great for the sprit of the country. Lets hope there are lots more games like this one to keep us all entertained, especially in the summer. 

Southend United

Something I don't talk about very much is that I follow Southend United and have since I left Essex back when I was eighteen. I would have said support but I really have never had the chance to see them so I think it is fair to say follow to acknowledge all those people that go to Roots Hall week after week and whose money have kept this tiny club going over the years.

Most people will have first come across this lowly club when Freddy Eastwood caused a massive upset by scoring the most amazing goal to knock a star studded Manchester United in the fifth round of the Carling Cup a few years back. It was one of the most beautifully executed free kicks I have seen, and I know that any player in the Manchester United Squad that had taken it, and like Freddy scored from it, would have remembered with with pride. It was performances like that which built the confidence in the club that resulted in us ending up in the Championship. But confidence only gets you so far and the there wasn't the money to keep us there and now we are back where we started in Division Two.

This session has seen the side being rebuilt and plans being put in place to secure the financial future of the club which is still at the moment losing money week on week. Thankfully the rebuilding of the side is going well and a cohesive team is being formed that is capable of winning matches at home and away against all comers. Once the constancy of the side comes into place they will be in a strong position to go for a spot in the play off if not later this session then in next. In fact I would go as far as to say with some effort they could even be in a automatic promotion place next session if they carry on improving as they have been in recent matches. As for the financial side of club, that could be it's downfall especially if it doesn't get it's new ground sorted soon and bring in the money through the gate.

People sometimes ask me why follow such a lowly club, well the answer is simple, the football is hard and although the games might not have the style of the top premiership matches they are full of guts and fight and everyone gives there all. It is what football to me is all about, teamwork and commitment.