The Ashes 2023

[Zzzptm]

Seems like it's "if we win all's fair, if we lose it was rotten fixing!" coming from the England fans right now. It's all the game, roll with it and be a good sport about it, there's always another game.

Now I need to listen to a Roy Harper album...

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

It's teh final test at the moment, day 3. Average batting on the first 2 days left Australia with a 12 run advantage after the first innings.

Day 3 and while not perfect there have been some good performances by England and nearing the end of the day England are 360-6.

[Jack the Stripper]

5th test is delicately poised. 5th and final day Australia are 238/3 at lunch(now a rain delay) requiring a further 146 to win the match and win the series 3-1. The umpires decided to change the ball at Englands request as they thought it was slightly out of shape and it seems to have worked wonders for England taking 3 wickets in the first hour of play this morning. The replacement ball seemed a lot newer and was moving around a lot than the ball they replaced. Australia have since steadied but given how this series has constantly ebbed and flowed I suspect theres still a lot to play out. Smith gloved one to Stokes just before lunch but he lost control of the ball when he went to celebrate and the catch was disallowed. How costly might that be?

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I think there's too much rain about to see a resolution one way or the other, which is a shame. I'm about 60 miles south west  of the Oval but it's just started to rain quite heavily here.


EDIT: I was wrong there was a decent amount of play this afternoon... and just a couple of moments ago Stuart Broad took the last wicket in his last ever game. England won by 49 runs, but it could have gone either way.

The series ends 2-2 all but as the holders Australia retain the Ashes for another couple of years. Great series, very entertaining.

[Jack the Stripper]

Was an enthralling series and probably fitting it ended in a draw. Already looking forward to the next series but hopefully England can actually be competitive in Australia for a change