Let battle commence! [Ashes 2017-18 thread]
 

I didn't really want to expand on the title of this thread, but decided in the end that I should, just so that everyone who is interested gets the chance to join in.

We are super-excited here, even though we'll have to stay up til midnight to watch the start of the action. How long I'll last after that remains to be seen - if the match follows the same pattern as 4 years ago, I may take to my bed sooner rather than later. At least our humiliation will be private, unlike last time when we had the "pleasure" of watching the horror unfold live at the Gabba surrounded by 80,000 Aussies. But as ever, hope springs eternal, as I'm sure it does in Aussie hearts too.

So no hawking, spitting or sledging but otherwise, let battle commence!

<<we had the "pleasure" of watching the horror unfold live at the Gabba surrounded by 80,000 Aussies>>

It must have been a good day, you were seeing double ;)

Boxing day at the MCG with 100,000 must be an incredible yet nerve wracking experience for the opening batsmen

I normally have tickets for Adelaide (great ground and surrounding pubs), Perth and Sydney but this year the usual suspects that I travel with can't be bothered so I'll just watch on tv.

It must have been a good day, you were seeing double>>

Probably, the Tassies sitting next to us insisted on buying us cocktails all day; mind you they kept showing us pics of various members of their family posing with Rickie Ponting so we needed to have a drink to cope with all that, let alone what was happening on the pitch.

The size of the Aussie grounds is very impressive and as you say it must be very intimidating. Shame that you aren't going to be seeing it in the flesh this year; I hope you enjoy it as much as you have before.

The radio commentary build up has just started with a poem by Robert Louis Stephenson being interspersed with Ashes highlights. So many evocative voices followed by the familiar music that precedes all TMS broadcasts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xXbTaQlKI

I was just thinking about you, Annhig!

Sitting on my deck with a “cuppa” just before 11am, it’s Summer in Sydney! Cricket’s on the radio, cicadas singing in the background. “First contact of the series of bat to ball ...”

Good luck - but not tooooo much of it;)

We Aussies haven’t got a hope. Worst Australian team ever, and I don’t like Smith as Captain. I think the Brits have nothing to worry about as they will win easily.

I think you're being a little pessimistic, cheska - I thought that it was just about honours even today. Shame that Vince managed to get himself run out, as I think that he was nailed on for a 100, but great throw by Lyons.

Funny that it's the newbies for England that have done so well, and Cook and Root not so much.

What think you now, Bokhara?

Sitting on my deck with a “cuppa” just before 11am, it’s Summer in Sydney! Cricket’s on the radio, cicadas singing in the background. “First contact of the series of bat to ball ...”
*****
That sounds wonderful, Bokhara!

Owzat.....Lillee, caught Willey, bowled Dilley.

Just heard the tribute to Jim Maxwell on ABC - it's his 40th year and big comeback after his stroke. Kerry O'Keeffe ( our family fav ), Sir Geoffrey and Aggers were amongst them.

I'm laying on the couch with the cooling on watching Aus 4 /167 and Root getting ready to bowl . Lots of praise for Joe Roots captaincy from the all white male commentators on the tv. Wow I just heard a positive comment about Marsh !!!!

Lovely to hear and see the interviews and presentations with/to the Other Ashes winners - well done women .

Owzat.....Lillee, caught Willey, bowled Dilley.>>

or even better the apocryphal "the batsman's Holding the bowler's Willey".

Said not to be true but who cares?

Northie - we had a lot of coverage here of the women's Ashes with lots of female voices, but as you say, they now seem to have disappeared. Jim Maxwell is a big favourite here too - he seems to have been replaced as the resident Aussie on TMS by Glenn McGrath who was a great bowler but less good commentator/ pundit IMHO. Still I will always have a soft spot for him ever since he single handedly won the Ashes for England in 2005 by rolling his foot on that cricket ball before the start of the 2nd test. I'm convinced that had he been fit, Australia would have won hands down and we would have been spared the sight of a very drunk Freddie Flintoff sitting on top of the open top bus in the victory parade around London. How history is changed by such small things.

As for the match we seem to have let you off the hook, rather - let's hope Jimmy et al can do some damage in the morning.

As Jim only did one test last season because of his stroke he may have been replaced by Glenn. He's back full time this year though .

He's back full time this year though .>>

Sadly not with us he isn't, though I'm very pleased to hear that he has made a full recovery. I don't know what format Aussie radio adopts but the TMS routine is that there are three commentators per match, who each do a 20 minuted slot. They do the "ball by ball" commentary. Alongside them is a "pundit" and they do 30 minutes slots I think, so that there is an overlapping of a variety of voices. Jim has done both the ball by ball and pundit roles in the past but so far as this test is concerned, he doesn't seem to be doing either, and Glenn McGrath is supplying the Aussie voice. I should add that there is also a scorer who is there all day [I suppose he gets lunch and tea off] who does all the stats.

So how do they organise the Aussie radio broadcasts?

Tuning in here...

Northie -

"cricket on the radio" is where you should be. One of the rotating commentators is Alison someone, an Englishwoman. She does quite well. One advantage of the radio is that it's slightly ahead of the tv broadcast, so, if something happens, you have time to get in front of the tv to see it, without the rabbiting on of the tv commentators.

Good to hear Kim Maxwell back, but I haven;t heard, so far, from Glenn McGrath. (and I agree with Ann's assessment of his injury contributing greatly to our loss). I wish Kerry O'Keefe would come back to serious radio, not that commercial stunt.

That would be Alison Mitchell, Margo, who along with Eleanor Oldroyd has managed to break through into Sports commentating in the UK. They have both come through the conventional sports commentator route [Alison even gets let loose on the football occasionally] whereas some of the others have moved from playing cricket to commentating on it - Lottie Edwards, the wonderfully named Ebony-Jewel Cora-Lee Camellia Rosamond Rainford-Brent, and Isa Gupta all played for England and are allowed out on women's and non-test matches, though not yet on the test matches.

As for the wittering of the TV commentators, there has been a minor revolution here as Sky has lost the contract [thank goodness] to BT sport. Sky's sole criterion for election appeared to be that the chap in Q had been England cricket captain; this led to the bizarre notion that Nassar Hussein and Ian Botham would make good commentators. Our remedy for this is to turn the TV sound off and listen to TMS however there is a problem with digital radio as it's not sychonised with the TV action. We solved this problem by buying a radio that has a pause function which gives us endless entertainment trying to get the sound and the picture to match up.

BTW I remember hearing a lot about Kerry O'Keefe when we were in Oz 4 years ago but when I listened, I couldn't see why he was so popular. What was I missing?

I hope that you have forgiven me for THAT rugby match - I see that you take on Scotland tomorrow which may be an unexpectedly challenging fixture, given the resurgence on Scottish rugby - they gave NZ a real fright last week. Let's hope that the ref is on your side this week, shall we?

Perfect day here today. 31 degrees no wind and we will have a bbq tonight. I love listening to Jim Maxwells commentary as he seems to be very fair. Th TV commentary drives me insane. Shane Warne etc. although Bill Lawry is the all time favourite. At 80 years of age he can still entertain.

Adelaide Oval is my favourite ground to watch cricket although it is always hot. But that’s not a problem as you just pop out the back for a nice cold glass of wine. I should declare it is my hometown, even though I don’t live there anymore.

What with a lot of our politicians not knowing their citizenship and the continued news on a certain President I feel Australia really needs cheering up. I’m not sure the Aussie team will do this for us. Roll on Aust Open Tennis. Ah summer in Australia. Perfect. So much fabulous sport where I can escape reality.

Yes - Alison Mitchell - I listened when she was introduced today. There's been a call to have her banned! Just as her shift started, she called two Australian wickets in quick succession. Obviously her fault!

(and apologies to Jim Maxwell, who I unfortunately renamed Kim above!)

The radio process here is much the same as TMS. We have two English commentators, Alison M and Jonathan Agnew - and 2 Australians, Jim M and Gerard Whately currently. The TV set up is similar to UK, a bevy of former Australian captains and other well known former players, and the odd other commentator (e.g the odd Shane Warne) and an occasional England player - I've seen Michael Vaughan about.

Another century for Steve Smith - as the rest of the team put up some defence around him.

Smith - slow but steady - his slowest ever .
I really enjoy Alison Mitchell - she comes here lots in the summer - she's often on an ABC tv sports show The Outsiders . She is the first woman to call men's cricket ball by ball on ABC radio grandstand . Gerard Whatley is my fav sport commentator - he is prolific . Drew Morphett died during the year so is sadly missed .

My family all love Kerry - his giggle, his larrikiness (a word !)

We beat Fiji - oh oh that's the other rugby with all the Melbourne players in it !!

So every time I bag Smith he makes 100. northie I too liked Drew I don’t mind Jonathan Agnew. I heard him Interviewed before the Ashes started and he was interesting.

Another century for Steve Smith - as the rest of the team put up some defence around him.>>

He was getting a lot of kudos on TMS for the slow and steady way he went about his business - Boyks was particularly impressed. That was the main talking point, plus Cummings valiant 50+ and why oh why we didn't bowl Jimmy and Broady after lunch. After play closed they were trying to get an answer to that but no-one was really saying.

Interesting that Alison is doing ball-by-ball on Aussie radio - there's no sign of her at all on TMS, though she is doing reporting on the cricket for the main sports station, Radio 5. Please can you send Jim over to commentate for us - I really enjoy listening to him.

Interesting that you've got Shane on TV - I can't stand him either but even he is better than most of the rest of them that Sky employs.

Congrats on beating Fiji - we're just watching to a recording of the England v Tonga match - no spoilers please!