I have stayed up the last few nights watching the Boxing Day Test, from Melbourne, where Australia are 1-0 down in a series against a very good South Africa side, last night SA were 199-7 at early doors a full 198 runs behinds the Aussies 1st innings, thanks to a few factors the situation has deteriorated for the Aussie, firstly Brett Lee did not take the field, secondly a South African, J P Duminy plying in only his 2nd Test decided with the help of his lower order batsmen to do something about it, the Aussies looked clueless to stop Duminy and his bowlers picking off the runs, and wearing down the target to reach parity, so clueless where the Aussies, that at close of play South Africa were 459 all out, a stunning counter attack that leaves them 65 runs ahead of the limp looking Aussies, the Aussies are in serious trouble in this game, they have too many players out of form, Hayden for so long the man at 1st slip laughing like a drain at the misfortune of opposition batsmen seems to be wearing a more troubled look, the laughter is not there, the reason? the runs are not forthcoming, and he is fighting for his place in the Test Team, is the bullying opener coming to the end of the road? in his mid 30's I think that may just be the case. Mike Hussey known as Mr Cricket in OZ and known for scoring loads of runs now looks like he could not hit a cows arse with a banjo, Brett Lee's bowling is below par, and Mitchell Johnson is not quite the top bowler just yet, despite taking a shed load of wickets in the first test.
The trouble is Australia have been spoilt for so damn long in terms of World Class players, and 4 of the big uns have retired in the past 18 months, Justin Langer an absolute run machine, one of the greatest openers, Glenn McGrath a machine like bowler who loved to probe the corridor of uncertainty and one of the most consistent wicket takers ever, Adam Gilchrist, one of the best wicket keepers ever and a highly destructive batter, and finally Shane Warne, the greatest spinner ever (we dont count Murali, he is a chucker)? Now you take 4 world class players out of any team in a short space of time and you will undoubtedly struggle, previously when Australia where in trouble, one of these 4, would chip in with a top notch performance, whether it be Langer or Gilchrist with a century, McGrath with his pace or Warne with his hard to read mixture of wrong ungs, flippers or balls of the century, and they would emerge victorious as ever. That has all changed, the Aussies are looking very ordinary, sure they have players in the side who can raise a performance on any given day, but then so do South Africa, so do India and so do England.
So taking all that into account I am looking forward to this summers Ashes battle, I really do not think it will be as exciting as 2005, the nerve jangling excitement and pure tension of that amazing series will never be repeated, but what I think is that England will eek out revenge for their winter thrashing down under last winter, this Aussie team stripped of 4 world class players, with Hayden and Brett Lee struggling with their age I really do not think they can beat us, We have Pietersen playing well, Cook and Strauss looking solid, Freddie back to his best with both bat and ball, Stuart Broad a top notch bowler who will just get better and better. I dont think it will be a 5-0 job but maybe 2-1 to England, I personally cannot wait.

Whilst we are on the subject of cricket the Star Inn resumes practice in a few weeks, last season was our best and in the last few games we looked very very good, our bowling looks dangerous and our batting starting to look useful and our fielding at the back end of the season was inspirational, new players joined last year, including a balding rotund looking fella who seems vaguely familiar, and our young quicks started to look really menacing, our outgoing skipper at our AGM asked if they could ease up a bit next season in games, that was howled down by the rest of the team who love to see them tear into the opposition, although facing the two buggers in the nets is a seriously scary thing let me tell you!
So get ready for the aches and pains for days on end after training, the bruises the box shattering balls, bring it on I cannot wait!