The Ashes

For the last few weeks, Australia and England have been going back in their usual tussle over The Ashes, the most legendary trophy in all of cricket.  As usual, they are playing five test matches against each other.  Here's what has happened:

Match One at Edgbaston (Birmingham, England):

August 1-5, 2019:

Australia won the toss and elected to bat, putting up 284 runs in their first innings.  England responded with 374 runs to take a 90-run lead after one innings.  But in its second innings, Australia scored 487 runs, and would have kept going indefinitely except for the fact that the Aussies wanted to leave themselves enough time to retire England.  So they stopped batting.  England could only get 146 runs in its second innings.  So Australia won by a final score of 771-520.  In cricket terms, they say that Australia won by 251 runs.

Match Two at Lord's (London, England):

August 14-18, 2019:

Australia won the toss and elected to bowl.  England scored 258 runs, and then Australia scored 250 runs in its first innings.  In the second innings, England scored 258 more runs, declaring for a total of 516.  The English needed to retire Australia to win the game, but the Aussies had scored 154 runs and were still batting when the five-days allotted for the match were over.  Accordingly, this match was a draw.

Match Three at Headingly Cricket Ground (Leeds, England):

August 22-25, 2019:

England won the toss and elected to bowl.  In the first innings, Australia put up 179 runs to only 67 for England.  In the second innings, Australia scored another 246 runs -- meaning that the Aussies led 425-67 when England started to bat again.  Australia was heavily favored to win, and sure enough the Aussies mowed down almost all of the English batters.  But they could not retire Ben Stokes, who just kept batting and batting.  When it was all over, Australia had gotten 9 of the 10 wickets that they needed -- but England had scored 362 runs, which put them ahead 429-425, and gave them a legendary victory.  Stokes had 135 runs by himself, and was still batting when the game ended.  In cricket terms, they say that England won by 1 wicket.

Match Four at Old Trafford Cricket Ground (Machester, England)

September 4-8, 2019:

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.  This time the Aussies put up 497 runs in their first innings, declaring a halt when they still had two wickets left.  England could only put up 301, and were immediately back in a hole.  In the second innings, Australia scored 186 runs before declaring another halt.  England tried for another comeback, but could not get there -- scoring only 197 runs in their second innings.  The final score was Australia 683, England 498 -- meaning that Australia won by 185 runs.

So in four matches, we have seen 2 wins for Australia, 1 win for England, and 1 draw.  There is only one match left, so England can do no better than 2-2-1.  Since Australia already has the Ashes, this means that England cannot take them away.  Thus, Australia has retained the Ashes, and our cricket coverage can stop at this point.

England Wins the Ashes

On Friday, England won its third match in four tries against Australia in the ongoing Ashes series.  Since England leads 3 matches to 1, and there is only one match left, England has regained the Ashes from their ancient rivals.

A cricket match lasts for two innings.  In its one innings, England scored 391 runs.  In its two innings, Australia scored only 313 runs.  So we say that England won by an innings and 78 runs.

From 1989 to 2003, Australia won the Ashes eight times in a row.  But since then, England has won five of the last seven.

This was the 69th Ashes battle, going all the way back to 1882.  The all-time record now stands as follows:

England 32
Australia 32
Draws 5

The Ashes will next be up for grabs in Australia, starting around Christmas of 2016.

The Ashes

In Nottingham, England, the English are on the verge of taking the Ashes back from Australia.  In the five-match cricket series, England already leads 2-1.  And after the first of two innings in the fourth match, England led by the enormous score of 391-60(!).  Australia is now batting in their second innings, and they have to score 331 runs merely to force England to bat.  So far the Aussies have used up one of their ten outs (known as "wickets"), and they have scored 113 runs.  The match now looks like this:

SECOND INNINGS
Australia 173
England 391
Australia batting
Australia has 9 wickets left

The Ashes

So England and Australia are once again playing for The Ashes, the most famous trophy in all of cricket.  Just to bring you up to speed, here's what has happened at The Ashes since the Heath Post was started:

1.  In the winter of 2010-11 (which is summer in Australia), England went to Australia and won there for the first time since 1986-87.  The final score was:  England 3 matches, Australia 1 match, and 1 draw.

2.  In the summer of 2013, England crushed Australia in England, winning 3 matches and drawing two.

3.  But in the winter of 2013-14, the Aussies re-took The Ashes for the first time since 2007, burying England five matches to zero.

OK, so now it's the summer of 2015, and The Ashes are again being played in Britain.  Remember that we have a series of five test matches, and that each test match can last for up to five days.

1.  The first test match was played in Cardiff from July 8 to July 12.  England led 430-308 after the first set of innings, and cruised to a 719-550 victory.  (They never give cricket scores like this, by the way.  They would say that "England won by 169 runs.")

2.  The second test match was played at Lord's Cricket Ground in London from July 16 to July 20.  This time the English bowlers were completely unable to stop Australia, and the Aussies rolled to an easy win by the score of 820-415.

3. The third test match started in Birmingham on July 29 -- and it finished today, after less than three days of play.  Here's what happened.

Australia won the coin toss and elected to bat first.  But they had a disastrous innings.  England needed to get 10 wickets (what we would think of as "outs") to end Australia's innings.  The English did this after allowing only 136 runs.  England then batted, and put up 281 runs of their own.  Australia tried again, and scored 265 runs, giving them a total of 401 runs.  So England came to bat needing only 121 to win.  It didn't take them very long to reach that total -- they only lost two wickets in their second innings before the game was over.  The final score was England 402 to Australia 401.  But of course this does not capture the extent to which England dominated the match.  As you can see, England had 8 wickets that they didn't even use.  So cricket people would say that "England won by 8 wickets."

So England now leads The Ashes 2 matches to 1.  The next match will take place in Nottingham, and will begin on August 6.

The Ashes, Match Three

We have a backlog of things to get caught up on, one of which is that Australia took the Ashes back from England last week.  You will recall that Australia won the first match 696-315, then they won the second match 702-484.  Since there are five matches in an Ashes series, England couldn't lose any more matches if they were going to retain the trophy.  But Match Three, in Perth, was another easy win for the Aussies.  Australia won the toss, elected to bat, and put up 385 runs.  England could only score 251 in its turn at bat.  The Aussies then put up another 369 runs before they declared themselves out with a total of 754.  That meant England needed 504 runs to win, or they needed to keep batting for a day and a half in order to preserve a draw.  They couldn't do either, being retired after 353 runs.  So Australia won by a final score of 754-604, their third blowout in a row.

It's been a very odd series, given that England had beaten Australia the last three times they played for the Ashes, including an easy victory just this summer.  But teams with great traditions are often at their most dangerous when they are at home and facing an opponent that they absolutely have to beat -- and that seems to be the case here.  The Aussies jumped all over England from the beginning of this series, and the English have never been able to get on track.

There will be two more matches in this Series, but we won't pay any attention to them, as we know that the Ashes are going back to Australia.  England will get its next chance at Australia in the summer of 2015, so we'll wait until then for more cricket coverage.

The Ashes: Match Two

Australia cruised to another easy win in the second match of the Ashes competition taking place down under.  In Adelaide, Australia opened with 570 runs before declaring themselves to be out in the top of the first.  They then retired England after only 172 runs.  Leading 570-172, Australia tacked on 132 more runs before declaring themselves out again.  They then retired England after 312 runs in the second, and they had prevailed, 702-484.

So here are the scores so far:

Match 1:  Australia 696, England 315
Match 2:  Australia 702, England 484

So England has been blown out twice in a row.  Meanwhile, the British press is full of stories about how the English have been intimidated by Australia's Mitchell Johnson, a fast bowler who has been cruising through the English lineup.

Match 3 starts on December 13 in Perth, and another Australian victory will win them the series.

The Ashes: Match One

Australia has lost the Ashes to England three times in a row, but they seem pretty determined not to lose again.  The Aussies crushed England in the first Test Match of the current Ashes series, taking place down under.

Test matches are supposed to last up to five days, but it only took Australia four days to finish off England in the match in Brisbane.  Here's what happened:

1.  Australia batted first and scored 295 runs.

2.  In their first innings, England could score only 136 runs.  One big problem was England's number three batter, Jonathan Trott, who scored only 10 runs.

3.  Leading 295-136, Australia scored another 401 runs in the second innings before declaring themselves out.

4.  Trailing 696-136, England needed a miracle in their second innings.  They didn't come close.  Trott was retired after only nine runs, and the whole team was retired after scoring 179.

So the final score was Australia 696, England 315 -- Australia won by 381 runs.

After the match was over, much of the commentary focused on the fact that Australia had bowled in a very aggressive and intimidating style, and that the English batsmen didn't handle it well at all.  In fact, Trott left Australia after the Ashes, heading home to deal with a stress-related illness that will prevent him from playing any more in this series.

The next match in the series starts tomorrow in Adelaide.  The English will want to show that they are not afraid of the Aussie bowlers, so this match could be very intense.

The Ashes Are Up for Grabs Again

The last time we checked in on cricket was a few months ago, when England had just beaten Australia to keep the Ashes -- most famous of all cricketing trophies.  Of the five matches played this summer, England won three, the Aussies won none, and two were drawn.  It was England's third consecutive Ashes victory -- the first time England has won three times in a row since 1981.

Normally, we wouldn't have another Ashes series until November 2014.  But that would mean that the next Ashes competition would last until just before the Cricket World Cup scheduled for early 2015.  To avoid this, England and Australia have decided to shift the usual schedule.  So instead of going to Australia for an Ashes competition in November 2013, England is down there right now.  It's a year of DOUBLE ASHES!

OK, by now you should know the drill.  England and Australia will play five matches, and each match can last up to five days.  Whoever wins the most matches keeps the Ashes.  England are trying to beat Australia four times in a row for the first time since 1890.  (From 1989 to 2003, Australia won the Ashes eight times in a row.)

England is a slight favorite.  If you bet on England at Ladbroke's, for example, you get odds of 1 to 1.  Betting on Australia gets odds of 6 to 4.  Betting on a draw carries odds of 9 to 2.  I will say that from the tone of the coverage in the Guardian, the English are feeling pretty confident.

Here are the locations for the five matches (I like how each match is in a different province):

November 21-25, 2013:  The Brisbane Cricket Ground, (commonly known as "The Gabba," Brisbane, Queensland

December 5-9, 2013:  Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, South Australia

December 13-17, 2013:  WACA Ground, Perth, Western Australia

December 26-30, 2013:  Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria

January 3-7, 2013:  Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales

The Ashes matches in Australia are always associated with the Christmas holidays, because those goofy Australians have Christmas in the summertime.

The Ashes, Match 4

Now that England has retained the Ashes, we're not as interested in the remaining matches.  Still, they just finished the fourth test match at Riverside Ground, in Chester-le-Street, England (it's a suburb near Sunderland), so here's a report on what happened.

England won the toss and elected to bat.  They didn't do very well, scoring only 238 runs in their first innings.  And then Australia came back in the bottom of the 1st to take a lead of 270-238.  England did better in their second innings, taking a lead of 568-270 into the bottom of the 2d.  At this point, things looked quite good for Australia, which needed 299 runs to win.  Things looked much better when the score was 568-438 and Australia still had eight wickets remaining.  At that point, it appeared that England's best chance was try to hang on for a draw.  But no!  Suddenly the English bowlers (mostly Stuart Broad, who took six of the last nine Australian wickets), started mowing down the Aussies like ninepins:

The third wicket fell after Australia had scored 168 runs in the inning (remember, they need 299 to win).

The fourth wicket fell after 174 runs.

The fifth wicket fell after 175 runs.

The sixth wicket fell after 179 runs.

The seventh wicket fell after 181 runs.

The eighth wicket fell after 199 runs.

The ninth wicket fell after 211 runs.

The tenth wicket fell after 224 runs.

So Australia could only score 56 runs with its last 8 wickets.  England won, 568-494.  They now lead the series with a record of 3-0-1.  The last time Australia played a complete test series against England without winning a single match was 1977.  But if the Aussies don't win the fifth match, that's exactly what will happen.

The Ashes, Match Three, Day Five

As we expected, Australia declared themselves out first thing in the morning, and then set off in search of the 10 wickets they needed to take in order to win the match.  Play has stopped for lunch (and some rain), and the English still have 7 wickets left.  Here's the score:

AUSTRALIA:  699
ENGLAND:  403
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  7

It would seem that between the rain and the fact that there are only a few hours left, England should be able to hang on for the draw they would need to keep the Ashes in their possession.  But England has lost many matches to Australia down through the years, and the English fans are quite nervous.

The Ashes, Match Three, Day Four

Cricket is an acquired taste, but I can see why some folks take it very seriously.  Today, for example, Australia had to spend most of the day figuring out how long they wanted to bat in their second innings.  Here's the situation:

1.  England leads The Ashes two matches to zero, so Australia has to win the last three matches (including this one) to take the series.

2.  After the first innings, Australia led England 527-368.

3.  While Australia is ahead, the match will be considered a draw if play is still going on after five days.

4.  Today was the fourth day, and it was raining in the afternoon.  Rain is also expected tomorrow.


So you can see Australia's dilemma.  If the Aussies bat too long, they won't have enough time to retire England in the second innings and obtain a victory.  But if they don't bat long enough, they risk the possibility that England can come from behind and win the match outright.

In the event, Australia batted until 4:25 P.M., at which point the umpires suspended play for "bad light," apparently caused by rainy and overcast conditions.  This made no sense to me, as the match was taking place at a field with floodlights.  The only explanation I've seen is that test matches are played with a red ball, which is difficult to see in floodlights.  But no one has explained why they couldn't just switch to a white ball.  Anyway, as you can imagine, the bad light ruling was a huge advantage for England, which would be happy to see the rest of the match rained out so that they can have a draw.  The Aussies, on the other hand, were furious.

Anyway, with one day to go, here is the latest scoreboard:

AUSTRALIA:  699
ENGLAND:  368
INNINGS:  Top of the 2d
AT BAT:  Australia
WICKETS REMAINING:  3

Most of the experts think Australia will declare themselves out first thing tomorrow morning, and spend the rest of the day trying to retire England.  The oddsmakers don't think the Aussies will make it, and the match will end in a draw.  Here are the latest odds from Ladbrokes:

Draw:  1 to 7
Australia victory:  5 to 1
England victory:  16 to 1

The Ashes, Match Three, Day Three

England batted all day today.  They still trail by 233 runs, but they are still batting in their first innings.  Given that there are only two days left, Australia will have to start taking wickets more quickly if they are going to finish this match with a victory  Here is the current score:

AUSTRALIA:  527
ENGLAND:  294
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 1st
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  3

The Ashes, Match Three, Day Two

Australia was still batting when the day started -- and they were still batting when the teams broke for tea in the afternoon.  By that point, Australia was ahead 527-0, and had three wickets (outs) left in its first innings.  But there is a possibility of rain in the next few days, and a draw does Australia no good.  To win back the Ashes, the Aussies have to win three matches in a row, including this one.  So it does them no good to build a big lead if they can't take enough wickets from England to win the match.

With these facts in mind, Australia declared its innings to be over just after tea.  England then batted until the end of the day, losing two wickets and scoring 52 runs.  So the score now looks like this:

AUSTRALIA:  527
ENGLAND:  52
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 1st
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  8

Whatever happens, this is clearly a very strong performance by Australia so far.

The Ashes, Match Three, Day One

The Ashes resumed yesterday at Old Trafford in Manchester.  For the first time in three matches, Australia won the toss.  They elected to bat -- and then batted all day, scoring 303 runs and losing only three wickets. They would have lost only two wickets if not for an umpiring decision so bad that even Australia's Prime Minister is complaining about it.  Apparently, Instant Replay is even more annoying in cricket than it is in American sports.

So here's where things stand:

England leads two matches to none, with three matches left.

After day one, the scoreboard from Match Three looked like this:

AUSTRALIA:  303
ENGLAND:  0
INNINGS:  Top of the 1st
AT BAT:  Australia
WICKETS LEFT:  7

The Ashes, Match Two Wrap-Up

We're only two matches into the Ashes and this competition is almost over.  England needed only 17 of their 20 potential wickets to crush the Aussies.  With the score 710-128 in the top of the second, and still with three wickets left, England declared itself out in order to have enough time to get the ten wickets it needed to end the game.  Australia needed 582 runs to tie -- and they didn't get close.  Here was the final score:

ENGLAND:  710
AUSTRALIA:  363

So England lead two matches to zero.  The next match starts on August 1 in Manchester.

The Ashes, Match Two, Day Three

ESPN commented that today was a day for England fans to "avenge all those miserable moments in the 1990's when they simply couldn't compete."  Certainly England was unstoppable today, and it seems very unlikely that Australia can catch them.  The only question now is at what point England will stop batting in order to give themselves enough time to get all ten of Australia's wickets.  Remember that if Australia is still batting at the end of Day 5, the match is a draw -- no matter how far ahead England may be.  At this point, that would appear to be Australia's only hope:

ENGLAND:  694
AUSTRALIA:  128
INNINGS:  Top of the 2d
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  5

The Ashes, Match Two, Day Two

A big day for England, which held Australia to only 128 runs in its first innings.  England lost some early wickets in its second innings, but the English seem to be in an extremely strong position:

ENGLAND:  392
AUSTRALIA:  128
INNINGS:  Top of the 2d
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  7

The Ashes, Match Two, Day One

The second test match in the Ashes competition started off today in London.  England won the toss and elected to bat.  The English were doing quite well for most of the day -- at one point they had 271 runs and had only lost 4 wickets.  But right at the end of the day they lost three wickets very quickly.  So they may not be able to bat for very long tomorrow.  Here is the current score:

ENGLAND:  289
AUSTRALIA:  0
INNINGS:  Top of the 1st
AT BAT:  England
WICKETS REMAINING:  3

The Ashes, Match One, Day Five

Well, this was about as dramatic as things get -- not only in cricket, but in sports.  By 12:36 P.M. British time, England had taken three of the four wickets that they needed for victory.  At that point, the score looked like this:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  511
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
WICKETS REMAINING:  1

In other words, Australia had to score 80 runs with its last two batsmen.  At this point, England's victory seemed assured.  But the remaining Aussies kept batting, and batting, and batting.  By 1:22 P.M., the score looked like this:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  563
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
WICKETS REMAINING:  1

At which point the ground was silent with fear.  At 1:33 P.M., the players broke for lunch, with the following score:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  571
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
WICKETS REMAINING:  1

Finally, at 2:25 P.M., something happened.  I don't really understand cricket terms, but as best as I can tell, the Australian batsman swung at the ball, apparently missed it, and then the ball was caught by someone from England.  The umpire said that the batsman was not out, because he had not hit the ball.  England appealed, and the appeal showed a "hot-spot" on the bat.  Apparently, this indicates that the ball had hit the edge of the bat.  Therefore, the ball was in play.  Therefore, the batsman was out, and England had won the match.  Here was the final score:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  576

What a spectacular start to this series.

So England lead The Ashes by 1 match to 0.  The next match will take place at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, and will begin on July 18.

The Ashes, Match One, Day Four

OK, so England were finally retired after scoring 375 runs in their second innings.  At that point the scoreboard looked like this:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  280
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
AT BAT:  Australia
WICKETS REMAINING:  10

So Australia needed to score 311 runs to win.  And the Aussies got off to a good start.  Late in the afternoon, they had scored 160 runs and had only lost three wickets.  But then England took three wickets in a time where Australia scored only four runs.  The Aussies hung on without losing any more wickets after that, but they still have a long way to go and only four wickets left:

ENGLAND:  590
AUSTRALIA:  454
INNINGS:  Bottom of the 2d
AT BAT:  Australia
WICKETS REMAINING:  4

So tomorrow is the last day, and here is where things stand:

Australia need to score 137 runs before England takes four of their wickets.  If the Aussies can do this, they will win the game.  If they lose four wickets before scoring 137 runs, England will win.  And if Australia are still batting at the end of the day, the match will end in a draw.

The British commentators seem pretty confident that England will get it done, and the betting markets agree with them.  Here are the latest odds on this match:

England victory:  1 to 4 (80.65 percent chance)
Australia victory:  9 to 2 (18.87 percent chance)
Draw:  99 to 1 (1 percent chance)