The Ashes

While cricket betting fans try to make sense of the erratic performance of the England team in the slightly surreal circumstances of their encounter with the West Indians, at the back of our minds is the forthcoming visit to our shores by the Australians in the summer of this year. Lest we forget the significance of this forthcoming Ashes battle, the redoubtable Shane Warne has entered the arena, even at this early stage, to dispense his wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing advice which, as ever, is cunningly designed to intimidate rather than assist.

According to the greatest living Australian, without Andrew Flintoff we are deeply four x’d and might as well throw the towel in now. This, despite the fact that we have won ten test matches without Freddie and only three with his help. That’s just so much kangaroo poo to Shane whose cynicism about statistics seems deep-rooted when he claims you can make them say whatever you want to hear. The bottom line on Flintoff is that left-handed batsmen fear him a lot and there are four in the Aussie top six.

The snag at our end is that Freddie is booked in for the Indian Premier League (IPL) season and risks further aggravation to the tear in his hip muscle. The IPL season runs from April 18 to June 1 and the first test against the Australians is July 8. Warne seems confident that Flintoff will put England before the £540,000 pay-cheque from the IPL and not go there. Hmmmmm . . . Ashes glory versus over half a million smackers – watch this space!