Ashes to Ashes

In the Guardian's Special Preview of the England-Australia Ashes series, Mike Selvey wrote:

"Of 43 matches played in the latest sequence, Australia have won 28 to England's seven. Only three of those England wins came while the series was still alive with only that at Edgbaston, in the first match of the 1997 series, coming while the destiny of the Ashes was at stake. It is a pretty sorry state of unsuccessful reporting. Each series is prefaced by hope, each postscript a catalogue of the latest injury-hit disaster. We hacks have become inured now to being insulted and patronised in turn by our counterparts in the Australian media and it starts to hurt after a while. Mental disintegration does not happen just to those who compete on the field.

"But this coming series really does look as if it might be different. If you listen carefully you might just be able to hear the crackle of anticipation in the air..."

Well, the waiting is over. The party has begun. After a rollercoaster summer, England snatched the little urn symbolising this great cricketting rivalry. A draw today, but England - as they have had since the second of the five matches - had the upper hand. Rookie test player, Kevin Pietersen - not good enough or too arrogant - for his home nation, South Africa, steered England to safety. But for the poor weather over the weekend, England might have won. Cricket, however, does not play to a winner or loser.

A final match score of 2 to 1 hardly does justice to England's efforts. Australia, as always, battled to the last. Their mettle, what you would expect from the best team in the world, kept it close.

"So you do the deed, boys, and by golly we will laud you to the skies. And none more so than this correspondent."

Parade in Central London, tomorrow!

Eighteen years of waiting over. Bring 'em on again in 2006-7!