So the wait is finally over. The 2009 Ashes starts tomorrow and, in the spirit of tradition, Old Man McGrath has predicted a 5-0 whitewash for the Aussies. The senile old git.

Looking out the window at the monsoon like conditions, I have to say that I’m not hopeful of a full 5 days play for the first Test but there you go. I’m still as excited as a 6 month old puppy although my little lipstick isn’t poking out. I’ve been anticipating this series more than an unnamed dead pop star used to look forward to school sports day.

I’ve been kind of quiet in the build up to the series. Not because I don’t love you guys - you know I do in that special way only a blogger can love his readers - but because I’ve been busy working on a film project so I hope you didn’t miss me too much. Rest assured I will be covering this Ashes series despite my lack of Sky coverage thanks to the IRA*. I’ll be mainly listening to TMS or finding a pub to watch the game. I think I might be heading to The Beehive in Vauxhall which is where I famously tried to interview folks after the Oval in ‘05 so if you’re around and fancy buying me a beer, I won’t stop you

Regular readers will know I like the occasional punt so I’ve been looking over the markets for the series. The series winner market doesn’t look overly exciting with Australia at 4/5 and England 15/8 with both Paddy Power and totesport but the outstanding bet in my opinion is and England series win 2-1 at 17/2 with Sportingbet. I can see the weather playing a part and would be surprised if we have 25 days of cricket so expect a couple of draws. All the online bookies are offering £25 in free bets so if you haven’t already opened an account the smart money is picking up England 2-1 for a tenner and then whacking your £25 free bet on Australia at 4/5. Easy, eh?

* - Ickenham Residents Association

Tags: australia, cricket, cricket betting, england, england cricket, the ashes

I play Sunday social cricket and my team, Iver Heath CC, are looking for new players for the 2009 season. I’ve put an ad on Gumtree but I thought I’d see if any Flintoff’s Ashes readers fancied a few games this year.

Just in case you’re too lazy to click on the Gumtree link, here’s the ad:

Iver Heath Cricket Club was formed in 1947 by a bunch of alcoholics looking for something to do when the pubs used to shut on a Sunday afternoon. Sixty two years on and we’re still boozing!

We’re looking for new players to join our Sunday social side. Key requisites are:

* The ability to drink your own bodyweight in beer
* A photographic memory to recall outrageous umpiring decisions from years ago in order to bare long term grudges
* A sense of humour to enable you to take part in our sledging. Note: we never sledge the opposition, only our own players
* Cricketing ability would be nice too although not essential as we don’t want you showing any of us up!

We’re a friendly team who play our cricket hard but enjoy the social element of the game even more. We play our home games at the picturesque Farnham Royal ground which is between Beaconsfield and Slough. Most of our players live in the West London area so can provide lifts if you don’t have a car.

I couldn’t include a link to the Google map of our fixtures for some reason so if you wanted to see where we play, here’s a link - Google Map Iver Heath CC Fixtures.

If you haven’t got your own kit, don’t worry. We’ve just bought a load of new Woodworm kit (70% off - click on the Woodworm ad for more info) so can provide bats, gloves, pads and what have you. You’ll just need some whites.

Season starts this coming Sunday 19th so if you fancy a few games of cricket this year and one or two glasses of sweet sherry after the match, drop me a line.

Tags: cricket, iver heath cc

It’s not very often that we acknowledge Australian sporting prowess here on Flintoff’s Ashes.

• Taken the piss out of them? Check.
• Pointed the finger and laughed at them? Check.
• Photoshopped them to within in an inch of their life? Check.

OK so I was nice about Shane Warne once but that was only because he’d retired and couldn’t hurt us any more so this is breaking something of a long standing habit. I’m actually going to say something complimentary about an Aussie cricketer.

Adam Voges took an amazing relatively average catch in a game of Twenty20.

Actually bollocks to that. He made a meal of it. Show boating bastard.

Judge for yourself by reviewing the recent featured video below.

Tags: adam voges, australia, cricket, cricket video, smelly aussies

Featured video for the last few weeks has been the confrontation between Freddie Flintoff and Michael Clarke in the Ashes series of ‘05.

There’s something about Michael Clarke that really gets on my tits. I hope to see him wearing a Flintoff bouncer this summer. Or a Panesar full toss. Don’t care. Just someone give him one in the chops, eh?

Tags: andrew flintoff, australia, cricket, cricket video, michael clarke, sledging, the ashes

Just learnt via Twitter courtesy of Stephen Fry that TMS statistician Bill Frindall has sadly passed away at the age of 69.

Test Match Special will never be the same again.

Link to BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7861363.stm

Tags: bill frindall, cricket