FANATICS' ASHES 2006-07

To start today's blog I'd like to give a round of applause to our English mate Alastair Cook. Ol' Cookie, in the wake of Super Gil's blistering second-fastest Test century of all time, deserves a mighty big thank you for his 116 off 290 balls.

So thanks for balancing out the excitement factor, Cookie. I don't know what we would have done if we'd have had two days of excitement.

On the topic of excitement, how great (from an Aussie point of view obviously) was it to see Pigeon soaring like an eagle in those last few overs with the new ball! To see his face all crinkled and wrinkled up with joy shows that the old fella is now really enjoying every Pommie stump he sends rocketing out of the ground.

Now still on the topic of excitement, there are bound to be celebrations in the mother country with the weatherman sure to knock Freddie off his pedestal with prediction of rain for today's play. Those rain dances obviously do work!

I'm sure the players and the Barmy boys alike are promising to build him a shrine in Trafalgar Square if his prediction saves them the match.

So if the rain saves the English today, what will that mean for the series?

Will the Aussies march on to crush the English at the MCG? Will Monty continue to rub it in Gilesy's and the selectors' face and slay Punter's posse?

Or will it just mean everyone will have to put up with the Barmy Army's hit single "We Won the Ashes at the Oval and We'll Win Them at the SCG!" for one more Test? For all the fans headed to the MCG, I hope not!

Either way, we will soon know which direction the series is heading. And although the 30:1 odds on an England win are tempting, I'd rather keep the money and buy a celebratory drink when the Ashes slip through English hands.

Chip up, boys! At least our own Ashes series is still alive, for now.

Troy