[Black Wolf]

I don't know who else is watching, but holy ****, Ashton Agar, 98 runs at number 11! I reckon the rest of the team owes him the test match after that performance.

Of course, I have no illusions - odds are that this will be one of the many, many amazing debuts that eventually fizzle into mediocre to decent careers once the opposition teams do their homework. But it's sweet while it lasts.

Who knows, this may yet prove to be a closer series than most people are predicting. Shame I wont get to watch much if it on England time. Anyone else following?

[StarSlayer]

* StarSlayer has no idea what sport BW is talking about, probably cricket...

* StarSlayer checks "The Ashes" in Google...  yep its cricket.

[Fury]

Anyone else following?

Not following you at all.

[MP-Ryan]

I have two University degrees, and yet I have never managed to figure out cricket, despite attempting to read the rules and watch it multiple times.  The game seems incomprehensible.

[Gray113]

I watched the ashes with an English flatmate last time it was on. I made a point of buying a case of Victoria bitter and no other alcoholic beverage just to make sure he had nothing else to drink. Even the novelty of this wore off after ten minutes and I went to find something more interesting to do.

Cricket is one of those incredibly boring sports that seems like people can only watch when they are drunk. I'm supprised its not more popular in the US.

[Lorric]

I have two University degrees, and yet I have never managed to figure out cricket, despite attempting to read the rules and watch it multiple times.  The game seems incomprehensible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwkuo7mG9wU#t=13m26s 

[karajorma]

I would be following it but for the fact I'm in China and obviously they don't care much about it here.

I really need to make some friends from a country that cares about cricket!

[Luis Dias]

Do you mean that game from planet Krikkit? That game was awesome. Little dangerous thou

[Klaustrophobia]

the only good thing about cricket is hearing the aussies complain or brag about it.  it's so bad even the americanized version is all but dead.

[Phantom Hoover]

I'm pretty sure I've played cricket and I have no idea how it works.

[NGTM-1R]

I'm not convinced it does work, rather nobody argues the rules because they don't understand them.

[Black Wolf]

* StarSlayer has no idea what sport BW is talking about, probably cricket...

* StarSlayer checks "The Ashes" in Google...  yep its cricket.

This isn't just cricket - this is the Ashes. The greatest rivalry in world sport and the only cricketing prize that really matters for either Australia or England.

And if you foreign mob can't figure it out, well, bad luck to you. You can go back to your nice, easy games and leave the fun stuff to the grown-ups.

[Klaustrophobia]

The greatest rivalry in world sport

*cartman laugh*

wait, i can do this now

[StarSlayer]

You can go back to  your nice, easy games and leave the fun stuff to the grown-ups.

When I swing a stick around I prefer someone to be on the receiving end.

[Hobbie]

I went to sulk and play XCOM after Haddin's dismissal.

Came back to see what was going on and witnessed Agar's first six. Sat down and watched until lunch break, then had to go to bed because ungodly early start at work this morning. But, what a ******* legendary partnership that was.

And VB is terrible. I was drinking Tooheys Old.

[Black Wolf]

The greatest rivalry in world sport

*cartman laugh*

wait, i can do this now

I stand by it. There's no other competition between two nations that has been running this long, that stirs up this much passion, and that so dominates its game as the Ashes. Just about everything done in Australian and English test cricket is done within the framework of how it will prepare the team for the next Ashes. Other series, the world cup, the world rankings - these all matter, but they all play second fiddle to the little urn. And it's been this way for well over a hundred years.

And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.

[Mongoose]

I once tried to understand cricket, until I found out that matches can last for days for some undefined reason.  I think my brain broke at that point.

[NGTM-1R]

And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.

National football teams. Myth - Busted.

[Black Wolf]

And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.

National football teams. Myth - Busted.

You're completely missing the point. I'm talking about a rivalry. Two nations, one sport,  and all other concerns within that sport are secondary. You can be number one in the world rankings, win the one day world cup, whitewash every other series - nothing else matters if you don't bring home the Ashes. And the only reward - the only reward anyone cares about - are the unquestioned bragging rights you get for the next two years. When we have the Ashes, you win all the cricket arguments with the Poms. And it's been that way since the nineteenth century, and still will be that way a hundred years from now.

It is the greatest rivalry in world sport, and it's brilliant.

[NGTM-1R]

Dude, until you go to war over a call, you've not remotely reached the level of the Greece-Turkey rivalry.
(Because that happened.)