Camden New Journal: Match Point | Steve Barnett | Ashes

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Camden Sports - MATCH POINT by STEVE BARNETT
Published: 16 July 2009

I draw little comfort from the Ashes

I FEEL cheated and disappointed.
Having booked off two weeks of my hard-earned holidays, I decided to avoid the hassle of going abroad and instead stay in good old Blighty. Good times.
I also decided to spend the best part of five of those days watching the Ashes. Not so good times.
I can understand that when you’re playing five Test matches against your biggest rivals avoiding defeat is vital. But the fans and the media celebrated England’s draw in the same way that I would if Megan Fox had just accepted my offer of a date. It was crazy.
The reality is that had Australia been given 10 more minutes they would have won, and by a canter.
To make matters worse, Aussie captain Ricky Ponting was said to be unhappy about England’s time-wasting tactics towards the end of the game.
What about my time? Who is going to give me back the five days I wasted watching as the action unfolded, only to find out that it meant nothing?
I can’t be the only one longing for the introduction of some kind of super-six shoot-out, where a batsman from both sides gets the chance to hit the ball as far as he possibly can.
Or a bowling battle, where a finger spinner has to try to get the ball through a hole no bigger than a ripe orange.
Ok, so maybe those ideas are silly, but at the very least I would like it if both sides went into the game on each and every one of the five days refusing to play for a draw, and willing to lose the game in a bid to try to win it.

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