Ashes alive?

A week and a bit have zipped past and here we are at the end of day one of the third test.  Just when I’m thinking “the Ashes are over, it’ll be easy now”, Australia have their best day of the series so far finishing on 30-3 with 80+ from Rogers, a ton from Clarke which was always going to happen at some point in the series and somehow Smith made it to 70.  Watson was out cheaply again, it begs the question; why do Australia persist in opening with a man who in 43 test matches has only scored 2 hundreds and averages less than 35?  Those stats do not add up to a test batsman in any position.  As an England fan I hope they keep him in.  DRS was a talking point yet again, Kawajha will feel aggrieved but at the end of the day England had more to complain about.  The umpiring so far this series has been very bad.

So what will happen on day two?  Australia should make 500 from here then they can put pressure on England.  Two years ago we could count on England going beyond the oppositions total on a decent pitch but nowadays we’re not so sure.  It will be interesting to see how England cope under pressure but you can’t bet against Australia collapsing in the morning.

Some books.  I’ve read a lot of novels by John Grisham over the years, some like ‘A painted house’ or ‘Time for a kill’ have been very good reads but others like ‘King of Torts’ and ‘Rainmaker’ have not really hit the buttons.  His latest novel titled “The Racketeer” tells the story of a lawyer (of course), wrongly imprisoned who manages to get himself out of jail and get revenge on the FBI.  It’s an interesting read but I never really cared about the characters.  It’s not close to Grisham at his best but it’s far from his worst too.

He makes me laugh sometimes but I don’t really like Russell Brand and his “Booky wooky” has been hanging around the house for years. I was desperate and needed a read, there was absolutely no other choice.  This autobiography does all the usual stuff but particularly focusses on Brand’s outrageous behaviour and various addictions, then his supposed recovery.  There are some funny bits in the book which make it amusing to read but at no point do I believe Brand is at all sorry for behaving like a total wanker for most of his life.  By the end he hadn’t managed to change my opinion of him.