“We already know each other pretty well. We’ve played a fair bit against each other and now we’re going to play a little bit more but I like that. There won’t be much we don’t know about England by the end of the summer” – Ricky Ponting announces that the phony war is over and the hostilities have begun.
“This has changed my thoughts on where I am in the side. During the South Africa tour I thought I was becoming a key part of the team and now I don’t feel like that so much, certainly in the one-day team” – now Jimmy’s dangerously near to a case of the yips following the events of the summer so far. At least he can console himself with the fact that he doesn’t fall over very much.
“I think England have a good chance of retaining the Ashes” – Sachin Tendulkar. Thank, you sir. Come again any time.
“It’s pretty hard not to [think about winning back the Ashes every day] with a big series like this coming around when you need to redeem yourself as a playing group. The reason I play international cricket still is for series like this. Test cricket’s all about Ashes cricket for me” – Ricky Ponting proves it’s not just us.
“[The Australian selectors] are understood to like Clarke’s leadership skills and have forgiven his failings with the bat” – the Sydney Morning Herald reports on how we can expect Michael Clarke to be wearing the captain’s hat when the Aussies visit in June.
“We haven’t won anything yet” – Paul Collingwood demonstrates why he is among The Nurdler’s favourite cricketers.
So today, as you probably know already, England are set to play Australia in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. And, as you probably also know already, a victory would mean England’s first trophy in 35 years of ICC limited-over competitions.
“It will make more purists look at Twenty20 and think ‘there must be more to this than I thought’ if old fuddy-duddies like me are getting this excited about it, and anyone who loves cricket will have marvelled at the way this Hussey fellow did it” – like the rest of us, Aggers enjoyed yesterday’s match.
“We could have kept them below 150 but that wouldn’t have mattered with the way we batted. We didn’t get the start we needed and we didn’t build partnerships” – Kumar Sangakkara analyses where it all went wrong yesterday.
“Precisely why anyone would try headbutting a dude in a helmet isn’t clear” – Australia’s Mitchell Johnson and New Zealand’s Scott Styris seem to have mistaken cricket for all-in wrestling.