Game on...

Refer to our previous blog http://blog.fantain.com/2017/11/blog-time-ashes-to-ashes.html to know more about the tournament. We are now gonna talk about who we would like on our fantasy team of the lineup.

The two teams - England and Australia - have made quite a name for themselves in the world of cricket. All this does not matter when they face each other. The rivalry that they have between themselves is almost special.

Teams: England (From): Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root(c), Dawid Malan, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mason Crane, Ben Foakes, Jake Ball, Craig Overton, Tom Curran Australia (From): Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers

England won in 2015 with the scores 3-2 in their favour. Australia have a factor in their favour. The matche…

Now while newspapers do tend to exaggerate, there must be something in it if most of them called the match ‘exciting’. It was an exciting match. As it happened India was all out for 172. That was a complete shock to what is considered to be some of the best audience in India - Kolkata. Sri Lanka was feeling pretty happy then. They had elected to bowl and they got the hosts out for a pretty low score. They came in to bat with a lot of confidence. Probably overconfidence. They did bat well. Better than the Indians anyway. And managed 294 on the board. Fifties from three batsman did the trick. When India came back for the second innings, they really pulled up their socks. First things first. Score 122 to match up. Then hit hard and give them a solid target. SL now had to hit 231 to win. It seemed easy considering their first innings score. But nope. All that overconfidence I tell you. First wicket fell for no runs in the first over. Second for 2 runs. Third for 14. 4th for 22. Five, six …

If anything comes close to the eccentric hype that takes place during India-Pakistan series, it is the Ashes. That is not the only similarity. This tournament is just as personal. The phrase ‘let’s go to the mattresses’ is taken very seriously during this tournament. That is seen if you take a look at how the name came about in the very first place.

THE NAME The first match between the two teams - England and Australia - took place in Melbourne, Australia in 1877. The legend of the Ashes began in 1882, after the ninth test. Australia toured England. It was a brilliant match. A match that Australia won on the English Soil. A match they almost lost. Dead silence took over the stadium. They could not believe their team had just lost to a colony on home soil.


On 2 September a celebrated mock obituary, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks, appeared in The Sporting Times. It read: In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29 August 1882, Deeply lamented by a large…