ashes 2005

I'll be building up a list here of Australian blogs covering the Ashes tonight.

I was born during the Adelaide Test match when Australia, under Richie Benaud, regained the Ashes. From four days old until my first week of high school, shortly after my twelfth birthday, Australia held the Ashes (and John Snow still hasn't been forgiven). We got them back for a couple of brief periods: January 1975 to August 1977, and January 1983 to August 1985.

Australia picked up the Ashes once more on August 1, 1989. It's sixteen years and eleven days later, and barring an English choke of Greg Normanesque proportions, they're on their way back to England.

Will Kevin Pietersen go down in history as the first person to score a Test century with a dead raccoon under his helmet?

Question du moment: Which Australian will play out the final ball of the Test for the draw?

I'm picking Matthew Hayden.

Going into the final day of The Oval Test, the four main contenders for the 2005 Midwinter-Midwinter are as follows:

1st: Shane Warne (16)
2nd: Andrew Flintoff (13)
3rd: Daylight (not appearing in this Test)
4th: Marcus Trescothick (7)

Two observations from the pre-lunch session on the last day of Les Ashes de 2005:
(a) England is close to having a match-winning lead, and the fact that they lost four wickets in the session enhances their position;
(b) Ian Bell will be a valuable participant in Warwickshire's county championship campaign for many years to come.

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!¹
Relax, I'm a qualified cricket umpire.²

Unless I am sadly mistaken (or perhaps just mistakenly sad), this will be the first Test series decided by non-precipitative cloud cover since Zimbabwe beat Pakistan in 1998 when the final Test was fogged out.

CBBC Newsround | Sport | Tension rises in final Ashes Test

Listen to the report here in real audio

Matthew Hayden produced a big innings on Saturday when it really mattered. Pity about all those time when it really mattered and he didn't.

Perhaps Hayden will emulate his Queensland team-mate Martin Love in scoring a century in his last Test match.

As Justin Langer's aspirations of a 500 lead before winning the Fifth Test disappear beneath the covers, here are some useful links at the Met Office:

• Rainfall radar map
• Satellite image (visual)
• Satellite image (infrared)

That's a nifty little low pressure down in the Bay of Biscay...

With Australia squandering anywhere up to 37 overs of playing time in the gloom of Friday afternoon in Kennington, it is becoming more and more likely that England are three days away from reclaiming the Ashes. If only Geoff Boycott and Chris Tavare were about thirty years younger, then we call this Test a draw and declare England home and hosed right now.