Honours Even

Unfortunately, although there is much in the World I could be commenting on, there is a battle going close to home which will have my undivided attention for the next four days.!

It is the Fifth and Final Test Match between England and Australia. It's pretty straight-forward at this stage.

• If England win, they win the Ashes.
• If the match is drawn, then England win the Ashes
• If Australia win, they retain the Ashes (if a series is drawn, then whoever presently holds the Ashes keeps them) because the series will be drawn 2:2.

I put links to cricket and the Ashes on a previous post it you are interested!

At the end of thee first day, England have scored 319 runs, but have lost 7 wickets - five of them to Shane Warne, the Off-Spinner! Pitches are such, that spin bowlers are a waste of time in the early stages of a match as the pitch tends to favour seam and swing bowlers, but Warne is unique! Strauss made 129 runs which saved England some embarrassment. Flintoff also had a decent innings, making 71 very valuable runs.

This match is going to be tough on everyone, and I think I'll book myself in for a medical once it is over.

New pictures on Flickr of our walk over the West Pennine Moors. I've noticed, with Flickr, that when the pictures are uploaded, they end up in reverse order. I'll have to remember that next time and start with the last picture first (he that is last will be first!).

I did like this picture of a plaque in the centre of Belmont.