Ashes Eve...

Ahem, I did say that I’d post some more pictures from our esteemed visitors this week, but I just wanted to publish these in advance of an important sporting encounter, which starts tomorrow…

The latest Ashes series begins tomorrow at Lords (which by coincidence is where these photos were taken). To those not in the know, this is a cricket series played between England and Australia, which was first played in 1861, and is currently played once in England and once in Australia every four years or so. It has always been one of the most intense rivalries* in world cricket, and has produced a number of classic matches over the years.

Much has been made of the fact that the English have not won the Ashes since 1986, nearly twenty years ago. That’s around two thirds of my life to date. My dad has been resident in Australia since the 1970s, and has become a keen supporter of the Aussies, so there’s a bit of an added spice to proceedings in the Adams family! We currently have our best team since 1986, and many say we actually have a chance of competing this time round! Lets hope so. Stand By Your Statue is very much looking forward to seven weeks of brilliant cricket action, and, on the eve of the first Test match, would just like to say………………c’mon England!!

* These rivalries also extend to the fans, as was experienced by the Ultimate Olympian (bowling a fierce delivery above) and housemate John (hitting a cracking boundary below) when they were Standing By Their Statues at Lords a couple of weeks ago. By all accounts, some Aussie fans, who were drunk on VB and nineteen years of success, gave them quite a hard time when posing for these photos. Let us hope that nineteen years of hurt for the English fans can be forgotten about this summer.