The Ashes - First Test Review

Cricket has had a bit of renaissance, well with us at least. The recent Twenty/20 World Cup had to be considered a success overall, with Ireland in particular once again punching above their weight. So much so that when the ICC draw up plans for the next few years, Ireland are going to be involved along with all the top nations. Fully deserved as we have been ever improving in recent times.

It also benefits that the World Cup was held in England so that most of the buzz is retained for the latest Ashes series which began last week pitting the hosts against Australia. And seeing as how this is a summer that is absent from from a major football tournament or the Olympics, The Ashes takes top billing in the summer sporting calendar, providing 5 five-day Tests spread out during the summer months. Since there's nothing else on, why not...

Two or so years ago Australia whitewashed England 5-0 to regain the Ashes, but shush, the British media don't make mention to that, they prefer to focus on England's narrow 2-1 win from 4 years ago.

Both sides were going into the contest in not the best form and the teams are much changed from 4, or even 2 years ago. So you had the impression that it was either going to be a case of 2 poor teams cancelling each other out, or either the scenario of each side trying to outdo the other and prove that they are genuinely the best. Thankfully from the basis of the first Test, it looks like it will probably be the former.

England won the toss and sensibly batted first and posted a remarkable score of over 400 all out, however Australia saw their target and raised it significantly posting a score of about 650 for only the loss of a handful of wickets to put them firmly in the driving seat. It was particularly impressive that 4 of their batsmen got centuries or more, something unheard of. Marcus North scored his very first 100 on his very first Ashes match, much to the chagrin of Englishmen everything.

Australia eventually declared and took a couple of England's wickets before a close of a day, a very smart move by their captain, the sublime Ricky Ponting. This left the Aussies with a full day to take 8 England wickets to win the Test. But they just couldn't do it, which resulted in a drawn game. Not even when it came down to England's worst two batsmen, 2 bowling specialists, who managed to stay at the crease for 40 minutes. Praise must go to middle-order batter Paul Collingwood who stayed in for 5-and-a-half hours. He was effectively the glue that held everyone else together.

Now, I am not a fan of England in any shape or form, not even in the slightest, but is was simply compelling viewing to watch them hang in there by hook or crook to do enough to secure a draw.

This Test was actually played in Cardiff, Wales due to the English board actually encompassing 'The England and Wales Cricket Board'. There were a few eyebrows raised - some in favour of taking the sport around the country and giving new places & fans an opportunity; some against as it will cost the club Glamorgan ages to repay all the loans they took out to bid and do up the stadium, and also that the venue took away the opportunity of traditional grounds like Old Trafford staging a venue. The pitch wasn't the best either as the bowlers did not get much out of it, but I guess it gave the batsmen to show off their skills. Ah well, six of one, half a dozen of the other. In the end, was it entertaining? The general consensus is "yes", and so it will ultimately go down as a success for staging it here. It was humorous though to see 15,000 Welshmen cheer on England.

It is rare that a team who post over 400 in their first innings don't go on and win, but Australia were in no mood to mess around. So this draw will feel like a victory for England and conversely it will feel like a defeat for Australia. It's set-up very nicely for the Second Test tomorrow which takes place at Lords, "The Home of Cricket". Before this all started, I had said to myself that I think Australia will take the series 3-1, that's still on the cards.

NHL Roundup - The Finals

Division 1

• Kilkenny defeated reigning champions Tipperary after extra-time. This was a fantastically enjoyable high-scoring match as both sides really brought out their top game for this one.
  

Division 2

• Offaly gained promotion to the top tier next year as they were able to defeat rivals Wexford by virtue of a solitary goal.
  

Division 3A

• The extra goal scored by Kildare was enough for them to beat Meath.

Division 3B

• London fully justified their place in the National League as they defeated Roscommon with 6 points to spare.
  

Division 4

• Sligo were victorious over Monaghan in a competitive final that went all the way to extra-time.
  

NFL Roundup - Final Word

Time to just reflect on this league campaign and to see how things all finished up. There were some very good matches throughout and the managers did give new talent a chance to shine. At the end of the day though, I don't think that anyone can have any complaints about their final league position.

The tables come courtesy of the official website of the GAA.

Division 1

Allianz GAA Football National League Roinn 1 Table

Team	Pld	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Points
Kerry	7	6	1	0	114	83	31	13
Derry	7	4	1	2	101	81	20	9
Galway	7	4	1	2	106	92	14	9
Mayo	7	2	3	2	90	85	5	7
Tyrone	7	3	1	3	96	97	-1	7
Dublin	7	2	2	3	124	110	14	6
Donegal	7	2	1	4	86	99	-13	5
Westmeath	7	0	0	7	68	138	-70	0

Champions: Kerry
Relegated: Westmeath & Donegal

• Kerry end the campaign unbeaten with their 1 draw and 7 wins (including the final) and they should be favourites heading into the All-Ireland in the summer. The disappointing season for Tyrone was touching on previously. But it was even more so for fans of Donegal probably expected to do better than this. Westmeath just seemed out of their depth this year.

Division 2

Allianz GAA Football National League Roinn 2 Table

Team	Pld	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Points
Monaghan	7	5	1	1	130	91	39	11
Cork	7	5	1	1	110	75	35	11
Kildare	7	4	2	1	115	88	27	10
Armagh	7	4	0	3	108	103	5	8
Meath	7	2	2	3	82	87	-5	6
Laois	7	3	0	4	96	116	-20	6
Fermanagh	7	1	1	5	87	106	-19	3
Wexford	7	0	1	6	78	140	-62	1

Promoted: Monaghan & Cork (champions)
Relegated: Wexford & Fermanagh

• In a bit of a strange twist, even though they finished second, Cork are named champions as they won that final one-off game. Those two sides should be a fine addition to Division 1 next year and it will give Monaghan in particular a chance to test themselves against the best. Wexford & Fermanagh had only just come up this year and so are going straight back down again.

Division 3

Allianz GAA Football National League Roinn 3 Table

Team	Pld	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Points
Down	7	5	0	2	109	87	22	10
Tipperary	7	5	0	2	104	90	14	10
Offaly	7	3	1	3	89	107	-18	7
Louth	7	3	0	4	109	98	11	6
Roscommon	7	3	0	4	91	94	-3	6
Cavan	7	3	0	4	91	94	-3	6
Limerick	7	3	0	4	81	92	-11	6
Longford	7	2	1	4	76	88	-12	5

Promoted: Down & Tipperary (champions)
Relegated: Longford & Limerick

• Again the runners-up are crowned champions and this was an excellent campaign for Tipperary as they secured their second promotion in a row. Down as expected also go up a division. But just look how tight it was down at the other end of the table. You have to feel for Limerick getting relegated by virtue of having a worse points difference.

Division 4

Allianz GAA Football National League Roinn 4 Table

Team	Pld	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Points
Antrim	8	6	2	0	167	77	90	14
Sligo	8	7	0	1	133	81	52	14
Leitrim	8	5	1	2	128	101	27	11
Waterford	8	4	1	3	112	87	25	9
Wicklow	8	3	2	3	153	102	51	8
Clare	8	3	0	5	144	105	39	6
Carlow	8	3	0	5	114	122	-8	6
London	8	2	0	6	82	146	-64	4
Kilkenny	8	0	0	8	42	254	-212	0

Promoted: Antrim & Sligo (champions)

• Sligo get the division trophey for winning that final match but the league table in this division is probably fairest of all most definitely the top 2 sides going up. Poor Kilkenny will just be glad that this campaign is finished.
  

NFL Roundup - The Finals

Division 1

• In a repeat of last year's final, Kerry got revenge as they defeated Derry to finish off their sensational, unbeaten league campaign.
  

Division 2

• Cork were just too strong for Monaghan and gave an impression that they will once again be serious contenders for the All-Ireland in the summer. Monaghan should not be too disheartened though, they had a very good campaign.
  

Division 3

• In what could be considered a bit of a shock, Tipperary were able to defeat Down to take the title by a single point. The match was so close that it ended up going into extra-time as a winner was unable to be found during the normal 70 minutes of play. Down will most certainly be disappointed to lose a big game that they should have won, but Tipperary's incredible season just keeps getting better.
  

Division 4

• Sligo probably would have been favourites before this match, but they needed 2 points in injury time to seal the win against Antrim. It sounded like a keenly contested game with both teams obviously wanting to pick up the win.
  

NHL Roundup - Week 9

Division 1

• Waterford won at Cork in a very high-scoring contest.

• Kilkenny had a narrow win over Dublin.

• Galway had a fine win away at Clare.

• Tipperary had a home win against Limerick.
  

Division 2

• Offaly had an easy enough win against Antrim, which saw them advance to the final.

• Wexford topped the table as they thrashed Carlow by 25-points.

• Westmeath had a good home win against Laois.

• Down produced a magnificent comeback to win by 9-points despite being 6-points behind at half-time against Kerry. This result meant that Kerry had lost all 7 of their matches.

Division 3A

• The fixtures had already been completed.
  

Division 3B

• London finished with top of the table with an impressive 100% victory record as they defeated Donegal.

• Louth were much too strong for Tyrone.

• Fingal had a fine win against Roscommon.

• Longford had the weekend off.

Division 4

• Again, all matches had been played.
  

NFL Roundup - Week 10

As Division 4 has an extra team in it, they played out their final round of games this past week.

Division 4

• Antrim had a win away at Waterford to top the table.
  

• Sligo had a narrow win away at Wicklow, although they were already guaranteed a place in the final.

• Kilkenny lost heavily yet again, this time to Carlow.

• Clare had a very easy win against London, defeating them by triple scores.

• Leitrim had the weekend off.
  

NFL Roundup - Week 9

Division 1

• Derry won to send them into the final, however this defeat got Donegal relegated.

• Dublin produced a terrific performance to secure safety as they destroyed Westmeath by 27-points. This result meant that the visitors had lost all 7 of their matches.

• Kerry were able to defeat Galway to end their campaign unbeaten. It was bad luck for Galway though as they miss out on the final due to points difference for the second year running.

• A draw would have been enough to keep both Mayo & Tyrone in Division 1, so rather unsurprisingly they drew. For Tyrone, it would have to go down as a bit of a poor campaign to only secure safety in the very last match. The manager tried out over 35 players in the 7 games, but the disappointing thing is that not many of them showed the quality that has become synonymous with Tyrone over the past decade. Hopefully things pick up during the All-Ireland Championship in the summer.
  

Division 2

• Monaghan secured their promotion with as they went to Laois and hammered them by a massive scoreline.

• Cork were very impressive against Armagh as they gained promotion with this win.

• Meath and Kildare drew.

• As did Wexford and Fermanagh and it was probably fairly unenjoyable for all involved as both sides had already been relegated.

Division 3

• Down had a narrow win away at Roscommon but it gained them promotion as they finished top of the table.

• Louth had a narrow home win against Cavan.

• Limerick lost at Louth which saw them relegated. Unluckily for them, 3 other teams had the same number of points as them, but they went down due to an inferior score difference.

• Longford beat Tipperary, but it didn't make much difference as they had already been relegated.
  

Division 4

• Sligo picked up a home win against Waterford to guarantee them promotion and a place in the final.

• Carlow came from behind to pick up a win at home against Wicklow in a high-scoring game.

• Leitrim finished up their campaign with a victory against Clare.

• London had an expected win against Kilkenny.

• Antrim had the weekend off.