A Rivalry Worth Watching

This summer’s main attraction is bound to be the football World Cup in South Africa for most sports fans, yet next week England’s summer of cricket continues with a five one day series against the ‘old enemy’ Australia. But what can cricket fans expect from the series?

With England looking to retain the Ashes down under for the first time since 1986-87 this winter, many fans thought that a five one day series against Australia was unnecessary, but lets face it any chance to get one over on the Aussies is always welcome in my eyes.

England has quite simply had a fantastic last 12 months, which saw them regain the Ashes from Australia last July with a 2-1 series win on home soil. The good form then continued as they surprised many pundits and fans as they won their first ICC competition when they brought home the ICC World Twenty20 trophy back from the Caribbean, again beating Australia in the final.

England’s summer of sizzling cricket started with a two test series against minnows Bangladesh, which England took comfortably with a 2-0 win, despite some rallying cricket from Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal offering some resistance. The main man though for England was Steven Finn who took nine wickets in the first test at Lords before grabbing another five-for at Old Trafford as England wrapped up the 2-0 series victory.

So next Tuesday (22nd June) the rivalry between these two great cricketing nations begins again as the first match takes place at a re-developed Rose Bowl in Hampshire. This will be the first game held at the Rose Bowl with all the work completed, and what a match it is likely to be with the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss on show for England and Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting for the visitors, big shots are more than likely to entertain the crowds.

By the time the series reaches its conclusion on the 3rd of July at the home of cricket Lords, England will hope and many fans now expect the Three Lions to have wrapped up a series victory that would give a major psychological boost ahead of the ‘real’ test of the Ashes down under.

So if the likes of Japan V Cameroon and New Zealand V Slovakia aren’t quite exciting you at the World Cup and the constant noise of the now famous vuvuzela is driving you mad, then why not switch and cheer on the England cricket team this summer - after all this is a team that has already won a World Cup this year.