Ashes to Ashes

After witnessing the greatest ever series in 2005, what a huge disappointment this Ashes series has been. England have lost the urn, are 4-0 down, and it seems inevitable they will suffer the first 5-0 defeat since 1920-21.

This is especially disappointing given that this is not the worst England team to have toured Australia in recent years, not by a long chalk. They re-established themselves as the no 2 team in the world with a series win over Pakistan in the summer. And well as they have played, the Australians are clearly past their best. Damien Martyn retired during the series, Warne and McGrath will do the same when it is over, and several others may follow.

Where then, has it gone so wrong?

First off, I think, was the appointment of Andrew Flintoff as captain. Make no mistake; I am a huge fan of his, as are most lovers of cricket. But however much he says he wants the job, wanting a job and being the best man for it are two entirely different things.

For a start, he came into the series well short of match fitness, and lacking in form. A few one-day games in India and the warm-up games were never going to be sufficient for him to prove otherwise. In any case, the role of captaincy has clearly proven too much in addition to expecting him to be a front-line bowler and no 6 batsman. His body language betrays this, and it is sad to see such a talismanic figure reduced to a shadow of his normal affable and enthusiastic self.

Andrew Strauss, on the other hand, captained the side with aplomb during the summer, leading England to a 3-0 victory over Pakistan, and in the process his batting was at its best. I am a great believer in the old adage "If it ain't broke don't fix it" and he is the obvious long-term successor to Vaughan, and so he should have been continued to be groomed for the role.

The next serious mistake England made was leaving out Panesar in favour of Giles. Like most pundits, I was apoplectic when I found out. Panesar was England's best bowler in the summer - how could they leave him out?? And stating that no 8 has to score runs sends only one message to the opposition - we don't think our batsmen can score enough runs to win a test match. As expected this mistake was rectified but by then England were 2-0 down and it was too late.

The other selection mistakes England made were Jones for Read and Anderson for Mahmood. Read kept immaculately in the summer, averaged 42 with the bat, and deserved a longer run in the side. The desire to keep as many of the players who won the Ashes in 2005 has proven costly - this England side have moved on since then. Mahmood may only have proven marginally more successful than Anderson but he does have real pace - and he can bat. Clearly he is the better long-term prospect.

But what is most disappointing about this series is the way some of the established players have failed to produce the goods, and the manner in which they have been beaten. Being 4-0 down would be no disgrace had the matches been close and hard-fought, but England increasingly have the look of a team who have lost heart.

Evidence of this was their second innings in the fourth test. 200-odd runs behind but 10 wickets in hand is still not an impossible position from which to win a test match. What it required was a couple of big hundreds, and for one player to play an Atherton-esque innings. The biggest problem England have had is that no one has spent enough time at the crease. None of their batsmen has scored the kind of runs required in this series, and in the case of Kevin Pietersen - who made the move to the correct place at no 4 in the order only after 3 1/2 tests - this has been especially disappointing.

Given that Vaughan's return to the team is imminent and one of the top 5 will have to make way, this is astonishing - surely someone would be making a statement to say "I'm damned if I'm going to lose my place"?

KP is clearly interested in the celebrity lifestyle and has stated that his aim is to make as much money as possible playing cricket. That is all well and good, but even the most talented of us have to do our jobs damn well to do that. As the one batsmen feared by Australia, he has failed to do that.

As I have stated, there is no shortage of talent in this England team, which makes the score line doubly disappointing. Perhaps the best example of this is Steve Harmison. At his best, Harmison is nothing short of awesome. Of course, no one expects him to get a five-fer in every test, but in the last two years he has blown cold more than hot and the word is that one of the reasons Flintoff was appointed captain was to get the best out of his mate.

Rest assured that Glenn McGrath doesn't need his best mate to be captain to perform at his best. All he needs is to be handed his baggy green cap.

That is the essential difference between these two teams - the pride in playing for their country, and the belief they can win no matter the situation. Take nothing away from the Australians - they have demonstrated what it takes to be true champions. Many people, such as myself, thought this could be one series too many for several of them, but they have proved us all wrong, and then some.

Enjoy watching this Australian team perform in the last test - it will be the last time some members of the best team of all time play together.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, December 2006

London Calling

Apologies to everyone who has enjoyed this blog for the fact that I have neglected it over the last few weeks. The simple reason for this is that I have been very, very busy in this last month of 2006.

Work has been tough lately, and I have worked my socks off to get the price files in good shape for January 2007, whilst making sure the "nuts and bolts" of the job are attended to as well. It's not been easy, and it has been a huge learning curve for me. My boss Mr Power has supported me every step of the way (when he hasn't been in meetings) and has praised me for my achievements.

I have also had a new lodger, Victoria, arrive and she has been a welcome addition to my home. I am hoping to get a third lodger in January, thus strengthening my financial position.

The other thing that took up a lot of my time over the last few weeks has been securing a charity place for the Flora London Marathon in April 2007. Having failed to get in through the ballot system I applied to a select number of charities that I am passionate about supporting, and was eventually offered a place with the Samaritans' team.

This means I am committed to raising £1750 for charity - a huge challenge, but one I am confident I can achieve. I will be contacting suppliers, network members as well as speaking to senior members of my organisation. In addition I will be setting up a fundraising website and have a couple of ideas as to what that will entail.

Oh and there's the training as well..if I'm honest I'm not in the best possible shape at the moment, so I have about 3 1/2 months to put that right. Having completed my first marathon this year I know I have the discipline to put in the mileage and stick to a gruelling routine. I have also hand-picked a number of races which I will use as tough training runs, the only exceptions being the Bourton 10k and the Bath half-marathon, where I will be going flat out to set myself new PBs.

Those two races will also be the few occasions where I may allow myself to imbibe - my diet is going to have to be fairly strict and alcohol consumption will be reduced to a minimum. From 1st January every training session will have to count, and I've learnt that just doesn't happen when you've had a few glasses of wine the evening before.

So you can see the first few months are going to be a massive, massive challenge for me, and I don't mind admitting I'm a bit nervous.

But I'm also looking forward to it enormously. It presents huge opportunities as well as challenges and I've a funny feeling this could be the making of me.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon December 2006

Last races of 2006

This weekend, and the weekend before, I competed in my last two races of 2006, namely the Downton half marathon and the Bromham "Pudding Race" 10k.

Neither, as it turned out, was an overwhelming success.

On the 26th November I travelled to Downton to compete in the half marathon. This was an event I had competed in the previous year, my second half marathon in fact. I booked my place early this year - I had such fond memories of a tough but enjoyable race, with some stunning views of the New Forest (which prompted me to enter the New Forest Marathon), there was no way I was going to miss it this year.

Last year I remember it being cold but dry. This year it was milder, but very wet. I had a difficult drive down due to the roads being flooded at several points. It got worse before it got better, as I got caught in a downpour walking from my car to the race HQ, and got absolutely drenched.

Once the race started, the rain did not subside, and I found it very hard going. I knew from the previous year that the course was hilly, and had done plenty of hill reps in preparation, but alas these did not seem to pay off. The first five miles were so slow I knew there was no chance of a PB, in fact I would struggle to manage a sub 2 hour finish. In the end I decided to make the best of it, enjoy the views and treat it as a tough training run. Even the hailstones didn't halt my enjoyment of the views and I ran at a nice relaxed pace.

In the end I did manage a sub 2 hour finish, but only in "BMW" time (by my watch). I collected my medal and headed to the race centre where I availed myself of free coffee and a bun and helped myself to two t-shirts (to make up for the fact that they didn't have one in my size last year!). A nice t-shirt it was this year too.

I reflected later, while I was enjoying my post-race beer, that it would be a tad anal to worry about my time at this particular event. Such a wonderfully well-organised event and with such lovely scenery, far better to just go out and enjoy it. You almost want to take as long as possible when the views are this good.

Whilst I felt fine at the end of the race and was back in training the next day, I was quite sore after this event. This did not bode well for the Bromham 10k, which I had run the previous year (after a heavy night out and with the hangover from hell, much to Anthony's annoyance!) and where I was hoping to get a PB and notch up my first sub 50 minute 10k.

I ran Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, rested Thursday as I had a day out in London to go to a concert (separate article to follow) and did a light body pump on Friday. I was also due to have a sports massage that day but Ali had to cancel on me as he had hurt his back. So I was still not feeling at my best on the day of the race.

It probably didn't help that I went out with my lodger, Stefan, on the Friday night for a few beers as he was returning home to Germany on Sunday morning. It may also not have helped that instead of putting my feet up and going to the cinema on Saturday I spent most of the day doing housework to make the place look nice for the arrival of my new lodger, Victoria.

In any case I got to the start line feeling well below par. The weather again was not good. It had rained heavily during the night and was still very windy.

I managed to do the first 4k within 20 minutes but it was downhill from there. I got slower with each kilometre, and felt increasingly tired and sluggish. In the end I finished in just over 52 minutes, an improvement of 5 minutes from last year but still well below my best.

Whether it was the weather, the beers on Thursday and Friday or the housework on Saturday that thwarted my plans of a PB, I'll never know. If I'm honest, it's more likely that I have put on a few pounds since my marathon and haven't managed to shift them.

In any case I don't think I should beat myself up too much. This year I have completed my first full marathon, 9 half marathons, a couple of 5 mile races and I don't know how many 10k races. So no wonder I'm feeling a bit tired - if I say so myself, it's been an amazing achievement. Maybe it's time to put my feet up for a few weeks over the festive season.

After that, it's onwards and upwards to greater things. I found out this weekend I haven't got a place for the Flora London Marathon in 2007 via the ballot system (surprise, surprise). Which means if I want to run it, I need to get a charity place, which also means raising a lot of money.

I spoke to my boss, David Power, about this the other day. Being the top bloke he is, he said if this was necessary he would help me in approaching business contacts for sponsorship (having 30 years experience in the industry, he has more contacts than most!) and was optimistic that I could expect to raise a few thousand pounds' worth of sponsorship.

I've already started applying for charity places and have a really good feeling about this. If it's thousands of pounds for charity we're talking about I'm damned if I'm going to disappoint anyone and will literally sweat my nuts off to get ready for 22nd April 2007.

Something tells me I could be on the cusp of achieving something really special.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, December 2007