Ashes 2009 fixtures

Right, form an orderly queue. The fixture list for next summer has just been announced and England's attempt to wrest back that little urn from Australia will begin in Wales for the first time.

The first npower Test starts in Cardiff on July 8, which is a Wednesday rather than the usual Thursday (cue much harrumphing in the Shires). The second Test follows hard on its heels (back-to-back Ashes Tests? harrumph, harrumph, harrumph) at Lord's (at least nothing has changed there) on July 16 and then the third is at Edgbaston from July 30. The fourth Ashes Test starts on August 7 at Headingley (a Friday start and another back-to-back, harrumph again) before it all ends at the Oval with a Thursday start on August 20. Enjoy, but remember that I was in the queue first.

How do we get tickets, I hear you all yell. Here's how: Tickets for the Cardiff Test go on sale in October, with priority for Glamorgan members first; the same applies for Headingley. The Lord's ballot will be held on January 12 but you have to apply to be in it by clicking here in November. Edgbaston will be selling tickets from August 1 this year, with a priority period for Warwickshire members. Those who have bought international tickets at Edgbaston before can then buy tickets from September 1 with the rest being available later. Those who have bought tickets for the Oval before will be contacted in due course - or you can check this website from August - with Surrey members getting priority.

How much will tickets cost? God knows, but I suspect it will be very pricey as the marketing men eye up early retirement on the back of this. Budget at least £70 a day for the London Tests and £50 or so for the others. Or you can try visiting the npower website and win a hospitality box for 11 people, which includes travel in a limousine (how tacky) as well as a free bar.

And if all that fails, the ECB are again hosting five Cricket in the Park events, with a giant screen erected in a nearby green area for you to follow the game on, with the added bonus of being able to drink what you want, sing what you want and chuck around a beachball without a steward pouncing on you.

For those with short attention spans, who don't really like cricket that much but want the chance to see a pop star, there's the World Twenty20 shortly beforehand.

Comments

[Peter McGuinness]

On the contrary Pablo.

Freddie should be sending Patrick a case of '76 Grange Hermitage with his sincerest appreciation.

Using his formidable influence as a Murdoch insider, Patrick has clearly arranged for some photo-shopping of the above photo.

I have seen a version of the same shot in which a thick rope of lumpy, bile encrusted saliva swings crazily from the left corner of Flintoff's slack mouth. It terminates upon his lapel, just above the champagne flute.

You will note the rather clumsy digital shadowing upon the area to which I refer.

I love this photograph. It speaks a thousand words for the steely 'job-half-done' attitude with which England approached the task at hand throughout the following 20 months.

[Pablo]

What is the point of the two back-to-back games? I'm probably missing something because I don't get it. Why, in the name of all that is holy and sacred (Cricket, for instance), would anyone concentrate the excitement of an event that happens only every two years? Honestly, it is not that the ECB has more important things to organize.
Anyway, let me say that, much as I respect and follow the author, I strongly believe Fred Flintoff should sue you, Patrick, for the picture above. At the time, was he by any chance pedaling skillfully towards the setting sun?

[Patrick Kidd]

Welcome back Ann, where you been?

I went off the ECB press release, which I guess was wrong in this instance. Or the Lord's website is wrong. Keep on visiting it. Anyway, there are a few other posts for you to comment on...

[Ann]

November? Well, the Lord's website says December.

[Rusty]

Wales? Wales! A bastion of cricket tradition, no doubt. Curious place to kick off the Ashes. Some new strategy on the part of the ECB? Is that so the team can get off to a good start by thinking its really an away game? Or is the unpalatable Simon Jones going to make an unexpected appearance? Or is it just, in the end, about as many bums on seats as possible?

Hope Freddy turns up as sozzzled as he is in the photo. Judging by his last international appearance....

[Divya]

When the Aussie board ensured during the 2006-07 Ashes that the English public (or anyone associated with England even in Oz) did not land up too many tickets, as they feared that the crowd would become 'too English' and the Aussie team would lack support, why can't we pay those Aussies back in the same manner and not issue tickets to every Larrikin' Larry that turns up from Oz?