Raining cats, dogs and kangaroos

On the eve of the fifth and final Test in Sydney, it's been raining here for the last five hours. Quite hard. But my Sydneysider friend Andy is a born optimist and tells me everything will be fine tomorrow. We certainly had a great time this evening observing the brilliantly coloured skies over the Sydney suburbs as the approach of the storm coincided with the approach of dusk. Tangerine, nectarine, peach melba - you could have made some decent yoghurt out of the colours we saw through the bottom of our glass tonight.


Hey Ricky - now that's how you
play a decent forward defensive

Just before it started to rain, we had a knock-about at the cricket ground at Petersham Park - where an 18-year-old Don Bradman scored his first hundred in grade cricket (and also took 3 wickets for 26). Rolling back the years, the cricketers formerly known as "Ash" and "Toad" took a complete pasting from the 9 year old Annabel and 7 year old Simon - so nothing changes there.

Tomorrow - weather permitting - England and Australia will commence battle for the 5th and final time of this series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. While the destination of the Ashes is already decided, Australia can still level the series at 2-2 if they force a win here. An England win, or a draw, will mean that the tourists win the series outright - an achievement which the captain and players have been at pains to point out has always been their number one goal in spite of already retaining the Ashes in Melbourne.

Toad - perhaps a late call-up for Australia
if Hilfenhaus pulls a fat in the warm-up

The Australians are blooding a new captain and two new baggy green caps in this match. Michael Clarke has come under intense press scrutiny since it was announced that he would skipper the Aussies after Ricky Ponting's injury had allegedly worsened in Melbourne. He was even forced to attend a staged meeting with the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. As one observer wrily commented, this was a meeting of two leaders with much in common - mainly that they appear to have the support of only a tiny minority of the Australian public. Time will tell whether "Pup" will step up to the plate (it already seems clear that Gillard will not).

The Aussie debutants will be batsman Usman Khawaja and spin bowler Michael Beer. Pakistan-born Khawaja is a nice politically correct selection as the first Muslim to play for Australia, but it will surely prove too much for him to step into Ponting's shoes and make runs against a ruthlessly efficient England bowling attack. With only 7 first class matches under his belt, a ludicrously inadequate number, Beer admitted on TV that he had never even set foot in the SCG prior to net practice on New Year's Day. These really are desperate times for Australia, which means England will only have themselves to blame if they fail to demonstrate a killer instrinct here and emerge as 3-1 series winners.

My prediction for tomorrow: with rain around, it could be another low-scoring first day. But here at Sydney the scores normally get lower as the game goes on, so the captain who wins the toss may well choose to bat first this time. If Clarke wins the toss, this will be a early test of his and his batsmen's nerve after their recent Day 1 horror shows at the crease.