The ‘little urn’ as the Ashes trophy is known is representative of one of the great rivalries of international cricket, and is one of the best known iconic series of the cricket calendar. Apart from the fact that a win would do a lot for the currently dismal fortunes of the English cricket team, it also has bearing on the very future of test cricket the relevance of which is now increasingly being questioned in the cricket news and whose survival now depends on the successful conduct of result oriented and keenly fought; dramatic five day matches.

Ever since Twenty20 matches exploded on the cricketing scene to such a successful reception, One day cricket is being viewed as the longer form of the game and test cricket is being seen as losing relevance. For test cricket to continue to be relevant in an age of instant gratification the matches need to be keenly fought, eventful, interesting and most importantly not meandering on to a draw.

What seems to be troubling the English is the fact that Aussie players Phillip Hughes and Stuart Clark are benefitting from their association with the Kent and Middlesex counties which will stand them in good stead when opposing the English themselves when the Ashes come around.

Kent chief executive Paul Millman has defended the position of his county singing on Clark saying "It is difficult recruiting good quality overseas players with all the commitments around the world at the moment and good cricketers who will really do a good job for you are few and far between now. So when the opportunity of Stuart came up we took it quickly, if we hadn't another county would have done there is absolutely no doubt about that."

The considered view taken by the saner thinkers in English cricket seems to be that Aussie players playing county cricket is an irrelevancy, which is eclipsed by the importance of having a well fought and riveting Ashes series. For each test series that provides the spectacle of competitive, entertaining cricket which does not wind its interminable way to a boring draw, but which culminates is a result that is both exciting and difficult to predict, test cricket itself gets a new lease of life. Hopefully the Ashes later this year will be just such an exciting contest and provide just such a boost for test cricket.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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