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The Ashes Cricket News October 2006
Australian old guard urges end to Ashes friendship
Oct 13, 2006
Former Australian cricket greats are urging the current team to ditch their old pals act with England during the Ashes starting next month to help ensure they regain the treasured urn.
England's 2-1 Ashes series victory last year was notable for its nail-biting tension, high-quality play and also the emergence of a surprise entente cordiale between the players from the two usually combative teams.
The friendship of Ashes rivals and Hampshire team mates Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen was evident, while the most memorable image of the series came when Andrew Flintoff consoled a distraught Brett Lee after the Australians had gone perilously close to snatching the second test at Edgbaston.
But Australia selector Merv Hughes and former skipper Allan Border have led the calls for Ricky Ponting's side to put friendships to one side and return to the hard-nosed approach that made Australia the world's best.
"To me the perception was it was a very friendly series, played in fantastic spirit," Border told local media.
"We are not complaining about that but there was a perception we didn't have en edge to our game that we've had in the past."
Former fast bowler Hughes recalled the "in your face" approach taken to Ashes contests in his playing days.
"We lost the attitude towards the English that we once had, the attitude that was introduced by Allan Border."
Opener Justin Langer disagreed, saying the matches were played at the highest level of intensity and in the best competitive spirit.
"Imagine an Ashes contest being played like a village game, that's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard," Langer said.
"We played good, hard cricket on the field and had a beer off it. That's how it should be." The five-test Ashes series starts in Brisbane on November 23.
Kasprowicz out of Ashes contention
Oct 9, 2006
Paceman Michael Kasprowicz says he is troubled by a back injury and will miss the start of the Australian domestic season and is unlikely to return before the November 23 first Ashes Test against England.
The disc-related injury, which has stopped the 33-year-old Queenslander from running, also forced him out of the third and final Test against South Africa in March. Its proving a little bit hard to handle at the moment as far as pain, Kasprowicz told reporters yesterday.
"The timing at this stage we dont know, the doctors are still investigating what it is and how to fix it."
Kasprowicz was in the running with Stuart Clark, Jason Gillespie, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson for Australias third seamers position behind Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.
Kasprowicz has backed fellow Queenslander Johnson to take the first-change role.
Al Qaeda planned Ashes attack
Oct 9, 2006
The London bombers, who attacked the public transport system on July 7 last year, were initially ordered by Al Qaida to assassinate the England and Australia cricket teams during the 2005 Ashes, a friend of one of the terrorists has claimed.
Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer allegedly received the orders at a training camp near Kotli, northern PoK, in December 2004.
The claims have been made by a family friend of Hasib Hussain, the bus bomber who killed 13 people. The friend, who is willing to pass his information to the police, uses a pseudonym, Ahmed Hafiz.
According to Hafiz, 32, the bombers were instructed to get jobs as stewards at the Edgbaston cricket ground and to spray sarin gas inside the changing rooms. The second Test between England and Australia, whose governments have supported US in the war on terror, began on August 4, 2005.
Hafiz, whose family have known the Hussains for 25 years, said he had received details of the bombers visit from members of his extended family, who are involved in running the camp.
He claimed Tanweer, 22, objected to the plot, possibly because he was a cricketer. He was told by a witness that Tanweer argued with Khan, 30, and a scuffle between them had to be broken up by a minder. Hafiz provided a picture of the minder, who was allegedly shot last August.
However, last week locals in Kotli said they had never seen him. Days later, Hafiz claims, the camps commanders, militants affiliated to Al Qaida, revealed the plot to bomb the London Underground to Khan and Tanweer. It was always there, as Plan B, said Hafiz.
Commonwealth Bank Cricket Series 2006-07
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The Ashes Cricket Series
The Ashes is a Test cricket contest played between England and Australia.
It is one of cricket's fiercest and most celebrated rivalries and the oldest in international cricket dating back to 1882.
It is currently played at approximately two yearly intervals, alternately in England and Australia.
The Ashes are "held" by the country which last won a series and to "regain" them the other country must win more Test matches in a series than the country that "holds" them.
If a series is "drawn" then the country holding the Ashes retains them.
The last Ashes series was played in England in 2005 when England regained The Ashes after a gap of 16 years by winning the series 2-1.
The next Ashes series will be in Australia in 2006-07 and the next series in England will be in 2009.
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in The Sporting Times in 1882 following the match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England in England for the first time.
The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
The English media dubbed the next English tour, to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.
A small terracotta urn was presented to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women at some point during the 1882-83 tour.
The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump.
The urn is not used as a trophy for the Ashes series, and whichever side "holds" the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's because of its age and frailty.
Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winners.
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The Ashes series 2006-07
Schedule
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Australian Cricket History
 Australia - World beaters! 
The Australian cricket team is one of the leading international teams in world cricket. Australia was one of the first two Test nations (with England) and have an outstanding recent Test record and in the one dayers were World Champs in 1987, 1999 and 2003. They are also the leaders in the current ICC Test Nations table.
Dates in history of Australian cricket
November, 1868: 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England
15
March 1877: Test debut
28 December 1934: Women's Test team debut
5 January 1971: ODI Debut
23 June 1973: Women's ODI team debut
8 November 1987: Won 4th edition of Cricket World Cup by defeating England in the final match at Eden Gardens, Calcutta.
20 June 1999: Steve Waugh lifts the World Cup
23 March 2003: Ricky Ponting lifts the World Cup
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England Cricket History
England
The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The sport of cricket evolved in England, and England is a founding Test cricket, One-day International and Twenty20 nation
Dates in history of England cricket
15
March 1877: Test debut
5
January 1971: ODI Debut
25 September 2004: England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy
12 September 2005: England regained The Ashes
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