Following the amazing conclusion to the Old Trafford Test, here are the progress points in the 2005 Midwinter-Midwinter, my answer to the Compton-Miller award to the best player of the Ashes series:

Following the completion of the Third Test between England and Australia, we have two leaders in the Ashes and More Test Tipping Competition.

Geoff and Stu have 4 wins out of the 6 Tests completed so far. Tipping is closed for the Bulawayo Test in progress between Zimbabwe and New Zealand. The next Test to get under way will be at Trent Bridge between England and Australia, commencing August 25. Selections can be added or amended until the scheduled end of the lunch break on the opening day.

Play had begun on a bizarre note when Smith, the Scots wicketkeeper and also a policeman, was forced to miss the opening 40 minutes of play after being called to Aberdeen Sheriff Court as a witness. Smith headed for court but soon returned after the hearing was abandoned because the accused had slept in.

- David Kelso, The Scotsman, 16.8.05

Incredible to think Australia saved the Third Test. Great stuff. It's remarkable enough to score 371 runs in the fourth innings of a Test - even if the target is 423. Poor Harmison made a mess of the last over. One of Ponting's finest innings. Not much support from the specialist batsmen however, though the draw looked hopeful while ever Michael Clarke was out there. It should have been England's Test once Ponting was gone. Full credit to Warne, Lee and McGrath. Enjoy the rest of the tour, Diz.

News just in via the Press Trust of India following the BCCI's Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

The BCCI's draft annual report and audited accounts for 2004-05 were presented. If they have been made public I'd love to see a copy, but PTI reports that the Board will distribute Rs.52 crore (that's 520 million rupees to the uninitiated) to its cricketers.

It's not so much that Australia appear all set to lose the Third Test tomorrow. It's the reports that suggest the whole fibre of the mighty Australian team is unravelling. Or are we witnessing more Sledging By Media?

http://www.supercricket.co.za/default.asp?id=3922&des=sportstalk

Neil Manthorp's take on the Afro-Asian extravaganza, which starts this Wednesday.

(And continuing on the subject of columnist archives, here is Supersport's Neil Manthorp page.)

Catching up on some of my favourite writers, and how they are reporting the Ashes.

One hundred and twenty-one years ago, a grand tradition began at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester. It was on July 10, 1884 that the first Test match on that ground began. July 10, 1884 was also the first time in an Old Trafford Test that a whole day's play would be washed out.

If Shane Warne is the Don Juan of world cricket, is Ashley Giles the Juan Carlos?

While the morning belonged to the Sheikh of Tweak, the Sultan of Spin, the afternoon belonged to the King of Spain, Prince Wheelie bin Giles. (Dammit, I should be writing for WWE.) The hyper-testosteroned English media are calling His Ashliness' dismissal of Damien Martyn "the ball of the century". In Ashley Giles' case, it probably will be his best ball of the century (and of the last one).