Matthew Hayden’s single ball innings was everything it had promised to be...
- Nick Whittock, Ashes, 6.8.05

I firmly believe that there is nothing more exhilirating in sport than a good game of Test cricket. This game at Edgbaston was one of the best. England by two runs.

I put this alongside the two Tests I consider the two best that I have seen in the past: the 1977 Centenary Test at the MCG, and the 1993 Test at the Adelaide Oval when the West Indies beat Australia by one run.

Saturday at the Edgbaston Test. Everyone dresses up in their best gear. There's those blokes dressed up as bright purple whoopie cushions. The Aussie fans wearing their authentic replica 1980-81 ODI gear - you know, the gorgeous canary yellow body-hugging kit with the tasteful lime green panels under the armpits. And it was good to see the Beatles re-forming to see if they could still fit into their Sgt Peppers uniforms. (No, don't ask me how John and George got tickets to the game.)

The Primary Club is a charitable organisation that raises money to provide facilities for visually impaired people. To be eligible to play for the Primary Club you should have been dismissed at least once in your life for a golden duck, ie, out first ball.

Matty Hayden: the URL to sign up is http://www.primaryclub.org/shop/join.php.

You could tell it wasn't going to be Australia's day once Glenn McGrath trod on a cricket ball while playing touch footy. No, he wasn't playing touch footy with the cricket ball.

The Aussie lads were playing some warm-up touch footy (rugby league) on the Edgbaston outfield before the start of play in the Second Test, as you do. Brad Haddin passed the football to McGrath. McGrath heads for the tryline, and... who didn't put that Kookaburra away??

You can take your Border-Gavaskar, Compton-Miller, Chappell-Hadlee, even your Peden-Archdale... I am now unveiling, belatedly but otherwise as promised, the name of my award for the Ashes Player of the Tournament.

Presenting: the Midwinter-Midwinter. Who needs to invoke the names of two legends when you can honour one person twice?

Exhibit A:

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

- Patrick Henry, Richmond (Virginia), 23 March 1775

Exhibit B:

http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/exec_chefs.html which begins:

Google Hungry for Executive Chefs

What do John Howard, Condoleezza Rice and Rick Eyre have in common? They all can be heard on the first edition of "The Net Sessions".

"The Net Sessions" is a new cricket podcast, written and spoken by Rick Eyre, in which he presents his unique individual perspective on the world of cricket. Episode one is a thirteen-minute pilot edition, featuring a news summary for the month of July 2005 interspersed with musical interludes and unexpected sound bites.

Whew. It's taken up every minute of my spare time these past few days, but I've completed a thirteen-minute cricket podcast which may or may not be the first of a series.

I've gone for a simple title: "The Net Sessions". Although most of the first edition is the sound of my dulcit tones, interspersed with a few cricket-related sound bites, I hope to do a few interviews in the future and obtain correspondents' reports.