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PHIL AGIUS |
Weblog: Sports editor's view
Yessss! It's nearly over
ENGLAND CRICKETERS: Can't wait for this interminable ODI series to be over so we can stop being a national embarrassment.
AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS: Can't wait for this interminable ODI series to be over, it's so easy it's taking all the enjoyment out of thrashing the Poms.
CRICKET FANS: Can't wait for this interminable ODI series to be over. It's not much fun is it?
PUNTERS: Eh? What? Still going is it? Sorry, far more interesting stuff going on now.
I suppose it must have seemed a good idea to someone at the time, but a seven-ODI post-Ashes series always sounded at least two games too long.
And when England won the Ashes it sounded at least four games too long.
And when it started it seemed at least six games too long.
But no, like a Sky Sports News clip of Tom Williams leaving the pitch, this series simply won't go away.
It might just be worth tuning in to the action from the Riverside on Sunday just to make sure they have some kind of presentation at the end. The British people need closure.
But what's this? Another one-day tournament coming up? Featuring England? Starting on Tuesday?
Heaven help us.
This extended series has given the Three Lions powers that be time to conjure up some moments of tactical brilliance.
One was instructing Stuart Broad to bowl full tosses towards first slip (surprisingly this yielded very few bowled or lbw dismissals, but quite a few boundaries), while their pre-series highlight was bafflingly deciding that Anglo-Saffer Jonathan Trott had the patience to be picked for the Test squad and the strike-rate to be in their Twenty20 squad, but was deemed not suitable for the intermediate distance.
You have to seriously fear what will be happening by the time they make their exit from the ICC Trophy in South Africa.
Which may not be very long.
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