Still all to play for . . .

The View from Row Z

STICK on a pair of rose-tinted spectacles, lie back in the sun and think back to England’s Ashes series of 2005.

As the music to William Blake’s Jerusalem swells in your brain to provide a soundtrack to Steve Harmison’s famous slower ball to Michael Clarke or Andrew Flintoff’s brilliant Trent Bridge century, chances are that the fact Australia were robbed at Edgbaston four years ago will not trouble the consciousness.

So what if Michael Kasprowicz’s glove was off his bat when turning one behind to Geraint Jones to bring England level 1-1 in the series?

This pivotal catch provided the vital momentum for an historic Ashes journey which would end, allegedly, with a very special fertilisation of the Prime Minister’s garden.

For England, umpire Billy Bowden’s was a good mistake and therefore not really a mistake at all.

Wearing the same pair of spectacles, the 2009 series has been great for England.

An heroic draw in Cardiff, a brilliant and rare victory at the home of cricket, Lord’s, and the very creditable effort at Edgbaston.

Australians, needless to say, would emphatically disagree. And, though it appalls me to admit it, they would be quite right to.

The tourists have been hugely unlucky to have copped a set of bizarre umpiring decisions, without which they could arguably have their noses in front by now.

Though he typically got bogged down and failed to add significantly to his score anyway, the refusal of calamity umpire Rudi Koertzen to give Ian Bell out leg before to Mitchell Johnson on day three of the third Test was a mystery even Columbo would struggle with.

“Just one more thing, Mr Koertzen. Which bit of ‘knocking all three clean out of the ground’ do you not understand?”

Not that I am suggesting the South African official is implicated in shenanigans fit for a daytime detective show. Though murder tends not to be too far off my mind when I see him theatrically raise his finger as slowly as Tower Bridge and I expect the Australians are no different.

Controversy aside, there is still plenty of life left in this series yet.

Though the combined force of personality for the two sides doesn’t compare well to four years ago — fast bowler Johnson’s sledging antics are as intimidating as a big basket of kittens, for example, and very un-Australian when compared to Glenn McGrath’s furious rantings — they are at least well matched and have produced some thrilling cricket up to now.

mattchambers@oldham-chronicle.co.uk