Issue England
Issue England
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England Look To New Venues To Defend Ashes On Home Soil
The 2005 Ashes series captured the interest of England and even managed to briefly push football off the back pages of the country's newspapers. The 2-1 victory was England's first triumph over the Australians since 1987 and, ignoring the series in Australia 18 months later, Andrew Strauss will be hoping to lead his side to a second successive home win later this summer.
Both sides will be much changed from their 2005 look. Strauss will return - this time as captain - and with 2005 veterans Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff in his charge, he will be looking to them to help the newcomers who have no experience against the Australians. On the other side of the world, Australia still have Ricky Ponting in charge but have lost several key players in Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hayden. However, in Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle they seem to have found readymade replacements while England are still struggling to find a wicketkeeper to adequately replace Alec Stewart and a top class spinner.
More talked about than the change in personnel, however, is the change in grounds used for the 2009 Ashes. Of the five venues played at in 2005, three remain the same - Lord's, Edgbaston and the Oval (where England lost, won and drew) - but the other two have been dropped. These grounds - Old Trafford and Trent Bridge - are not only steeped in history but they were both games in 2005 that were in England's favour - in Manchester, England were one wicket away from victory while they enforced the follow on and won comprehensively in Nottingham.
With these two grounds out, two have had to come in to complete the numbers. Yorkshire's Headingley, another old favourite, has returned to the test circuit after redevelopment but the biggest shock - especially as it's going to host the opening test match - is the inclusion of Glamorgan's Sophia Gardens. The Cardiff stadium has yet to host a five-day international although it has hosted one-day games, most notably Bangladesh's shock victory over Australia in 2005. However, there have been issues with drainage - that were hopefully sorted over the winter months - and the stadium is smaller than all those used in 2005, all of which were sold out.
Tickets for the npower Ashes are again in high demand and each of the five venues are expected to be sold out for every day of play as England look to recreate the success of their historic 2005 win.
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Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.