Limited Overs Pump Up The Volume, But Test Is Best

Both Patrick Kidd and Will Luke - authors of the two best cricket blogs out there - have hit the bail on the head in recent posts regarding the sheer volume of cricket currently played on the elite circuit.

As Luke points out, very rare is the occasion when one logs onto cricinfo to find an empty Live Scores box. The top players are in demand like never before - from their national boards and a plethora of globalising club franchises. Not to mention their families back home.

I have no problem with the Champions League or the IPL - which is good, because they represent the direction in which the sport is heading. But, while some see this uncertain path as exhilarating, and others vulgar, all agree it must be managed carefully. This is equally true of the international game.

Scrapping seven match ODI series, as advocated by Patrick Kidd, would be a start. Doing away altogether with pointless series, like the one currently being played between India and Australia, is a necessity.

Cricket administrators are dipping their toes into a sea of overkill. Whilst a balance is sought between international and franchise cricket, mistakes are bound to be made and learned from. The one certainty I am taking from all this, is the supreme reign of the longest from of the game.

Whilst the quantity of one-day cricket around the world increases, so too does my yearning for, and appreciation of, Test cricket.

I'm looking forward to the two T20Is and five ODIs on the upcoming tour of South Africa, but they're the warm-up act. The appertiser. The spat before the war. When the floodlights go down, the cricket whites come out.

Unlike the shorter forms of the game, Test matches provide a platform on which, in theory, any type of player can thrive, but in reality only the best do. They create heroes of greater stature, longer lasting memories and more strands of narrative.

The limited overs debate will rage on. The more it's talked about and tinkered with, the more it will serve to underline the brilliance of the purest form of the game.

Blackwell's Resurgance

Patrick Kidd's Line and Length blog today highlights one-time England all-rounder Ian Blackwell's impressive first season at Durham.

The stats look good - this season he's averaged 19 with the ball and 44 with the bat - but with Swann and Panesar playing a part in the Ashes, and Rashid tipped to have one foot on the plane to South Africa, he'd be forgiven for wondering whether he registers on the England radar these days.

Blackwell played the last of his 34 ODIs in 2006 - the same year in which he played his only Test. A consistent county performer, a black mark has always hung over his name surrounding his weight - an issue the England management clearly still value given the recent treatment of Samit Patel. Such a reputation can be as hard to shift as the actual weight itself, and to an extent, Blackwell has always been fighting a losing battle in terms of perception.

But, a move up north at the start of the season has taken him out of his comfort zone and reinvigorated him (though it has to be said that leaving Taunton would surely do that for any spinner). He spoke at the time of his international aspirations, telling SPIN Magazine in June, "I'm desperate to get back in the one-day side. It's the main reason I've come to Durham." He's since backed up his words with bat and ball.

Like Kidd, I'd place Swann and Rashid ahead of him, but Blackwell weighs in with a far superior case to Panesar for the role of third in line, especially in the one-day set-up. His on-pitch argument is convincing, but how damaging will those perceptions prove to be?

Ashes Victory: Web Reaction

Excitement and reaction to England's win is rife across web, nowhere more so than on the BBC website. One of their most emotive features is the audio commentary of all ten final day Australian wickets. The crowd match and surpass football ground decibels as Aggers and CMJ reach dangerous levels of excitement.

There's also immediate reaction from man of the match Stuart Broad, and morning-after thoughts from retiring hero Freddie Flintoff. Elsewhere, there's an analysis of the series, a media round-up, an account of that historic final day, player ratings for the series and Justin Langer calling for Strauss to be knighted.

Cricinfo provide a typically high class report of the day. Andrew Miller examines captain Strauss's monumental impact on the series and Andy Zaltzman points out, in a way that only he can, that England won despite averaging 6.49 runs per wicket less than Australia - the biggest deficit ever overcome to win a Test series.

Patrick Kidd offers his stat-fuelled take on how England regained the urn on his excellent Line and Length blog, but Charlie Randall gives his rather more sobering reaction to England's success - in which he claims that the "selectors had a poor series". Over on Cricket-blog, JC has recorded some typically humorous and Australian observations, while further Aussie reaction is provided by The Wisden Cricketer with a round-up from the Australian press.