What a climax to the first Ashes test of the summer which from Saturday morning onwards had looked like being an easy Australia win, but in the end was a draw from which the England side can hopefully build upon.
It meant my prediction was wrong as I had gone for an England victory but after the first couple of days had imagined that the game would peter out to a draw with much of the last two days being lost to rain. As we know the rain never properly materialised and with the awesome Australia batting performance (a fair description considering four of their batsmen scored centuries which is the first time they have achieved that feat in an Ashes test), it was clear that the English would have to battle hard just to draw. For much of the last day it appeared they would not be up to the task and I for one would not have put money on Anderson and Panesar holding out for the last 45 minutes.
Roll-on Thursday and the next installment of the series at Lords where England have not won for 75 years in an Ashes test but then records are there to be broken though I am not sure the two teams can conjure up the drama and excitement as witnessed yesterday afternoon.
One Australian who did succeed this weekend was Mark Webber who led a Red Bull one two in the German Grand Prix. It was a superb drive, especially considering that he had to take a drive-through penalty after his collision with Barichello off the start line. After taking pole position on Saturday in changing conditions it was fair reward to a great driver and it will be interesting if he can now challenge his teammate (Vettel) and the two Brawn drivers for the driver's championship this season.
Webber's win produced a couple of interesting statistics. Firstly, in the sixty years of F1 racing he has had to wait longer for his his first win than any other driver (in terms of Grand Prix starts), a record that he took from Rubens Barichello. In the last few years the sport would appear to have become more of a young man's sport with the likes of Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica and Vettel but following Webber and Barichello in the list of longest wait for a Grand Prix victory are three other current drivers - Trulli at Toyota, Button at Brawn and Fisichella at Force India - showing that experience is still very important in getting (or keeping) a drive in F1. In addition one other driver on the grid yesterday (Nick Heidfeld) went past Martin Brundle's record of driving 158 Grand Prix without victory and is now second on the all-time list.
The second statistic should perhaps be more worrying to Jenson Button and the Brawn team and that is whilst Webber is only the third driver from Australia to win a Grand Prix, the other two, Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones went on to become World Champions!
As for my other predictions in the race Button failed to make the podium as his Brawn car was significantly off the pace again this weekend though he still has a fairly comfortable lead in the driver's championship. Hamilton's McLaren certainly seems to have made progress and it was disappointing to see him get a puncture as he clashed with Webber's car off the start which effectively ruined his race meaning he was last of the finishers. Hopefully, this up-turn in performance will continue for him for the rest of the season and it will be great to see him challenging at the front end of races.
Another Australian to feel frustrated over the weekend was Cadel Evans in the Tour de France. Having finished second in the last two installments of this great race he is down the general classification this time round because of his team's (relatively) poor performance in the team trial. The main contenders largely played a waiting game over the last couple of days through the Pyrenees as both stages finished after long descents rather than at the top of climbs. Whilst Evans tried to take the initiative on Saturday's stage it was not popular with his fellow escapees as they knew it would provoke a reaction from the main contenders who would chase down their breakaway and ruin their chances of a stage victory. Evans aware of this ended his attempt to gain time and waited to be caught by the main peloton. On Sunday there was no real break attempted by any of the main contenders and following today's rest day it is likely that the overall classification will not change too much until the race enters the Alps next week.
Whilst on the subject of Le Tour I must mention my admiration for Bradley Wiggins who is still in fifth place after the Pyrenees and must now surely start to be considered as a real contender for overall victory, and there I was thinking that the only Brit likely to offer us much cheer would be Cavendish in his collecting of stage wins and challenging for the Green Jersey. Would it be too outrageous to think of last year's Olympic track Madison pairing in Green and Yellow Jerseys in Paris in a couple of weeks time!
As for my prediction of an Andy Schleck win on Friday this was not to happen but maybe his turn will come in the Alps or on the ascent of Mont Ventoux.
My final prediction for the weekend was that Ian Poulter would finish in the Top 10 at the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. Unfortunately, he fell away in the last round but the winner Martin Kaymer must be happy with his second win in eight days and bank balance improved by more than €1 million over his last two tournaments. Of course The Open starts on Thursday and will it be time for a British winner for the first time since 1996?
A great weekend of sport with plenty of drama but only one correct prediction (Webber's Grand Prix win). However, the odds were good on that prediction and so I ended the week only 50p down meaning that my total losses since I started in March stand at £13.
Good call on the Tour de France elements of the Blog Stan. Cadel Evans tried hard to break away in the Pyrenees but it doesn't look like his team are quite with him yet. He's a good rider with about as much (little) charm as Mark Cavendish. Interesting supporters though http://twitpic.com/a9668
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