Who is Callum Ferguson?

Callum Ferguson is more than just a Mr Bean look-a-like of Scottish descent.  For those of you (like me) who are wondering where on earth he has come from and what on earth he does, and can’t be bothered looking it up, here it is.

Callum is Adelaide born and bred and is 24 years old.  He has played 47 first class matches and averages just 35.  That doesn’t spell player of the future to me but here he is anyway.  Cricinfo has him listed as “right arm medium but he does not bowl.  At all.  He has bowled 42 deliveries in first class cricket.

He played his first ODI in February this year and has already notched up 17 matches.  He has made five half centuries and averages, wait for it…  58.22.  So there you have it – perhaps he is the new Mike Hussey.

Skunkman saves the Day

I know it’s late mail – the Aussies are already home and some of the Englishmen may even be sober by now but a final say on an amazing series that seems over all too soon.

England’s final jitters on the final day of the series were averted by none other than Skunkman. They call him Skunkman not because his fielding stinks, though surely it does. The reason Kevin Pietersen is called Skunkman is obvious when he takes off his helmet to reveal his shocking “do”. Just as Daniel Boon made the ‘coonskin cap his own in the 1700′s, Kev has made the Skunkman do his trademark in 2005. But while many may laugh at his hair, nobody was laughing at his batting on the final day of Ashes 2005.

Perhaps most of England were laughing as Pietersen was dropped twice between Gilchrist/Hayden and Warne. The first chance, before Skunkman had scored was a difficult chance from Warne to Gilchrist. Gilchrist deflected it to Hayden who was wrong footed and had no real chance. The second chance, when KP was on 15 was in slips terms a real dolly. As easy as they come. Steve Waugh’s mythical line to Herschelle Gibbs “You just dropped the World Cup” could be recoined as “Warnie, you just dropped the Ashes.” Which is probably a good reason why they don’t let the Aussies ever take them home. It was the same old story for Australia – missed opportunities cost them dearly. England had the shakes at the lunch break at 5-127 and Australia had a real sniff. If Pietersen was gone as well, six down at lunch, the day may have had a different ending.

As it was, Pietersen put England out of danger very quickly, almost immediately after lunch. As Brett Lee had greatly troubled Pietersen immediately before lunch, Ponting gambled with Lee, rather than throwing the ball to his proven champion seamer. Lee’s two overs after lunch cost 27 runs and that was it. Australia never turned the tide as Skunkman murdered them to the tune of 158 big ones.

The strange thing after all this time without those Ashes, England will be defending them in Australia in just over one year. And I’ve heard next time round that the Aussies are going to put in some serious practice before the series starts.