It's looking like my interest in cricket was timed just about right. I missed out on the Botham era and anything before that because I was doing stuff and no matter how much work a bloke at work used to put in trying to convince me I was missing out I wasn't going to be convinced. It was simple - cricket or surfing? Surfing won hands down. But totally disillusioned with the big football con Englands national game is football, Bobby Moore, World Cup etc I turned the tele on one night to watch a fat bloke throwing slow balls at the English batsmen and completely tying them in knots. Whereas all my other recollections had been waiting 7 minutes for some lanky git to walk from the wicket to the far end of the pitch to then run in and throw the ball at 90 mph and miss the stumps. The bloke with the bat lifting it above his head and letting the ball go past him and then they'd do it again and again ad infinitum - what was all that about? The fat bloke was Warne and it was mesmerising and this was the mid 90's. My interest was minimal, but as the years went on it surpassed my waning interest in football - not that had ever been that enthusiastic. Then in 2006 I picked up a ball and started to try and spin it and here I am today bathing in the awareness of an Ashes win in Australia and liking the feeling! Further more there's a nice warm feeling when you look at these links and you see how bad it is for the Aussies!
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/the-ashes/shane-warne-says-australia-can-be-no1-again/story-fn67w6pa-1225982617597
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/the-ashes/future-is-finger-lickin-bleak-for-australian-cricket/story-fn67wltq-1225983856485
