After all the anticipation, pre-comment, speculation and build-up, the Ashes finally got under way in Cardiff last week - and what a result! No one saw that coming.

And I'm not just talking about England's decisive victory. If you believed all the talk and moaning about the pitch after the first day, no-one would've expected any sort of result at all!

So I say a very big well done to Keith Exton and his team at Glamorgan. He prepared a surface which favoured the home team (as should damn well be the case - as it certainly is in the rest of the world) which played its part in creating an entertaining Test Match, with ebb and flow, which led to a result in four days. Again, very well done.

At the end of Day One there was no end of criticism for how the wicket was playing - and to be fair not just from the Australians. "Terrible pitch", said Chris Tremlett, ". .very, very poor cricket pitch" said Michael Vaughn, whilst that shrinking violet of opinion Geoffrey Boycott added, "It's bottom of the Test grounds we have - it doesn't give anything for anybody."

Admittedly, that first day, it was very apparent that there wasn't the pace and bounce which makes Mitchells Johnson and Starc so formidable down under - but the playing surface was the same for both teams. Captains need to adapt and play to the conditions with which their team is faced. And Cook certainly won that battle.

So criticism of the groundsman and his pitch seems to me to have been awfully premature.

Grumbles are still continuing from some quarters of course. I have been enjoying perusing Australian-based cricket message boards the last couple of days, to relish in their shock and confusion at the result - in what was supposed to be a 0-5 whitewash series. Words like 'dire' and 'dreadful' still keep cropping up in relation to the surface.

Well let's just see what happens this coming week at Lord's. I think there should be a legitimate sense of optimism and excitement around this England team.

And if Mick Hunt can produce a wicket that can help act as our 12th man, where's the harm in that?!


And finally, thankfully the weather has been a bit kinder here lately than it was to this groundskeeper at Major League Baseball team the Pittsburgh Pirates last week. A very strong wind saw the unlucky fellow get knocked off his feet and caught up in a giant tarpaulin. Thankfully he walked away unscathed.