This Christmas day dawns with the prospect of fabulous cricket being played at 3 different locales, in different conditions.
At 6:30pm, start of with the Ashes game -- the most venerable of clashes is perfectly poised at 1-1, and there isn't a better stage than the grand old lady herself, the MCG. 100,000 screaming Aussie fans will try to build on the momentum of Perth, but the MCG pitch with its low slow bounce will hold fewer terrors for the English. My tip is for England to win this one and secure the Ashes, but it will be a close run thing. England were neither as dominant as they looked at T2, nor were they as meek as they were slaughtered at Perth.
At 8:30pm, switch over to the T20 between NZ and Pakistan -- yes, it starts at 8pm, and should provide just the break you need while the Poms and Aussies grab lunch.
Finally, at 3pm, switch over to beautiful Durban where the South Africans host the Indians. It isn't often that a tight Ashes clash, that too on Boxing Day, is overshadowed by another Test, but this #1 vs #2 matchup may just do the trick. All signs point to the Proteas wiping the floor with the Indians -- fast bouncy track, overcast conditions, best pace attack in the business against Indian paper tigers -- but, if Dhoni can win the toss and ensure India get the best of the conditions, it would not shock me if we went into Cape Town all square. South Africa is better than India, but not as much better as the comprehensive whipping in Centurion indicates -- and just as the Ponting's Boys Down Under turned the tables on the somewhat-overconfident English after a thorough drubbing, I'm picking Dhoni's boys to do the same.
Go Team India. Most of all, here's hoping for an enthralling pair of Tests.
Bharat
