What a treat. The finest of contests, the ultimate of sport, The Ashes. I’ll not bang on about it too much. Actually, I probably will. I can’t afford to stay up all night this first test though as I’m too busy in the daytime at the moment but I’ll no doubt catch the start and the end of the days play.

KP’s just been crowned as the best England ever player. That’ll wind em up. They don’t like it up ’em.

The only downside to the Aussy tests is that it’s hot out there with beautiful looking skies (Brisbane) yet actual snow is kicking off round my end. Still. Good though. I’ll probably follow most of in on  the radio – Test Match Special (BBC Radio 4 Long wave on 198LW / 5live sports extra on DAB or streaming via BBC.co.UK/cricket ) so the vision of the shimmering heat can only be described. Speaking of TMS, for the first time ever this year, they will be replaying the entire thing in all its glory – not just the abridged hilights – from 11am our time every day on 5live sports extra.

Play starts at midnight tonight. Let’s see how the first ball looks. How the first over goes. My theory is that this sets the precedent for the whole test. We’ll see. Who knows? The only predictable thing about the Ashes at this stage of the game is that it’s unpredictable.