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It is once again an Ashes Summer on Sky Sports with the first of the 2009 Ashes seires taking place Wednesday 8th July in Cardiff.

When the venue was announced many fans felt shocked and surprised as never before had an ashes test match been played anywhere other than England or Australia. Despite this event organisers have scheduled the series to begin in Foreign country.

Hailed as the greatest cricketing competition in the World the Ashes has returned to English, and will run between July 8th till August 24th.

Although the Ashes Urn never actually leaves Marylebone Cricket Club Musem at Lords, replicas are held aloft by victorious teams at the end as a symbol.

2005 saw England beat the Aussies and claim the coverted Urn, however in 2007 Australia pulled off a brilliant white wash victory over England and won the series 5-0.

With certain key players missing from the Australian side, English fans will be hoping England can upset the Aussies and regain the title.

2009 Asshes Test Schedule

• 1st Test: July 8th - July 12th in Cardiff

• 2nd Test: July 16th - July 20th at Lord's

• 3rd Test: July 30th - August 3rd at Edgbaston

• 4th Test: August 7th - August 11th at Headingly

• 5th Test: August 20th - August 24th at The Oval

First Test Update

The First Ashes Test saw England get off to a great start and post a respectable score of 435 all-out. However Australia replied with a magnificent innings and soon raced to 674 for 7 Dec.

Trailing by 239 England had a difficult task ahead of them, which turned from bad to worse as England's top order batsman fell for little runs. But England found a saviour in the shape of Paul Collingwood, who together with Andrew Flintoff put some stability back into the 2nd innings.

However the test came down to the wire as England still trailed by 7 runs with both James Anderson and Monty Panesar at the crease with just 11.3 overs remaining of the first test. Despite having the full mite of the Australian bowling arsenal thrown at them the tale enders pairing managed to bat out the remaining overs and rescue their country from a first test defeat.

We now move onto Lords for the second test on Thursday with the series still 0-0, although if England do not play better they may not be so lucky again.

Second Test Update

For the second time in two tests Engladn's crickets go off to a great start with the bat at Lords, running up a first innings total of 425 in just over 100 overs. However for the first time this series Australia displayed some unnerve and were missing their composure. Two ealry wickets for Anderson saw Australia on the back foot, where they stayed for the remainder of the innings, amassing a disappointing total of 215.

Understandable at this point cricket fans were extremely excited at the prospect that Enagland could not only go 1-0 up in the series but win against Australia at Lords for the first time in 75 years.

For England the second innings continued where the first left off, with the top order batsman all contributing good totals. Leading to captain Andrew Strauss declaring on 311, leaving Australia with the mamoth task of reaching 522 in little over a day.

Not ones to shy away from a challenge Australia dug deep to find their form from Cardiff. But despite a strong innings from Hauritz, Johnson and a centry from Clarke, Australia did not count on English talisman Andrew Flintoff taking five wickets with spin bowler Graham Swaan taking four.

England wont the test by 115 runs and go into next weeks test at Edgbaston 1-0 up.

Online Betting Odds for Third Test

• England to win third test 3/1 with Totesport

• Australia to win third test 7/4 with BetFred

• Kevin Peterson to be top English batsman 10/3 with Blue Square

• Ricky Ponting to be top Australian Batsman 3/1 with Ladbrokes

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