Aggers’ Ashes. Jonathan Agnew

of people I follow because, quite simply, the more you follow, the more messages you have to scroll through on your phone. Sure enough a message – or Tweet – duly pops up at 3:00 a.m. I click the button, which signs me up as one of Ella’s 150 or so followers. Now every one of her (I am still not sure she is indeed a she) tweets now lands on my laptop. I am amazed that this unknown individual is providing a brilliant score update service, with full bowling figures, the lot, all crammed into the strict Twitter allocation of only 140 characters. Even more than that, there are a number of highly comical asides couched in, at times, decidedly colourful language. The whole magnificent effort seems entirely wasted on so few people. So, during the course of the day, I encourage my loyal followers, who by now are waking up and expecting a full scores service on England’s bid for victory, to follow @EllaW638 instead. It is brilliant. By the end of the match Ella has more than two thousand people following her updates, which are apparently being typed out on an iPhone – not even anything as comfortable as a computer keyboard. It is a fantastic performance, which is hugely appreciated by everyone – not least me because I can now concentrate on my radio work and leave Twitter to her.

      Some hours later Ella puts up a picture: she is indeed a young woman of about 20 years of age, although my guess at her age is made difficult by the blue Chelsea FC woolly hat she is wearing. Apparently she is a children’s nanny. Isn’t it great that someone of her age should be so fanatically and enthusiastically interested in cricket? A breath of fresh air, and it absolutely makes my day. (Incidentally, she keeps going throughout the whole series, providing an invaluable and colourful service to ultimately more than four thousand followers).

      DAY 6: 8 November 2010

      It is our first travelling day and I am reminded of just how vast this country is. I snatch breakfast at Perth airport at 6:20 a.m at a table beside two men already drinking pints of lager before our three-hour flight to the City of Churches.

      Adelaide is one of my favourite locations on the international cricket circuit and I especially love the city’s cricket ground – the Oval. Set in a large park on the bank of the River Torrens, it is a truly beautiful ground overlooked by St Peter’s Cathedral. The entire western side of the ground has been redeveloped since I was last here, at enormous cost and at the risk, in my eyes, of damaging the heritage of this great cricket venue. Cricket grounds must modernise of course, but there is always the danger that the identity and character of an historically-laden ground will be compromised, and it would be a terrible shame if this proves to be the case at the Adelaide Oval, which, after Lord’s, is my second favourite venue in the world. We fly in to Adelaide directly over the ground and from my left-hand window seat I have a first glimpse of the white shell-shaped roof of the new stand shining brightly in the morning sunshine. Actually, it looks lovely. This afternoon I take a stroll along the riverbank to the ground. Pelicans and black swans paddle about while overhead red and green parrots flash past against a now brilliant blue sky. It is all absolutely stunning – and later, from ground level, I get a chance to examine the new stand: it gets a big thumbs up from me.

      Late in the day comes the first news of the mysterious disappearing act by the Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider. Rather than travelling with his team for their fifth one-day international against South Africa in Dubai, Haider has apparently abandoned the tour and boarded a flight to London. He had played a key role in Pakistan’s narrow one-wicket win in the previous match, including hitting the winning run, and his brother is reported as saying that Haider claims to have received serious personal threats.

      Clearly Pakistan cricket is in a dreadful mess at the moment: the ICC cases, following the allegations of spot fixing in England last summer, against Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir is still being examined. Frankly, it is difficult to know what to believe at the moment. I do remember Haider being quite a character during his single appearance in the Test series against England. He top scored at Edgbaston, hitting a rather spiky 88, during which Stuart Broad over-reacted by throwing the ball at, and managing to hit, him. Haider returned home after the game, a little mysteriously as I recall, when he was suddenly diagnosed with a fractured finger. This enabled Kamran Akmal to return as wicketkeeper. This will be another strand of the Pakistan story we need to keep our eyes on, but it won’t be easy from twelve thousand miles away.

      DAY 7: 9 November 2010

      Overnight comes the confirmation that Haider has, indeed, arrived in London and has been given a visa to stay for a month. There are conflicting reports about the background to his leaving the tour, but he has now announced his retirement from international cricket. He confirms that he was threatened in Dubai, but did not tell the Pakistan team management because, it seems, he did not trust them. Pakistan’s sports minister says that his country’s government does not support the player. It is the main topic of conversation here, where it is a day off for the England team, the majority of whom head for the golf course. Andy Flower faces the press and confirms that there is an option for England to split the squad following the upcoming match against South Australia, sending the likely Test bowling attack straight to Brisbane rather than take them to Hobart for the four-day game against Australia A.

      It is an interesting thought. Certainly the bracing, probably chilly late spring conditions in Tasmania will be nothing like the tropical heat and humidity of the Gabba. Let’s not forget that Tasmania is nearly a three-hour flight south of Brisbane, with a climate not unlike England’s, and seasonally this is the equivalent of early May at home. There is a lot to be said for Anderson, Broad and Finn having an extra week in which to acclimatise to the conditions they will have to bowl in during the Brisbane Test – but absolutely only if they are in good form. I don’t see an issue in splitting up the team, and there is enough cover in the bowling department to fill the gaps, but the game against Australia A is a high profile match, which is to be televised throughout Australia and on Sky television at home. If England field Bresnan, Tremlett, Shahzad and Panesar – none of whom have bowled a ball in anger so far -will England be properly competitive? Is there a danger of England having a poor match chasing leather and, should they lose, suffering a psychological blow before the opening Test? Strauss has repeatedly emphasised his determination to win all of the warm-up matches and not simply use them for practice. The England management would also do well to remember that Cricket Australia have agreed to this excellent tour preparation at England’s request; is there a danger – if the match is downgraded by England effectively fielding a second string eleven – that they won’t be so co-operative next time around?

      Flower reiterates that splitting the squad is only an option under consideration – but the proverbial cat is out of the bag. If the first-choice bowlers do go to Hobart, will it suggest that the coach is not happy with their progress? And what about the captain and coach’s oft-repeated assertion that it is important to win every game? It certainly makes easy copy for we hacks and is just what we need -something to write about on an otherwise blank day. Opinion in the media is camp is split, to be fair.

      Training is going well. I walk along the river for half an hour and then run back to the hotel. I am almost enjoying it, but in this fabulous place it would be hard not to. It is still delightfully quiet without the full Ashes ‘circus’ of reporters, television crews, photographers and so on who are yet to arrive and, of course, I am operating entirely by myself for the BBC. The lack of feeling of being under the microscope means that the players are much more accessible and friendly too. This is what cricket touring is all about, but it won’t last.

      DAY 8: 10 November 2010

      A vital round of Sheffield Shield matches gets underway with off spinner Nathan Hauritz very much under the spotlight. He had a poor tour of India, but simply put, there does not appear to be any other serious contender within Australia. It must be very awkward for Hauritz, carrying the expectations of being the latest to follow in Shane Warne’s footsteps, and clearly there is no comparison to be made between them. Arguably, this is Australia’s weak link. Playing against Victoria, Hauritz goes for five runs per over and is wicketless. Ponting, meanwhile, scores 32 in Tasmania’s first innings against Queensland.

      England have nets at the Adelaide Oval, but do not name their team. I presume it will have to be their Test XI again, so the decision can be taken about the bowling attack. It is also an open media day giving the press from both sides an opportunity to interview