All the Australian and English blogs have been buzzing with Ashes hype; that is not the surprising bit.

What is surprising is that many believe that England have a real chance at winning the Ashes.

They can't be serious!

I have no idea how anyone can seriously believe that England can win.

Sure they have great batsmen; Andrew Strauss converts 50s to 100s at a better rate than anyone; Kevin Pietersen scores centuries more often than anyone else; Ravi Bopara has knocked centuries in his 3 previous tests.

But their bowling is shit.

I don't even know why Stuart Broad plays international cricket.

James Anderson and Graham Onions hardly look the sort that can run through the Australians.

It is not the West Indies batsmen they're up against. It is the Hughes, the Katich, the Ponting, the Hussey, the Clarke, the North, the Haddin, the Johnson.

That is one heavy batting line up.

Andrew Flintoff is probably the only threat to them but it won't be long before he'll be limping off the field or getting dropped for missing a boat or something.

Graeme Swann is a more than decent spinner, but he's no threat. Definitely not. He was for the West Indians, not one for the Aussies.

Monty Panesar is a joke.

Adil Rashid is probably their best hope but they won't give him a single game.

The Australians recently beat South Africa at home; a team who had not lost a test series in almost forever.

While the English could not bowl out the West Indies to win a game in the Caribbean; sure they beat them at home but the West Indians were hardly interested in being there.

I just cannot see England winning any game in the Ashes; nor can I see how anyone else can.

I have been part of a number of such discussions, even moreso during the IPL.

Adam Gilchrist used to be a unanimous choice as the first one to do it, but he had moved on to greater things.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi are other names that have been thrown around. The former is in his final few years, while the latter can't last 34 deliveries.

Bopara's unbeaten knock came off only 138 deliveries with the help of 10 sixes and 18 fours.

He became the 7th batsmen in the history of List A cricket to get to 200.

Only 3 of those 7 batsmen have played international cricket - Alvin Kallicharan and Alistair Brown being the other 2.

Ali Brown has achieved the feat twice and he's played a handful of ODIs for England.

Bopara was one of the several England cricketers who claimed to have declined an offer to play in the IPL. The reason given was to concentrate on cementing positions in the England side.

Bopara has done himself no harm - he will probably be named in the ODI squad to take on the Kiwis later this month, and this innings will also go some way in fetching him a higher price for next year's IPL.

Well done Ravi Bopara.

I'm not sure how good the Leicester bowling attack was, but a 201* in a 50 over game is an amazing feat.

Who will do it first in ODIs?

That we still don't know.

Recently Ottayan and Som took a few digs at Luke Wright, Sajid Mahmood, and Ravi Bopara, the 3 English cricketers who within 24 hours talked about declining offers made to them from the IPL.

There were some commenters who jumped to the defence of these cricketers, and initially it may have seemed that the Indian bloggers were unfairly targeting the English.

But, Patrick Kidd of the Times has also come out with a little dig on the 3. It doesn't seem that bad when it comes from one of England's own now, does it?

In defence of the cricketers, I'd like to say job well done boys!

Andrew Flintoff is injured again and there's a slight worry about Collingwood - thus, a possible place in the squad for the 1st test against the Kiwis is up for grabs.

Sajid Mahmood doesn't have a realistic chance but Bopara or Wright could get the call. They could even make the cut ahead of someone like Owais Shah or Robert Key owing to their ability to bowl a few overs. More than a few actually.

Luke Wright's statement of declining the IPL offer and a century in a tour game against the Kiwis has been timed to perfection.

I like Luke Wright. One of the few English cricketers I like. In fact I like all unorthodox English cricketers who are not afraid to play with a bat that doesn't come down straight all the time.

I've liked Luke Wright since his debut ODI innings against the Indians. What a mauling that was.

And I like him even more now after his bold statement following the 120 against the Kiwis:

"Luckily it was in my arc, so I closed my eyes and had a little swing at it and it went over the rope. It was my day."

A guy who can hit a 6 and reach his 100 with his eyes closed must be special.