The Don of Mayfair

A cricket-loving foundation has brought out an Ashes Monopoly set - and like the current series, the game has been taken over by Australians.

The 10,000 limited edition set puts Sir Don Bradman alongside 'Mayfair' which will also feature LBWs, being caught behind, Test cards and other famous players like the Chappell brothers, Mark Taylor and Allan Border. Shane Warne is 'Oxford Street' while fellow spinner Stuart MacGill replaces the cheap rent of 'Old Kent Road'. Is there a get-out-of-jail-free card for England I wonder?

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The Rugby World Cup Final in 2003 between England and Australia was a much sought after ticket, but on the day of the game why were there touts of scouse nature still left with hundreds of tickets?

Well, it's like this: as soon as big events such as that Final and the Ashes go on sale, tickets get snapped up in no time. When it comes to the day of the event, people who didn't want to go in the first place virtually give away their tickets, leaving the touts who want a mark-up with whole batches (this was the case at Brisbane and Adelaide). Cricket Australia (CA) said the first four days were sold out at the Adelaide Oval but anyone wanting to come down to enjoy the cricket, did so knowing they wouldn't be breaking the bank at the same time. Late nights logging on to CA's site to buy Ashes tickets all those months ago? What was all the fuss about?

Nutley bits

Adelaide has already thrown up some memorable moments - if you're an English fan - so let's go over to the Ashes Blog for some classic backyard re-enactments from key moments of the second Test. I originally thought they did this to bypass image copyrights from the big boys like Getty Images, but now I just think it was just a good idea from a bunch of mates. And click here for their take on last summer's epic.

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Ashes Tickets have long been snapped but fans can still get their hands on some - if they smash their favourite item. In a classic Australian competition, my favourite radio station of the moment, Triple M, is urging fans to bring along their most prized possession for some radio producer to break, rip or smash up. Judging by some of the items pictured in this link, fans are clearly digging any old item out of their garages.

Let the battle commence

The Ashes battle has begun already... off the pitch that is, in the fans' quest to secure tickets for this winter. With jammed phone lines and web browsers freezing, around 180,000 tickets were snapped up as Cricket Australia (CA) released a minimum 635,000 tickets on the web and phones, for the 'Australian Cricket Family' out of the 720,000 available.

Aussie forums have been quick to show their irritation at the apparent ease in which Pom fans have secured their tickets (CA's qualification process meant fans had to provide a valid Australian postal address, but it seems Brits have got round that obstacle). A quick call to a mate in Sydney confirmed that the Poms have already caused stress to the Aussie cricket fraternity, while four days have sold out at the SCG and 20 fans even queued outside one outlet from 6am to be told that it was web and phone only.

With fans breaking records in their bid to secure tickets - this series is already set to be one hell of a sequel to last year's events.