No New York sportswriters were either, with the last-place Knicks' season in ashes.
The town is in ashes, and the surrounding fields are scorched or buried.
But he also warned that his likely understudy Ian Bell should not be underestimated, despite his struggles in Ashes cricket to date.
It was the closest winning margin in Ashes history and Jim Maxwell's commentary of Steve Harmison claiming the final wicket is just as thrilling now as it was then.
Hughes's wretched performances in Ashes cricket continued when he nicked a good delivery from Bresnan to Prior, whereupon Michael Clarke came out to join Usman Khawaja in the middle.
Ponting has a nasty habit of getting off to an absolute flyer in Ashes series, making centuries in his first knock of the series in 1997, 2002, 2006 and 2009.
The same amount of energy from a combustion power plant is produced daily by combining 20 million pounds of coal with 200 million pounds of air, not incidentally yielding an equal weight in ashes and gases.
Strauss and Cook produced the 20th-best stand by any England pair in Ashes history, and they only narrowly missed making the best start by two openers in a home Test against Australia, falling 23 runs behind the mark set by Charlie Barnett and Len Hutton at Trent Bridge in 1938.
The Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, contains the vestiges of two flourishing cities and numerous villas that were engulfed in ashes and lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted on 24 August 79 AD, leaving the site buried until the beginning of excavations started in the middle of 18th centuries.
His 39 Test appearances include the eight-wicket match haul he achieved on his Ashes debut in Perth, in the 2006-07 Ashes in which England were whitewashed 5-0.
BBC: Monty Panesar and Chris Tremlett in England Ashes squad
Giles' batting at number eight was key in two Ashes Tests in 2005, securing victory at Trent Bridge and a series-clinching draw at The Oval.
BBC: SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | Giles ready to challenge Panesar
England will be very keen to include Giles in their Ashes plans, if at all possible, following his important contribution to the Ashes success in 2005.
BBC: SPORT | Cricket | England | Giles hoping to make Ashes tour
He took 97 wickets in 21 Ashes Tests in the 1980s, starting with the epic 1981 series in England when he took 7-81 in an innings at Lord's.
He was applauded by the media for playing an important part in winning the Ashes in 2005.
BBC: SPORT | Cricket | England | Fletcher to decide his own future
England have previous experience of Hughes, who scored 53 runs in three innings in the 2009 Ashes in England before being dropped for the rest of the series.
Simon Jones wrenched almost every ligament in his knee fielding in the first Ashes Test in November 2002.
"I've got some good memories in England - the Ashes in 1997, the World Cup in 1999, and last year playing for Worcestershire, " he said.
That will be start of a busy period for England, with the World Twenty20 in June and the Ashes in the second part of the summer.
Trott reached his second Ashes century in as many Ashes appearances on the stroke of lunch, after which Ponting indicated to the umpires he had cleanly caught Cook at short mid-wicket off Xavier Doherty with the score 457-1.
So wrote Martin Johnson about Bill Frindall and the cricket statistician fraternity in the Daily Telegraph, after England's Andrew Strauss played all around a Shane Warne delivery in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January 2007, a dismissal which saw the leg-spinner become the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets in history.
England's batting has come under fire after disappointing performances in the Ashes with only one century, from Andrew Strauss, in the series compared to seven scored by Australia.
Newton was a key figure in the Ashes-winning team of last summer, and scored two half centuries in a victorious one-day campaign in Sri Lanka which followed over the winter.
With Simon Katich ruled out because of an Achilles injury, Australia are likely to turn to opener Phil Hughes, who was dumped after two Tests in last year's Ashes in England.
Local hero Geoffrey Boycott scored a memorable 100th first-class hundred in the Ashes Test of 1977.
But Giles admits he will have to prove his fitness before he can expect to play a part in the Ashes.
BBC: SPORT | Cricket | England | Giles hoping to make Ashes tour
But is most famous moment came at Headingley in 1977 when he scored his 100th century in the Ashes Test against Australia.
The left-arm bowler admits that given recent events in the Ashes series, Australia is not a bad place to be at the moment.
BBC: Worcs Jack Shantry is benefiting from Aussie experience
One of the key factors in the Ashes is likely to be whether England can bowl effectively with the Kookburra balls used down under.
Before long we were witnessing the reincarnation of a man who made three centuries against the Indians in 2002 and three more in the Ashes that winter.
He spent the early part of this year recovering from foot and ankle surgery before suffering a side strain early in the Ashes tour.
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