How the Ashes shapes a fan's life

As the countdown to the Ashes continues, Emma John, writing a blog for the Guardian, looks at how the history of the contest shapes the lives of those who follow it and now it is a series that is able to survive everything thrown at it.

Ten years since that Ashes summer. An entire decade. And England haven't lost at home to Australia since. J Alfred Prufrock measured out his life with coffee spoons; England cricket fans do it with Ashes series. They are the invisible punctuation in our life stories. When did Granddad die? Was it under Denness or Greig? Of course it's our 14th anniversary - it was the year Mark Butcher scored that century! Our own narratives are held steady by anchors the shape of replica urns.

Also in the Guardian, Vic Marks looks at the phoney war which precedes every Ashes and whether another last-minute coaching addition - this time Trevor Bayliss having a similar lead-in time to Darren Lehmann two years - can make a rapid transition.

This time, the topics have included: the misappropriation of Test-match tickets; sledging; rumours that the Australian tour party is so venerable that they are soon to be sponsored by the makers of mobility scooters; England's decision to have a jolly in Spain ("at least we'll beat 'em at golf"); sledging; five-nil predictions from Glenn McGrath and Ian Botham; Shane Watson's fear of ghosts; the welcome ostracism/malicious expulsion of KP; charismatic ex-spinners casting aspersions on the opposition's best batsmen (Graeme Swann has queried Steve Smith's credentials to bat at three - "It doesn't bother me, pre-Ashes banter, mate; he can say whatever he likes," responds Smith. Presumably, Shane Warne will suggest something similar about Alastair Cook and hopefully, this time, the England captain will react rather like Smith); and sledging.

And over in the Mail on Sunday, a current and former Ashes winner look ahead to this series and back 10 years to the epic contest of 2005 as Stuart Broad and Steve Harmison speak to Sam Peters.

It is hard to believe a decade has passed since Harmison and Co rained down pain on Ricky Ponting's all-star cast to pull off arguably the most sensational Test series victory of the modern era. With Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen taking centre stage, England played with a cocksure free spirit not seen before, and rarely since. The scene was set during a compelling one-day series in 2005, when Vaughan's men made their intention to stand toe to toe with the Aussies plain, and Broad and Harmison believe their stunning recent limited-overs form against New Zealand augurs well for the upcoming Ashes.