Stranded away from the Ashes

The attendance for the Perth Test has broken WACA records, but the crowd is missing one man who'd hope to make it via a slightly different mode of transport. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston set sail from Bilbao in late October and aimed to reach Fremantle in time to collect tickets to the third Test. Alas, a lack of wind in the has left him stranded in the ocean. Read an interview he did with The Observer.

Tragedy it is, then. While the first two boats in the race have been in Australia for several days - their Swiss and Japanese skippers oblivious to the fact that there is a cricket match going on - Sir Robin is in the middle of nowhere and does not expect to reach Australia until 27 December. Alone, alone, all all alone, alone on a wide, wide sea, as someone once wrote.