Australia were put to the sword for 3 hours at Lords yesterday as England finally found some batting form.

Cook and Strauss putting on 196, before Cook fell for 95.

He must have one of the worst conversion rates from 50 to 100!

Sadly at that point it all started to go wrong.

What is it with this England middle order tham they know no longer seem to be able to build a proper test innings.

They seem obsessed with boundaries from ball one and play one day innings in a test – and pay the price.

Captain Strauss the exception of course, what a great innings.

Hope he gets to 200 today – sadly I predict he’ll be out early today and England will struggle to get to 450, when we should have been looking at 500 to 600.

Credit those pesty aussies, they really don’t give up and they stuck to it yesterday – except Mitchell Johnson, as Boycott says, he couldn’t even get my mum out! He bowled like a drain – good news for England.

Prediction of rain, and lots of it today, well its currently lovely and sunny at Lords with 30 mins to go.

Let’s have your views on yesterday and where you think England will go today.

Nothing too strange about this but it was the first time I had been there since I started working for myself.

Previously, I used to catch trains from Euston to the North West almost fortnightly to attend various letting and management meetings.

It was a little strange to be standing there in jeans and a T shirt while all around me there was the usual bustle of suited executives rushing between platforms.

The biggest difference however was that I was not there in any work capacity (heading to see a friend for a couple of days) and I was certainly not sitting in first class!

I have been sitting at my desk writing business plans etc for the last 72 hours and a bit of sea air should help with the creative process. As I am heading to North Wales, I’ll probably leave the sun cream at home!

Nige

1. The dark times are not as dark as they seem…but only for those with a low-leverage investment policy (which probably applies to about 1 in 100 investors and investment managers).

2. The real estate industry is more exciting than ever…the excitement stemming mainly from the nerve-wrecking uncertainty surrounding the return on investment from about any real estate related activity you can think of.

3. Gaudí’s  Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain is finally scheduled to be completed in 2026, 100 years after the architect’s death and 144 years after the start of construction.

4. Successful managers are by definition incompetent as shown by Prof. Freek Vermeulen of the London Business School using simple probability theory and statistics.

INREV’s Young Professionals Seminar was organized against the backdrop of today’s difficult commercial real estate environment: This year for the first time two real estate companies (one retail REIT and one mortgage REIT) made it onto the Top 20 list of the largest bankruptcies of all time.
Real estate companies now face the challenge of retaining their best young professionals: Ambitious youngsters might simply choose to abandon real estate for a potentially sexier asset class or industry.

Assuming that what motivates us most is the satisfaction of professional accomplishment and money, the real estate industry seems like the place to be:
Firstly, it is a lot more satisfying to contribute to a company’s success in dark economic times than in periods of general prosperity and growth.
Equally importantly, there are many more opportunities both to learn and to make a positive impact when steering through times of crisis.

Secondly, historically, perhaps more great fortunes have been made and lost in this asset class than any other” (Arthur Segel).
After all, real estate is the source of wealth most frequently cited for the world’s billionaires.

Finally, it is perhaps also worth to have a look at some of the distinguishing industry traits that attracted many of us to commercial real estate to begin with:

• Complexity: Because of the delicate balance and interdependence of real and financial demand and supply that form the real estate market, the latter is influenced by macro-economic, demographic as well capital market forces directly, simultaneously and constantly.
• Diversity: Whether you have the heart of a developer, financier or investor, you get to specialize if you wish without losing touch with the remaining pillars of the real estate cycle. Similarly, the simultaneous exposure to financial as well as commercial, deal-driven aspects is quite unique.
• Informational advantage: Since real estate is such a delightfully “inefficient” asset class when it comes to publicly available information, superior local knowledge is actually obtainable and a key driver of performance. With geographical differences in transaction costs, property rights, taxes, etc., two parties may be willing to pay substantially different prices, which can make negotiations quite interesting.

With this in mind, to me real estate does seem like the place to be after all.

What makes you feel like sticking around?

Very similar to the 2005 Old Trafford Test where the Aussies hung on for a draw, this time the boot was on the other foot!

Looks like maybe we got our batting order the wrong way around as well, heroic performance from the England tail to save the draw, particularly Anderson and Monty after the heroics of Colly to bat for 6 hours.
Questions have to be asked why the top 5 can’t score big innings when they are set – look at the Aussies with 4 century makers in the game.

The bowlers also need to take a long hard look at themselves, back to basics – line and length and make the opposition work for runs. Expect bowling changes for Lords but not batting, no need for wholesale changes yet – and the selectors are not that brave.

Despite Monty’s batting excellence, expect him to be dropped for Onions, and possibly Broad dropped for Harmisson, but his calf niggle may result in being unfit anyway.

Back to Cardiff – well congratulations to the Welsh capital for laying on a truly test match. They have been criticised for hosting a game of this magnitude pre-ashes, but everything at the ground was excellent from the ease of access, friendly not over zealous stewarding, good catering, a good wicket, and possibly the second best walk to a test ground after Adelaide – top marks all round.

It shows the benefit of spending money on your facilities…

We were actually total sh*te and very lucky to sneak a draw – but from luck like this ashes series are won and lost – I definitely reckon we will go on and win this now!

I hope you’re right Rich, I’m not so sure. What does everyone else think? Ed

It was once an industrial sprawl of 6,000 workers building famous cars such as the Austin Rover and the original Mini – the jewel in the crown of the British car industry.

Cars once rolled off the production lines in their thousands. All that is left now are the footprints of those vast halls scorched into the earth. Somehow, the spirits of those who worked there still appear to linger.

But a re-birth is under way. St Modwen invited a group of investors on Wednesday to tour the site and show just how it is going about decontaminating the land to make it fit for redevelopment.

The scale of what it is undertaking is hard to calculate until you actually see it. St Modwen has had to clear up decades of industrial waste and some particularly nasty hazards before it could even contemplate sketching out a future for the site. This, for me, is real property development.

This is because Longbridge had the potential to be a PR disaster. The closure of MG Rover was an economic car crash for Birmingham. The father of a friend of mine was one of those who lost his job. Now imagine being the developer that has to go in and knock it down while the emotions of that Spring of 2005 are still raw.

But it seems to have been sensitively handled. When the bulldozing work started, St Modwen built a small office complex which has been quickly taken up by local businesses. Crucially, it signalled that Longbridge would live again.

It will, of course, take a few more years before Longbridge starts to take a recognisable shape. It has not been helped by the recession so St Modwen will wait for pre-lets before the real building work stars. But I can’t help feeling that it will succeed. And I think the spirits of MG Rover are behind it too.

My name is Nigel Thompson. I am 34 and for the last 12 years, I have been a leasing agent for some of the largest and most valuable shopping centres in the UK working for one of the most respected companies in the business.

That was until May this year where after 10 very happy years, I left Lunson Mitchenall where I had been a Director. After a brief holiday, I have now returned with the intention of going against every piece of advice I have ever been given.
I’m starting a new business in the middle of what we are lead to believe is the biggest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s along with the resulting drop in consumer spending. 
My chosen field is in the retail sector where I have spent the majority of my professional life albeit from the other side of the fence.
A much safer, dependable and altogether more attractive side of the fence!  I have decided to leave surveying – a profession that has served me extremely well for over 12 years and one in which I have many friends and even more happy memories.
I have just sold my house to help raise some capital to go forward and I really believe that the following months will be some of the hardest of my life although potentially some of the most rewarding.
I appreciate that thousands of people throughout the UK are currently having this enforced on them every day but I am doing it by choice.
I know it’s a difficult time to be starting up a new business, especially in the retail sector but there is just something inside of me which makes me want to start something new – recession or no recession.
I am working with a great business partner who’s skill, knowledge and experience will be vital over the coming months.
The thought of creating, nurturing and growing an idea from scratch and having the ability to dictate the direction and stamp our personalities on the brand was just too attractive to pass on.
You’ll excuse me if I don’t go into too much detail at the moment but the new business is certainly going to be linked to the Shopping Centre market so probably a good example of ‘Gamekeeper turned Poacher’.
I hope to be doing business with many of my former clients and it will undoubtedly be interesting to experience life on the other side as we try to negotiate taking space in prime shopping centres after letting them for the last 12 years!
Anyway, we’re at the very beginning and I hope you can return to see how we’re getting on over the coming months….

A surprisingly busy week.

Now that the good weather has gone, it’s a bit easier to stay motivated and actually do some of the thousands of things that need to be done when starting a new business.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find myself wondering off to Battersea Park last week under the pretence of working outdoors!

Anyway, I’ve been to see two potential sites this week and am looking at another tomorrow.

I’m finding that there are plenty of opportunities out there but (as always) the skill is separating the ‘wheat from the chaff’.

It’s so important that the first site is in the right location as the performance will inevitably affect the future strategy for the next 12 months.

It’s certainly fascinating to view sites as a potential occupier, trying not to be too cynical about the agent’s spiel. What a difference a few moths makes!

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Nige

Great knocks from KP and Colly and especially Prior, but can’t help but feel we could and should have done better.

Lots of criticism at the ground and in the bars of Cardiff last night over kPs dismissal, but I say that’s the way he is and the way he plays, he was still top scorer!

Good toss to win, need to build on this now and day 2 has started very well with Swann and Co getting the score over 430 this morning.

Need to get the spinners on now and get amongst them

Come on England…..

Richard Crook with his mate Ian Botham - who also thinks the Ashes is the pinnacle of cricket

The Ashes is what Test cricket is all about – so says Sir Ian Botham – and who am I to disagree!

The idea of an ashes cricket blog was one of those late night Mipim conversations held with the PW journalists, yet unlike many of those conversations in the South of France this one has come to fruitition! So you may well ask why is a Marketing Director writing this cricket blog, and what credentials does he have?!?
 
Well, other than being an avid fan and part time player, probably in the Boycott mould of batting and in the slow right arm swing bowling mould, my pedigree is I guess in touring! Having been on the last two Ashes tours in Australia, the last 2 tours in the West Indies and the last South African tour, plus numerous home test matches, I also get involved in the world of cricket professionally through my role at DJ.

We have a specialist division called DJ Sport whose recent projects have included The Brit Oval, The Rose Bowl and Old Trafford. We are also proud community facility sponsors of Surrey Cricket Club, and over the years have also been Alec Stewarts sponsor – so what you may ask, well this have given me access to ask plenty of personalities in the world of cricket and their views for the forthcoming series.
 
 
PLAY UP PLAY UP AND PLAY THE GAME
 
So will the series be played in the correct Corinthian spirit of cricket? I see cricket Australia have banned the team from sledging! Well that’s like asking an Irish man not to drink Guinness. I don’t believe it for a minute, neither does Andrew Strauss who I see has said he expects England’s mental fortitude to be severely tested by Australia, but says his team have what it takes to handle the psychological warfare. Lets hope so, as they will need it, and sledging has brought out some of the funniest cricket moments ever…I think a blog of the best cricket sledges could be a real winner…
 
A few of my other favourites
 
Rod Marsh and Ian Botham: When Botham took guard in an Ashes match, Marsh welcomed him to the wicket with the immortal words: “So how’s your wife and my kids?”
 
Robin Smith and Merv Hughes: During 1989 Lords Test Hughes said to Smith after he played and missed:”You can’t f (_)cking bat”. Smith to Hughes after he smacked him to the boundary: “Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can’t f (_)cking bat and you can’t f(_)cking bowl.”
 
James Ormond had just come out to bat on an ashes tour and was greeted by Mark Waugh……. MW : “F(_)k me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing out here, there’s no way you’re good enough to play for England” JO : “Maybe not, but at least I’m the best player in my family”
 
Yet another Australian witticism with this time porky England batsman Mike Gatting the victim. Shane Warne, trying to tempt the batsman out of his crease mused what it took to get the plump character to get out of his crease and drive. Wicketkeeper Ian Healy piped up, “Put a Mars Bar on a good length. That should do it.”
 
RIGHT SAID FRED
 
So with one week to go until the first test in Cardiff what do we think of England’s chances? Well as always the key seems to be the fitness of Freddie Flintoff, and at the moment he is doing everything asked of him, and playing in the warm up game Vs Warwickshire having a few games under his belt for Lancashire as well. His bowling won’t be the problem, it never is, but we need him batting well at 6 or 7 in the order to give us the strength in depth in the batting.
 
Over the last week or so I’ve asked a few ex-players their thoughts on the likely team for Cardiff, Gooch says it is a certainty that England will play 2 spinners. Swann is first choice, with a battle for Monty and the promising Rashid for the other place. Mr G reckons it has to be Rashid and that Monty’s county form this year is abysmal, so who am I to argue.
Therefore, my prediction is that the team and line up bearing late injuries for Cardiff will be Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pieterson, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff, Broad, Swann, Rashid and Anderson. This means with only 3 seamers we need Freddie fit and firing, can he last for 5 days? The Aussie team is much harder to call, but at the moment it looks like Watson won’t be fit, so they may go with Marcus North and not play Hauritz the spinner, and possibly not even play Brett Lee – which wouldn’t be a great disappointment to the England batsman.
 
Strauss and Cook look solid as an opening pair, Strauss has risen to the captaincy and this is bringing out the best in his form, he excelled in the West Indies over the winter. Cook is a man in form, with centuries for Essex this summer and of course for England against the West Indies. Boparo looks a class act, and could be the star of the series – his mentor Graham Gooch certainly thinks so – and he comes into the series with 3 centuries in 3 knocks earlier this summer.
KP will rise to the occasion as he always does, you suspect he has waiting for this series for 2 years and will score big to make up for disappointments over the winter. Collingwood is England’s Mr Gritty, our very own Steve Waugh.
If he doesn’t score heavily early in the series his place will be under threat from Ian Bell. Prior is the wicket keeper batsmen purely because of his batting, averaging over 40 in tests. No doubt he is the best batsman of the keepers, but his keeping looks poor, he probably isn’t even the tenth best keeper in the country.
 
This brings Flintoff in at 7 which looks a better balance, good to see his 91 last week in the Twenty20 for Lancashire as his batting has been shocking, we need some lusty blows and quick runs from him. Broad looks a class act to follow, probably England’s find of the last year.
His batting is solid, and his bowling needs to be accurate and tight, our very own Glen McGrath, with a surprise quicker ball. He call let Freddie and Jimmy Anderson try and blast them out.
Swann has been a revelation, although he may be an orthodox spinner, he seems to have the confidence and verbals to thrive on the pressure, expect plenty of wickets and some useful late order runs. Rashid is the surprise pick, who would have thought England might out leg spin the Australians, but he is the element of surprise on his side, did well in the Twenty20, and is a very useful late order batsman with championship hundreds to his name. This brings us to Anderson, probably our form swing bowler, he needs some cloud cover to have a stunning series – but I reckon he is worth a punt as leading wicket taker this series.
 
Expect Sidebottom to play on the less spin friendly pitches, and Bell to get at least 2 tests at some point….
 
 
PREDICTIONS
 
Well like 2005 it is going to close, I certainly don’t see a 5-0 win for the Aussies this time. If the sun shines in Cardiff I predict a win for England, followed by a win for the Aussies at Lords as our record there tends to be poor, I can see a draw at Edgbaston, an England win at a seaming Headingly followed by a tense draw at the Oval again – so I’m going for a 2-1 England win.
 
I’ll be spending most of this summer either glued to the action on TV or watching in person live from the ground for the latest blog updates, starting next week with 5 days in Cardiff.
 
So let’s hear your views on the team selection, best sledges and of course your predictions.

Just to get your juices flowing….

I was asked that a lot on Thursday morning. If you’ve read my past blogs then you’ll know why. If you haven’t, it’s because on Wednesday night I got up to tell jokes at the first night of the Property Comic, run by the Property Merchant Group and Property Week for Land Aid (http://www.landaid.org).

They were both great nights with strong bills. Thanks to production company What! Who? (http://www.whatwho.tv) for pulling them together. Brian Damage and Krystal on Wednesday and Hal Cruttenden on Thursday were both excellent headliners.

The highlight for Property Week last night was compere Rob Broderick’s rap love story about the daughter of one of the partners at law firm Maples Teesdale and our features editor Mark Shepherd: 10% awkward and 90% hilarious. I never knew Mark’s dream was to fly a fighter jet. He later clarified that it’s second only to running our features desk.

And where does he want to fly to? ‘In the sky.’ Obvious, really.

But this is a blog, so back to me. How did it go?

Well, stand-up comedy can be tough at the best of times. It’s made 15% more nerve-wracking seeing editor Giles sitting in the middle of the audience. I know I sit opposite him every day at work, but it’s not quite the same. Still, I knew it was going okay when I saw him laughing. If it had gone badly then my half-yearly performance review yesterday may have been a bit awkward.

Actually, it went better than okay. It went well. I was second on and performed to a room wilting on the hottest day of the year. There was a bit of smoke lingering from the barbecue, and the audience had a higher proportion of suits and lower proportion of women than usual. Still, they laughed in the right places and I didn’t let the side down.

PMG chief executive James Bowdidge’s wife couldn’t tell me apart from the paid comedians. That’s as much as I could have hoped for.

People often ask what I write about. We’re hoping to get a video up next week so you can see for yourselves but, as a taster, some of my favourite topics are tank tops, Harry Potter and tips for getting lucky with the ladies.

In the meantime, you’ll have to watch some comedy that I like by Tim Minchin:

And if you missed me at Property Comic this time, hopefully I’ll be asked back to the next Property Comic events scheduled for 22-23 September.  Now I can look forward to a relaxing weekend.

In happier times, there was simply too much work to do for this mass idling to have been tolerated. Twice this week, I have heard the televised “thwack” of tennis balls in the background when re-routed work calls have been answered on the mobiles of my contemporaries.

One guy admitted he was glued to centre court, rather than the planning report he was allegedly working on. “If I got a call from the client, I would have dived for the mute button before answering,” he joked. The joy of modern technology makes it possible to keep one eye on the Blackberry, and the other on Federer’s serve.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am in complete support of flexible working, and many women in my firm have been able to continue their careers and bring up a young family as a result of such arrangements. But what I am observing now is very different, and more worryingly, giving home working a bad name.

With no hope of a bonus, frozen pay and the lingering threat of redundancy, workplace morale is at rock bottom. So the feeling of legging one’s employer over by taking it easy at home is a fillip for the hard-done-by male ego (and it is notably the men who are taking the piss).

It is also a sign of superiority. Being deigned worthy of working from home every Friday is a considerable perk – to my mind, 100% of the pay for 80% of the work. Senior friends in the industry agree that many bosses are taking a softer line on home working, thinking it will keep aggrieved big hitters happy, and prevent dissent in the ranks.

But they reckon without the lower-ranking staff left behind in the office. We are the ones who have to deal with whatever crap hits the fan in the meantime, and due to Wimbledon-related absences, our workload is actually increasing.

I was heartened, however, when I phoned one City big cheese on his mobile last Friday morning. “I’m working from home today!” he bellowed down the hands free. In the background, I could hear one of his toddler twins screaming “DADDY!” Upon further probing, he admitted that his wife was so fed up of having him under her feet, she had sent him out to Waitrose with the children.

Now that’s what I call hard work.