Watching The Ashes in Shanghai

A big problem that faces cricket fans in Shanghai is the paucity of venues willing to throw open their doors at 8am in the morning and show the first session of the First Test of The Ashes. Enter The British Bulldog Pub. This venue isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for the sake of watching live coverage of the first delivery of the most hyped series of international Test Match Cricket series in the existence of entire universe*, I'll be sinking a few RMB on beers so I won't wear out my welcome.

The only other venue I spoke to that said they would show The Ashes over the coming weeks from was O'Malley's, but only during their normal opening time (10am onwards). This equates to roughly the end of the first session.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you can't actually make it out to see the first match, don't fret. There are a number of ways to access the live action of the Gabba Test Match. You can go for the intenet radio streaming options directly care of BBC Five Live Sports Radio. or if you prefer the Australian Broadcasting Commission Sport's Radio coverage, download the below Real Audio Media file (right-click, save as...) and connect via Real Player. ABC Radio isn't allowed to stream outside of Australia, so this is a little work-around!

If you're a little more technically competent, you also may want to look into the video streaming program called Viidoo. A tip from their forum page suggests that you're likely to be able to find coverage via one of their streamed TV channels. Unfortunately this option has been ruled out for me as I'm a dedicated Mac user.

For the uninformed, a dedicated Test Match Cricket fan also has the bona fide excuse for five-day binges of beer drinking and fixation with statistics. Hmm, I wonder if this predilection has shaped my personality (and body-shape) somewhat.

* I may or may not have evidence to back up this spurious claim.