Hello world... this is Test cricket.

Australia's unexpected Ashes success means the talkback listeners of the 3AW, 2UE et al. will have to resort to more traditional methods of venting about immigants, the decline of Western civilisation and all that. 

Fairfax Radio have bumped up the launch from Boxing Day of their commercial rivalry to ABC's long-standing cricket dominance. 

While ABC's lack of non-Test broadcasts has undoubtedly been to the A-League's gain time (Russell Jackson has a good article about the battle between cricket and soccer in Australia here), it will be interesting to see if the Fairfax Radio push has a notable impact on ratings. Undoubtedly, the CA coffers have already benefitted from the extra revenue garnered from bringing the commercials on board (Fairfax Radio to cover internationals, Triple M to cover the BBL).

As to the coverage, Tim Lane gets a welcome return to cricket broadcasting, but when you are touting a "former West Coast Eagle and Perth radio identity" as a star of your coverage, you are battling for angles. At least it's good to know that Perth has become a big enough town to have a "radio personality" beside this fellow. 

One can only hope Ian Chappell is given proper license to really go hard on the Les Favell stories. Waxing nostalgic about the 50s and 60s will play well with the listener base of talkback radio.