Toby's in to bat for you!

CRICKET FAN TARRANT TRIES TO EXPLAIN THE INEXPLICABLE.

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THE moment has almost arrived. From Birmingham to Brisbane, cricket fans all over the world are preparing for the ultimate grudge match, as The Ashes 2025 reignites one of the great sporting rivalries.

But are you ready to step up to the crease for the first Test this Friday? Or are you - like cricket numpty MEG JORSH - just a little bit confused?

Luckily, Radio X host Toby Tarrant - the Daily Star’s very own Mr Sledge - is available to help. Here, as our Ashes Week continues, he gets to grips with a few burning questions...

Q: What is cricket?

A: “Cricket is probably the most Marmite sport on the planet. I adore it and I can sit there and watch every single second as they play for five days, but for some people that's their idea of hell.”

Q: Yeah, but... what is cricket?

A: (Toby pauses, possibly considering the life choices that have led him to this moment). “So, in its simplest terms, a bloke or a lady runs in and bowls a ball, a very hard, painful ball if it hits you, made of leather, at a bloke or a lady who's holding a bat.”

Q: Why is the ball so hard? Surely that’s dangerous?