Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

We were on the same flight as the Australian team to Adelaide and that meant being rather careful with how we positioned our newspapers as we read them.

The Aussie press have really laid into the team, with the Herald Sun publishing a mock editorial by the RSPCA (The Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Australians). Another paper carried a large photo of a forlorn-looking Ricky Ponting with the headline "clueless".

I had to quickly fold over the paper when I noticed the Australian captain a couple of rows in front on the plane and I don't think the team were delighted when they realised several members of the were also among the passengers, including the Jimmy Saville lookalike [Vic Flowers] who leads their singing.

However, the Australians had the last laugh when we waited at the carousel for our luggage to arrive. Because the plane was jammed full of Australian team kit it meant lots of bags were left in Brisbane - including several cases belonging to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ team and several England supporters.

Hopefully our gear will arrive here in Adelaide in time for us to bring you commentary on what promises to be a fascinating second Test. Like many, I consider the to be one of the best cricket grounds in the world and I was delighted to see how the new developments fit perfectly with the traditional aspects of the ground.

England have already played at the Adelaide Oval on tour, drawing with South Australia - photo PA

The only slight concern at this stage is that on our walk back to the ground we noticed a small fleet of pedalos moored at the edge of the Torrens river right outside the England team hotel. !

We'll be on air at 2330 UK time on Thursday evening and I am particularly looking forward to hearing more tales of how you are listening to our coverage through the night.

During the opening Test at the Gabba we heard stories of one man who was away on a romantic weekend at a medieval hotel in Kettering. He told us he had crept out of the room leaving his wife asleep and armed with several blankets and a nice bottle of whisky had decamped to his car so he could tune into TMS on the Long Wave radio.

But his discomfort was nothing compared to the problems being suffered by Alan from in Scotland. He e-mailed TMS to say: "Hello from the foothills of the Angus Glens. There's a blizzard outside, there is at least a foot of snow outside and my power went out an hour ago. The snowplough hasn't been here all day and I'm completely snowed in. With the heating also out the temperature is dropping (13 degrees now) so I'm in my bed with two duvets and I'm wearing a hat. I'm using my laptop and dongle to listen to TMS but I've only got an hour of battery life left! Do you think Cook will get his 200 before it dies?"

I just hope the battery held out and that power has now been restored.

We also heard stories of all-night Ashes parties being held at universities, people listening via phones and portable radio hiding under the covers, from night workers and lorry drivers and from one women who had decided to spend the night ironing costumes for a theatre production so she wouldn't miss our coverage.

We are really grateful to all of you who are with us through the night and it is great when you get in touch via our e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk or twitter or . But of course if you don't quite make it there is always the brand new highlights programme broadcast live at close of play and then available to hear again throughout the day on Five Live Sports Extra or the TMS podcast which we are delighted to hear has been number one on the chart.

Aggers and Boycs will be back in Adelaide reviewing each day's play. The TMS commentary team on Thursday also includes CMJ, Simon Hughes and Jim Maxwell with Michael Vaughan, Vic Marks, and regular contributions from the Australian batting coach Justin Langer who is offering us the unique insight from the dressing room.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary we will be joined during the Test match by the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, Haroon Lorgat, who will be giving us an update on . And as we are in Adelaide where the great spent most of his life we'll be talking about his legacy and hearing about a new hall of fame that has opened in Australia.

We'll also be speaking to the woman from Massachusetts who has been swamped by tweets from around the world after innocently choosing the Twitter account @theashes even though she has absolutely no knowledge of the series or about the game.

If you can't wait for the coverage to start, catch the latest edition of Phil Tufnell's Five Live Cricket show during Thursday's Five Live Sport programme, with guests including Marcus Trescothick and Matthew Hoggard.