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Sport: Was This Cricket?

  • January 8th, 2011
  • Posted by 7thmin

barmy-army-2.jpgOPINION: The England cricket tour of Australia ended today (7.1.11) at Sydney with another resounding win for the visitors.

barmy-army.jpgEngland had not won the “Ashes” trophy in Australia since 1987, and Australia has never before suffered three defeats in a series each by the large margin of more than a full innings.

The speculation extended to what to do about the captain, the rest of the team, the organisation of the game, the country as a whole.

The competition this time was marked by intense cheering and singing on the part of England supporters, being both large numbers of migrants and cricket-tragics flown out for the ruckus.

Australians have themselves to blame if they find the rudeness a bit much, being the most widely credited, or blamed, for introducing all this sledging and barracking in the 1970s.

This correspondent recalls an acquaintance claiming to have “started it” when the crowd were throwing beer cans at an unpopular England player called Snow.

Until those days test match behaviour could be genteel, especially in England.

crusaders.jpgAt the Oval test in 1972, the worst that took place was a patch of serious crowd boredom at the over-use of one bowler: “Lilley, Lilley!”, they chanted a little sarcastically.

churchill-victory.jpgToday’s England crowds, and a few of the more talkative players,  though indulging in some rich folk memory, must be classed as stridently anti-Cuhurchillian.

“In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity…”, the man  said.

Pictures  

 bbc, russiatravelguide.org, Jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu,