Post by PeterB on Sept 15, 2005 4:27:54 GMT -4
Well, Australia has lost the Ashes. For those of you from non-cricketing countries, the significance of that statement might be hard to understand. But I think it’s particularly worth Americans reading this to get a sense of how international sporting competition can generate interest, when it appears to us non-Americans that most Americans are obsessed with local competitions (baseball, football, basketball).
Australia and England have competed for the Ashes since 1882. It’s not a trophy in the traditional sense, but actually a cremation urn, containing the ashes of either a veil, a ball or a bail (part of a cricket wicket) depending on who you talk to. The origin of the Ashes is actually quite amusing. The Australians unexpectedly beat England in a close, low-scoring game. The day after the game finished, some wag posted a mock obituary in a sporting journal. It read (in part), “In affectionate memory of English cricket…the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.” Someone took the idea literally, and since that time it’s been the prize for cricket series between the two countries.
Australia and England alternate in sending touring sides to the other country over the course of four years. Australia won the Ashes in the 1989 tour of England, after several lean years in international cricket. The size of the victory (4 – 0 to Australia in six Test matches) made it all the sweeter. For the next seven series, Australia was victorious. Along with this, Australia gradually gained an ascendancy over other cricketing nations, and the final target was reached last year when Australia was victorious in India, traditionally a difficult country for visiting sides to beat.
When the tour of England began, one pundit predicted Australia might possibly go through undefeated. But early signs of trouble were there. Australia lost to cricket minnows Bangladesh for the first time in a one-day match, and a player was stood down for being out late on the turps. Yet these problems were dismissed – the one-day matches are a lead-up to the real contest: Test matches.
The first test seemed to confirm Australia’s dominance, with England defeated by over 200 runs, one of the larger defeats in matches between the two countries.
And then it all changed. On the morning of the second test, Australia’s best fast bowler, Glenn McGrath, injured himself during the warm-up. Then the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, won the toss of the coin and put England in to bat. This is a rare action to undertake, and was probably prompted by Australia’s poor first innings in the first test. However, on this occasion, the Australian bowlers were unable to exploit the conditions the way the English bowlers might have, and England totalled over 400 runs, an impressive first innings. Aftere some poor batting in their first innings, and some reasonable bowling in the second English innings, Australia were left a tricky total to chase, and in the end fell short by 2 runs, the closest result in an Ashes test. There were several disappointing aspects of the test for Australia: the number of dropped and missed catches, the English batsmen who were dismissed off no-balls, and some poor batting from the Australian batsmen (the bowlers batted better than the batsmen - think about a pitcher with a higher batting average than the rest of the team).
England entered the third test with the momentum clearly in their favour. Batting first again, England again amassed over 400 runs in the first innings. On the last day, Australia had a target of over 400 runs, which the Australians said they’d chase. But the claim sounded more like bravado than confidence. In the end, Australia only just held on for a draw, with the last two batsmen at the wicket. 1 – 1 with two tests to play.
The fourth test was probably Australia’s nadir. A new bowler was brought in, a move which in the middle of a tour looks a little like desperation. For the first time in 17 years, Australia was forced to follow on (the side batting second is all out, and made to bat again because they were so far behind). They made a brave effort to set a defendable total, but probably fell 50 runs short. England won, but reached the victory total with only 3 wickets in hand. For a second time, despite playing poorly, Australia had not actually been far from victory. England now led the series 2 – 1.
So to the fifth test. Australia needed to win the test to draw the series and retain the Ashes. England needed a draw or a win. With the weather threatening to curtail playing time, it was strange that on the second day the Australian batsmen chose to leave the field when light began to fail. This was surely no time to play safe. In the end, it fell to the last day. If England could bat most of the day, Australia wouldn’t have time to reach any target England could set. But if England collapsed, Australia could snatch an unlikely victory and retain the Ashes. It wasn’t to be. Despite a serious wobble in the morning among the English top order, the English tail end held Australia up for long enough to make a result impossible.
2 – 1 and the Ashes to England. England fully deserved to win, as they generally played better through the series. Yet it’s remarkable how close Australia came to denying England, despite much poorer play. There will no doubt be some serious soul-searching and examination of shortcomings in the Australian side.
On the positive side, we can also look at how suddenly popular the game has again become in England. For a while it was becoming steadily less popular among English kids. And had the English authorities not addressed this loss of interest, who knows where it might have ended. But fortunately for the game, the English authorities paid the same sort of attention to their national team that Australian authorities have done in the last decade or two. As a result, the England has had an impressive run of successes in the last couple of years. And this in turn has spurred public interest – huge crowds, huge TV audiences, and a resurgence in the popularity of cricket among kids. Apparently the sales of cricket equipment have soared in the last couple of months.
All we need to do now is reorganise cricket in America, and educate Americans in the pleasures of the game played by the flannelled fools.
Australia and England have competed for the Ashes since 1882. It’s not a trophy in the traditional sense, but actually a cremation urn, containing the ashes of either a veil, a ball or a bail (part of a cricket wicket) depending on who you talk to. The origin of the Ashes is actually quite amusing. The Australians unexpectedly beat England in a close, low-scoring game. The day after the game finished, some wag posted a mock obituary in a sporting journal. It read (in part), “In affectionate memory of English cricket…the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.” Someone took the idea literally, and since that time it’s been the prize for cricket series between the two countries.
Australia and England alternate in sending touring sides to the other country over the course of four years. Australia won the Ashes in the 1989 tour of England, after several lean years in international cricket. The size of the victory (4 – 0 to Australia in six Test matches) made it all the sweeter. For the next seven series, Australia was victorious. Along with this, Australia gradually gained an ascendancy over other cricketing nations, and the final target was reached last year when Australia was victorious in India, traditionally a difficult country for visiting sides to beat.
When the tour of England began, one pundit predicted Australia might possibly go through undefeated. But early signs of trouble were there. Australia lost to cricket minnows Bangladesh for the first time in a one-day match, and a player was stood down for being out late on the turps. Yet these problems were dismissed – the one-day matches are a lead-up to the real contest: Test matches.
The first test seemed to confirm Australia’s dominance, with England defeated by over 200 runs, one of the larger defeats in matches between the two countries.
And then it all changed. On the morning of the second test, Australia’s best fast bowler, Glenn McGrath, injured himself during the warm-up. Then the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, won the toss of the coin and put England in to bat. This is a rare action to undertake, and was probably prompted by Australia’s poor first innings in the first test. However, on this occasion, the Australian bowlers were unable to exploit the conditions the way the English bowlers might have, and England totalled over 400 runs, an impressive first innings. Aftere some poor batting in their first innings, and some reasonable bowling in the second English innings, Australia were left a tricky total to chase, and in the end fell short by 2 runs, the closest result in an Ashes test. There were several disappointing aspects of the test for Australia: the number of dropped and missed catches, the English batsmen who were dismissed off no-balls, and some poor batting from the Australian batsmen (the bowlers batted better than the batsmen - think about a pitcher with a higher batting average than the rest of the team).
England entered the third test with the momentum clearly in their favour. Batting first again, England again amassed over 400 runs in the first innings. On the last day, Australia had a target of over 400 runs, which the Australians said they’d chase. But the claim sounded more like bravado than confidence. In the end, Australia only just held on for a draw, with the last two batsmen at the wicket. 1 – 1 with two tests to play.
The fourth test was probably Australia’s nadir. A new bowler was brought in, a move which in the middle of a tour looks a little like desperation. For the first time in 17 years, Australia was forced to follow on (the side batting second is all out, and made to bat again because they were so far behind). They made a brave effort to set a defendable total, but probably fell 50 runs short. England won, but reached the victory total with only 3 wickets in hand. For a second time, despite playing poorly, Australia had not actually been far from victory. England now led the series 2 – 1.
So to the fifth test. Australia needed to win the test to draw the series and retain the Ashes. England needed a draw or a win. With the weather threatening to curtail playing time, it was strange that on the second day the Australian batsmen chose to leave the field when light began to fail. This was surely no time to play safe. In the end, it fell to the last day. If England could bat most of the day, Australia wouldn’t have time to reach any target England could set. But if England collapsed, Australia could snatch an unlikely victory and retain the Ashes. It wasn’t to be. Despite a serious wobble in the morning among the English top order, the English tail end held Australia up for long enough to make a result impossible.
2 – 1 and the Ashes to England. England fully deserved to win, as they generally played better through the series. Yet it’s remarkable how close Australia came to denying England, despite much poorer play. There will no doubt be some serious soul-searching and examination of shortcomings in the Australian side.
On the positive side, we can also look at how suddenly popular the game has again become in England. For a while it was becoming steadily less popular among English kids. And had the English authorities not addressed this loss of interest, who knows where it might have ended. But fortunately for the game, the English authorities paid the same sort of attention to their national team that Australian authorities have done in the last decade or two. As a result, the England has had an impressive run of successes in the last couple of years. And this in turn has spurred public interest – huge crowds, huge TV audiences, and a resurgence in the popularity of cricket among kids. Apparently the sales of cricket equipment have soared in the last couple of months.
All we need to do now is reorganise cricket in America, and educate Americans in the pleasures of the game played by the flannelled fools.