My fellow Samizdatista and cricket fan (but Aussie) Michael Jennings has been accusing me of not celebrating enough when England have done well in the recently concluded Ashes cricket series. My message throughout the series, to anyone who would listen, has indeed been: wait for it, wait for it. Both to England fans exulting and to Aussies wanting to pitch straight into their speculations about why Australia is now a failed state, I have been saying throughout, needed to wait until the crushing England win that looked ever more likely as the series proceeded was actually achieved. Or not, as the case might have been.
But now that England have indeed achieved their 3-1 (away) victory (there first away win at five-day cricket against Australia for nearly a quarter of a century, which included three innings victories which trust me is crushing), I am now celebrating, with a long posting last night at my personal blog. Well, really it’s about ten blog postings – with handily placed asterisks to enable you to skip to the next one, should you be inclined to.
Topics include: Jimmy Anderson’s girlie-man wicket celebrations, Alastair Cook sounding like Noel Fielding, the role of and nature of luck in sport (and in life generally), the inverse relationships between good individual bowling figures and team success (well, that’s mostly in the first and only comment so far, also by me) and between national economic and national sporting success. Plus, the fascinating contribution made to cricket folklore by the Radio Four shipping forecast, which, amazingly, caused Radio Four listeners to miss the final moments of all three England wins.
If you’re the sort that enjoys that kind of thing, enjoy.
I was reading your blog last night Brian, thinking…
Jeez, If ever there was a time to do a Cricket post, this is it! Where is the Samizdata post?
So a belated congratulations to you 😉
Rejoice! re- fuckin- joice! Amazing England, simply amazing!
We didn’t just win, we utterly thrashed them. For the non Cricket playing Nationals reading this, and especially you Americans, to lose three Tests in a row by an Innings and whatever runs, isn’t just bad for Australia, it is catastrophic, completely humiliating. It has never happened to them before in their entire history, and we are talking 134 years here!
And before anyone says… what does a fuckin Welshman know about it? I was born in Glamorgan, the only Welsh county to play League Cricket. I was opening bat for my school, a demon spin bowler and being ambidextrous, could take a catch with either hand, with ease (i.e. a bit tasty!). Cricket is the finest bat and ball game ever invented.
I have taped all the highlights and I have already raised the wrist quite a lot since yesterday already.
Now if Wales could win the Rugby World Cup as well, I would die a happy man!
Bugger me! Smited again!!
This just isn’t Cricket Perry!
The correct term is ‘We didn’t win, we shit it in’
I must admit, I’m not much (any) kind of cricket fan. I came from a Rugby and Field Hockey m’self, dontchaknow.
However, I had a couple of Indian expats come up to me in the days following the English victory, congratulating *me* for teaching the Australians a lesson, and ‘scoring one for the Old Country’.
I guess Indian expats in the US are even stranger than British expats.
The real fun starts in 242 days in Christchurch, NZ.
Is there an ‘official’ SamizData Rugby dude?
Is there an ‘official’ SamizData Rugby dude?
Well I don’t know how “Official” I can be Bod, but I have been muddying the waters round here for quite a few years now, and am happy to toss my hat in the ring for the job.
I was Center, Wing or Full Back in my day, depending on what injuries our team had, and considered pretty useful and fast on my feet.
And of course I am Welsh! I may not believe in God, but by Hell I believe in Rugby. 🙂