Cricket’s coming home
Well, the British among my readers at least might have noticed that England won the World Cup Cricket on Sunday, for the first time. But given the first cricket world cup was only in the 1970’s, its slightly fewer years of hurt, but more relevant to me, anyway.
To say it was a crazy game of cricket would be to put it mildly. A tie on the 50 over game, a tie on the 1 over play off, so England won it on the number of boundaries scored in the game! The irony being that the original game was only a tie because the umpires gave England 6 runs for an ‘overthrow’ in the last over, that should only have been 5, because the players hadnt crossed for the extra run at the time, and the fact it accidentally hit the bat of one of the batsmen, and flew to the boundary only made it more crazy.
But then the funny stuff started, all the ‘Little Englanders’ started saying how it proved that England produced all the greatest cricketers in the world. The thing was, as was quickly pointed out to them, one of the players (the captain) was from Ireland, one of the heroes of the team was born in New Zealand, a leading bowler was from the West Indies (and literally only qualified for England weeks before the event), and another was the son of a Muslim immigrant family, you know, the sort of people they generally hate. So more than a third of the team… oh dear! So playing for England, maybe, but of grand English stock, well… oops!
In truth, England’s next cricket match is special for me, its a test match at Lords, against Ireland! To my annoyance, Sky seem to be ignoring this historical moment, only talking about the Ashes series that follows! Ah well… Not that Ireland will win, but we can hope, for now!
OK, video time. I know, the song is about the football team, but could I do better? This seems to be a hastily put together version of the famous song when England started doing well last year, before finally adding to the years of hurt!
As long as I gaze on,Old Trafford Sunday
Well, everything permitting, and assuming nothing truly dramatic happens tomorrow, most should be able to work out what the blog after this will be about. In truth its now got to the point where I dont care what they tell me, I just want to hear the news of what it is now. At least then I can make a few plans, regardless.
So lets do something totally different, cricket. If you listened to most people in this country, there is a forthcoming series of matches, that are the all important cricket matches of the summer, The Ashes, England against Australia. And in truth of cricket history, thats probably right. But in terms of a match that easily tops that for competition, both between the players, and the fans, it happened today, in Manchester. Yes, India, and Pakistan.
For those old enough to remember the comment (I think it was Enoch Powell?) about supporting the country they live in, well its fair to say today that he’s be rolling in his grave if he saw that, lol! Hated the man intensely, but I thought of it today watching the home fans supporting ‘their’ teams!
Considering that until 1947 they were one country, under British rule, I guess its no surprise that since the separation, the hostility between them has been immense. And the departure of East Pakistan, to become Bangladesh did nothing to quell the storm.
But it shows the difference between fans of various sports. Today, at Old Trafford, 26,000 avid fans of both countries entered the ground together, and could happily sit together to watch the game. Yes, when you think of what that might be like, with football (soccer) fans, I shudder at the thought. And yes, England, and Australia, the same will happen, however much enmity there may be on the ground, in both cases.
One last cricket fact that amused me, and set Twitter on fire. If you play a cricket tournament in England, in May, and June, you have to expect rain at some point. When fans bemoaned the fact their teams game had been called off due to said rain, the Indian fans were just happy to say it was fate, and they had to accept. Then, New Zealand, against India was rained off, and you would have thought it was the end of the world, judging by the Indian fans reactions. So yes, fate, until it affects them, how ironic? But anyway, I’m sure the ICC will ensure they win in the end, lol.
Video time. I wanted something with a sub continent feel to it, but at the same time, very British. Think this qualifies on both fronts?
stevielounicks 
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