Originally posted @ 3:41 pm, Mon 24th Aug 2009
I have to be a bit careful about celebrating the Ashes victory.
In 1922, my dad’s Auntie married and set off to Canada to emigrate, on a boat that stopped at Perth, Western Australia, on the way. The couple got off and decided to stay, raising a family of 10 children; hence I have a lot of distant Australian relatives.
So let me acknowledge that the Australians seemed to be generally better at batting and bowling.
But England won, in part cos a mild shower at lunchtime created the circumstances for Broad to destroy the Aussies in a 2 hour session on a Friday afternoon (which I managed to hear all of cos I’d misjudged the nature of traffic on a Friday afternoon).
Otherwise I’ve been wary of even checking on England’s progress. A flick to teletext or freeview 302 always seemed to coincide with a loss of an English wicket. Transpires I’m not alone about feeling vaguely suspicious about this – a market stall holder was telling me the same thing happened to him.
By not listening to England’s 10 over last wicket stand, people like us must have contributed in some way to Monty Panesar getting a draw when defeat seemed imminent.
So here’s to all the unsung heroes, who suspecting they might bring bad luck to England by checking on the progress of their batting, refused to, to help England win. Oh yes.