Tuesday, June 14

Twenty-20

Irrespective of the status of the game (none, really), and irrespective of what this means to the teams per se (very little), 'England beat Australia' has one crucial element that ensures Australia are not going to steamroll the excitement just yet. That element is 'beat'.

So it doesn't matter (surely not to an
England supporter) that this match has little bearing, technically, on the rest of the summer. It deifnitely doesn't matter to me. As I see it (I'd like to believe relatively objectively), this adds to the hype, lets us feed off the possibility that Englanda could challenge Australia this season, and we could get to see some hard fought cricket.

Views from all three sides of the fence:
Will is understandably
elated, but tries to temper it with some normalcy.
The stumpcam seems more balanced, and the new Ashes blog (which is good stuff if you want to follow this season closely) seems unconvinced that this is a sign Australia's form, but more of its initial lethargy.The gameboys call it a real hiding but end off on a realistic note, while the pundits maintain their silence. Wake up, gentlemen, the summer is upon us!

update: Andrew Miller's unabashed joy is apparent, but what is disturbing is that he seems to think Australia are really in for it this summer. A sample of some of the terms he uses: Exhilirating, , wildest fantasies, extraordinary, and most notably 'surpass all expectation' (that England could well do so) . Over the top? You bet. This is a particularly flippant part:

Forget all the pretence that this performance will count for nothing when the real event gets underway on July 21. England were victorious in their last Test against Australia in 2002-03; they won magnificently over 50 overs in last summer's Champions' Trophy, and now they taken a howitzer to the popgun variety of the game as well. If the secret in Test cricket is to win every session, then Australia have just put in a 34.3-over performance that would have shamed Bangladesh.
Easy does it. Crush Australia similarly in the Natwest Series, and we might be seeing a really driven side. Ponting, of course, plays it down as just an ordinary day that will have little effect on either side.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent summary, akr. You're quite right with regard to Mr Miller's comments at Cricinfo - let's keep this all in perspective. Australia often lose early in the season in the one dayers, so this sort of thing is not unprecedented. Give it a couple of weeks and we'll see what's going on then.

shakester said...

Ah, it Darryl it is. I couldn't quite remember who ran the blog- the tragic photographer with a beautiful wife and a mortgage.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm awake. First post is up.

Allow the Englishmen their fun, is my view. Notably, the English players seem to have a grip on reality, which suggests that they are the real deal. I'm confident that this will be a competitive series.

Scott Wickstein