The English Ailment

The English adventurism is legendary. We have read the tales of David Livingstone, George Vancouver, Richard Burton, Ralph Fitch, Francis Younghusband et al and have been enthralled, inspired and amused. These discoverers braved seas, scaled mountains, fought hostilities, made peace with unfriendly natives and let the Union Jack fly high all over. Coming from a tiny island of negligible land mass they managed to conquer 33,700,000 km² of earth’s geography, roughly a quarter of it. At the height of their powers they held the fate of 458 million people in their hands. Now this was not too far away in the history. Wikipedia vouches the authenticity of this data till 1922. All this attests to the fact that the English are brave people who have it in their mind, body and soul to travel yonder and hold sway. Coming from such a courageous lineage, it is expected of the English team to hold good under the most strenuous conditions and give tough fight to all the biggies world over. Coming to think of it, all the current Test playing nations have been British colonies at sometime or the other. So they are at Home advantage everywhere J.  Given this, it is saddening to hear Andrew Strauss blame fatigue and mental fragility more than lack of ability for their not so successful campaign in the current edition of the World Cup. But does the dear Straussy have a valid point here. Well, may be!!

Before the World Cup, all and sundry went gung-ho about England’s famous Ashes triumph. It is somewhat baffling for us non-Oz/non-English to comprehend why Ashes is given such venerated status in international Test cricket. Well, there is a bit of history behind it. The England-Australia Test series started in 1877 and went without a name till 1882. In the 1882 series played in England however, the Australians regarded lowly as they were a colony, beat the English side in dramatic fashion in the only Test match of the series in The Oval, London. The English media did not take this too kindly. One newspaper in particular, The Sporting Times, even wrote the Obituary of Cricket in England. It went on to say that English Cricket has passed away and been cremated and the “ashes” will be taken to Australia. Since then, each campaign is a contest to either regain the Ashes (England) or retain the Ashes (Australia). In the 1883 series, this little trivia was further strong cast when the visiting English captain was presented a terracotta Urn containing the mortal remains of a cremated cricket ball in Melbourne. The conclusion from this amusing piece of cricketlore is that English cricket is dead, has been dead and will be dead. It is only the honor of its memory that drives a bunch of lads each year to slog their lives out on cricket grounds in the harsh English winters or the Australian outback. Hence the stature of the Ashes.

Given this background plus the general cricketing hostility between England and Australia, the hullabaloo surrounding England's Ashes plunders does not seem out of proportion. Add to that the fact that it took England 15 years to beat Australia in Australia, the frenzy seems almost normal. Nothing could take away the brilliance and belligerence shown by Strauss' boys in the Ashes, not even the erratic performance in the World Cup. England won the Ashes 2010-11 with a scoreline of 3-1. All three victories were by the margin of an inning and then some. If India and South Africa gave the Oz immortals the cancer, it was England who metastasized the disease, knocked them to a coma and finally pulled the plug from the life support. The ramifications of the result are yet to be seen as the Australian board is still waiting for the World Cup to get over to do the necessary chop and change. But with their earlier than expected exit from the World Cup, it seems like the coup-de-grace will be delivered to the Punter and a few others. Suffice it to say that the England cricket team reached its zenith at this point. What is difficult to understand is the 7 match ODI series that followed. It was supposed to be the preparation pitch for the World Cup. But was it prudent? 

England played 14 test matches in the 2010 season. This is the highest number of test matches played by any team with India being the only other team to equal the tally. 8 out of these 14 were away matches. Even India did not playe that many away matches during this period. Given the geographic distance between England and other test playing nations, it is understandable if the lads feel a bit homesick. This apart, there is another telling statistic that gives an indication of gross Schedule Mismanagement. In whole of  2010, England played 17 ODIs spread over 21 weeks, which is less than a match a week. But right after the Ashes, which must have been mentally and physically draining, they played 7 ODIs within a span of 3 weeks i.e. more than 2 matches a week against an wounded Australia seeking redemption!!!! This meant, the scoreline of this series was 6-1 in favor of the Oz. This also meant that the English team had been away from since mid-November till they ultimately exited the World Cup on 26 Mar, 2011. That is close to 4 months away from home port and it was definitely telling. 

To the uninvolved observer, Michael Yardy's proclamation of depression might seem unprofessional. He will probably be compared with the talented but syndromic Michael Trescothick in times to come. But the English administrators must see the underlying cause. The over emphasis on test matches, the maniacal obsession with the Ashes and the strange indifference to ODIs means, England will still be searching for the only parameter that defines the champion of cricket, the World Cup.

The English Cricket Team does not enjoy the kind of support that say an Indian, a Sri Lankan or an Australian team does even when they are playing at home. Any match with the sub continental teams in England witnesses an almost partisan crowd favoring the visitors rather than their home country. Given the social fabric of the nation, it is inevitable. This can change only when the English team delivers solid results in a consistent manner. The beginning of it can be seen with the T20 World Cup win and the brilliant showings in the Ashes. Their performance in the World Cup, though schizophrenic, shows some promise with a gritty win over South Africa and a thrilling tie with India. Given this start, the man managers must back this team to perform and do the scheduling with an eye to the future. With the emergence of fine players like Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan and Graeme Swann (an English off spinner who can snare wickets at will, a rarity indeed), this English team does have what it takes to make the likes of Livingstone and Younghusband proud.

Till the next post, Au Revoir...