Well I can put away my St George Cross cuff links for a while. I wore them throughout the Ashes series and had to offer some explanations to French colleagues. They didn't recognise the flag - because the believe the Union Jack is the flag of "Angleterre" - the United Kingdom and its constituent nations leave them largely nonplussed.
Explanations led to discussions about cricket. This is another mystery outside of the Commonwealth nations. Recounting the history of the Ashes is even more parochial than the sport itself. I make no excuses and I see test matches as something of a metaphor for the British anyway. French people in the main do not get cricket. I must ask a recently-returned french colleague who spent many recent years living in England...
Winning the Ashes in Australia for the first time since the early eighties is a tremendously symbolic event. I take nothing away from the best England team to play for some time and I hope this will be the start of an extended period of English dominance. We are rated third in the world now.
I was surprised to learn that our great victory was over the country rated fifth. The test series against India this summer is the one that will really count; India is first in the world ratings. I have every confidence that the series will go well.
No comments:
Post a Comment