Hello to "Your Ashes"
It’s here in all its glory—The Ashes.
The first Test of these 2023 Ashes played out as an absolute beauty—obviously, that would read ‘cracker’ if the result was reversed!
Indeed, Edgbaston turned it on again, like it had so eloquently before, with Australia finally exorcising some of their 2005 demons.
Personally, I thought post-game, Ricky Ponting surmised it best. Simply:
"What a game of cricket!"
And there are four more in the making.
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Welcome to “Your Ashes.”
So what is it?
Well, it goes something like this:
"Your Ashes" will be a SpeakingNick endeavour dedicated to unravelling some of the mysteries and enduring legacies of one of sports oldest rivalries. The twist is that we hope you, the reader, will contribute and view it through your own Ashes experiences.
Cricket is a sport celebrated for its grace, strategic brilliance, and timeless traditions, holding a special place in the souls of its millions of followers. And within its realms is the Ashes, a contest between two pillars of the ancient and modern game, England and Australia. Ashes Test matches live on through connecting generations.
Its origins date back to 1882, when England infamously gifted Australia their first-ever Test win on English soil. The then "Sporting Times" mockingly declared it the death of English cricket and stated that its remains would be relocated to Australia via the equally infamous urn. Thus, the term "Ashes" was coined, symbolising the desire of England to reclaim what had been lost.
Subsequently, the Ashes have morphed into the captivating contest that now embodies the pinnacle of Test cricket.
It’s remarkable that this concept—The Ashes—emerged from its embryonic beginnings into what it represents today.
There’s an outstanding quote from a journalist who, it seems, has more Ashes stories than anyone breathing.
Gideon Haigh said, "The Ashes are always coming, even when they're finished."
This after he was lamenting the greediness of cricket’s administrators, who in 2013–14 inflicted 10 Ashes Tests on us—and for what gain?
Burnishing performance in this arena counts for more than the sum of all other parts. But one example is an ex-teammate, Steve Harmison, who is held in such regard for bowling a ball directly to second slip and then, with the shoe on the other foot, securing an Ashes victory with but two runs to spare.
At the core of Ashes cricket is rivalry. An empirical master and its burgeoning defector.
Shane Warne might have had it right: he offered, in true Warnie style:
"There’s nothing like beating the Poms at their own game."
Again, leaning on the words of Gideon Haigh:
"Australia is always competitive. They fight. They strike back."
Of course, this is inherently true. I would offer that they are also masters of seduction, somehow making the English believe they are worthy of their superior beliefs—they, the Australians, breathe life into a series only to take it away on the field.
Haigh laments the 2021–21 series for its inequality. Since 1977, only once has Australia not won one Test in a series. Listen long enough, and you will hear the English in him!
My Ashes story roots straight back to 1981 and "Botham’s Ashes."
As a 14-year-old sports-mad Mancunian, my mind and world were confined to exactly that: sport.
Education I saw as an impediment to greater gain; adolescent tendencies towards girls were yet to be experienced, and any thoughts of family over sport were dismissed with effortless abandon.
At this point, I was playing at Longsight Cricket Club, which is now a housing estate!
Actually, in the Manchester Evening News article (linked), I was mistaken for England batsman Nick Knight, which is nice but incorrect in both cases.
I say Longsight because Eric Elms, a Longsight player, took me along with his family to the Old Trafford Test. My eternal gratitude remains.
From memory, it was Sunday, and Manchester turned on the weather: it was ‘cracking pavement’ hot. Botham made a hundred, banging it all over the place. Alan Knott taught me how to play the sweep shot—I’d never seen it before. And John Emburey looked like he was batting with a leaning stick, not a Slazenger!
England won by 100 runs, and the Ashes remained on home soil. The summer was a blur of playing and watching cricket, driving in the back of the taxi-yellow Cortina, and trying to emulate what I saw at Old Trafford. For a while there, I decided to swap loopy leg spin for an even loopier medium pace—just because of Botham.
My batting took on a cavalier bent that did not sit well with the wiry frame it relied on; a series of low scores led to admonishment from my coach—Mrs. Speak—and it was back to accumulation before the summer got away from me.
Longsight had an extraordinary junior section at that time. The year before, we (the under-13 team) had made it to the national finals, where we came across a diminutive Nasser Hussain (Clayhall CC)—along the way we beat Woodhouses CC and Mike Atherton. How good life was then, just to be playing cricket!
So, that’s my small contribution to what I hope will be an enjoyable series of its own.
“Your Ashes.”
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