Commiserations England:

[beecee]

Australia just won the third cricket test and the Ashes, being played in Melbourne, by an Innings and 14 runs, going three up in the best of five tests series.

For our non cricket playing nations, the cricket Ashes was born in 1882 when a  combined team from the Australian colonies, (before we obtained nationhood) defeated England in England and a satirical obitary appeared in the English paper, lamenting the defeat thus..... 

test cricket is played over five days, six hours a day, with each side of 11 men have two innings to bat. The current test that just concluded saw Australia score 267 in the first innings against England's 185, and then bowling England out for 68 in their second innings, still 14 runs shy of Australia's first innings total.

Our bowlers simply were too fast, too consistent, and too good for the hapless English batsmen.

Two more tests to go and we all hope England can improve and make a fight of it, despite losing the ashes in three tests.

  The top scoring Australian opening batsman Marcus Harris scoring his 76 runs, setting the groundwork for a great win and the ashes.

Edited December 28, 2021 by beecee

[dimreepr]

Fair play, we were shit...

I look forward to the rugby, for my chance to rub your nose in it. 🤞

[beecee]

6 hours ago, dimreepr said:

I look forward to the rugby, for my chance to rub your nose in it. 🤞

Rugby, (as in Union) is really only played in the Eastern states of Queensland and NSW, and even there the other Rugby, ( as in league) is far more popular. Australian Rules football is the most dominent code. I follow the Rugby League and played it in my youth. 

I have a couple of good pommie friends, and we all relish our turn at rubbing each other's nose in it, when that intense competition between the "Mother nation" and Australia takes place. Intense, aggressive, is as any sporting cometition should be, but at the same time charecter building and the making of lifelong friendships.

The above is a photo of the 2019 series with Aussie and English players having a drink after a drawn series.

Edited December 28, 2021 by beecee

[beecee]

This may raise some eye brows. The Gabba, (Brisbane cricket oval) with the Pool deck opened during a International test series, on a stinking hot day....

 

Just now, beecee said:

This may raise some eye brows. The Gabba, (Brisbane cricket oval) with the Pool deck opened during a International test series, on a stinking hot day....

 

[beecee]

Well the five test series has concluded with the Aussies giving the Poms a 4-0 drubbing with one test drawn.

A poignant and touching moment occurred during the celebrations. Usman Khawaja, ( a muslim who are not allowed to drink alcohol)  who scored a century in both innings in the 4th test is also a muslim. The usual cracking open bottles of champaign began on the podium and Usman quickly dismounted the stage to avoid being sprayed. The captain Pat Cummins, noticed him leaving and quickly told his team mates to put the bottles down, and recalled Khawaja to the celebrations.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/why-australias-cricket-team-stopped-ashes-celebration/100761016

Why Australia's cricket team stopped their Ashes' celebrations after popping champagne

Usman Khawaja (right) jumped off the stage to avoid the champagne spray from teammates amid the Ashes celebrations in Hobart

 

"Spotting his departure, Cummins was seen interrupting the spray and signalling Khawaja to come back to the podium so he could be part of the team celebrations.

Khawaja joined the fray, and the team celebrations began anew. 

Cricket fans spotted Cummins' call and praised the skipper for showing a more inclusive approach to the post-match festivities.

Before the series started, late last year Khawaja told the ABC about growing up loving cricket but struggling to identify with an Australian team that had a very different background and experience to him.

"I struggled as a young kid to support Australia because I just didn't see any connection between myself and the Australian cricket team," he said.

"I felt like they were totally different, white-dominated, the VB-drinking larrikins that I really struggled with in Western Sydney for a long time."

The captain’s call shows the team is aware of the need to change its behaviour.  

There’s been several challenges to the team’s culture in the past few years, with the team in flux after the resignation of Tim Paine after a sexting scandal last year.

Cummins' on-field acumen was rarely tested in his maiden series as captain, with a slightly late declaration in Sydney the sole blemish since he took over."

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Beautifully done Pat, and an example of how peoples of different cultures, are able to enact together in the discipline of sport and its great unification ability.

I was going to continue about how test cricket compared to baseball, is similar to comparing chess to draughts, but I don't want to upset my Canadian and American members. 😉

Edited January 17, 2022 by beecee