Well, allow me to retort!
Following on from that absolutely shocking article in the Times I blogged about previously, comes a delicious article from Dileep Premachandran in Cricinfo. Worth reading the whole article but essentially it's about how he supports anyone but England in cricket.
I confess that, although I am a British citizen and really an Englishman more than an Indian (from my cultural references, sarcastic sense of humour right down to my marks & spencer underwear), there is a particular delight in seeing the English cricket team spanked by any other team. I think this is a legacy of how boring and crap English cricket was in the late 80's and early 90's typified by Nasser Hussain and his "spinner" Ashley Giles bowling 4 foot outside Sachin Tendulkar's leg-stump last time England were in India. Also, it is down to how superior and smug the English commentators always were (a la Times) and then Norman Tebbit saying that you couldn't be English if you didn't support English cricket teams over India or Pakistan in his infamous "Tebbit Test" (without, of course, mentioning those Ozzies, Kiwis and South Africans who were English but still vociferously supported Australia, NZ or South Africa).
But now, it's a little different. England are an exciting team now - you'd be hard pushed to match Pieterson and Flintoff for sheer talent and excitement anywhere in the World and, as the recent Ashes shows, they've got a massive fighting spirit about them. Also, they have just included Monty Panesar in the team so props to the selectors also.
Still, it's not going to stop me rooting for India in the coming series but I might just change my allegiance to England when they play Australia or Sri Lanka next...
I confess that, although I am a British citizen and really an Englishman more than an Indian (from my cultural references, sarcastic sense of humour right down to my marks & spencer underwear), there is a particular delight in seeing the English cricket team spanked by any other team. I think this is a legacy of how boring and crap English cricket was in the late 80's and early 90's typified by Nasser Hussain and his "spinner" Ashley Giles bowling 4 foot outside Sachin Tendulkar's leg-stump last time England were in India. Also, it is down to how superior and smug the English commentators always were (a la Times) and then Norman Tebbit saying that you couldn't be English if you didn't support English cricket teams over India or Pakistan in his infamous "Tebbit Test" (without, of course, mentioning those Ozzies, Kiwis and South Africans who were English but still vociferously supported Australia, NZ or South Africa).
But now, it's a little different. England are an exciting team now - you'd be hard pushed to match Pieterson and Flintoff for sheer talent and excitement anywhere in the World and, as the recent Ashes shows, they've got a massive fighting spirit about them. Also, they have just included Monty Panesar in the team so props to the selectors also.
Still, it's not going to stop me rooting for India in the coming series but I might just change my allegiance to England when they play Australia or Sri Lanka next...
posted by Akash at 11:26 AM
3 Comments:
I think its a self-serving argument to not support england becasue of the reasons mentioned. Part of any sport is about digging in, and abandoning purism if you're in a hole, and need to rebuild, simply to get some winning momentum. Tiger does it, Man Utd have always done so, Schumacher has, lowly premiership football teams do it week in week out, etc etc etc.
I've never been blindly patriotic towards England. In the arena of sport, i support England teams that i like, and vice-versa those i don't have much tiem for.
I'd probably go a step further than you, and i really don;t care who wins between India and England, but would like a good series
I was pilloried by friends when i clapped a Argentian goal against england in a recent world cup, but hey argentia have always been a stylish and attarctive side at heart. And i didn't really care who won anyway.
Chose to watch and support the best i say. And again, if you will read the Times...
Sandy, methinks someone got into the Ganga a bit early today... you seem to tell me off for not liking England cos they were a boring team and then you talk about Tiger and Michael Schumacher. Surely it's obvious what the flaw in your argument is? Of course good sport is partly about digging in when things aren't going your way, a la Tigre, but that misses the point. We don't like Tiger cos he digs in, we like him cos he can do things with a golf ball that no-one else can (even the girls in Bangkok..oh no wait, that's ping pong balls...) - same with M Schumacher. One of the things about the Indian cricket team that was always fascinating was that they seemed, at times, to be able to do things (especially the batsmen) that no-one else could but their downfall used to be that they couldn't dig in. For the former English team, however, digging in was the best it was going to get and no-one likes that...
Your comments re:Argentina I think only support what I was saying. Anyway, it's not a rational thing - rationally I should be happy when England wins- and I generally am, but a part of me used to love seeing them whipped -I think that's more of a childish "serves you right" more than anything else to be honest.
And, on a semantic note, it goes without saying that what I write in my blog about my own views are self-serving.
Ok, so no there was no early toking.
My point, as ever badly made, was that for england of yesteryear digging in was not a bad option, and the best way top stop losing, and start drawing, Then you can move on to winning. It's just part of sport, and even the best do it sometimes. England have moved on, and maybe the author of that article should reognise that. Anyway, one shoudln;t hold a team accountable forever for a bit of grind, as Tiger would say.
I wasn't really telling you off. Digging in has it's plaice, and yes, no-one is loved for doing it endlessly, especially when you have more extravagant gifts. One reason for the lack of empathy for Chelsea.
I think we are in agreement really. I never fouind anything to admire about the england cricket team, but do now. As for the current football team, they are still a bit too functional to win me over completely.
Driving range was windy as ever, but productive. The sawn-off punch is feeling quite natural now. Interesting, huh?
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