England and Australia soon start what, for some, remains the real thing
The World Cup was, for the old-fashioned kind of cricket fan, simply the starter course of an English summer whose main course is and will remain the clash of ancient enemies England and Australia
With Maori ancestry, there’s clearly a few Kiwis about who think we can still claim Ben Stokes
● It was only seven days ago that the game New Zealand couldn’t fairly be said to have lost — but that somehow still made England the men’s World Cup champions — electrified Lord’s, along with legions beyond the boundary.
How have the Kiwis responded? By naming Ben Stokes, England’s match winner, among the nominees for the “New Zealander of the Year” award.
Cameron Bennett, the chief judge, explained that Stokes “might not have been playing for the Black Caps but, having been born in Christchurch [and lived there until he was 12] where his parents now live and with Maori ancestry, there’s clearly a few Kiwis about who think we can still claim him”.
That happened on Friday. Clearly, memories of the World Cup final are going nowhere slowly.
But, at Edgbaston on August 1 — just 18 days after that craziness — England and Australia will start what, for some, remains the real thing.
The old-fashioned kind of cricket person considers the World Cup only the starter of an English summer whose main course is, and always will be, the clash of international cricket’s most ancient enemies in whites, using a red ball, for five days at a time, and with nary a powerplay nor a meanly called legside wide in sight.
Too soon? Are we supposed to move on from Lord’s so quickly?
The moment certainly hasn’t passed at Hague School in Bethnal Green, deep in London’s east end.
Before last Sunday, whenever a coach appeared on the playground trying to get children to take cricket seriously, the kids looked as if they would rather be in maths class.
But this week, a new energy has taken over that has nothing to do with coaching or even cricket itself. Front feet are splaying galore, the ball is thrown far more often than it is bowled, catches are rarely taken, and the coach’s only function is to carry equipment.
Unlike in other weeks, when cricket has had to compete with badminton and basketball — and, of course, football — for its place in this playground, the game of choice has, almost all of the time, been cricket.
That has less to do with cricket than it does with the drama of what happened at Lord’s. Which brings us back to the Ashes — Test cricket is all about drama. Or, if you like, quality. The white-ball stuff, by contrast, is about quantity.
But England will look to keep the flame of the World Cup drama alive when they play Ireland in a four-day Test at Lord’s that starts on Wednesday.
“I don’t think I'm alone in saying that it’s probably the greatest cricket match ever, and for that to be the World Cup final was incredible,” Sam Curran told reporters this week.
“That will provide a buzz for everyone across English cricket going into the Ashes, which is the biggest series an England player can be involved in in Tests, and this match against Ireland.
“Days like Sunday get everyone, whether they were involved or not, more excited and desperate to do well. So I’m sure it will rub off as we head into the Test part of summer.”
Note the qualification — the Ashes is only “the biggest series an England player can be involved in in Tests”.
That’s what happens when a team wins the World Cup. Nothing else matters nearly as much. And who can blame the English: imagine what that triumph would do for cricket in SA.
How long will the new order of things last? Had England not won on Sunday, only until the first ball is bowled at Edgbaston on August 1. Now? Who can say.
Days like Sunday get everyone, whether they were involved or not, more excited and desperate to do well