England or Australia?

Dodgykeeper

My mrs asked me why I am so supportive of England in Cricket when lets face it if they were playing football against a Team of Murderers and Rapists I would be on the side of the Crims....


I really got into test cricket during the last Ashes series in england and I think the personalities in the English Team Freddie, KP, Giles, micheal Vaughan etc swayed me in their favour rather than the Arrogance of Lee, McGrath and Ponting....

So for me in Test Cricket its England all the way and these days I have been known to hum Jerusalam!

Dozen Wicked Words

I want England to win, but you highlight arrogance of the Aussies whilst admiring Pietersen, the most self centred arrogant man currently playing.

Dan Dare

dooferoaks wrote: »

I want England to win, but you highlight arrogance of the Aussies whilst admiring Pietersen, the most self centred arrogant man currently playing.

I agree though I thought during the Ashes in 2005 that the Aussies were gutsy (especially Lee) rather than arrogant.

TrueDub

I got into cricket watching the likes of Botham, Willis, Gooch, Gatting et al. Because there was no overseas coverage, you watched what was on, and that was English cricket. Hence I support England.

Like Dodgykeeper, though, it's only in cricket. Other than that, it's ABE!!

Monkeybonkers

Australia for me. I think it's a natural thing for your neighbour to be your most bitter rival when it comes to sport and it certainly is the case with England. Therefore ABE.

maverick09

i cheered for England in the last series in England but i want the Aussies to win this one

KevIRL

The only time I'd want England to win in any sport is if they were playing Kilkenny:pac:

dfx-

You see I think Australia are better, but the Australian commentators against SA really irked me..so sway back to England...hmmm..

ArmaniJeanss

The first test match I followed was the Headingly 1981 Ashes game.
Back at that time there were no Irish editions of the English tabloids, so there was front to back coverage of that incredible game in the Sun and the Mirror.
It just seemed sort of natural to be an England fan at the time, and it has generally stuck with me since then for cricket anyway.

zGeek

I think it's going to cut close but Australia will sorta power-own those english pigs into Mars.


England seem to be going quite well though

legend73

1000 years or rape, murder & theft and you still support the English! The pack the paddy's up and ship them off to Australia and you still support the English! They need no support they have the queen. God save her and the english cricket team, unleash hell!

Malari

legend73 wrote: »

1000 years or rape, murder & theft and you still support the English! The pack the paddy's up and ship them off to Australia and you still support the English! They need no support they have the queen. God save her and the english cricket team, unleash hell!

I'm pretty sure the cricket team had little to do with that, but I'm open to correction

Definitely shouting for England - maybe it has something to do with that irresistable underdog quality!

Fratton Fred

legend73 wrote: »

1000 years or rape, murder & theft and you still support the English! The pack the paddy's up and ship them off to Australia and you still support the English! They need no support they have the queen. God save her and the english cricket team, unleash hell!

1000 years now, blimey, the last 200 shot by. remind me again, who is head of state in Australia?

There was a comment on the BBC commentary for the last test along the lines of what people are saying here. It's funny, a lot of people in Ireland found themselves supporting England in the rugby World cup final as well because of the fondness for underdogs thing.

Judgement Day

TrueDub wrote: »

I got into cricket watching the likes of Botham, Willis, Gooch, Gatting et al. Because there was no overseas coverage, you watched what was on, and that was English cricket. Hence I support England.

Like Dodgykeeper, though, it's only in cricket. Other than that, it's ABE!!

Has there been any exciting cricket since those days? When Beefy and his buddies (including the overseas ones like Denis Lilley, Alan Border and Viv Richards) retired I lost interest big time. Who can ever forget the likes of England's Chris Tavaré - the slowest man ever to get off the mark in Test history? Or 3rd Ashes Test at Headingley in 1981 ( I watched on TV) as Ian Botham and Bob Willis demolished the Aussies. One of those great sporting moments that will live forever. The last couple of years - especially Irelands' coming of age has reawakened the interest somewhat - I even made enquiries about playing again but being the big 50 this year I am a bit wary.

PS Any chance that England will declare at the start of play tomorrow? Give them some chance of bowling the Aussies out with the bad weather forecast. A draw would be a boring outcome and Paddy Power would beat me again!

Snickers Man

I've just been thinking about this recently and trying to rationalise why I really want England to win this one, whereas I would rather kill myself with a rusty blade than want to see the English soccer team win at anything.

I reckon it's because soccer, especially international soccer, brings out the very worst in the English but the game that occupies the same place in the Australian national psyche is cricket. It's their game for scummers. And so the Australian cricket team and its supporters is equally as unlikeable as the corresponding supporters of English soccer.

So no contradiction then.

There are, and have been, few sympathetic characters in Australian cricket. This is quite deliberate on their part. Cricket is a serious business. You're there to win and nice guys finish last. It's not all strawberries and cream and cucumber sandwiches. That's for the effete Poms.

Australian cricket heroes are people like Alan Border and Steve Waugh. Two horrible little men, short, insecure and full of unbalanced righteous indignation. The type that, were they to be portrayed in film would likely be played by Joe Pesci.

The same one-sided outrage was memorably displayed by Glenn McGrath, who felt that it was perfectly OK to utter foul sexual slurs at opposing batsmen but when he got a little back he lost the rag completely. "Not fair dinkum, mate! I can say what I like about you but insult me back and I'll take your head off." You can almost hear yourself thinking "Children, this is going to end in tears."

Australians take cricket far too seriously. And the structure of the game which allows one type of player, the bowler, to inflict huge physical damage on another without any prospect of retaliation allows few redeeming features for such an attitude.

Were Jeff Thompson, who once said that he "Liked to see the blood on the floor" a rugby player or even Aussie Rules player, where his opponents would have ample opportunity for instant retaliation should he attempt anything with them, I might have some respect.

I might have even more had he been a boxer where he would have found himself in a ring with someone more or less his own size and well able to hit him back. But as he took to trying to maim a succession of corn-fed Sri Lankan batsmen who only came up to his navel, I find him hard to like.

The poms have it right. Cricket SHOULD be a graceful seductive way of spending a glorious summer afternoon, with the prospect of a fine tea and a few pints consumed in the company of some good chaps and not a few comely maidens. Not an opportunity to bring out the worst snarling, indignant aggression from those who would be unwilling or unable to handle themselves should they get a little back at them.

Maybe it's because fine summers days in this part of the world are rare events to be treasured that we have a lazier more social attitude to cricket, unlike Australia where you can take the weather for granted and all it does is make you hot bothered and cranky.

England for the Ashes!

simonrooneyzaga

If it wasnt for the 800 years of civil oppression, none of us posting here would be cricket fans!

We might even have been over on the GAA forum discussing the merits of Dublins All Ireland title challenge :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Beasty

I'm going for England:D

kryogen

Im an Irish fan 1st, then the Aussies, i actually like a few of the teams, but when i was starting to notice cricket, i.e. within the last 10 years, it was playes like Shane Warne and Ricky Pointing who drew my attention... The things Warne could do with a ball were unbelievable, Hayden, Gilchrist, Lee, Mcgrath and the rest were and are in some cases top top players and a joy to watch when in full flow. Ponting is still today one of the finest batsmen in the game and i admire his whole attitude on the pitch, he will give you nothing unless you really deserve deserve it ( and sometimes not even then) Then you have the next Aussie captain (imo) Michael Clarke who has turned into a wonderful player, i could probably gush about the Aussies all day so ill change the subject now

I like to see England fail n every capacity really i guess, but in a complicated way i follow the progress of our lads who play for them and i must say i am delighted with the progress Morgan is making, he is on fire in the Champions Trophy and its great to see. Joyce should also be given a chance imo, how many more failures is Bopara going to be allowed and people like Ian Bell who have never really dne it consistently.... Give the Paddys a chance!! :P