And It's All Over For England

[kevin_standlee]

A few years ago, British Airways had a commercial that had what looked like an airline flight crew watching the end of a cricket match from the cockpit. We hear the call, "And it's all over for England!" followed by a disgusted, "Typical!" from the captain. As we pull back, we realize that they're actually flying a spaceship. I didn't know enough about cricket to get the finer points of this, but I have now seen an Ashes test match through from start to finish (well, I missed day 3 because of the Al Stewart concert) and I think I get a bit more of this, thanks to Cheryl's patient tutelage.

England were unable to pull off a miracle comeback to surpass Australia's comeback in the Second Test, and they lose the Third Test and thus the series -- the Ashes return to Australia.

Explanation for most people reading this: The Ashes is a series of five-day matches played between England (actually England & Wales) and Australia. They play five 5-day matches. To take the Ashes trophy away from the current holder, you must win the series outright. The result of a cricket match can be a win for either side, but can also end in a draw (not necessarily a tie, which is quite rare; a draw is when the time limit on the game runs out before all of the players have been put out.*). So, for instance, in the five matches, you might have three draws -- if the other two matches are split, then the team currently holding the trophy retains it. England held the Ashes coming to Australia. This match in Perth was the third of five, and Australia had won the first two. By winning this third match, they clinch the series and take the trophy away from England.

There will be two more matches ("playing for pride"), but the overall result of this year's Ashes series is now settled.

I find I enjoyed watching cricket, now that I understand how the game is played. But I won't be sorry to get to bed at a decent hour tonight, instead of trying to stay up until 2 AM watching the final session of the day.

*You want to know more, go look it up, and I apologize to those of you who do know how the game is played for mangling the explanation in an attempt to simplify it.

Update, 23:30: Fixed airline reference.

Comments

[reccy.livejournal.com]

Go you good thing! We're very happy here about the return of the trophy to Australian soil.

There is a hilarious tv advert campaign going on at the moment with direct relevance to Shane Warn's brilliance and this Ashes battle -- check out my journal for the embeded YouTube video of it!

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Is it the one where they put up a big statue of Warne in London? They showed that on the network 9 coverage.

[reccy.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is. ;)

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

Worse Kevin, the BA advert is an old one. Long-suffering England is a theme, being all sportsmanlike in defeat. I did think England overrated though and fully expected this result.

In South Africa, India came beck from a 4-0 thrashing in the 1-day games to win their first ever 5-day test on South African soil, and they lead the series 1-0. South Africa are known for complacency and India are terrible on the road. Both are known for mental weakness and underachieving.

Soccer discussions on spaceships, too

[ceemage.livejournal.com]

Apparently there was an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise where Captain Archer tried some small-talk with one of his (British) crew about England qualifying for the 2152 World Cup. The wiki entry for this notes that "The year 2152 is not, based on the current cycle, a World Cup year, but it is possible that the third World War altered this pattern as the previous World Wars had affected football competitions in the past."

[querldox.livejournal.com]

My favorite Ashes related commercials viewed while in Australia last month were for a tv series where an Aussie mate of Hugh Jackman (who was producing the series) would have to join the "Barmy Army" of English cricket fans...and if England won, would have to switch his allegiance permanently. The commercials showed someone dressed and looking like Queen Elizabeth instructing him in how to be English, including such things as taking a pint out of a microwave, where it presumably had been warmed to English drinking temperature.