Hating English cricket
There's a storm in a teacup brewing at the Cricinfo website where Dileep Premachandran posted a rant about his life-long hatred of English cricket. I particularly liked the concluding paragraph:
"The 16 years of Australia's Ashes hegemony which encompassed my late teens and passage into adulthood felt like a party that would never end and, when it did last summer at The Oval, I was secretly sending text messages asking for score updates and blinking back tears while supposedly watching a Bizet opera with my girlfriend. Though England had been by far the better side, it sickened me to admit it and I can hardly wait for Australia to regain the urn."Preach it, Dileep! His article has generated a slew of angry responses from readers accusing him of racism against England. In return, Premachandran has clarified his attack was against English cricket, not the English people in general.
It probably comes as no surprise but I'm with Premachandran on this one. There's nothing wrong with a bit of healthy hate in cricket. Australian cricket over the last decade has been too civilised and boring, to the point where Matt Hayden congratulated Flintoff on how well he bowled him in the 5th Test. Why didn't you ask for his autograph as well, Matty?! Allan Border would be rolling in his grave! Well, he would if he was dead but you get the idea. I'm not talking racism or hatred of a whole country (the racism in Australian crowds sickens me). This is merely a case of respect for an opposition team and their most dangerous players.
A wise man once said "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering". Okay, I admit, it was Yoda, but his words are still pertinent. Lethal bowlers like Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones has brought back good ol' fashioned fear and hatred in Australian cricket fans every time they start a new spell. I haven't felt those kind of emotions since the Windies in the '80's (and occasionally when VVS Laxman has refused to get out for several consecutive sessions). It's awfully tedious half barracking for the other team just so the match will be competitive and last into a fifth day. I'm grateful to the current English team that they're good enough to hate again. So bring on the Ashes - I'll be hating the English and loving it at the same time.
| Posted by JC on Sun 26 Feb |  1 comments |
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