The Summer Field

89 Australia were out for 83 and before 6.30 all of them were out for 125. Truly a very thrilling time and I was glad I went up. According to that week’s Derbyshire Advertiser, English cricket, ‘after a sojourn in the wilderness of nearly 15 years’ since they last won a series, had come into its own. Like bodyline, this showed how badly England wanted to win. Fingleton in 1963 claimed to see an English attitude of ‘It’s only a game’. This was a misreading of the national character; or, a sign of how you ought never to stereotype a nation – because, likewise, at least some Australians had no interest in sport, beer and beaches. Or it was an English self-defence reflex. When you lost, it hurt less if you pretended it wasn’t important. Contrast how England cared about Australian cricket with English indifference to continental football rivals. When Wolverhampton Wanderers returned in May 1938 from a tour without a win, Major Buckley, like any unsuccessful manager, made excuses (long railway journeys, different food, harsh or incompetent referees) and praised the winners. Continental footballers were an ‘object lesson’ in their ball control and passing, and even their goalkeepers were ‘as quick as cats’. Yet the English – or at least the sports editor of the Express and Star – shrugged it off. Continentals played differently (more skilfully, as Buckley admitted!) and wanted to beat the English so much, they tripped players and tackled from behind. English teams only toured to drum up interest (and, presumably, money). ‘And if we do happen to get beaten, well, we take our defeat like the sportsmen we are and wish the other side the best of luck.’ Punch cartoon of January 1921, after England in Australia had lost the third Test and the Ashes, and went on to lose all five Tests heavily. ‘Well, I must try and keep my tail up,’ says the British lion, ‘but it’s very difficult. It seems to be getting longer every match.’