Ashes Cricketing Rivalry Survey Conducted by Virgin Media

It has been quiet interesting to watch many internet service providers in the United Kingdom showing great interest in the international cricketing events, as well as the subtle nuances in the relations between rival sporting countries these days. Not only the English and Australian cricketing enthusiasts, but the cricket following class of the entire world has been, with alacrity celebrating the Ashes rivalry, regardless of their geographical and political locations. All the more, for they have apparently taken it as the fiercest contest held under the remarkable “gentleman’s game” backdrop. Obviously, the Ashes did not acquire this qualification from the players’ good manners on the field, but probably by displaying the serenity at the stands to the world (Ponting excuse), even while the players wrangled out there.

Therefore, even if the Ashus rivalry research carried out by Virgin Media revealed that bitter rivalry was mutual and strereotypes were alive and well, the rest of the world – especially the cricket followers in the subcontinent – thought that this was miles better than their pet rivalries. It is also worth mentioning here that skirmishes between players, as well as players roughing up with spectators were quiet common in the cricket matches played between the big three of the subcontinent. There, a pretty good section of those people deem cricket as a symbolic representation of war that they so badly missed due to political constraints. Meanwhile in the West Indian islands, the fierce fans of yesteryears who enjoyed calling out to the likes of Malcolm Marshal, Michael Holding, Wesley Hall, Collin Croft and Joel Garner to shed blood, are more or less reduced to a state of being affected with cricketing anorexia, owing to the great fall they witnessed in terms of their teams’ quality as well as the much talked about “killing instict” after the mid-nineties.

Coming back to the new Virgin Media survey on cricketing relations between England and Australia, it revealed that if there was rivalry of any sort between the two countries it was all about cricket, and nothing else. The research noted that 20 percent of the Aussies associated England with bad weather, 18 percent associated the lions with complaining, and 15 percent associated the land with warm beer (warm Fosters?). Meanwhile, the research also brought to light the English attitude towards their counterparts down under, with the principal one that the Aussies were only good in throwing a snag on the barbie (37 percent), apart from producing TV soaps. A good portion of the surveyed believed that the most memorable Australian celebrity was Rolf Harris, the “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport” fame. Apart from cricket, the survey conducted by the broadband provider on the unique relationship between the two countries also revealed some bizarre facts such as 20 percent of the Aussies still maintained Tony Blair was the British Prime Minister.

The Virgin Media research report released to celebrate Virgin Media Fifty50 broadband initiative’s final stage also notes that English too are not hot in terms of their knowledge on the Australian culture. The report laid bare the fact that around 70 percent of them nibbled their fingers, when asked who was the present Prime Minister of Australia. The Virgin Media Fifty50 celebrations that marked the national rollout of the superfast 50Mbps fibre broadband service was launched at the beginning of the Ashes 2009 series with an endorsement from Michael Vaughan, the former England captain and Yorkshire batsman. Meanwhile, Virgin Media’s brand and marketing executive director, Ashley Stockwell commented that although the Ozs seemed to know more about the English than the English knew about the Ozs, one real thing worth knowing was the fact that England had a champion cricket side. He expressed his content for having raised GBP14,000 for charity and hoped that the England team went all the way to win the Ashes.

According to Chuck Doherty, the broadband expert at Broadband Suppliers, it was more than pleasing to watch more and more UK ISPs taking to endorsing sports. He opined that if it was Vodafone that set the new trend by sponsoring the England team, as well as by launching supporting programmes such as Vodafone Street Sixes and Nightwatchman, Virgin Media had not trailed much behind by launching the Fifty50 programme. However, when asked about the English side’s scopes in the ongoing Ashes 2009 series, Doherty admitted that his hopes were very slight, citing the fitness of Andrew Flintoff, the unavailability of the service of Kevin Pietersen and above all the English batsman employing a batting style that can be attributed to the Hayden-Gilchrist led Aussie batting line up of the early part of the new Millenium. He said that since the Oval wicket started turning from the first day itself, and England had won the toss and elected batting first, the batsmen should had been more focussed on battling out there for say a couple of days, in order to give more time for the wicket to break down further.

Doherty noted that the way the English batsmen fared on the first day, gave the impression that the Aussies could well wrest away the upperhand given to the England team by the toss. He substantiates his thinking, pointing at a looming probability that if England is bundled out for anything below 400 before lunch on the second day, it should give the Aussies the luxury to bat liesurely for about six or seven sessions and then put England in a highly perilous situation of batting out through the entire 5 odd final sessions. Nevertheless, Doherty also claims that it was definitely not the end of the road for England team, which could be a bit of beleaguered with Freddy calling it a day, as the baby faced Stuart Broad could more than bridge the gap within an year’s time. He said that he took up this view, particularly after seeing the youngster confidently pushing the ball through the covers, and thought Broad could blossom as a robust allrounder once he polished his talents to tackle the short rising deliveries as well.