It feels like a good time to talk about something other than the public health crisis of 2020. So I thought I would turn my memory back to the Summer of 2019, specifically to the 14th July. That was the day England won the Cricket World Cup for the first time, and the day that my eldest son Henry fell in love with cricket.
I have been reading the Test Match Special Diary of 2019, which I received for my birthday, and it bought it all back. Early in the season I knew that it was a summer of great excitement and that England had put together a powerful One Day Cricket Team. But I had not really given much thought to England being able to win the World Cup. It was in May, during a rained off One Day International against Pakistan, that I began to wonder. During an early rain break the BBC Test Match Special (TMS) commentators tried to pick the all-time England One Day Team. These things should never be taken too seriously, but in this case, something was becoming more and more apparent – that the current One Day Team was the best we had ever had – by a country mile. For a start, this was a team that could afford to drop Alex Hales (he was dropped for specific reasons that were not cricket reasons – but it would have been a lot harder to drop Hales in 1996 for instance).
Because England were useless at One Day Cricket for so long, I still clung to some old heroes who were the last England players to play in a World Cup Final – back in 1992 – Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and Allan Lamb. But when it came to the all-time team? I cannot remember exactly who was chosen by TMS, but I realised that, given the chance, you would just pick the current team. Consider 10 definite selections: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunket. Most likely, you would want an extra bowler (Jofra Archer had not yet played for England enough to make the All Time team) so personally I would have picked Andrew Flintoff (for those yorkers – just pushing out Darren Gough because of the batting. Botham, Lamb, Gooch? Or later players Marcus Trescothick and Paul Collingwood? Not a chance. And I suddenly realised we could win this – and then I got nervous!
I remember vividly the last time the Cricket World Cup was in England. As an England fan, it should have been a total turn off from cricket.
The England game I saw live was horrendous – England were knocked out of the tournament at Edgbaston in May 1999 and we all got soaked. The train home was a very damp one. But I remember being gripped by THAT game between Australia and South Africa which South Africa had to really work at to loose (that was the ‘you just dropped the World Cup’ game). And I was at the India Pakistan game at Old Trafford. It was not an amazing game – but it was an amazing atmosphere. Sat in the middle of about 10,000 Pakistan fans, my mum and I decided it was wise to become Pakistan fans for the day.
All this left me very excited about a home World Cup, and I was aware that based on history, the next home World Cup would be in 2038. And I am certain I will never experience a Summer with a World Cup and Ashes at home together.
I was only able to get to one game of the World Cup which was the England Afghanistan game at the Home of Cricket, which is of course Old Trafford. I did not realise the significance of what I was seeing at first – but Eoin Morgan went absolutely mad in hitting 6 after 6 – and Old Trafford is not small.
The combination of TMS and Sky Sports, plus my Samsung Tablet and car stereo meant I was able to listen to or watch every single game, and I have fond memories. I remember the game that England lost to Pakistan vividly – I listened to quite lot of that on the M5 and M6 motorways. I remember the incredible game between West Indies and New Zealand, again at the Home of Cricket, Old Trafford – that was remarkable, and I confess that I watched that game during a Sale Band festival – that Samsung Tablet fits well onto a good music stand. I remember watching the Semi Final when England battered Australia. But most of all, I remember the World Cup Final.
My wife Amie was at work, and Henry had been at grandparents. But I was too nervous to watch it on the television so I listened while painting and decorating. Henry came home, and we started watching – and England were struggling. The ever-elegant Joe Root could not get going, and then when Eoin Morgan, the Old Trafford destroyer, hit the ball in the air, I knew he was going to be out, and I heard Morgan shout ‘NOOOOO’. I kept telling people on social media that it was all over. I kept telling Henry that England often did not win. And he kept looking at me and telling me that ‘England were going to win’. Jos Buttler scored a vital run a ball 59, but while Ben Stokes refused to give up, we all knew we had a chance. Then came what we thought would be the last over. We had the 6 that Trent Boult ought to have caught, and the one where the return throw deflected off the stumps and went to the boundary (it was given 6, should have been given 5 – and really ought to have been a 2). That was when I started trying to Google what happened if it was a tie.
Ian Smith, the former New Zealand wicket player, was commentating with Nasser Hussain – and he told us all about the Super Over before Google told me. Even after all the madness of that last over, I did not think the 15 scored by Buttler and Stokes was enough – I would have liked 17 or 18. Henry assured me that it was enough. Then Jofra Archer bowled a ball that was incorrectly given a wide (it was never a wide) and another ball was flogged away by Jimmy Neesham for 6. And the Jason Roy mis field. Everything contrived against Martin Guptill of New Zealand who had to get 2 of the last ball. That time, Roy got the throw in.
I can still hear Ian Smith now in my ears. “England have won the World Cup by the barest of margins.“ And Henry turned around and looked at me reproachfully. “I told you daddy”
It was a brilliant game. The 2 points of inspiration for me? Stokes – he just would not give in. I love that. And Kane Williamson, the New Zealand Captain. The whole team was fabulous and if England had lost, it would have been easier to accept because the attitude of the Kiwis was so good. But Williamson set the most amazing example – amazing in interview, magnanimous in defeat, not at all bitter – and he could have been forgiven that. When he was told that he was player of the tournament, you could see him saying in a shocked voice “What….ME?”.
The biggest highlight? Henry had not really been into cricket until then. But since then, hours and hours have been spent in the garden playing. He has a decent cover drive. Who knows, once we get passed Covid-19, Henry might play a lot of cricket. Who knows? But sometimes, it does not hurt to dream!
As an aside….did you ever see what Gwen thought about it?
Cricketed 