England fans, media serenade team’s Ashes series triumph
By ANIFriday, January 7, 2011
SYDNEY/LONDON - Fans of the English cricket team and the British media today serenaded the team’s Ashes series triumph Down Under, describing it as an “unprecedented” success, The Age reports.
“Shout it from the rooftops. England have a cricket team to be proud of while Australia are about to embark on the sort of soul searching that has been an English preserve for far too long. Enjoy,” a Daily Mail report said.
The Sun crowed: “As the Aussies would say, it’s been ’sweet as’ watching our boys triumph in the Ashes series”, while Martin Samuel declared in the Mail: “When England come here next time they’ll know they are facing men, not gods. That’s the legacy of this team.”
“[I]t feels good once more to be able to say ‘England have won an Ashes series in Australia’,” London’s Daily Telegraph added.
The Guardian turned poetic in its description of the final moments of Australia’s humiliation at the hand of their arch-rivals, noting that Chris Tremlett bowled the ball that sealed England’s series win “just as Billy the Barmy Trumpeter was playing a poignant Last Post for the demise of Australian cricket”.
On Twitter, English users hailed the victory, one with the quip: “twitter gloating is bloody brilliant.”
Actor Stephen Fry declared: “Holy arse-mustard! Sydney! Not just a win, but a lesson, a humiliation. We’ve outplayed Australia IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF THE GAME,” another user wrote “So I’m over and out. Still grinning mental about #theashes but hey, every England cricket fan is! BARMY ARMY!,” while a non-English cricket fan even said: “Well done England, you played amazingly and I’m Scottish!”
“Reports have come through that Australia have lost the ability to play cricket, “England 3 - 1 HM Prison Service”, “THIS HASN’T HAPPENED SINCE I WAS 2″ were just a few of the many gloating comments on the social networking site, although one Englishman was quick to compar the cricketers to his country’s poorly performing football team: “to all England Football players please note this is the way you play and perform when you put on an England Shirt !!!”
So how significant was the win again for the English? It was, Samuel wrote in the Mail, as monumental as football’s annual FA Cup Final and more.
Responding to an a comment by an Australian security at the SCG, who asked “what is this - the f—ing FA Cup Final? he said: “Yes it was, sunshine. And Christmas, New Year and your best mate’s birthday, too. And our team won 10-0, and we all got to go home with the trophy. Or that’s what it felt like, anyway.” (ANI)
