Aussie for the Poms

My friend Damian sent me this piece from the Spectator of last July. It's by Australian journalist Matt Price and, just as the Ashes series kicks off, he's talking cricket treason:

Australians, you'd reckon, would be rooting for Ricky Ponting's worldbeaters to humiliate the Poms over the coming months. And you'd be dead wrong. Many of us, I'd argue a comfortable majority, pray that the current Test series is close. Of that bunch, a significant minority indulges in the probably vain hope that Michael Vaughan's side can conjure a preposterous victory.

Price goes on to spell out his reasons: Ashes cricket has gone to the dogs through being too one-sided; and the Australian cricketers could do with a good kicking, so arrogant have they become.

I wonder how many Australians really did want to see their team beaten. I post the item in any case, though it's been around for six months, because if I missed it, so may others have done who'd find it interesting. And reading it with the benefit of hindsight does give it a special fascination. Matt Price got what he wanted. Myself, I didn't think Ashes cricket had been all that dreary since 1989, but the 2005 series lit up the landscape all right.

The original article is here, but behind a subscription requirement. You can find the whole thing here.