HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO ?

OK, so the England cricket team `only` made it through to the quarter finals of the World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but that in itself was something of an achievement.   They had been on the road in Australia and the sub continent since last November and it was pretty clear that the five months of  cricket at the highest level had taken its toll in mind and body.

Of course, their supreme achievement was the thumpingly convincing Ashes win on Australian home soil when, once again, the 5-day Test Match series against the old enemy represented the very pinnacle of what the game has to offer.   And if the succeeding One Day series ended on a low note and the performance at the World Cup was a series too far, then so what?   For the Ashes series is and always will be the most competitive, compelling series anywhere in world cricket.

But what has struck me over the last couple of days has been the contrast between the  celebrations that followed the 2005 Ashes, the 2009 series and this one.   2005 was arguably the most memorable of all Ashes series won by England which led to very New Labour vicarious triumphalism which included an open top bus parade, a rally in Trafalgar Square and CBE`s for all the players.   Having perhaps learned lessons, the 2009 England victory was marked by more circumspect but heartfelt acknowledgement by a grateful public.

But the most recent Ashes victory in Australia - one of the most crushing defeats ever suffered by our antipodean friends - has in the last day or so, seen Andrew Strauss and other members of the winning squad shuffle through the arrivals at Heathrow Airport to a defening silence.   It`s almost as if they had lost the Ashes, rather than reclaimed them and it seems their re-entry into the country has almost gone unnoticed after those five months of heroic effort.

I just hope Andrew Strauss and his teammates realise how much their triumphs have enlightened our miserable winter, how much it has been appreciated by cricket lovers and how little we care about `only` reaching the World Cup quarter finals.  

Welcome home lads, thank you and well done.