Thursday, 20 August 2009

Cricket: better than sex?

First day of the last Ashes Test and those ever-imaginative people at Philosophy Football have diversified into cricket. This means that you can now add this t-shirt, inspired by the late cricket fanatic and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, to your whites - or ritually burn it, as the mood takes you, when England's batting again collapses at the crucial moment.

Cricket has drawn a surprising number of left-wing writers to the crease over the years, from CLR James to Mike Marqusee and ex-New Statesman editor Peter Wilby. But cricketers themselves often lack the same way with words. Former England captain Mike Gatting was once asked if he felt vindicated when a test victory followed a period of press criticism. 'I don't think the press are vindictive,' he replied. 'They can write what they want.'

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I know of no evidence that Marx and Engels followed the One True Sport during their many years in Britain. But by way of compensation, John Green’s biog of Engels reveals that they did enjoy Singing One Song to the Tune of Another, that other great British pastime.

- Mat C