The dialectics of cricketing dominance

As I type this post the fifth day of the Fifth Test between Australia and England continues, and it begins to look like England will manage to secure the draw that will give them a 2-1 series victory, and end almost two decades of Aussie cricketing dominance. I saw some footage from the Oval yesterday, and a bloke in the crowd was wearing a T shirt which read 'I SUPPORT TWO TEAMS - NEW ZEALAND AND ANYONE PLAYING AUSTRALIA'. My sentiments exactly.

A great deal has been written about the latest Ashes series, but not much of it bears any resemblance to an article which appears in the latest Weekly Worker, under the headline 'Raking the Ashes of English Socialism'. Referencing the great Marxist thinker and cricket nut - he was a West Indian, after all - CLR James, Lawrence Parker's article argues that England's new, adventurous style of play echoes changes in British society and their profoundly contradictory consequences. Fascinating stuff which you can check out here.