In 1928, the great Charlie Macartney, Australia’s most gubernatorial batter, was visiting Europe. He and his wife stopped in Rome a few days to partake of the splendours of its galleries and antiquities. Lost in wonder at the paintings, sculptures and tapestries of the Vatican Museum, he was surprised to be tapped on the shoulder by a man who introduced himself as from North Queensland, and was possessed with the burning question: how did he think the forthcoming Ashes series in Australia would go?
‘I was speechless for a moment,’ reported Macartney in My Cricketing Days (1930), ‘as I cannot think of any place in the world where the mind is so devoid of any thoughts of cricket as the Vatican Museum. However, after satisfying him that I had no idea which side would win, I heard him question the guide with the next breath as to why so many cats were kept in the Trajan Forum. He was intent on accumulating a fund of information.’
Almost a century on, we are asking the same Ashes question, and still way ahead of events when there remain not only matters of availability and form, but so much more bullion to shovel into the Jolimont vaults. We’re idly scoping our preferred orders, anointing future stars, pondering the tilt of the advantage-o-meter, and otherwise roving over Ashes past like Don Quixote gorging on romances ahead of his travels…..
…although I hope you’ll hold out for the great romance of On The Ashes, whose new edition is on sale in three weeks.
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