Aritro
International Regular
Some of the Aussie posters may have caught these on TV when they were on last month, but I thought I'd draw attention to them for those who've not seen them. They sweep across all the Ashes contests from 1970-71 to 2010 with particular focus on the 74-75, 89 and 2005 series. Definitely worth watching IMO, albeit a bit repetitive and cringey in its attempts to convey the scale and meaning of the rivalry.
The English are surprisingly well represented among the talking heads, and what stands out is how blunt and forthright some of the commentary from the former players is. Most of the stories are quite familiar ie. aeroplane drinking records, Bumble's destroyed box, the Botham/Chappel fued, but there's some fresh yarns you might not have heard before as well. What really stood out was the contrast between the reserve of some of the English interviewees and the brashness of some of the Australian ones. It probably reflects the archetypal differences in character between Poms and Aussies, although I'm aware those differences are magnified in cricket by the fact that England more often than not draws its players from white collar families, whereas in Australia the game is played more universally.
Jeff Thompson is particularly memorable, with stories that are so expletive-laden and full of braggadocio that you sort of hope he's polished off a bottle off Bundy Rum before the cameras started rolling because otherwise, although it starts off funny, by the end it feels like there something vaguely tragic about seeing a man his age behaving the way he does.
Ian Chappell also proves himself to be a surprisingly good storyteller when he's released from his more usual practice of stating the obvious in a plodding monotone in the commentary box.
First episode is here.
Episode 2 and 3 should be visible in the sidebar if you open it up in Youtube.
NB: If I was supposed to bury this post on page 47 of some nondescript megathread, please accept my completely insincere apologies.
The English are surprisingly well represented among the talking heads, and what stands out is how blunt and forthright some of the commentary from the former players is. Most of the stories are quite familiar ie. aeroplane drinking records, Bumble's destroyed box, the Botham/Chappel fued, but there's some fresh yarns you might not have heard before as well. What really stood out was the contrast between the reserve of some of the English interviewees and the brashness of some of the Australian ones. It probably reflects the archetypal differences in character between Poms and Aussies, although I'm aware those differences are magnified in cricket by the fact that England more often than not draws its players from white collar families, whereas in Australia the game is played more universally.
Jeff Thompson is particularly memorable, with stories that are so expletive-laden and full of braggadocio that you sort of hope he's polished off a bottle off Bundy Rum before the cameras started rolling because otherwise, although it starts off funny, by the end it feels like there something vaguely tragic about seeing a man his age behaving the way he does.
Ian Chappell also proves himself to be a surprisingly good storyteller when he's released from his more usual practice of stating the obvious in a plodding monotone in the commentary box.
First episode is here.
Episode 2 and 3 should be visible in the sidebar if you open it up in Youtube.
NB: If I was supposed to bury this post on page 47 of some nondescript megathread, please accept my completely insincere apologies.
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