With England’s recent Ashes victory, we’ve read arguments that cricket has rendered football irrelevent, along with regrets that the great unwashed have brought their uncouth ways to the cricket venue.
The Mirror’s Tony Parsons responds with typical restraint.
Here’s why cricket will never truly be the national sport – because glory or despair can be decided by a change in the weather.
When England were going into extra time in 1966, did Bobby Moore scour the skies hoping that victory over the Germans would be delivered by a summer shower?
And when Henry Cooper put the young Cassius Clay on his rear in 1963, did our ‘Enry hope that a ridge of high pressure would be enough to finish off the Louisville Lip?
Like millions of cricket-phobes, I shocked myself by becoming hooked on the Ashes. I can still recall my jaw dropping when Freddie Flintoff hit a four off his head!