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Britain’s newspapers revelled Saturday in England’s crushing defeat of Australia in the Ashes series, basking in the chance to gloat at their expense at long last.
Following Friday’s victory in the final Test in Sydney for a 3-1 series win, the press let rip, cracking jokes about the Aussies and lording it up over the old rivals after years of crowing from Down Under.
They also hailed England’s long-suffering “Barmy Army” of travelling fans — who had not seen a series win in Australia since 1987 — but celebrated with the players in a marathon party.
“Twenty-four years may be a hell of a long time but, oh boy, wasn’t it worth it to see the Australians’ noses rubbed in it like this?” said veteran broadcaster Henry Blofeld in the Daily Express.
The tabloid praised England captain Andrew Strauss and his team for their “skill, dedication and boundless self-belief”.
The Independent reported how chanting hordes of England fans were impossible to miss as they swaggered around Sydney.
The Daily Mirror reported that the booze binge lasted 16 hours, while The Sun pictured England players looking rather merry as they and thousands of England fans partied into the night in Sydney.
The tabloid ran “Clown Under” jokes such as: “Why can’t the Aussie team even drown their sorrows? They’ve got no bottle — and no good opener”.
Former England bowler Angus Fraser said it was commendable that England’s cricketers went out and celebrated with their supporters — something it was hard to imagine international footballers doing.
“They want to. The players enjoy the fun, songs, revelry — and free booze,” he wrote in The Independent.
For The Guardian, the party was payback for a quarter-century of agony at the hands of the Australians.
The FT said England had demolished a castle built on sand in “Australian cricket’s fall from grace into the pit of Hades”.
The Daily Mail said that after all the night-time vigils by the radio, and “waking with slight palpitations, fearing a batting collapse on the other side of the world… our oldest (and most gloating) cricketing enemy has been well and truly vanquished.”
The Daily Telegraph said England had secured a “crushing and unprecedented humiliation of Australia”.
“England used to be gracious in defeat; now they are both ruthless and gracious in pursuit of victory — a combination of qualities we hope to become accustomed to enjoying for years to come,” it said.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan called on Australia captain Ricky Ponting to resign, saying it was no coincidence that he had lost three Ashes series out of four.
And Australian bowling great Shane Warne wrote: “Those running Australian cricket now need to look at every player and ask if he has a future.
“Australia have to start rebuilding now.”
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