Don't ignore history

Mike Atherton comments in the Sunday Telegraph that modern players are increasingly ignorant of the players that came before them. This was highlighted recently by Virender Sehwag. After his 254 against Pakistan, he admitted not knowing "Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad, the two Indian openers whose record opening stand of 413 Sehwag and Rahul Dravid fell three runs short of breaking." Atherton, a history graduate, feels the game's past is an important aspect of its future:

Therein lies the importance of an understanding of the past for today's sportsman. It won't make him a better player, but it gives him a link with both the past and the future; it provides some context and some meaning, so that, long after the bones have stiffened and the eyes have gone, it still matters. He is simply one link in the chain.

The Australians tend to look over their shoulder more than we do. The cult of the baggy green, the presentation of honours by former players, the lionising of The Invincibles and the custom by which a current player must give a talk on a former are all part of cherishing the past. They also go too far. When the 2001 Australians sat at Wimbledon in their baggy greens, it was enough to make you puke.

When the last two touring parties paid their respects at Gallipoli and the Western Front, they did so too conspicuously. Rather than respecting fallen heroes, it looked as if it was intended to polish their own image.