The Ashes bring a summer of larrikins

Martin Kelner, in his Guardian blog, says he always feels bereft when the football season ends. The Ashes are this summer, but Kelner just cannot summon up the enthusiasm for cricket that he has for football. What he won't mind seeing, after catching BBC2's Empire of Cricket, is swashbuckling, devil-may-care cricket from the Australians, like in the 70s.

Fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson were competitive kind of guys, too, and while Chappell intimidated England's bowlers with his hook shot, they struck terror into our batsman. "At the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 74–75 series, there was a banner reading, 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Lillee don't get you, Thommo must'," Chappell recalled. The fans who flocked to that series were described as "fellow larrikins, well acquainted with Mr Booze".