The Ashes series is finally underway. Cricket fan or not, here's why you should be cheering for an England victory.
It has finally started. After years of anticipation, the 2009 version of The Ashes series has now begun.
Watching the opening exchanges between England and Australia from the comfort of my couch, I must admit to being a little bored. And from a mad-keen cricket fan, that is some confession.
Perhaps the anticipation was more exciting than the reality. It's often the way. Sometimes the build up to your Portuguese beach holiday is the best part of the whole experience. The airport nightmare, the delays, the transfer, the hotel, the food and maybe even the weather can often be disappointing.
More Beer Required
The crowd seemed remarkably subdued too. Perhaps it was those Welsh fans finding it difficult to passionately support a team called England, even though the governing body is called The England and Wales Cricket Board. Or perhaps it was that the bars weren't open and the beer wasn't yet flowing. Or maybe it had something to do with high ticket prices, fewer Aussie fans in the crowd to abuse, and the recession.
If in doubt, blame the recession! Everyone else does.
As an aside, why is The England and Wales Cricket Board abbreviated to ECB? Why not EWCB? No wonder the Welsh were finding it difficult to support 'their' cricket team.
Who Ate All This Year's Pies?
More likely the real reason for the perceived boring start to The Ashes series was we've become used to a diet of fast-food cricket. We've just had the Twenty20 World Cup, with exciting batsmen like Chris Gayle and Shahid Afridi smashing sixes from the very first ball. By contrast, Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook facing the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson just doesn't seem the same.
The Australians are missing a couple of villains too, namely Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Love them or hate them, they could get the crowd fired up, the latter just as much for his weight as for his bowling prowess. It just wouldn't be the same if the crowd chanted "Who ate all the pies?" to Peter Siddle, whoever he is anyway.
By now, you might be thinking what on earth has all this got to do with investing? One thing jumps out…
Our One Great Hope
Hope. This is the chance for the country to regain the feel-good factor.
Remember back to 2005. London was named the host city for the 2012 Olympic Games. Just after that came the awful London bombings. Jubilation quickly turned to despair, disgust and grief. But the nation vowed to stay firm in the face of terrorism and the atrocities. We vowed to not let them disrupt our lives, not to be scared to travel on public transport. We were strong. We had belief. We had hope amongst the ruins of the bombings.
The battle for the Ashes raged all summer. It was set up by England's dramatic 2-run win at Edgbaston, which levelled the series at 1-1, but more importantly gave the home players and supporters the belief they could conquer the mighty Australians.
The cricket continued to be nail-biting throughout the whole series, with England eventually prevailing 2-1. Ticker-tape parades and MBE's for all the players added to the sense of celebration and euphoria.
Hard To Beat Heroics
It most likely won't be the same this time if England again managed to regain the smallest major sporting trophy in the world. The cricket will be hard to beat -- the drama, the tension and the heroics or larger than life characters like Kevin Pietersen and Freddie Flintoff.
The occasion will be hard to beat -- regaining The Ashes for the first time in 18 years, and against one of the all time great Australian teams, containing the likes of true cricketing legends like McGrath, Warne, Ponting and Gilchrist.
But a win is a win. And with it, the country will regain some of that long-lost feel good factor of late 2005.
And don't we need it? I know I've been bearish on the economy, most recently in my Green Shoots versus Brown Twigs duel with Harvey Jones, but that is not a reason to be pessimistic.
Hope gets us all a long way. A bit of confidence can help get the economy moving. With hope, people might be willing to pop down to their local Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) and buy some new clothes, or head to their local Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW) to upgrade their mobile phone. Heck, they might even drop into JJB Sports (LSE: JJB) or JD Sports (LSE: JD) to pick up their Vodafone (LSE: VOD) sponsored replica England cricket shirt.
So, even if you are not a cricket fan, and can't understand all the fuss over The Ashes, you might want to cheer for an England victory. It might just help our economy, and in any case, might provide a meaningful distraction from our normal hectic day to day lives.
If only we can have a little more excitement and an odd six or two…C'mon Freddie.
More on the economy and the markets:
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> Bruce Jackson does not have an interest in any of the companies mentioned in this article. He also apologises to Australian cricket fans for completely ignoring the result of the last Ashes test series.
