One reason the cricketing cognoscenti prize The Ashes above anything else is their tendency to unfold into giant soap operas, with twists, turns, sub-plots and unexpected cameos (who can forget Gary Pratt running out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge in 2005?). That sense of being a soap opera extends beyond the field of play: the Ashes are like flypaper for celebrities, and another joy the series offers is a constant airing of unexpected but familiar faces, both in the crowd and the Test Match Special and Sky Sports commentary boxes. So, who can dedicated celeb-spotters expect to see gracing this year’s hostilities?
Cricket’s unique mix of chess-like complexity and brutal physicality, unsurprisingly, attracts an eclectic range of celebrities. In recent years, noted cricket fanatics Sir Mick Jagger, Stephen Fry and Lily Allen have enthusiastically attended Ashes Tests and expounded on their love of the game in the commentary boxes. Jeremy Paxman is another famous – and cerebral – cricket fan; wouldn’t it be delicious to hear him turning the tables by grilling Blowers and Aggers on Test Match Special?
The world of music, in particular, has a bit of a thing about cricket which could perhaps be at least partly attributed to Sir Mick Jagger’s extremely vocal love of the game, which he has expressed since the 1960s. Sir Elton John, famously (mind you, everything the Rocket Man does, he does famously), threw a party in his Australian hotel suite for the England team after their 1986/87 Ashes win, and is great mates with Sir Ian Botham. His official website even has a whole section about cricket.
Eric Clapton is another noted lover of the game, who regularly gets involved in the Bunbury cricket festival (even though he has said that he loves watching the game, but hates playing it). Ex-Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell has described how he was captivated by an Ashes series when on the dole aged 17, becoming a lifelong cricket fan thereafter. Genesis’s Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford have both played for the Lord’s Taverners. Guitarist Julian Bream, an avid amateur cricketer, fields in batting gloves to protect his precious string-plucking fingers. Perhaps influenced by ex-boyfriend Russell Brand, American pop star Katy Perry once, bizarrely, recorded a message for Geoffrey Boycott. Come on Katy, tweet about the Ashes and introduce the game to the huge number of your fans who may not be aware of its joys.
Hollywood is by no means immune to cricket’s charms. Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, has spoken about his love for the game. Rugged Aussie megastars Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman have been spotted at past Ashes series. Bond film director Sam Mendes is a regular at Lord’s and Damien Lewis is a decent batsman frequently seen in his whites.
The literary establishment, meanwhile, has a great tradition of donning whites and playing the game, rather than merely spectating. If time travel is ever invented, it would be tempting to visit the start of the 20th century, when an Author’s XI team had an opening bowling attack of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who once bowled WG Grace) and PG Wodehouse (who named one of his best-loved characters after the Warwickshire bowler Percy Jeeves); that team also featured AA Milne and JM Barrie. Harold Pinter once said: “I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God created on Earth,” while Samuel Beckett played two first-class games for Dublin University against Northamptonshire, in 1925 and 1926 (unimpressively averaging 8.35 with the bat and failing to take a wicket). The Author’s XI has recently been resurrected, captained by Sebastian Faulks and featuring Kamila Shamsie.
When the great and the good are positively falling over each other in their alacrity to bathe in the reflected glow of a great sporting rivalry, then you can be sure there’s something special going on. And special is exactly what the Ashes are.
