Cricket Australia is using the incident involving Australia star Alex Carey and Jonny Bairstow from England to sell this series
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Emmerson, who goes by the nickname of “Fun Time Tony”, said CA should have instead used Stuart Broad’s final moments as a Test player, when he hit the final ball he faced for a six and claimed a wicket with his final delivery.
“That’s true Ashes cricket,” Emmerson said. “We know how much the Australians love Stuart Broad.”
Unlike many English fans, Emmerson accepts that Carey and the Australians did nothing wrong in claiming Bairstow’s wicket in such a fashion.
“As far as I’m concerned, there is a level of spirit of cricket and the rules of cricket, and the rules of cricket win the day,” Emmerson said.
“I think we’ve gotten over it. It was one of those things. The biggest disappointment was England was going to win the Test match – that was the most annoying thing about it.
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“Most English people have gotten over it. I don’t think they boo Carey any more. They’re fair-minded. The guy’s wicketkeeping last Test match was superb. They’re big enough to recognise that, and they understand cricket well enough to see someone who has done well.”
CA explained why they chose to include that passage of play in their campaign.
“The advertisement, which has run on various platforms for three months, includes, in a respectful manner, a dramatic and oft-replayed moment that exemplifies the heightened intensity of the Ashes rivalry,” a CA spokesperson told this masthead.
“We’re really pleased with the response to our Ashes marketing campaign, which has contributed strongly to the enormous crowds and viewing audiences for the series so far.”
With ticket allocations exhausted for the first two days of the Boxing Day Test, there’s every chance the record for the highest crowd in a day of Test cricket – 91,092, set in Melbourne during Australia’s 2013/14 Ashes whitewash – will fall.
Meanwhile, a group of England’s players hit the fairways on the third day of their mid-tour getaway in Noosa. Players were filmed having a hit at the Maroochy River Golf Club, which charges players $115 for 18 holes.
The England squad travel to Adelaide on Saturday and commence training on Sunday for the third Test starting next Wednesday.
