A coronation during austerity and an Ashes to remember: omens of 1953

A re you excited for the biggest royal event since the last one? Have you downloaded your official quiche recipe and your print-at-home bunting? The Spin may not be about to stand in the street shouting oaths of allegiance to a new king, but that’s because The Spin was taught not to stand in the street swearing at anyone. And be you a coronation watcher or dodger, it’s impossible to ignore the prime cricketing omens embedded in this weekend’s celebrations.

The last summer a monarch was crowned, England won back the Ashes by playing an entirely new brand of cricket. Admittedly, the style they adopted 70 years ago was rather less dynamic than Bazball. The 1953 Ashes is mostly remembered for the incredible stonewalling of Trevor Bailey, the dead-bat-dick of England-Australia contests, a man whose face launched a thousand forward-defensives. Bailey’s string of tenacious innings led him to be dubbed The Barnacle, which was an improvement for someone whose previous nickname was The Boil.

As the decades have drifted by, England’s bloody-minded obstructionism has become the defining image of that series. Perhaps it didn’t help that Boilball ushered in a more cussed approach from England’s batters and captains alike and the period of English dominance that ensued was not Test cricket’s most entertaining. Nor does an overall scoreline of 1-0 to England, with four rain-soused draws, shout its merits. You need a closer look to uncover the streaky brilliance of Alec Bedser’s bowling, the captains’ leadership-by-bat, the late-call heroics of Jim Laker and Tony Lock.

“No game ever seemed to run the same way for two successive days,” said John Arlott, who maintained that the second Test at Lord’s was the most exciting draw he watched.