To be honest, I'm not the greatest royalist in Britain. All this Diamond Jubilee fever leaves me slightly cold although, as with Kate and William's shindig last year, the occasion has demonstrated the importance of a street party in getting to know neighbours you haven't set eyes on in years!
Royal Jubilee celebrations haven't always involved mega-gigs in the Mall and flotillas on the Thames. In 1977, there was even a Jubilee Test match between England and Australia, but the label merely reflected the fact that the Queen would put in a personal appearance for a few minutes at Lord's several days after the main jamboree. It started on 16th June and was also notable for the sacking of Tony Greig as England captain following the announcement of his role in setting up the rival World Series Cricket 'circus'. Mike Brearley, in only his ninth Test, was given the role (well, he was a Middlesex man!) and duly won the toss and decided to bat.
England staggered to 216 all out, thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 98 between Bob Woolmer and Derek Randall. Jeff Thomson took 4-41 and debutant Len Pascoe picked up a few wickets, too. Greg Chappell's Aussies managed only an 80-run lead, spread ove rtwo days, with Bob Willis claiming an impressive 7-78. England's second innings was just as lop-sided as the first. Dennis Amiss went for a duck but Brearley, Greig and Woolmer put on 224 for the next two wickets, the latter scoring 120. Then came the usual collapse but there was no time for Australia to reach their target of 226. In fact, given that they were 114-6 at close, they may well have lost had it not been for the weather. There may not have been a result but the match receipts of over £220,000 were an English record at the time. In keeping with the jolly Jubilee tradition of 1977 - Virginia Wade won the Ladies Singles at Wimbledon - England went on to win the Ashes by a convincing 3-0, in a series spread out over more than two months. How things have changed!
The international cricket played around the principal Silver Jubilee public events took the form of a one-day series involving the same two nations. In those days, the format was one of 55 overs, and Prudential were the sponsors. England won the first two low-scoring games fairly easily so the final fixture on the 6th June at The Oval was a dead rubber. Some of it ended up taking place in pouring rain, the sort which would normally result in a full set of covers and an early abandonment. However, it was a Bank Holiday, the ground was packed and so Greg Chappell had to grin and bear it under his green baggie cap, while Willis, Old, Lever and co had to hope they wouldn't slip on the increasingly wet outfield. Chappell's brilliant unbeaten 125 won the day.
The Golden Jubilee weekend of June 2002 witnessed not only beacons, processions and the Party at the Palace but the Second Test between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. Not sure if Her Maj attended this one but it hasn't been recorded as a 'Jubilee Test' so presumably not. I was out of the country so do not recall! As in 1977, the mother country gave its Commonwealth cousins a battering. Sanath Jayasuriya's side boasted a wonderful batting line-up but Nasser Hussain's seam attack reduced them to 162 all out. England then proceeded to pile on 545 in their first innings, featuring centuries from Trescothick and Thorpe. The latter was assisted in reaching three figures by Matthew Hoggard. The tail-ender crawled to 17 over two hours. As things turned out, he needn't have been so diligent because the home team, led by Hoggard's 'five-for', bowled Sri Lanka out for 272 and won by an innings and 111.
I rather suspect that in 2012, England's cricketers will get the better of the West Indies later this week and deliver QE2 yet another Jubilee present of a masterful Test triumph.
