Australia comes out to response on the 2005 Ashes Video
Botham calls for urn to stay
Sir Richard Branson may not know much about cricket, but his campaign to leave the Ashes urn in Australia at the end of this series has drawn support from two former Ashes captains.
Branson reignited the debate over the 124-year-old artefact yesterday with a press conference in Sydney. Flanked by Allan Border and Ian Botham, he insisted: "Australia should keep the Ashes until we can win them back again. As chairman of the airline that actually sponsored bringing the Ashes down here, I feel uncomfortable about the idea of flying them back to England."
The Ashes urn has spent the past two months on a busy tour of Australia, visiting museums around the country. Botham and Border both argued that it means too much to the players for it to go back and be locked up in the Lord's museum by its owners, the Marylebone Cricket Club, for the rest of its life.
"To see the Ashes urn put down in the MCG or SCG, what a moment that would be for Australia," Botham said. "And it would be the same for England the next time they win it back.
"In this day and age, I don't believe the urn is too fragile to travel," he added. "It's here now and it's been around Australia."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard joined the campaign, promising that if the MCC agreed to Branson's proposal he would help find a home where the urn could be kept safe ? probably at Cricket Australia's offices in Melbourne.
"I know there is a lot of tradition surrounding where it has been in the past," Howard said, "but I don't think there is any valid reason why it shouldn't follow the outcome of the series."
Most unexpectedly, Branson's proposal found favour with the Wisden Almanack, a publication that dates back even further than the Ashes contest itself. "It would be incredibly powerful if you not only had the urn wherever the Ashes happened to belong at the time but there was also an empty plinth wherever they weren't, whether in Lord's or Sydney or Melbourne," said Wisden editor Matthew Engel.
The MCC remained unmoved, however, reiterating that the urn is not a trophy and never has been. A spokesman said it would have to be carefully examined for any damage upon its return to England.
Australia Cricket is giving the members of Planetcricket to decide wether the Urn stays in Australia until England can win them back, or if they go back to England and not ruin a 125 year histort. What are your thoughts?
Botham calls for urn to stay
Sir Richard Branson may not know much about cricket, but his campaign to leave the Ashes urn in Australia at the end of this series has drawn support from two former Ashes captains.
Branson reignited the debate over the 124-year-old artefact yesterday with a press conference in Sydney. Flanked by Allan Border and Ian Botham, he insisted: "Australia should keep the Ashes until we can win them back again. As chairman of the airline that actually sponsored bringing the Ashes down here, I feel uncomfortable about the idea of flying them back to England."
The Ashes urn has spent the past two months on a busy tour of Australia, visiting museums around the country. Botham and Border both argued that it means too much to the players for it to go back and be locked up in the Lord's museum by its owners, the Marylebone Cricket Club, for the rest of its life.
"To see the Ashes urn put down in the MCG or SCG, what a moment that would be for Australia," Botham said. "And it would be the same for England the next time they win it back.
"In this day and age, I don't believe the urn is too fragile to travel," he added. "It's here now and it's been around Australia."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard joined the campaign, promising that if the MCC agreed to Branson's proposal he would help find a home where the urn could be kept safe ? probably at Cricket Australia's offices in Melbourne.
"I know there is a lot of tradition surrounding where it has been in the past," Howard said, "but I don't think there is any valid reason why it shouldn't follow the outcome of the series."
Most unexpectedly, Branson's proposal found favour with the Wisden Almanack, a publication that dates back even further than the Ashes contest itself. "It would be incredibly powerful if you not only had the urn wherever the Ashes happened to belong at the time but there was also an empty plinth wherever they weren't, whether in Lord's or Sydney or Melbourne," said Wisden editor Matthew Engel.
The MCC remained unmoved, however, reiterating that the urn is not a trophy and never has been. A spokesman said it would have to be carefully examined for any damage upon its return to England.
Australia Cricket is giving the members of Planetcricket to decide wether the Urn stays in Australia until England can win them back, or if they go back to England and not ruin a 125 year histort. What are your thoughts?
. We hve won it back . we desreved it ,more than anybody . 
