Joseph Gage, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/>
Well look at England now eh? They seem to be a completely different team than the one who toured down under to gift wrap a certain urn for their hosts. And what of the current test champions, New Zealand? Regardless, it’s Happy Days for English cricket at the moment.
[Fair warning, if you were not born pre 1980’s then you may wish to switch off about now.]
Let’s see… well for one, Mister C (Brendan McCullum) has now stepped up as patriarch and coach of his new English family (his 2nd family in as many years mind you). The Fonz (Ben Stokes) has taken over leadership of the gang from Richie Cunningham (Joe Root), allowing Richie to really grow as a person and allowing Fonzie to be the alpha he’s been pining to be. Potsie (Matthew Potts) has shed his squareness and timidity and stepped up as a potential future leader of the English bowling attack and fully on his way to became assistant manager of Cunningham Hardware. Ralph Malph (Jonny Bairstow) has put his bat where his mouth is and turned verbal diarrhea into cricket diarrhea ie. runs (get it? tell me if you don’t as I’m happy to explain further). Not only that, Joannie (Jack Leach) has finally shown the world that she’s a woman now and not just Richie’s annoying kid sister. It seems that Garry Marshall (the English Cricket Board) really have a hit on their hands!
Highlights of the third episode include Ralph Malph in his inimitable quirky style, successfully impersonating an elite T20 batsmen with a strike rate across the series higher than Virat Kohl, Kane Williamson and Rohit Sharma in the recent IPL. Joannie really came out of her shell and scooped a 10 wicket hall for the last match, Chachi watching on adoringly from the stands. And finally, Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli leapt head first into a rumble with a rival test gang and came out the other side with a soul affirming and unequivocal victory. Looking forward to season 2!
