DUBLIN—For one sodden afternoon, the ghosts of 800 years of inconvenient history were politely asked to wait in the rain while Ireland and England played 50 overs of cricket so politely aggressive it could have been choreographed by the EU negotiating team. The scorecard, when finally dried out, read: England 334/8, Ireland 286/9. England won…
England v South Africa: A Rivalry Where Colonial Ghosts Keep Score By Our Man in the Stands, Pretoria—still waiting for the Wi-Fi to load the 19th century The Oval, London, June 2030. A low sky the colour of wet cardboard hangs over the ground while two former empires—one shrunk to a damp island that can’t…
To the rest of the planet, the All Blacks versus the Springboks is less a rugby match and more a geopolitical stress test disguised as sport. While the rest of us were doom-scrolling through inflation graphs and negotiating with our microwaves for edible leftovers, New Zealand and South Africa quietly scheduled their annual reminder that…
