  
| 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
England's heroes in victory parade
LONDON, England -- England's triumphant cricketers were feted by a massive crowd as they paraded through central London to celebrate winning back the Ashes from Australia in an epic Test series. Tens of thousands lined the streets on Tuesday as the team toured the capital in an open top bus before a special presentation ceremony in Trafalgar Square. The parade had echoes of the welcome home for England's rugby union team after winning the Rugby World Cup final in 2003 -- when Australia were again the victims -- in Sydney. Captain Michael Vaughan and his heroes ended their journey at Lord's, the home of cricket in North London, where the original Ashes urn is held by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Vaughan, whose spell as captain has seen England emerge as a major cricketing power, was overwhelmed by the reception. "It's incredible," the Yorkshireman told Sky News. "It''s very hard to describe the emotions. To see a crowd like this for cricket is fantastic. It's something I'll remember for a long, long time." England's winning women's cricket team, who beat Australia in their own Ashes series, also took part in the parade. The success of their male counterparts has filled the front and back pages of the British newspapers, with the Daily Mail trumpeting "Ours at Last" in reference to the team's 16-year wait to claim back cricket's most famous prize. "On top of the world," said the Daily Telegraph. The great and good have also been lining up to congratulate the team. Queen Elizabeth II, who is patron of the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), hailed their "magnificent achievement" in securing the Ashes. British Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated Vaughan and his team on a "fantastic series win." By bringing back the Ashes after so long, he said the team had "given cricket a huge boost and lit up the whole summer." His Australian counterpart John Howard also praised the Ashes victors. "I do congratulate England, I commiserate with Ricky Ponting and the Australian team," Howard told reporters during a visit to New York, referring to the losing Australian captain. "It's been an amazing cricket series, a wonderful series for the game of cricket, and the true victor in this series has been this wonderful game that so many of us love," Howard said The Australian public awoke to the news that their side's grip on cricketing supremacy had been loosened, although they remain top of the official world rankings. The Sydney Morning Herald said the Test series would be '"talked about breathlessly in both countries for generations." But the newspaper conceded, reluctantly, England deserved their win. "It was a fitting series result for a team that outplayed the world champion for most of the series and a finale that did perfect justice to the drama that had unfolded in the previous four Tests." 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
