Branson Ashes campaign bid
By Josh Massoud and Luke McIlveen
January 03, 2007 12:00
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
THE campaign to keep the Ashes in Australia is about to get a shot in the arm, with British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and former England captain Ian Botham calling on cricket bosses to keep the urn here.
Sir Branson launched the audacious campaign to keep the ashes in Australia at a packed press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground this afternoon as his home team was getting flogged on the pitch.
Flying the face of his homeland, Sir Branson declared it ?inequitable? and ?wrong? for England to demand the Ashes urn back after losing this summer series so comprehensively.
The mogul?s international airline Virgin Atlantic jetted the urn to Australia for its current tour Downunder.
But Sir Branson today admitted to feeling uncomfortable about supplying a plane to return it to the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lords ? the owners of the urn.
?I hope the MCC will see some sense over the next two or three days,? Sir Branson said.
Former English cricketing great, Ian Botham and ex-Australian captain Allan Border also called for the cricketing tradition to be overturned after almost a century.
?You are playing for the Ashes, so it?s a bit ridiculous that the trophy always stays in England? Botham said.