We also won the Bank Tri series(?) in 2007 . That is the sum total of our Limited over prowess
. We may have won a Champions Trophy or something when I was a kid ? But I don't remember it .
For me , and many other hardcore fans , it's huge . We have been working towards this for 4 years and we have really put ourselves out to do it . It would be a massive coup for Andrew Strauss and his legacy .
The casual English sports fan is a mercurial beast . I've seen them go wild over the Ashes and the Olympics etc ...and barely a one of them could spot a good ball in a lineup . There's no difference between a thick edge over the slips and a reverse sweep for that sort of fan , both 4 runs
. They can talk in general about the sport but an actual appreciation of what's going on ball by ball is beyond most of them . If they decide to turn out for the final, it could be a nice showcase for the sport but it isn't gonna generate major heat like a sub-continental Final .
I was out in India during the 2011 World Cup and it rocked . You could be hundreds of miles from the stadium but there was atmosphere and smart cricket fans everywhere I looked .