Shortly after 2pm on Friday I returned from a quick 30 mile cycle around Cheshire. Excitedly, I checked the latest Ashes cricket score. After England’s heroics with the ball the previous day, I was extremely optimistic. England, however had collapsed to 67 all out. Unbelievably poor even for them in recent times. Total Humiliation. Their collective failure had ensured the “old urn” would remain with our Antipodean cousins.
Fast forward to Sunday and we entered the Headingley cricket ground in Leeds ever the optimists. It was an unusually balmy late summer Bank Holiday weekend, and clear blue skies and Mediterranean temperatures in Leeds must be grasped immediately as they don’t tend to occur too often.
England “only” needed another 203 runs to win with 6 wickets still in tact. Although chasing a record score (for them, and the 10th highest of all time) to win a game, the sun was beating down, the pitch looked good. Hope was in abundance and a tense, nervous crowd unusually assembled promptly for an 1100 start. As those supporting England cricket will tell you, forever optimists that we are, “it’s the hope that kills you”.
After 25, tense minutes, England were up and running and finally scored a run, celebrated by a huge roar from the previously silent crowd of 20,000 people. From then until lunch, England’s batsman progressed brightly. Almost half way there we still believed. In the afternoon session, boundaries were hit, runs accumulated, bouncers ducked by toiling batsman. Inevitably, wickets however continued to fall. Our hopes “sea sawed” almost in unison with cricinfo’s probability percentage. We groaned when Champion “game changer” Jos Buttler was run out. But we still believed. We cheered Jofra Archer, as he added runs at an undue haste. Too undue it seems, as he was caught all too soon.
Broad arrived. We believed. “It” was still possible. He departed all too soon. The decision review system failing to reprieve him. Now we weren’t so sure. Two people in front of us grabbed their things and departed. A bespectacled Jack Leach arrived at the crease. Last man standing. The archetypal number 11. Except, he had already scored 92 earlier in the summer to rescue England against Ireland of all teams. My brother texted to ask if I was “staying to the end”. Too right I was. With Ben Stokes, England superhero at the opposite end, I still believed. (More than Cricinfo who estimated England’s chances at 8% at this point).
Jack dodged and weaved. Ducked and stepped aside as Australia’s finest and nastiest gave him everything they had. He paused momentarily on occasion to wipe his spectacles like an earnest librarian rather than somebody entrusted in keeping England’s slim ashes hopes alive. Ben Stokes at the other end, hooked and drove. scooped and swept. Balls deposited to all parts of the ground with an urgency rarely seen in Test Cricket. They rotated strike; nabbed twos and singles. They clearly still believed. So did we.
Soon 30 runs were required. Then 19. Finally single figures. Leach takes a “suicidal” run and Nathan “safehands” Lyon fumbles and fails to run him out. An uncharacteristic error. The collective gasp of disbelief joins the almost primeval roar. The sun beats down. We now really dared to believe. Cricinfo have England back at 10%. And then 2 runs are required for victory.
Stokes attempts to sweep again. This time he missed. Australia cannot review. A reprieve. He should have been out. Maybe this really is the day for the most unlikely. A single is scrambled. Scores are tied. The tension is palpable. We pace up and down. We sit with heads in hands. Some dare not even to watch. Nathan Lyon, he of 325 test wickets, bowls. Stokes drives to the boundary England win the most improbable of victories. The whole stadium rises as one. The roar is the loudest I have ever heard at a cricket ground.
And as Sales Leaders we have all been in that situation. The improbable of quarters. The impossible last weeks. All to do. Odds stacked against achieving. The easiest thing is to give up and go home. I have entered into negotiations with a Japanese bank at 1645 on the last day of the quarter; had £10m and 8 deals to achieve with 2 days to go to the end of the fiscal. We achieved both of course. But the point is, we refused to concede, stop believing, no matter how unlikely it seemed at the time. It would have been absolutely the easiest thing to do. We de-constructed the deals into their component parts. Action by action, hour by hour. We did it because we believed it was possible. Stick to the plan, take a few calculated gambles.
Belief is a huge part of our psyche. If you lose that, you lose everything. David Gower, former England Cricket Captain and now Sky Sports leading cricket host said on Saturday, (when commenting on England’s chances) “we are up a creek with no paddles. If someone finds us a pair of paddles, we are still up a creek.” In short, he gave England little chance.
Yet, in the space of 90 minutes fortunes and chances of victory were transformed. Not just because of the genius that is Ben Stokes but all other members of the team. Jack Leach, misty glasses and all, contributed one run to that last (winning) partnership of 75 runs. He believed. Stuck to the plan. Tried nothing too outrageous. Always thought they had a chance.
So, at the end of your next quarter, next month end even, think back to Headingley, 25th August 2019, when the seemingly impossible happened. Talent was absolutely in abundance, but a large part of the ultimate success was down to the belief against all odds, of those involved. They made their own luck.
As a footnote, after Friday’s capitulation, I really didn’t feel like driving to Leeds on Saturday for the likelihood of two “bruising” days at the hands of the Australia cricket team. In the end, neither did my godson who decided late on Saturday not to travel for yesterday’s play. Neither did the three individuals I offered my spare ticket to. It remained exactly that yesterday, spare. I on the other hand had the most memorable sporting experience of my life.
My old sage all those years ago was absolutely correct: You have to be there to make it happen and you do make your own luck!
