Here's to cask beer and some Ashes luck

In my last My Shout, I suggested that we should drink to three British icons: pubs, beer and cricket.

The cricket bit referred to the MAshes (lost again as Snifter reported — but he failed to mention the three Wimbledon first teamers that came in last minute for the opposition) and obviously the Ashes themselves. What a turnaround!

Eight weeks ago, 1-1, would have been seen as very positive.

There has been lots of talk about Ashes momentum from Andrew Strauss, Ricky Ponting, the Sky commentators and pundits in general, as it has swung to Australia, then England and so on. After Headingley Australia have it! The Oval looks a daunting prospect for England!

I believe that British beer and British pubs are slowly, but surely, gaining momentum. Hopefully we can avoid a 'Headingley!'

The summer weather was good, then not so good, with the Met Office identifying the percentage risk of their long range forecasting. Despite the knocks as an industry, we need to strive to maintain momentum.

Cask beer (IPA, ale, lager, stout, porter, mild) is an icon — up there with fish and chips and the Queen.

The last few months' BBPA figures prove progress in the battle for quality in the glass and the cellar and I am looking forward to the next publication of the Cask Report (published early October 2009) that will show the momentum cask is experiencing in the last quarter of 2009.

May I suggest we rack some 'momentum' from British cask's success in a firkin and deliver it to Andrews Strauss to rub on Flintoff's knee; to sprinkle on his fellow bowlers for 20 wickets; to wet the coin for the toss; to give a drop to Bell at three; and perhaps to induce a fire alarm bell at 3am in the Aussie hotel!

From the other Ashes grounds, add the blocking and singing from Cardiff; the Lords result and support from the brewing industry; the Edgbaston swing for England's bowlers, minus the Brummie monsoon. Could we then anticipate the feel-good momentum factor of the Ashes regained?

Fingers crossed, but my head tells me that when I am reading the third Cask Report, the ticker tape parade to Trafalgar Square featuring Freddie Flintoff (the ex-Test cricketer) may not have happened.

Yet my heart yearns for a momentum swing back to Headingley and 1981 and a 'Bothamesque' Flintoff performance at the Oval in his very last Test…

C'mon Freddie, C'mon.

Stephen Crawley is managing director of the Caledonian Brewery​