Following on : a memoir of teenage obsession and terrible cricket

The summer of 1993 was a pivotal moment in English cricket: a team of aging stalwarts and hapless debutantes had just limply surrendered the Ashes again, but a promising young captain won his second match while in charge of a team full of new names. England fans heralded the dawn of a new era. Instead, it turned out to be the start of England's arguably worst streak in any sport--a decade of frustration, dismay, and comically bungling performances that no fan will ever forget. The English cricket team became infamous for their ineptitude and a byword for British failure. By 1999, the team had reached its nadir, losing at home to New Zealand to become, officially, the worst test team in the world, ranking below even Zimbabwe. With spectacularly poor timing, fourteen-year-old Emma John chose 1993 to fall in love with cricket and, mystifyingly, with that terrible English cricket team. One day, with nothing better to do, she asked her sports-fanatic mother to explain the rules of the game on TV. Within a fortnight, Emma was a full-fledged cricket geek. Nearly a quarter of a century later, she goes back to England to meet her teenage heroes and find out just what was going on in the Worst English Cricket Team of All Time. As she traipses back through her adolescence, __Following On__ is also a personal memoir of what it was like to grow up following a team that always lost--and why on earth anyone would choose to do it. The summer of 1993 was a pivotal moment in English cricket: a team of ageing stalwarts and hapless debutants had just limply surrendered the Ashes again, but a promising young captain won his second match in charge with a team full of new names. England fans heralded the dawn of a new era. Instead it turned out to be the start of arguably England's worst streak in any sport - a decade of frustration, dismay and comically bungling performances that no fan will ever forget. The England cricket team became infamous for their ineptitude, and a byword for British failure. By 1999, the team had reached its nadir, losing at home to New Zealand to become, officially, the worst Test team in the world, below even Zimbabwe. With spectacularly poor timing, 14-year-old Emma John chose 1993 to fall in love with cricket and, mystifyingly, with that terrible England cricket team. Having one day - with nothing better to do - asked her sports-fanatic mum to explain the rules of the game on TV, within a fortnight Emma was a fully-fledged cricket geek. Nearly a quarter of a century on, she goes back to meet her teenage heroes and find out just what was going on in The Worst England Cricket Team of All Time. As she traipses back through her adolescence, Following On is also a personal memoir of what it was like to grow up following a team that always lost - and why on Earth anyone would choose to do it It's one thing to be 14 years old and a loser. It's one thing to be the class swot, and hopelessly infatuated with someone who doesn't know you exist. But what kind of teenager is besotted with an entire sports team – when the players are even bigger losers than she is? In 1993, while everyone else was learning Oasis lyrics and crushing on Kate Moss or Keanu, Emma John was obsessing over the England cricket team. She spent her free time making posters of the players she adored. She spent her pocket money on Panini stickers of them, and followed their progress with a single-mindedness that bordered on the psychopathic. The primary object of her affection: Michael Atherton, a boyishly handsome captain who promised to lead his young troops to glory. But what followed was one of the worst sporting streaks of all time – a decade of frustration, dismay and comically bungling performances that made the English cricket team a byword for British failure. Nearly a quarter of a century on, Emma John wants to know why she spent her teenage years defending such a bunch of no-hopers. She seeks out her childhood heroes with two questions: why did they never win? And why on earth did she love them so much?