Victory for British sport. The ladies win the cricket World Cup and Chris Froome wins the Tour De France.
Life could hardly get any sweeter for British sport this weekend. Who could have dreamt that script? Just as you thought it couldn't have got any worse British sport pulls a rabbit out of the hat. Firstly there was the Andy Murray injury setback which eventually cost the Scottish braveheart what would have been his third Wimbledon victory. Then South Africa levelled up the cricketing battle of wits against England and Britain thought the sporting summer had somehow let them down.
It all looked very bleak and disheartening but then Britain's cricketing ladies and a British cyclist came along and remedied the problem. Sport can often leave you perplexed and speechless and this was no exception. These were very contrasting victories in different settings, different environments, what seemed improbable circumstances but then sport does restore your faith in human nature. Then you begin to believe in the impossible and it all makes perfect sense. You have to believe that it can happen.
Just over 40 years ago Rachel Heyhoe Flint was the radical, pioneering figure behind the emergence of women's cricket. In fact before Heyhoe Flint nobody had heard of women's cricket or if they did then nobody else knew anything about it. She was bright and breezy and fully genned up on the intricacies of lbw, yorkers, swing and seam bowling and the blazing hook for six over the Lords pavilion.
Yesterday Heather Knight and speed merchant Anya Shrubsole joined forces to beat India in the women's World Cup Final at Lords. For so long the bastion of male cricket, Lords members could only rub their eyes with bewilderment. In the deepest recesses of cricket's headquarters men with yellow and red ties could only take off their panama and trilby hats respectfully in complete deference to the women they'd so reluctantly accepted for so many years.
But yesterday at Lords England won the World Cup, a sentence very few of us thought we'd ever utter again. It may have been the women winning the cricket World Cup but how long have the Brits waited patiently for a winning team with a winning mentality. But here came the girls with their navy blue and pink shirts, patriotic three lions on their trousers and a victory that will resound throughout the nation for quite a while now.
And yet this may not have been an unexpected victory for the English cricketing ladies. This was the fourth time that they've conquered the world game and by a substantial margin to boot. India were just trampled and trodden on, England gliding past the India total and easily reaching the required run target. After such a desolate summer for English sport this was that outstandingly redemptive moment when finally we could shout it from the rooftops and celebrate with shameless rejoicing.
While the fireworks went off behind them, the world of women's cricket had finally broken through all of those sexist and forbidden territories that had for so long held them back. So how is it that we've overlooked the criminal neglect of cricket in the women's game? The perceptions, misconceptions and prejudices were always hovering irritatingly in the background but now the breakthrough had been achieved, achieved handsomely.
It must have felt that women's cricket could hardly breathe but now it's been released from the shackles and finally Heather Knight lifted the World Cup for England. Throughout the shires, counties, cities and village greens of England, repressed voices can finally make themselves heard.
So it is that the memory of Rachel Heyhoe Flint can be fondly resurrected and English cricket has finally chalked up a historic victory, a victory for commonsense and discretion, a victory for equality and fair play. When the lads of football's Premier League shortly walk out of their tunnels perhaps they may consider the rip roaring exploits of their female counterparts. This seems to represent much more of a breakthrough than some could possibly have imagined. It was an achievement on the grandest scale.
Meanwhile back on the streets of Paris another British sporting hero Chris Froome did his bit for British sporting prestige and honour. In the world of cycling Froome is now well and truly established in bike folklore with his fourth triumph in the Tour De France. Once again very few saw it coming although most of us were privately hopeful. Isn't it nice to know that the British can be modest and self deprecating about victory but Froome followed in the esteemed Olympic footsteps of Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins in the saddle.
But the roads and fiercely competitive country lanes of France are an entirely different kettle of fish when compared to the dizzy heights of Olympia. The Tour De France is a hard, gruelling, demanding and exhausting slog fest on a bike. For Froome though the ultimate challenge was promptly met and by the time he'd pumped tiring thighs to the finishing line at the Champs Elysses, Froome knew he'd deserved the cheers, the plaudits, the laurel wreaths around his neck and the kind bouquets of praise.
After what seemed like an eternity Froome had negotiated all of the obstacles that are synonymous with the world's highly prized bike race. He'd pushed his body to the limit up the steepest of hills, winding and meandering French roads, country lanes that seemed to go on for ever and then the tallest and most forbidding mountainsides. It is one of sport's most painful struggles and one that is fully deserving of our utmost respect.
Yesterday though Paris greeted Chris Froome in the French capital with grudging praise perhaps but still it was Britain's day to get all proud as Punch. In recent years Hoy and Wiggins have captured most of the headlines and the back slapping congratulations. But now Britain have finally claimed their precious sporting weekend when all seemed lost. Three cheers for the England ladies cricket team and a cyclist called Chris Froome. Victories to savour. It's time for the applause and not before time. What a weekend.
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