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When Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook were mapping out a second Australian tour for their enormously popular Rest Is History podcast, Holland had a particular goal: have it coincide with the Ashes.
Holland has made the most of the trip, with visits to the nets for a hit and a bowl, a trip to the MCG for a preview of the new Shane Warne exhibition at the National Sports Museum and a stay at the Adelaide Oval hotel.
Historian Tom Holland enjoys a view of Adelaide Oval over breakfast.
But his first experience of a Test match outside of Britain turned out to be particularly nasty, brutish and short, as England were vanquished inside two days in Perth after Travis Head emerged from the wooden horse.
“It was an awful ending, a bit like the Trojan War,” Holland says. “If you’re a Trojan, the war ends very badly, but it’s very epic. There are great deeds that people sing of down the ages, and that’s what I felt. I felt exhausted at the end of it, and the kind of roller-coaster quality of it, and the fact that England lost, I was disappointed, but I thought ‘this is an amazing spectacle’.
“I love watching teams and players that remove you from your daily life, and you share in their triumphs and tragedies. I felt that about Travis Head. He’s everything I want from an Australian batsman. David Boon was always my favourite and there’s a hint of Boon about Head.”
Tom Holland (left) and Dominic Sandbrook, hosts of the popular The Rest Is History podcast.
So it was that when Holland and Sandbrook took audience questions in Sydney, one of them was mischievously attributed to “Travis Head”. Holland professes ignorance about whether cricketers follow the podcast, and he is delighted when told that Australia’s captain Pat Cummins is an avid listener, inviting him to their Brisbane show on Friday night “if he’s not playing”.
Either way, Holland will also be at the Gabba. He admits that day four tickets may be optimistic given how the first Test played out, and also the way that England now approach Test cricket under Ben Stokes.
“There is a berserker quality to Stokes,” Holland says, having written extensively about Norse and Dark Ages history, in addition to his expertise on ancient Rome and the spread of christianity.
“He looks like a Viking chieftain with that beard. And his whole approach, work yourself up into a berserker fury and charge, I always thought there was something faintly Viking about it, and the laughter as the arrows rain down and send you off to Valhalla.
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“That whole ‘tis better to die than to live as a coward’ kind of attitude, occasionally it gives the Vikings glorious victories, and on other occasions they all end up slaughtered and food for ravens on the battlefield.”
In a more contemporary sense, Holland looks upon Bazball through a somewhat political lens.
“There was something incredibly miserable about English cricket on their last tour of Australia,” he says. “I got the sense that none of them were enjoying it, and I guess you could say it’s a little bit like leaders who try to give countries back their joie de vivre after a rough time.
“So there’s a bit of making cricket great again – I don’t want to compare Stokes to Trump, but it is a time-honoured political formula. It’s what Napoleon is doing, it’s what Charlemagne is doing, it’s what Augustus is doing.
“If you’re a professional cricketer, maybe you might have a nostalgia for the time when you played as a child with enthusiasm and relish for something new and exciting and you try to resurrect that. Cricket also is always haunted by a nostalgia where people think things used to be better in the past. But they were looking for a kind of renaissance, so let’s say it’s a renaissance.”
Tom Holland at the nets in Melbourne.
Though they play up their contrasts, Holland and Sandbrook do legitimately disagree on cricket. Holland has loved it ever since he watched the legendary 1981 Headingley Test match as a child, while Sandbrook is much more of a soccer man.
That Holland’s Aston Villa beat Sandbrook’s Wolves this week has added another layer of banter to their live shows. But both agree that a cricket series will be part of The Rest Is History soon: on the 1932-33 Bodyline Ashes tour.
“That is sufficiently historic,” Holland says. “If we’re going to do a cricket theme or any sporting theme, it needs to be big enough and culturally or politically significant enough that even American listeners will be brought along.
“Bodyline is the obvious example of that happening. It’s something we’ve been talking about doing for a long time.”
Before that, Holland will be on the edge of his seat at the Gabba. Not just for England, but for Zak Crawley, who sits alongside Sir Ian Botham and Kevin Pietersen in the trio of cricketers for whom he has held the brightest candle.
“I watched him get a brilliant double century against Pakistan in lockdown,” Holland says. “His innings was all about joy and brilliance and I’ve loved him ever since.
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“But unlike Botham or Pietersen I get fewer returns for my devotion. But when the returns do come in, then it’s glorious. I was devastated for him in Perth, but keeping my fingers crossed.”
As for England’s chances of getting back into the series, Holland is clinging to hope largely derived from the 2023 Ashes and a comeback from 0-2 down to 2-2.
“There does seem to be a slight quality of Russian roulette about it, and my sense is it depends, especially with a Bazball team, on what time they are batting,” he says. “So I’m praying to the cricket gods.
“I’m not just doing that selfishly as an England supporter. I think it would be for the good of the series and Test cricket for England to win. Even if they go 0-2 down, maybe they’ll come back in Adelaide. I wouldn’t put it past them – they deal in improbability.”
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