FIELD-DAY: (Clockwise from left) Children play cricket at Hyde Park; a group of amateurs wield the willow in Parliament Square; the NatWest trophy

And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England ’s mountains green. And were those Ashes on England ’s pleasant pastures seen.

If you think that 1987 belongs to the Cretaceous period, spare a thought for the Barmy Army’s rank and file. As someone who back then was busy playing lego and attempting to come to grips with the12 times table, the wait for an Ashes victory has been almost a lifetime’s.

Eight embarrassments at the hands of the old enemy have followed as David Gower, Graham Gooch, Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain successively re-enacted a sporting equivalent to the charge of the Light Brigade. England may have given the world cricket, but the Aussies have shown them how it should be played.

But wait! After 18 years of boo-hoo-hoos, there are strange mutterings and goings-on in the village greens. Wisden is reappearing on bookshelves. White flannels are coming out of the closet. Creaking old willows are remembering what it feels like to be rubbed down in linseed oil again. Even in Scotland, the most unenthusiastic cricket playing region on the planet, (where admitting to liking the sport is akin to admitting to being homosexual in Iran) people are daring to practise their off breaks and cover drives. In public. And in broad daylight too.

Yes, for the first time since players were flabby and boasted dodgy facial hair (see Ian Botham vs David Boon; Gooch vs Merv Hughes; Mike Gatting vs Allan Border etc.) this year’s contest has captured the public’s imagination. One can even raise cricket as a topic of conversation without inducing narcolepsy upon others. TV ads featuring W.G. Grace rising from his grave and rallying the nation would have been cringing to watch just a few years back but are currently proving immensely popular. White V-neck sweaters are more visible. Cricket, dare one say it, is becoming cool again.

The Brits finally have something to fill that awkward time of the year known as summer ? when the sun is out, the football season off, the schools shut and nobody quite knows what to do with themselves. The ECB ( England and Wales Cricket Board) proudly claims that each fixture could easily have been sold twice over. Even attendances at county matches have risen (it’s nowadays watched by two men and their dogs rather than just one), while broadcasters are expecting record viewing figures. In fact, the NatWest Series one-day match between England and Australia at Bristol on June 19 sold out seven months in advance.

Ever since a simple act of arson way back in 1882, the Ashes has been the one cricketing contest Brits sit up and take seriously. It is the contest that gave birth to international cricket. The sheer weight of history and drama behind the ongoing battle for that little eggcup makes it even more important to England fans than the World Cup. It is the one series that always packs stadiums and gets people talking. It is, to put it simply, everything.

Above all, interest is high this time around because England has finally found 11 men who can take the field without falling flat on their backsides. And it expects that every man will do his duty. This is a far cry from the nadir of just six years ago.

Despite having the advantage of being the hosts, England suffered a miserable World Cup campaign in 1999. Captain Alec Stewart was unceremoniously axed. This was followed by a home defeat against New Zealand, making England officially the worst team in the world. Captain Nasser Hussain was roundly booed from The Oval pavilion. This was the culmination of year upon year of frustrations at a side not only incapable of winning, but frequently incapable of putting up a fight.

The ICC ranking was unnecessary. Supporters had known it for years. Enthusiasm for the game had been waning throughout the Nineties. Test matches and one-day internationals (ODIs) were not the guaranteed sell-outs they once were as England steadily became cricket’s laughing stock. Fans had had enough of spending good money to watch the side habitually slaughtered.

There were some false dawns and a few bright hopes that briefly flickered. By and large, though, the side showed time and time again that it could not bat, could not bowl, and could not field. Indeed, if an American or even a Martian had asked one during that decade to explain the complex nature of cricket, it could be done in a sentence: “Cricket is a game where 11 players take on 11 players over five days or a single day ? and England always lose.”

Not anymore! A remarkable 18-month period has seen the side beat the West Indies 3-0 in the Caribbean; whitewash New Zealand and the West Indies at home; reach the Champions Trophy final (arguably should have won the tournament); snatch a 2-1 victory down in South Africa and a comfortable 2-0 win over Bangladesh. England’s record in Tests for this period reads: Played 18; Won 14 (including a national record of 8 in a row); Drawn 3 and Lost 1.

While England’s overall one-day record remains modest, seven head-to-head clashes against Australia this summer have yielded two wins for England and three wins for Australia, a washout and a tie with England winning the inaugural Twenty/20 encounter between the sides. Although the one-day format is no sure-fire indicator for the five-day one (which will feature England’s great nemesis S.K. Warne), there is reason to believe that England will, at the very least, be competitive.

“This England team is really going places and the Australians are on the slide,” believes 25-year-old cricket fan Will Ridge, a civil servant from Leeds. “If England are able to put pressure on the Australians, then I think they will crack.” Ridge admits that his interest in the game has been revived thanks to England’s recent successes, plus the emergence of younger flamboyant players such as Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Andrew Strauss.

Ridge also says that his home city ? home to the Headingley Test venue ? is brimming with anticipation for the Ashes. “Real cricket fans are talking about nothing else and that is making people who don’t normally follow cricket too closely sit up,” he points out.

Paul Oldfield, 26, a postgraduate tutor from Sheffield, shares that ‘bring it on’ viewpoint. “I’m proud that we have a team that not only wins but wins with flair,” he says. “We’ve unexpectedly turned the corner after years of doing badly and low expectations.”

He highlights the transformation of Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff from overweight underachiever into national hero as the personification of England ’s turnaround. The Barmy Army has been praying for years for an Ian Botham-esque figure and the big-hitting, fast bowling Lancastrian is answering the call. Oldfield also believes Flintoff’s larger-than-life personality has made the British public (if not Sourav Ganguly) take him firmly to their hearts. “He’s got a cheeky working-class quality which people relate to,” Oldfield explains, which has also helped diminish the game’s perennial image problem of being ‘a posh man’s game’.

Commentators ? from Richie Benaud to Geoffrey Boycott ? have publicly stated that England finally have a team with the potential to wrest the little urn back. The consensus is that their hopes rest on the fitness of their pacemen (in what will be a packed schedule) plus the openers’ ability to see out the new ball and not expose an under-pressure middle order to Mr Warne.

Of course, all that is easier to put in print than put in practice. The world has changed considerably since 1987 but hardly has English cricket, Australians will joke. The visitors are still rightly regarded as favourites, and if each of their players is in top form it is likely to be a one-sided series, regardless of how well England performs.

Yet, for once, there appears to be just a tiny semblance of a chance to claim back what was once burnt. Blare out Elgar’s Nimrod and brush up on your Henry V. People up and down this sceptred isle are daring to think the almost unthinkable ? England might actually win!