In a stunning eleventh-hour super-over victory against New Zealand at Lord’s on Sunday (14 July), the England team won its first top-place trophy since the tournament was established in 1975, having lost out in the 1987 and 1992 finals previously.
For printers, this meant a mad dash of last-minute preparations for celebrations, as well as an influx in demand from all kinds of clients for all kinds of applications.
Nottingham-based Fast Graphics had its installation team out early yesterday morning (15 July) to put up an 18m-wide England flag outside the city hall, Nottingham Council House. The mesh PVC flag, installed pro-bono, was printed nine years ago when Nottingham contemplated a bid to host the 2011 World Cup and has been used on select occasions of significance since.
“Our installation team got together first thing and had to cancel everything else,” said Fast Graphics managing director Tony Bates. “When we made the flag all those years ago, we anticipated a lot of negative comments because the England flag has been hijacked in some ways and is associated with hooliganism and racism.
“What this project was about for us is showing that we support our teams and get behind our country. It has turned out that people in Nottingham really like it and it is great to give something back in that way.”
Fast Graphics had also been responsible for a number of crowd barriers which had been used at the Trent Bridge cricket ground for a number of games during the cup.
Printed matter is enjoying this moment in the spotlight in a number of ways.
Southam, Warwickshire-based Mask-arade has once again capitalised on sporting stardom by pushing printed masks of England team star Ben Stokes, alongside 2019 Wimbledon men’s champion Novak Djokovic and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who won the British GP on Sunday.
Royal Mail has announced that it will be releasing a number of commemorative stamps centred around the England cricket team’s achievement, including stamps to highlight the women’s team, who won the title in 2017.
Two miniature sheets of the women’s and men’s teams will be available from 22 August and 15 special edition post boxes will be rolled out to the grounds of the stadiums used in the 2019 tournament in the coming months.
In local news, the front pages of several papers highlighted the achievements of players important to their own localities – such as Durham players Ben Stokes and Mark Wood being commemorated in the Northern Echo, and the Yorkshire Post congratulating Yorkshire-born players Joe Root, Jonny Barstow and Adil Rashid.
According to The Bookseller, publishers are now also anticipating a bounce in sales of cricket-related books following the events on Sunday.
