Sir, I have been rising early each day to suffer the miseries of the Ashes so I am as disappointed as most and would like nothing more than a strong England side in the future (letters, November 29 and 30).

I would make one observation about the difficulties of achieving that aim. We introduced many modern sports to the world, we continue to have aspirations in most of them and this spreads our limited talent too thinly.

The Americans have the best idea because they play World Series competitions which exclude all foreign sides outside North America.

England should challenge every nation in the world to a triple crown series, playing one match each of cricket, football and rugby. Only four nations, France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, would have any real hopes of winning such a series against us. Such an experience might encourage us to be more positive about our sporting abilities.

Yours faithfully,
DAVE ALLEN,
Department of Creative Technologies,
University of Portsmouth,
Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace,
Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 3HE.
December 2.

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