Thaindian News

Melbourne, Feb 7 (ANI): Since they couldn’t beat them in cricket, the Australians are gearing up to crush England at what they pride themselves on doing better than the rest of the world-making marmalade.

Marmalade makers of Buninyong, near Ballarat, including amateur cooks who love the bitter lumpy citrus jam and entrants from the town’s Country Women’s Association branch, have sent 11 jars of their best to the world’s biggest marmalade competition, held in Cumbria in the north-west of England, for judging in a new category dubbed the ‘MarmalAshes’.

Russell Luckock, a cricket lover and advocate of marmalade, came up with the idea after Australia’s demise in the Ashes.

‘I decided to organise a Buninyong Eleven and to challenge the Poms. I thought, we’ve got to save a bit of face here, thought we’d challenge them at marmalade, because Australians always like to beat the Poms at their own game,” the Age quoted Luckock as saying.

‘It’s important to the Poms, therefore it’s important to us to beat them.,” he added.

The 65-year-old wrote to the Cumbria branch of the Women’s Institute and asked them to add the town’s jars for judging against a team of English marmalade makers. The Buninyong submission includes several marmalade varieties, including Seville orange, grapefruit, kumquat, lime, lemon and three-fruits.

The prize for winning will be the MarmalAshes, an urn-like jar of burnt jam to be kept in the dock of the old Buninyong courthouse.

Luckock said that in keeping with Ashes tradition, it would not go with the victor each year. ‘They’ve got to come out and see it, just exactly like if we win the Ashes we have to go out to Lord’s to see it.’

The world marmalade competition would to be held on February 12-13. (ANI)