LONDON, Sept 13: Soccer has always been known as The Beautiful Game in England but cricket could soon challenge for the title after the team’s dramatic Ashes win over Australia.

With loutish behaviour on and off the pitch, millionaire soccer stars have tarnished the image of the national game while cricketers from England and Australia behaved impeccably during the five-Test series.

As a result, cricketers could become the nation’s new sporting heroes after defeating the Aussies for the first time in almost two decades after a thrilling series which was decided on the final day.

An opinion poll showed that 66 percent of people think the game played on innumerable village greens reflects the best traits of Britain. Just 22 percent think soccer does.

“In cricket, you have a sense of sport as it should be played by people who respect each other. They fought fiercely but they were friends,” said YouGov pollster Peter Kellner after taking the nation’s sporting pulse.

“You have got football hooliganism, a number of players who regularly disgrace themselves and a national team that never quite makes it,” Kellner said.

“The gentlemen footballers of days past like Stanley Matthews and Gary Lineker have gone. David Beckham is quite a good role model but the others are brutal,” he added.—Reuters