Comprehension:
Read the passage given below and answer the five questions that follow.
Cricket is a passion for people around the globe. It is played everywhere from test match arenas to village greens, tropical beaches, and dusty backlots. Cricket is the world’s second most popular spectator sport after soccer. The origin of cricket can be traced back to the Dark Ages. All research concedes that the game is derived from a very old, popular and uncomplicated pastime by which one player served up an object, be it a small piece of wood or a ball and another hit it with a suitably fashioned club. The game of cricket was recorded in 16th-century England and it was played in grammar schools, farming communities and everywhere in between. But things really took off when 18th-century nobles realised it was a great sport. The oldest surviving set of cricket laws dates to 1744, which was printed on a handkerchief. Naturally, it’s now in the MCC Museum at Lord’s in London. The first international match was held in 1877 when Australia beat England in Melbourne. The match was dubbed ‘Test’, since the grueling nature of playing over five days was deemed the ultimate test for any one side. However, it was Australia’s first win on the English soil - in 1882 at The Oval in London - that led to matches between the two nations christened as the ‘Ashes.’ Following the defeat, newspapers published an obituary mourning “the death of English cricket”, adding that “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”
The newspaper obituary after England's 1882 defeat implies which of the following about the public sentiment?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The public reacted dramatically, treating the loss as a national tragedy.
The newspapers wrote of "the death of English cricket" and said that the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. Writing about a lost match as if a beloved person had died shows how dramatically the defeat was felt: it was treated as a national loss, a tragedy.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The loss was taken lightly and humorously. — Incorrect. Misread: the obituary is a mock one, but mourning "the death of English cricket" shows how deeply the defeat hurt; a loss taken lightly would not be compared with a death.
Option 2: The defeat was considered insignificant. — Incorrect. Contradicted: newspapers do not write an obituary for "the death of English cricket" over a defeat they think insignificant.
Option 4: The newspapers wanted the match to be cancelled. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the match had already been lost; the newspapers only "published an obituary", and nothing is said about cancelling it.