Cricket

There is an international cricket tournament being played in South Africa at the moment, the first one of it’s kind - Twenty20.

It is a relatively new format with only 20 overs a side being bowled so a match can be completed in about three hours, there are minor rules changes which apply generally to keep the game moving. The most significant difference to the other formats of the game is that a match cannot end in a tie - in the event of scores being level at the end there is a bowl out to decide the winner.

In domestic and international form it has been a great success and has attracted sell out crowds, but for me it does not represent the cricket that I have known and loved for many years.

Test matches (International games played over five days) were my introduction to the game and the reason that I came to love it. With six hours of play per day (rain permitting) and each side batting twice there is ample scope for the balance of play to ebb and flow several times between the two sides during the course of the match.

I have been privileged to watch some of the world’s finest players over the last twenty years playing in London and have witnessed some thrilling performances. It never mattered to me who was playing well (being Scottish means that I do not mind if England had a bad day), for me it was all about seeing top sportsmen perform at their very best.

Here are two of the finest bowlers that I have ever seen. Michael Holding is the finest fast bowler I have been lucky so see play and Shane Warne the world’s greatest leg spinner. The guy providing the commentary in the first clip and seen in the second is another legend himself. Richie Benaud is a former player who has been doing television commentary for over forty years and is regarded here and in Australia as the greatest cricket commentator.

A day at a Test Match was also an excuse to meet up with friends, sit out in the sun for 8 hours enjoying a picnic and some wine while the days play unfolded in front of us.

This all came to an end two years ago when for the first time since ‘84 we failed to get any tickets for the Test Match. We had applied in October for tickets for a match the following August for 20 years without any problems.

Ground capacity had increased in 2004 by 5,500 so that does not explain it - I suspect that the answer is corporate greed with ticket agencies being involved. Looking at the crowd on that first day in 2005 I was amazed at the clusters of Australian supporters scattered around the ground. How did they manage to get 50 tickets in a block I pondered.

So I will never again see Test match cricket in person in this country and while that saddens me on one level I have come to terms with it and moved on. We now pick a county game and go for a day in the sun with cricket to watch and our tickets are bought on the day at a quarter of the price.