Posted by Send your match reports to king@kingcricket.co.uk. We’re only really interested in your own experience, so if it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. (But if it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.)
Who says you can’t report on the same day’s play twice? Dan writes…
A South African I know through work told me he had a ticket available for me for Day 2 of the World Test Championship final if I’d like to join him and his friends. He correctly assumed I’d be supporting ‘not Australia’ for the event.
‘Eldritch Lower’ said the ticket after I received a successful transfer. Good news! We’ll be under cover.
I met my host in the blazing early morning sunshine as he was slapping on factor 70. “I thought you said we’d be under cover?”
Ah yes, the redevelopment of the stand. I haven’t been here since then. Luckily he was prepared and willing to share the sun cream.
I enjoyed queueing for the whole of the extended lunch break for a very fine but expensive Nanny Bill’s Burger (I can’t remember if there was an apostrophe or not). Something about a fryer being down on power made it take longer than everyone would have liked. The cooks (chefs?) in the Nanny Bill’s van bobbing along to the house tunes they were playing to keep them moving made a 40-minute wait for a burger more fun than you’d think.
I was thrilled when the ticket for my order was number 100. I was then dismayed when I didn’t receive a round of applause when my number was called. I had envisioned holding my burger aloft to salute the crowd. Perhaps they were all too hungry and worried about missing the resumption of play.
Back in the seats, the banter between the Aussies in front and the Saffers alongside and behind became increasingly loud along the typical Test match drinking worm graph trajectory. The Aussies were definitely laughing too much at any mildly amusing comment and by the evening session my smart watch repeatedly told me that the South African contingent was creating a ‘loud environment’ and warned me that prolonged exposure could lead to hearing loss.
There were warm handshakes all round at the end of the day. I was sad that I couldn’t be at Day 3 with any of my new antipodean friends. I stopped for a wee at a public toilet on Wellington Road. St. John’s Wood really is a posh part of London. It was cleaner than my Mum’s house. (She keeps a really clean house.)
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