Here’s Simon’s report on 58 deliveries. Fair play for spinning a yard from such little thread. But the man’s a pro.
Thanks for the chat today. Despite the lack of cricket I enjoyed my afternoon.
I’ll be back tomorrow with Tim de Lisle taking care of business in the morning.
Good news is that the weather looks clear tomorrow.
So we’ll get a result (ie an England win).
Here’s a goodie from Julie Smith that concerns kids (a subject close to my heart as I’m doing my best to turn my boys in Boks. Proteas fans):
double quotation mark Afternoon Daniel. My son supports the Republic of Ireland football team. He was born in London. the only connection he has to Ireland is his great grandmother who was half Irish. He says it is because they seem to play for the fun of it (don’t tell Roy Keane). there is none of the angst you get with the England team.
Is there a greater responsibility we hold as parents than making sure our children support the right team? I’m not sure that there is.
Well that’s a shame, ain’t it?
Still, we’ve got some more chat around our topic of the afternoon. While we wait for Ali and co to file their reports from a wet Lord’s, let’s keep the discourse rolling:
double quotation mark I was watching Italia 90 in the USA, supporting England in a student bar,, everyone was supporting Germany,they all threw popcorn. drinks at me when England lost, there was one other person from England there but he was supporting Brazil,wearing a Brazil kit throughout the tournament. Everybody wanted England to lose.
double quotation mark Hi Dan. A Kiwi, living in France for nigh on forty years. No doubts about who I’m backing in the current match.. but in cricket, and only in cricket, England is my second team. And that’s down to the OBO, so here’s to us!
My French born daughters are shocked that I instinctively support France against the All Blacks.. but the ABs against all other comers, obvs.. I will support the other team against any Aussie side, and that includes Satan’s XI or XV.
They’ve finally called it. Disappointment for all concerned, most of all those fans who stuck it out. must now make a soggy and weary trudge back to the train station.
We’ll keep the blog alive and kicking until reports filter our way.
What’s been revealed from our chat this afternoon is. no one can tell you what being a sports fan means.
Support who you want to support. It’s all so weird and subjective and arbitrary.
Case in point, here’s Derek Rogers who has a muddle relationship with sport:
double quotation mark Hello Daniel. I am a Welshman living in Canada. In rugby of course we hate the English. In football Wales are usually also rans so I have to support England. But for cricket it has to be good old England. Come on you Bluejays - baseball of course. And it’s the Habs (Montreal), not poor old Toronto in hockey. I’m also a duel Brit/Welsh Canadian.
No word yet on when/if we’ll get going again today.
They should just call it, IMO.
Til then, Tim Sanders reminds me that Scotland. England will meet on the cricket field in two weeks in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Headingley.
double quotation mark It’s also pertinent that this summer is twentieth anniversary of England’s greatest national sense-of-humour failure. when Andy Murray responded to an interviewer’s banter about Scotland’s absence from the 2006 football World Cup. It was absolutely fair and right of him to reply that he would be supporting whoever was playing England.
Those aforementioned men in coats are out in the middle.
So are several ground staff who are sharing jokes and looking pretty jolly.
While they get on with their business, here are a couple more readers on our conversation of the afternoon.
First, Roger Moore (I’m assuming that one):
double quotation mark I always support England teams, even from New Brunswick, Canada. However, whether it be soccer or football, I do not support the high hopes and awful rhetoric. “Too much talk, not enough ball.” And you can do a Fiery Fred with that one!!!
All that pre-Ashes talk, followed by a disastrous tour, complete with losing a test in two days? Yes, I support England. But I have every right to be sad. / or angry when the team is not competitive, is ill-prepared, and doesn’t seem to care.
Thank heavens for the Guardian and TMS. I would not be happy if I were paying big bucks to travel and watch certain games.
Now, Adam Roberts, who starts the mail with ‘morning’, so I’m guessing he’s somewhere sunnier:
double quotation mark Born in Africa to Welsh parents but raised in England, this has always been tricky.
It’s always been England cricket (even though I’ve lived over half my life in the West Indies),. I split my time between Wales and England for football. But ALWAYS Welsh rugby and I loathe England rugby with a passion.
While that inspection takes place, here’s Tim Sanders from Leeds:
double quotation mark Hello Daniel. Growing up as an Essex supporter, the remarkable Keith Boyce was my favourite cricketer. He was player of the series for West Indies in England in 1973,. I certainly wasn’t sorry to see him on the winning side. Watching his compatriots chase down 322-5 at Headingley in 2017, the old feeling was still there. At Rugby Union, I’ve always had a soft spot for Scotland and still support them over England. That’s something to do with childhood holidays in the Highlands,. an old university friend who was the most likeable rugby player you could ever wish to meet. I suspect that the nature of the old English establishment has something to do with both those allegiances.
I feel you. Growing up in Johannesburg, I’d watch Ken Rutherford open the batting and captain on occasion. It’s why New Zealand is my second favourite cricket side, though I’d never support the All Blacks.
Nicholas Butt is far more punchy in his email:
double quotation mark Support Ingerlund???? Not on my life, whatever is left of it. The entire circus and the dire ingerlund supporters do it for me. Anyone BUT ingerlund
There’ll be an inspection at 5:15.
That’s about five minutes from now. Men in coats will walk around, holding out a light meter while looking very serious.
I’ll be back once I get word of their report.
And now from John Starbuck who rightly points out that England doesn’t host every sport:
“ I can think of plenty of sports we don’t host as world leaders: table tennis, rounders, baseball, crown green bowling, basketball, swimming, cycling, hockey (ball. animal carcass versions) and all the winter sports, except maybe figure skating on occasion. The idea is tuned towards the inheritance of empire and popularising them via colonies. Mind you, there was a knock-on effect for cricket and Afghanistan, though sadly the women’s team are still struggling. Darts could be one of them but personally I couldn’t care less. Snooker is still the world championship in England but it won’t be long before China take that.”
I mean, you’re right, John. But can’t we all agree that all the best sports are found on this soggy island?
Here’s Simon McMahon, who, in case you couldn’t guess from the surname, is writing in from north of the border:
“ Hi Dan. I’m as Scottish as they come, and have a fairly simple relationship with English sports teams. I’m firmly in the ABE camp when it comes to football and rugby (though Southgate’s England were hard to dislike).
“Cricket, however, well that’s different. I’ve followed the England Test team since the 80’s,. would need longer than I’ve got to explain the complexities of it all and what they mean to me, but I’m pretty sure watching and listening to Jack Bannister / Ray Illingworth / Peter West sitting on a rooftop pavilion while Middlesex played Lancashire in the John Player League in 1983 has something to do with it..”
I wonder, though, who you support when England and Scotland meet on the cricket pitch?
Grant in Bordeux weighs in:
“ After the question earlier, I’m an Englishman living in Bordeaux, I’m an UBB season ticket holder. I support France in rugby, England in cricket and neither in Football ”
How lucky are you to watch that Bordeaux team week in and week out! Also, who do you support in football?
Sky has cut back to the cricket. Or at least where the cricket would be if it wasn’t still bucketing down.
They’re running through some frankly dull chats with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Oooh, here’s a question.
If England lose this series (and it’ll have to be 2-1 at this rate), do you think Baz. Ben will get the chop?
I was speaking with a Guardian colleague of mine yesterday. he reckons a loss in this series will result in a swinging axe from the ECB.
I wasn’t so sure. What do you reckon?
Peter Holmes has written in to keep the chat alive:
double quotation mark Here’s a slightly different question: are there any readers who are English born. bred who don’t support England? I mean, I know someone born in Leeds who supports Arsenal,. someone born in Birmingham who supports Man Utd, so the accident of birth does not necessarily dictate your loyalty in football. Not sure why it would be the determining factor in cricket. or more of a factor when it comes to national teams than club teams.
I know of South African rugby fans who support the New Zealand All Blacks. But that is mostly driven by the memory of apartheid and how the Springboks were coopted by a racist regime.
I’d love to know the answer to Peter’s question about England.
“Thanks for the thoughtful and fair response! The thing you’ve missed of course is. everyone has a long way to go before they hate England sports teams as much as their apparent supporters do.”
That’s from William Vignoles, picking up on the conversation around patriotism and sport.
Couldn’t agree more, Will. I don’t think English sports fans know how lucky they are.
This country hosts every major sport in the world. Your national teams not only play in World Cups, but are among the favourites for just about every one. There’s Formula 1, the British Open, Wimbledon, Olympics, Commonwealth Games. It’s the centre of the world.
It’s a mess in the Naylor house:
“My Anglo-Swedish kids seem to pick. choose which country to support and occasionally veer towards Norway in Scandinavian solidarity,” says father, Gary. “The exception is Eurovision, obvs.”
Funny enough, I’d quite like England to win the football WC (as South Africa obviously won’t). It’s just the rugby and cricket sides that bring out the worst in me.
‘Are we the baddies?’ asks William Vignoles.
double quotation mark Re the question about supporting England - thanks to growing up in showbiz north London I went to school with a fair few people of South African descent,. bar one or two the rule seemed to be support England against anyone but South Africa (for the parents as well as my friends). Granted many were the kids of people who had got out as quickly as they could in Apartheid years so a particular sample,. the same is true of my friends with roots in the subcontinent. The Aussies were the ones least likely to support England teams in any situation (except maybe against South Africa in rugby or India in cricket).
Cheers for your sterling efforts to keep up morale!
Well, sort of. If I can get serious for a second. there is ill-will towards England for their role in the creation of the ‘Big Three’ in cricket. But now that there is a Big One, this has softened.
There’s also an element of jealousy. It’s a cricket travesty that the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen won’t play over 100 Tests. Ditto [insert your favourite player from teams beyond England, India and Australia].
I imagine there’s also real world issues at play (colonialism, empire, global economics) though that doesn’t factor in with me.
It’s also just a bit of craic. It’s great having what they call a ‘heel’ in wrestling. Keeps things interesting.
More grim news from our man out in Ealing.
Neil Parkes says it’s raining again, and that it’s heading towards Lord’s.
This is an excellent question from Julian Menz.
One I feel best-placed to answer.
double quotation mark Hi Dan…. I can’t help wondering how long a Saffa/Kiwi/Aussie has to live in Earl’s Court (yes. it’s spread now) before they would ever support England? And yes, parent’s passports etc are allowed. And just btw, I was too late to the ”off-drive” debate, but I’ll stick with Graeme Pollock….
I have a running joke ( said with tongue firmly in cheek ). the only time I’ll ever allow my sons to support England in cricket or rugby is if they play for them.
I wonder if English fans truly grasp how much fun it is hating (in the way one can ‘hate’ a sports team) their sides. Mike Marqusee said it best in ‘ Anyone But England ’.
So, to address the question, I genuinely think the answer is ‘never’.
Gary Naylor, one of cricket’s gems. a regular on these pages, has written in and shared a piece he wrote a while back.
In it he shows some love for the G’s OBO. Of course I’m going to share it.
It’s stopped raining for a little bit.
That’s allowed some ground staff to get their brooms out and sweep off some excess water from the covers.
Love this from Peter McLeod (and not because I’m a baldie myself):
double quotation mark Your idea of a bald XI brought to mind an email into the OBO. for some reason has stuck in my head for what must be about 15 years.
I think the OBO writer at the time was Rob Smyth (true of many of the classic OBOs I think we’d all agree),. the match was taking place sometime during Peak England, i.e. that era when the team won the Ashes in Australia and briefly became the top-ranked team in the world.
Anyway, it was apropos of certain players being suited to certain match situations,. it contained the most extraordinary description of Matt Prior. I’ve just been googling to try to find the exact quotation. without any luck, so you’ll have to do with my recollection of it, which goes something like this:
“.. At 300/5. Matt Prior walking to the middle, chest puffed out, arms windmilling, chin jutting like an Easter Island statue, getting ready to make some meaty, manly runs.”
For no particular reason, other than it being a rainy Saturday afternoon over there in London, a belated commendation both to the author of the email. to Rob Smyth’s response, which went along the lines of “he could write the book on 21st-century man-love.”
If things clear up we’ll get a three-hour evening session. Plus 30 minutes to make up the overs, light permitting of course.
Word from the ground is that it’s a ‘mizzle’.
Neil Parkes in Ealing has some weather news:
“Rain is dwindling now. Still pretty grey though.”
Yeah, but can we trust it Neil? Could be snowing by the time I hit send on this post.
Cheers James. Hello everyone.
Seems I picked a good day to stay at home rather than mission to Lord’s. Where I am, about five miles north east of Lord’s, it’s not raining,. anyone who has been gaslit by the London weather this week will know that what I just shared will mean nothing. One minute it’s sunshine, the next it’s lashing down.
Anyway, I’ll be with you til the end, come what may. I can see on my TV that the covers are still on. there is no sign of anything changing imminently.
Drop me a line if you fancy. Perhaps you can let me know what you do during rain delays at the ground? Do you lose your will power and eat everything in your cooler box? Do you get stuck into the beers? Do you meander around the ground, maybe taking in the artefacts on show in the museum?
Me? I love having best XI debates with my mates. Best Bald XI; Best left-handed XI; best XI you’d want to go to a music festival with, etc.
“I feel for the Kiwi’s plight. Getting dragged on. off the pitch like a yoyo on amphetamines stops the batters being able to find their rhythm. It’ll be a pyrrhic victory. Best to postpone play til the morrow.”
You may well get your wish Aaron Davies. Still raining at Lord’s. I’m going to hand over to Daniel Gallan who will bring you soggy updates for the next few hours. Thanks for your company, goodbye.
The rain has really set in I’m afraid and the whole square is now being covered up.
There’s a light rain in the air but the umpire’s seem to be twitchy about the light. Yep, they are taking them off. The rain is heavier now and the tarpaulin covers are being dragged on to supplement the hover cover. This might be a slightly longer delay I’m afraid.
Discussion
Sign in to join the thread, react, and share images.