Double Header, Double Trouble

London Leprechaun writes about a day that was billed as very different but actually turned out rather familiar. There is less about the cricket on double header day and more about Lord's trying to be different. But nothing has really changed.

You know Lord’s thinks it’s a big match day when:

• There are loads of stewards at the gates
• There are lots of volunteers with here to help on their fetching pink tops who are actually being helpful
• There are lots of coffee bars open
• There is a mobile lager bar
• There is a guitarist outside the Harris Gardens
• There is a funfair at the Nursery End
• All the stands are open,
• The players come out through mascots all with flags as if we are about to have national anthems – now there’s a thought – what would the Middlesex anthem be.

You know it’s a T20 match day when

• There is a lot of loud music
• You can actually hear the public address system –though not the TV interviews
• Pinky the Pather is wandering round
• We get plumes of gas flames every time there is a boundary
• But new for this year – instead of the not very missed Pantherettes there seem to be a group of young people dressed like jockeys playing drums.  The trouble is that they played them facing the spectators at the same time as music was blaring from the loudspeakers. Which did not make for harmony or for stopping when the players were actually ready. Not an improvement really.

How do you know it’s a double header day?  Well that was less obvious. The stands were not that full as the first match was building up, and in the morning there was little sign of Sussex supporters coming early.  There was a good turnout of Middlesex members in the Warner Stand and eventually the Grandstand was pretty full.  Oddly the wicket was not central so the Tavern Stand was less full.

There was no great sense of occasion; the announcer was trying to get the crowd geed up with dramatic announcements of the players’ names but it did not work. I really think that this cricket does not need gimmicks and flames and drums or football style hype.  There was enough interest in the cricket in both games to keep most people happily watching.   Funfairs and balloons and such are fine to keep the kids entertained, but we don’t need more.

There was though a friendly atmosphere in the ground helped by the lovely weather and it was nice to wander round the ground in the interval between matches. There were people having picnics all over the place, children playing cricket outside the pavilion (and no one stopping them); our musician was still going and generally it felt like Lord’s had turned into a public park. Very pleasant.

The ground was about as full again for the second match though a number of Essex people definitely left. But it was nowhere near as full as one or two of our single matches last year so whether it makes economic sense I don’t know. And given that the second game was low scoring and less explosive, attempts to get the crowd animated failed.  Middlesex supporters were happy enough with the way we mostly bowled and fielded, but when we batted, the way we strangled ourselves meant that no one felt particularly animated. Even Mexican waves flattened up.

 And what about the cricket itself.

Maybe the less said in detail about these matches the better.  We lost the Essex match because we could not defend a total that should have been higher, and we lost the Sussex match because we could not bat well enough to get a small score, which should have been lower.  Sadly Joe Denly looks horribly out of form, and Dan Christian had a decidedly underwhelming  debut – only partly redeemed by one terrific catch. Ravi Patel continues to bowl decently every time I see him and Paul Stirling is becoming a proper all rounder: his bowling distinctly better then his batting in both matches.  I don’t know why the habit of opening with a spinner has become endemic in T20 cricket and I am glad we dispensed with it in the 2^nd match. We fielded better in the Sussex match and Eion Morgan does not do team huddles.

So a nice, pleasant day but a success? No idea commercially and definitely not cricket wise.