Two for the price of one

Lots of twos today. Two reports: Beefy tells about the match - good cricket and less then great stewarding and the Leprechaun gives us a volunteer view of the match Our two Irishmen doing well; two nearly hatricks; two wickets on debut; two very good outfield catches.

The spectator view

I'm not a great 20 20 fan mainly due to my past bad spectator experience but thought would try again as first home game of campaign. Arrange to meet Dingy Bags in Middlesex Room By Name Only(MRBNO)  at 5pm. I'm at Grace Gates. 4.45 they are not open and I'm turned away from Tavern as they are fully booked. Here we go again! I make it to the MRBNO to find out only  1 beer on.  I speak to manager Pedigree Barrel gone.  Can't make it up. Well I give the manager 10/10 he hunted down barrel of EPA from somewhere and now got a pint. Well done that man. 

There was confusion maybe caused by excitement of EPA when a young looking Indian gent in full Middlesex kit parading outside Middlesex Room. At first was it Ravi, on closer inspection definitely not,  we went through idea of being a youth team player. We discover it's Pinky. I told Kev under no circumstances should he chant " are you Ravi in disguise" when he does his walk round. 

We are seated in Upper Tavern . With Middlesex batting our first boundary was greeted by flames of fire, followed by more flames for further boundaries. Kev said  " I prefer the dancing girls". Beefy replied "I'll be down there soon".

First brief mention on cricket here Moggie and Stirlo are destroying the Kent attack. Young potential future Middle fans kids In our colours wearing pink furry bandannas  who were standing up banging their inflatable bangy things were told off by a MCC steward. He then took the trouble to be seated right behind them to ensure they " behaved" themselves. The steward moved away as 100 partnership was reached off 48 balls with kids subdued to celebrate this feat. 

There was a chant of your "just an Irish builder" not  sure if referring to batsman Moggie or bowler Riley . Then shot of day Moggy dances down wicket expecting a big over the top hit but places ball expertly between 2 fielders in covers. He is out few balls later. Meanwhile now 2 stewards tell the kids to sit down. The Irish Builder chant was ignored by steward in ear shot.  We scored 205. I asked steward for explanation he  stated that someone behind them complained they stood up as bowler running up. I must note this was in Upper Tav with plenty of spare seats.

In reply, when Denly out  there was a chant of " that's why we let you go " . I joined in. Stewards didn't mind. Franklin tore through Kent Middle Order . The next objective was a nickname for Franklin. Suggestions were Frankenstein, Frank in Sense or The wayKent caved in Franklin  I couldn't  give a damn . Main excitement was Franklin twice being on hat trick. I was hoping at least Kent would make it to 100 for an excuse to clap opposition. They didn't and We ended up with a bloke with no name on shirt evidently Nathan Sowter taking final 2 wickets in 2 overs for 2 runs

Off to Tavern for celebration drinks out of plastic glasses amongst crowds of posh people. 

I was in good mood. 20 20 cricket bring it on. 

The volunteer view

Being a volunteer at Lord’s for big matches like Test matches and Middlesex v Kent has certain advantages; like getting there early and savouring  the very special atmosphere that all grounds have when they are preparing for a match.  The downside is not seeing much of the cricket.

I was outside the ground helping people with directions until about half an hour into the game. It gives you an interesting perspective into the spectator mix for these kind of games. There were:

• •A huge number of people wearing Middlesex colours of various kinds; most of whom I had never seen before, but clearly knew where they were going.  Where are they in other games I wonder? And do most of the regular Middlesex watchers come from Baker Street?
• •An Australian couple who had flown in that morning but had their tickets for the match. Were they doing a reccy before the Ashes Test maybe? Would have loved to find out  more  but the Circus Road Junction is no place to stand and chat.
• •There were a huge number of families and people of all ages coming. Note to ECB – play T20s in the holidays and people will come.
• •People dress in all sorts of ways for cricket: very casual;  various types of county colours, and as if they are attending a posh wedding.
• •Snippets of conversation are interesting; from still talking about the Test match; to KP  - of course; to business talk about shares and of course the inevitable “are we nearly there” from a small child.
• •People arriving very early – just as the gates opened, or very late – strolling down half an hour after the match started. By the time they get in they would have missed half the first innings.  Is it worth coming? Probably for this match.

Back in the ground it was noticeable that most people were in the stands actually watching.  At the test match there is a huge number of people in the Food village just watching the cricket on the big screen. Why do you come to a live match to watch the cricket on TV?  Today the people not in the stands were on genuine missions for food, drink and loos – not necessarily in that order.  An important part of volunteering is to know where all these things are – especially the last one and sometimes you realise the things you take for granted when you have been coming to the ground for years.  Did you know that, regardless of the name of the stand, the staircases are numbered alphabetically from A to T right round from the Grandstand to the end of the Mound? I had never noticed that until I had to start directing people to stands!

Having had to rely on odd glimpses of the score board and work out from the crowd noise what was going on for most of the first innings we were stood down in time for me to get to actaully see Kent go from 50/2 to 90 all out in a batting collapse we might have been proud of.  And to see two very good outfield catches from Kyle Abbot and Dawid Malan – his hand is obviously fine again.

Not a bad afternoon at all!