very first test match…

During the course of my life, I’ve watched an awful lot of cricket… BUT, ridiculously, I’d never ever been to a Test Match (I know).
This all changed on Thursday, when my wonderful brother treated me to a day at Edgbaston. And it wasn’t just any old Test Match – it was the first day of the first Ashes Test against Australia.
Very, very special.
We had a wonderful day. Alan lives just a short bus ride and 20 minute walk from the ground. We arrived there early “for the full experience” (even though, somewhat annoyingly, we and other early spectators were kept queuing outside the ground well beyond the advertised ‘gates open’ times). Alan provided the match tickets, all the food (prepared in advance, of course)… and I was left merely to buy the beer at the bar (and inadvertently bought two pints of cider for our ‘first round of the day’!! Duh). I think we each had four pints during the course of the day… which paled to insignificance compared with the group of Aussies seated alongside us – who were constantly passing us on their way to the bar for re-fills – and must have consumed much more than a dozen pints each!

Of course, as you might imagine, both Alan and I had spent the previous week or so checking out weather forecasts – as we know only too well, even the best laid plans can go horribly wrong. In my glass half-full way (and given the pretty gloomy advance weather predictions), part of me was convinced that the day would be a complete wash-out... and the forecast given out the day before the start pointed to a 50% chance of rain and some of it heavy (there were times that I’d have gladly accepted seeing ANY play, however brief).

In the event, we were incredibly lucky – a full day’s play (much of it in bright sunshine) with only 20 minutes lost to a brief light shower, which they were able to make up at the end of the day’s play.
There’s something quite magical about watching a sporting occasion when the ground is full to capacity… with expectations and emotions running high, people in fancy dress, the cricket pitch looking perfect, all the banter (most of it light-hearted), the noise and the entire ground feeling akin to an arena for gladiatorial combat.
In the event, it proved to be an absolutely fascinating day’s play. Australia won the toss and elected to bat – despite probably being very tempted to bowl first, given the cloudy conditions. England got off to a wonderful start and took three wickets before lunch and followed this up by reducing Australia to 122-8 (largely thanks to Stuart Broad’s 5-86 and despite bowler Anderson having to leave the field after only 4 overs due injury)… before a brilliant recovery, led by former captain Steve Smith (who ended up scoring a wonderful 144 runs), to finish on 284 all out.  The England openers survived the final two overs to finish the day 10-0.
It was a truly memorable, magical day.
We got home feeling physically drained after watching a compelling day’s play. We’d just WATCHED for goodness sake… we hadn’t bowled 37 overs or spent five-and-a-half hours scoring a century… but we were happy just to relax and reflect on the day. The players and, no doubt, some spectators would be up the following day to do it all over again!
Photo: “Brothers in Arms”: taken by one of our Aussie ‘friends’ before the start of play.
PS: My greatest cricket experience HAD been attending the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match (perhaps more than 20 years ago) at Lord’s. I’d been guest of a friend who was a long-standing member of Middlesex CC (and someone who appeared to ‘know’ everyone associated with both the club and ground). At lunchtime, he took me into the Old Pavilion and into the ‘home’ (England!) dressing room… and, from there, we walked down the stairs, through the famous Long Room, down the pavilion steps, on to the green, green turf and up to the hallowed cricket square itself. BUT, this was nothing compared to witnessing the first day of the first Test Match against the Aussies!