T20 & now the 100 could destroy the game we all love!
2 Sep 2019
I must confess I’m not a great lover of T20 and am certainly against the 100.
I do however go to T20 games at the Oval, home games only! As it is part of my Surrey & England membership, earlier in the season I decided to go for a walk around the the ground, big mistake, every available bar was at least 12 deep covering every available space! It seemed like the whole of London decided to converge at the Oval for a Jolly Up!
I hate all the razzmatazz of the flames at each end of the ground every time a six is scored! The kiss cam, the dance cam and the floss cam, they just seem to make up different cams every week and all the ridiculous noises bursting out between overs over the tanoy! Not forgetting Sweet Caroline which is blasted out every night at least once!
I can accept coloured clothing. That dates back to the ICC World Cup under lights in 1992, the rest just feels so American to me! I don’t blame the ECB for this as it brings in an enormous amount of money at each and every game played around the country, I guess the kids love it!!
When I go, I always try and get an opportunity to meet clients who have become very good friends! If no one is attending, I normally watch it through a window in the Long Room! I cannot see the whole ground but I also don’t hear the ridiculous noises nor can I see the cams, win win!! What’s good about members? They are genuine cricket lovers! The Peter May & OCS stands are full of city workers on a Jolly or team building exercise!
I think a story Pamela told me about a conversation she had with a guy from the city says it all. He confessed that he didn’t know much about cricket, Pamela said but you’ve heard of Ben Stokes he said NO, she thought to herself what planet have you been on! It was three days after probably one of the best innings your ever likely to see against Australia, the papers were full of Stokes front and back!!
I know a lot of the county’s are struggling financially, I accept that my beloved Surrey is one of the few that are not! I just hope that the 100 is just a short term project to maximise coffers for those struggling counties! As a lover of championship, Test Matches and the One Day Game, I am dismayed that now we are World champions for the very first time we now don’t have a one day game anymore. The ICC and all the individual cricket organisations in each country need to be very careful not to destroy the game we all love! I’m sure I speak for everyone.
My membership now covers the 100, I have absolutely no interest in this whatsoever, in fact, I have spoken to hundreds of people who just like me don’t want to give it the time of day! I only know one lady who likes the idea, she’s not a cricket lover and can just about watch the shortened version – just about says it all!!
