If the buzz phrase ‘match day experience’ was to be applied to any venue in the world it would Lord’s. The famous Lord's hum, a hum of anticipation, a hum of the occasion and sometimes a post-lunch hum of satisfaction.
That buzz or hum is there even at half seven in the morning of the Royal London One-Day Cup Final. The last at this esteemed old ground before it up sticks to Trent Bridge next season. The rights or wrongs of the restructuring of the county season is for a different place though.
When you walk through the North Gate having gone through the security frisk there is activity everywhere. The stewards and St John's Ambulance are getting their briefings. The food kiosks are preparing for a day of non-stop sales.
In the place that it matters the hallowed turf the ground staff are busily preparing an assortment of lawn mowers mover across the blades of grass giving it a carpet-like texture while a roller prepares for a future battle. No notice is taken to the pitch that today's action will take place on. You can’t help but notice a green tinge but a dry looking surface underneath.
The stewards in the stands start to check every seat, turning them down before they spring back up. It will be the only Mexican wave that won’t be frowned upon all day.
The paying punter is still an hour away from surging into the ground, the chat the laughter mixing with the sounds of London mixing into the hubbub of it all.
Lord’s has a weird juxtaposition of the traditional and the modern, the famous pavilion, the bastion of the MCC and the old school tie at one end of the ground and the JP Morgan Media Centre at the other which is regularly compared with a spaceship (it landed 20 years ago.)
Adjustable floodlights stand on watch over the famous stands as the flashing advertising boards snake the edge of the outfield reminding the yet to arrive visitor of potential future visits to see the NatWest T20 Blast before it is shoved down the order of importance.
It is overcast but with little chance of rain although the main cover sits over the sponsor's logo on the outfield ready to pounce into action at the merest drop precipitation.
Things start to move up a notch, with the PA system tested and the food kiosks staffed and ready for business the MCC members are let through the gates. It’s not salmon swimming upstream as you are led to believe but a steady trickle. This doesn’t have the gravitas of a Lord’s test match after all.
A jazz band start to burst into life, and the day suddenly feels like it is starting to reveal its true purpose. The players have started to trundle over to the nursery ground where they start to go through their final preparations.
The Warner stand is starting to fill a shock of glass bursts through the top of a traditional looking stand overlooking the playing surface while at the back there is a mix of bright white painted steel and frosted glass.
The media centre starts to become busier, familiar faces and just as importantly voices start to appear. With England playing an ICC World Cup warm-up match at Southampton it would be easy for the media centre to be far from full.
With forty minutes until the toss, the players of both sides are on the outfield going through fielding drills or marking run-ups with long measuring tapes and buckets of paint.
The cloud that blanketed the skies earlier in the morning has burnt away as Isa Guha supervises the toss which Hampshire win. The stands are filling with fans of both sides.
The bell rings to signal the players are on their way. The Somerset fielders spread out and Hampshire’s batsman walk out with purpose. Craig Overton waits to run in and deliver the first ball of the day to Tom Alsop.
The ripples of applause punctuate the air in the early exchanges as both sides work each other out. That is until the third over when Aneurin Donald pieces a cover drive for the first four of the day. A big cheer marks it and we are into the game as Donald flicks the next off his legs to the boundary in the opposite side of the field.
The Somerset crowd roared back next over as Donald’s cameo of 11 from 11 balls when he drives a loose ball from Josh Davey straight at Roland van der Merwe.
Hampshire lost wickets at regular intervals. They needed Sam Northeast to bat all the way through. Northeast reached fifty before swiping across the line and was bowled by Somerset captain Tom Abell.
The biggest cheer from the Somerset fans came just three balls later. Chris Wood toe-ended a Jamie Overton Delivery to George Bartlett who grabbed his chance.
Hampshire's fans finally had something to cheer about when the ninth wicket partnership added 66 for the ninth wicket. Fuller reached his fifty with a second six from the final over of the inning. Mason Crane played a good supporting inning to ensure Hampshire used all their overs.
Hampshire finished on 244 for 8. It is by modern standards a modest total one that Somerset would have been happy with at the start of the day.
In the interval, the outfield near the Grandstand was replaced with youngsters in a range of colourful hats and even bright orange stumps. They got to play on the same stage as the heroes they were there to watch.
Tom Banton the Somerset opener looked at home at the home of cricket at set about tucking into the Hampshire opening bowlers who have international pedigree Fidel Edwards taking the brunt of the opening salvo by the young wicketkeeper. In the third over he smoked Edwards for four, six and four in successive balls.
The Somerset faithful were now in full voice. The boundaries were coming as thick and as fast as the consumption of cider. The usual hum was replaced by the noise of supporters enjoying the afternoon in song.
A chant of “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Banton” rang around Lord’s as the batsman reached his fifty in as many balls.
Edwards came back for his second spell and he soon saw off his early tormentor Banton for 69. Azhar Ali followed in Edwards next over. By that time the two openers had added 112 for the first wicket.
It was the Somerset stalwarts of Peter Trego and James Hildreth that made sure that Somerset didn’t get carried away and throw a great position away.
Hildreth batted for the rest of the innings for an unbeaten 69 from 68 balls. A player many feels was wrongly overlooked by England showed his true class and it was fitting that he hit the winning runs with 39 balls to spare.
There were 15746 in attendance to see the curtain fall on the domestic 50 over final at Lord’s. It was a shame really. Scheduled on the same day as England playing Australia and other scheduling matters meant the opportunity to go out with a full house was missed. This was a competition with the help of finals at Lord's help to create memories. Sat in the stands watching their heroes represent the county that means the most to them.
Goodbye old friend.
That buzz or hum is there even at half seven in the morning of the Royal London One-Day Cup Final. The last at this esteemed old ground before it up sticks to Trent Bridge next season. The rights or wrongs of the restructuring of the county season is for a different place though.
When you walk through the North Gate having gone through the security frisk there is activity everywhere. The stewards and St John's Ambulance are getting their briefings. The food kiosks are preparing for a day of non-stop sales.
In the place that it matters the hallowed turf the ground staff are busily preparing an assortment of lawn mowers mover across the blades of grass giving it a carpet-like texture while a roller prepares for a future battle. No notice is taken to the pitch that today's action will take place on. You can’t help but notice a green tinge but a dry looking surface underneath.
The stewards in the stands start to check every seat, turning them down before they spring back up. It will be the only Mexican wave that won’t be frowned upon all day.
The paying punter is still an hour away from surging into the ground, the chat the laughter mixing with the sounds of London mixing into the hubbub of it all.
Lord’s has a weird juxtaposition of the traditional and the modern, the famous pavilion, the bastion of the MCC and the old school tie at one end of the ground and the JP Morgan Media Centre at the other which is regularly compared with a spaceship (it landed 20 years ago.)
Adjustable floodlights stand on watch over the famous stands as the flashing advertising boards snake the edge of the outfield reminding the yet to arrive visitor of potential future visits to see the NatWest T20 Blast before it is shoved down the order of importance.
It is overcast but with little chance of rain although the main cover sits over the sponsor's logo on the outfield ready to pounce into action at the merest drop precipitation.
Things start to move up a notch, with the PA system tested and the food kiosks staffed and ready for business the MCC members are let through the gates. It’s not salmon swimming upstream as you are led to believe but a steady trickle. This doesn’t have the gravitas of a Lord’s test match after all.
A jazz band start to burst into life, and the day suddenly feels like it is starting to reveal its true purpose. The players have started to trundle over to the nursery ground where they start to go through their final preparations.
The Warner stand is starting to fill a shock of glass bursts through the top of a traditional looking stand overlooking the playing surface while at the back there is a mix of bright white painted steel and frosted glass.
The media centre starts to become busier, familiar faces and just as importantly voices start to appear. With England playing an ICC World Cup warm-up match at Southampton it would be easy for the media centre to be far from full.
With forty minutes until the toss, the players of both sides are on the outfield going through fielding drills or marking run-ups with long measuring tapes and buckets of paint.
The cloud that blanketed the skies earlier in the morning has burnt away as Isa Guha supervises the toss which Hampshire win. The stands are filling with fans of both sides.
The bell rings to signal the players are on their way. The Somerset fielders spread out and Hampshire’s batsman walk out with purpose. Craig Overton waits to run in and deliver the first ball of the day to Tom Alsop.
The ripples of applause punctuate the air in the early exchanges as both sides work each other out. That is until the third over when Aneurin Donald pieces a cover drive for the first four of the day. A big cheer marks it and we are into the game as Donald flicks the next off his legs to the boundary in the opposite side of the field.
The Somerset crowd roared back next over as Donald’s cameo of 11 from 11 balls when he drives a loose ball from Josh Davey straight at Roland van der Merwe.
Hampshire lost wickets at regular intervals. They needed Sam Northeast to bat all the way through. Northeast reached fifty before swiping across the line and was bowled by Somerset captain Tom Abell.
The biggest cheer from the Somerset fans came just three balls later. Chris Wood toe-ended a Jamie Overton Delivery to George Bartlett who grabbed his chance.
Hampshire's fans finally had something to cheer about when the ninth wicket partnership added 66 for the ninth wicket. Fuller reached his fifty with a second six from the final over of the inning. Mason Crane played a good supporting inning to ensure Hampshire used all their overs.
Hampshire finished on 244 for 8. It is by modern standards a modest total one that Somerset would have been happy with at the start of the day.
In the interval, the outfield near the Grandstand was replaced with youngsters in a range of colourful hats and even bright orange stumps. They got to play on the same stage as the heroes they were there to watch.
Tom Banton the Somerset opener looked at home at the home of cricket at set about tucking into the Hampshire opening bowlers who have international pedigree Fidel Edwards taking the brunt of the opening salvo by the young wicketkeeper. In the third over he smoked Edwards for four, six and four in successive balls.
The Somerset faithful were now in full voice. The boundaries were coming as thick and as fast as the consumption of cider. The usual hum was replaced by the noise of supporters enjoying the afternoon in song.
A chant of “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Banton” rang around Lord’s as the batsman reached his fifty in as many balls.
Edwards came back for his second spell and he soon saw off his early tormentor Banton for 69. Azhar Ali followed in Edwards next over. By that time the two openers had added 112 for the first wicket.
It was the Somerset stalwarts of Peter Trego and James Hildreth that made sure that Somerset didn’t get carried away and throw a great position away.
Hildreth batted for the rest of the innings for an unbeaten 69 from 68 balls. A player many feels was wrongly overlooked by England showed his true class and it was fitting that he hit the winning runs with 39 balls to spare.
There were 15746 in attendance to see the curtain fall on the domestic 50 over final at Lord’s. It was a shame really. Scheduled on the same day as England playing Australia and other scheduling matters meant the opportunity to go out with a full house was missed. This was a competition with the help of finals at Lord's help to create memories. Sat in the stands watching their heroes represent the county that means the most to them.
Goodbye old friend.
