Perfect Cricketing Day

Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall

Cricket, like food, makes me so happy. Very happy. Ecstatic. 

I've been in love with this game since I was a little girl thanks to my father, Michael, who was an excellent all-rounder. An amateur, but he could have been a professional. I have his trophies.

Going to see England play in a Test Match is a summer tradition for me. There'll be a variety of companions. Depending upon whom it is, there might be a picnic of cheese & ham sandwiches, some spring onions, pork pie & English mustard, (always pork pie,) for lunch. And for tea, (the most civilised sport to have a break at teatime), it will be strawberries. Possibly a slice of jammy sponge cake.

Sometimes though it’s a day of eating in the Pavilion - a treat.

Every summer, one of my favourite cricket chums to go to Lord's with is NB. We've known each other for a long time. We have our set ways of how the day goes.

0900: NB secures our seats

0930: I turn up

0940: We devour bacon butties (brown sauce) & two gallons of strong tea (really strong)

1020: A stroll around the beautiful ground & talk of the prospects of the day's play ahead

1030: Watch the players warm up

1050: More tea ahead of the start of play

1100: Bell rings signalling the start of cricket

1101: Goosebumps

1103: Clapping for umpires & players

1105: Runs. Wickets. Waiting. Battling

1300: Clapping, sometimes there’s a shaking of heads depending on what's been happening on the pitch

1303: Lunch. I'm in charge of food, NB is in charge of refreshment 

1305: Queue

1310: Still in the queue

1312: Rare roast beef. In a bun. Charred onions. Salad (pointless and it was politely refused)

1313: Mustard

1314: More mustard

1315: We sit, eat, and, by this point, I'm enjoying a glass of fizz. 

1340: Play resumes, we're back in our seats - just in time

1400: Chat with strangers sat next to us about how the game is going

1430: Possible brief nap

1435: Wicket/Four/Six/Not much happening

1540: Tea

1545: Queue 

1548: Cake & tea, fizz for me

1600: NB has more cake

1605: I have more bubbles

1615: After shuffling back to our seats in-between overs, more chitter chatter about how England is doing

1800: Close of play

1815: Parting of company 

1830: Cab home & wondering what's in the fridge

AMM