Faithful Fans Must Never Be Taken For Granted

Test cricket still seems to fill grounds in England. Yet there is the uneasy feeling that the people who run it are taking that format’s core support for granted – a dangerous thing when you look at the acres of empty seats in South Africa as they play a top-of-the-bill series against Australia.

- Derek Pringle

The topic of Test cricket, and its much predicted demise, came up over dinner the other night with some old school friends, Kevin and Chris, both cricket fans of long standing. Their respective introductions to Test cricket both came in childhood since when it has reigned supreme within the sport as both spectacle and challenge.

Chris first went with his Dad to watch the West Indies in the second Test of the 1969 series at Lord’s. They sat on the grass between the picket fence and the boundary rope, an option that cost less than a quid at the time. But what grabbed him most apart from John Hampshire’s hundred on debut, was the passion the West Indies supporters showed for their team and cricket in general.

He admits becoming fascinated by their vast array of homemade percussion instruments, which they banged all day. But their friendliness to those around them also stood out so much that it stayed with that nine-year-old right up until now.

That sense of community was echoed by Kevin who also saw the West Indies at Lord’s, albeit in 1973. He cites the 1974 match there against Pakistan, though, as the moment he fell hard for Test cricket.

In that match, Underwood took 14 wickets to win the match for England after rain played havoc with the pitch. But it was the kindness of Pakistan fans which he really recalls, sharing banter and their spicy delicacies with him and his friend Fred. He and Fred, both 13, were packed off on the train from Chelmsford by their parents with their sandwiches and a can of pop. They paid on the gate, £1 Kevin says, for something called the free seats but only in the sense that they could not be reserved.