County Cricket Division 1: Hampshire at Yorkshire

As I wrote earlier my plan for Thursday afternoon was to attend the first division county cricket match between Yorkshire and Hampshire at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds. The match started at 10:30 am and it took anywhere between 2 and 2.5 hours to take the train from London to Leeds. One train left London’s King’s Cross station at 8:10 am and arrived Leeds at 10:21 am. By the time I would arrive at Headingley it would be around 11 am which seemed like good timing even though it was early. However, the deciding factor was when Big Chris (on Wednesday night) stated he needed to leave the house at 7:15 am Thursday morning and would drive right by King’s Cross station on his way to work so he offered me a ride.

I woke up at 6:30 am to get ready and we were out of the house by 7:15 am. Big Chris dropped me off at the train station around 7:40 am and I grabbed some breakfast at the train station. The train left at 8:10 am and I was on my voyage to Northern England.

Traveling by Train
Before leaving for Europe I purchased a BritRail England pass. Since I had an idea about how many days I would be traveling in England, I purchased the flexible pass for eight days meaning I could travel any eight days within a two month time period. I activated the pass when Nicole and I traveled to Sheffield, England for the U2 concert in August and used the second day to return to London.

Now I was using my third day. The best part of the BritRail pass is that you do not need to plan what trains you are taking ahead of time. Thus, you can change your plans if needed. Second, you can travel as I was planning to today – meaning traveling from London to Newcastle but with a lengthy stopover in Leeds. My first journey from London to Leeds in the morning and my second journey from Leeds to Newcastle in the evening were considered the same “trip.”

Leeds Train Station
After arriving in Leeds I needed to 1) Check my luggage at the train station and 2) Determine how to get to Headingley.

I first asked for directions on how to get to Headingley. I was told to take a local train to the Headingley train stop. The train left in about 10 minutes and the next one was 30 minutes after that. Hurriedly, I found the bag check for the day – it was £7 per bag. Since I would be sitting in a stadium all day I only chose to check my large suitcase and carry my backpack and camera bag with me. I had considered checking my backpack as well but decided against it.

After checking my bag I made the train to the Headingley Station with three minutes to spare. Even though I got off at the Headingley Station, you can also get off at the Burley Park Station. Both are about a 10 to 15 minute walk to the cricket ground.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived at Headingley around 11 am just as I thought I would. I walked up to the ticket office and noticed they had a regular priced ticket for £15 or a concession ticket for £10. I had no idea what a concession ticket was but asked for one anyway. The guy at the window sold me one so I saved £5. I’m assuming a concession tickets is for a youth, senior or student. Not sure what I qualified for but I think the guy did not care too much.

Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground
Headingley was similar to the Oval – an old stadium with a lot of stands around the pitch that were empty. Only one concession stand was open as was the case with the Oval so I obviously sat in the section there.

I did not notice much of a difference between Division 1 and Division 2 cricket – probably because I am not an expert in watching cricket. The pace felt the same and neither team had an incentive to win the match since neither would be demoted to Division 2 by losing.

Getting back to Leeds Train Station
To get back to the Leeds train station, I took the local train back as I had in the morning. However, I failed to look at the time tables to see when the train was returning to the main train station. Just as I had barely made the train in the morning, I barely missed the train in the evening. At first I was fairly aggravated but then appreciated the relaxation of waiting at a train station on a fall afternoon in Europe. The wait reminded me of when I had to wait for awhile after the American Memorial 500 Champ Car race I attended in Germany on September 15, 2001.

Of course, my 30 minute wait at the Headingley train station did not matter since by the time I got back to the Leeds train station and collected my bag, I made the same train I would have if I caught the earlier train – I just waited in a different location.

County Cricket Division 2: Glamorgan at Surrey

I woke up at 9:45 am and immediately started getting ready for my day at The Brit Oval. I was not too concerned with arriving on time at 10:30 am as a day of county cricket lasts for around seven hours.

After getting ready, I had an English muffin with Big Chris and started walking to the cricket ground at 10:30 am. I had walked this same path as I had walked on August 12, 2007. I was interviewing over that weekend in London and was staying near Waterloo Station just as I was this time. It was amazing to walk down Kennington Rd. just two years later.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived at the Oval and bought my ticket for the day - £12. Obviously there is no secondary ticket market for second division cricket.

The Match
There was hardly anybody in attendance at the match. It appears county cricket is entertainment for retired men who have nothing better to do with their Wednesday afternoon – and, of course, myself. The biggest score of the day was Usman Afzaal who scored 170 runs for Surrey. 100 runs (a century) are considered a major accomplishment for any batter.

Obviously today’s match did not compare with The Ashes, but now I understood why the English asked me about the atmosphere at The Ashes – there was no atmosphere today. This was as dull as you could possibly get. There could not have been more than 500 people in the stands and it was quiet. However, every dull sporting event has its remedy and that is several pints of beer. After a couple of hours the match was no longer so boring.

After the match, I met Big Chris back at his place and we took the #344 bus to the Clapham Junction Train Station so we could visit British Mick, his wife and his new baby.

The Ashes: Australia at England Day 2

When we decided to plan a trip for Europe, the wife checked U2’s tour schedule and realized they were playing in the United Kingdom the week we would be in London. She immediately wanted to attend a show. There were four shows to choose from – Friday, August 14 or Saturday, August 15 at Wembley Stadium in London, Tuesday, August 18 in Glasgow, Scotland or Thursday, August 20 in Sheffield, England. Ideally, we would have attended a show in London so we would not have to travel within the UK. However, that would mean we would need to leave Chicago two days earlier to attend the show on Saturday night in London. When I realized that Australia and England were playing the 5th test match of the Ashes at the Oval beginning Thursday, August 20 and running through Monday, August 24, Sheffield, England was the winner.

Day 2 of the test series started on Friday at 11 am. Thus, Nicole and I were on the 7:41 am train from Sheffield back to London – our estimated arrival time was shortly after 10 am. When we arrived in London, Nicole headed to our friend’s apartment where we were staying and I took the subway to the Oval.

Obtaining Tickets
Earlier in the week, my friend, British Mick, had warned me that tickets to the Ashes could run between 250 and 400 pounds. That price point was high for me, so I chose to do some research. I had assumed ticket prices would be like the India at England test match I had attended at the Oval in 2007 where I paid 20 pounds for a Sunday ticket.

Some Friday tickets for the Ashes were going for the price Mick had stated, but a majority of tickets were selling between 100 and 200 pounds – a much more reasonable amount.

As I arrived at the Oval I just missed buying a ticket from some Australians. I saw them sell their 65 pound ticket to someone for 85 pounds. I spent about 10 more minutes walking around and did not find any other extras.

I was about to walk back to where the ticket touts hang out by the Oval tube station, when I found what appeared to be a random fan who said he had an extra ticket – face value 65 pounds. He showed me the ticket and told me he had actually paid 140 pounds for the ticket. I offered him 100 pounds believing his story and we agreed on 120 pounds (a price British Mick stated was very good). The guy and his friend walked me to the entrance and said they would be in later. I never saw them again, so I was not sure whether they told me a real story or if they were ticket touts. Either way their story was believable.

Concessions at the Oval
One type of food that you do not find at concession stands in the United States is Indian food. Of course, you cannot Mexican food at an English stadium.

In what is a more liberal alcohol policy than United States venues, fans can buy up to four beers or an entire bottle of wine in a single purchase. However, since cricket lasts for hours (Friday’s match lasted close to eight hours), the alcohol sales stop twice during the day – once between 2:15 and 2:45 pm and again between 4:30 and 5:00 pm.

The Match
With the test series tied at 1-1 with two draws, the fifth test match was the decider – like game seven of the World Series according to British Mick. With that in mind, I was prepared to see some intense cricket. I saw the last two wickets of England’s first inning (which had started on Thursday) as England put a total of 332 runs on the board. Most of the writers in the paper had hoped England would score more than 400, so 332 runs were somewhat of a disappointment.

After a short break Australia came to bat around 11:30 am. Australia’s first two batsman, Shane Watson and Simon Katich, had 61 runs with zero wickets as the rains came three minutes before the scheduled lunch at 1 pm. The match was delayed for about an hour after lunch due to the continued rain fall and the teams gathered back on the pitch around 2:30 pm. Watson and Katich combined for 73 runs before Watson was out lbw (leg before wicket) by Stuart Broad. A run total that appeared Australia would eventually top England’s 332.

Next up was Australia’s #3 batsman, captain and supposedly the best batsman in the world – Ricky Ponting. Ponting only had eight runs before Broad threw a cutter that hit the ground then hit the wicket – Ponting was out and England’s day was looking promising. Broad got Australia’s #4 batsman Mike Hussey out lbw before he could even score one run. I had a feeling I was seeing something special even though I am not an expert at cricket in any means.

In the next over, Michael Clarke was dismissed for Broad’s fourth wicket within an hour as Broad bowled through Australia’s main batsmen. Within the next 20 minutes two more wickets were taken from Australia and Broad had five wickets during the inning (and within 80 minutes for that matter). During lunch I noticed a plaque at the Oval commemorating bowlers who had recorded five wickets within one inning – now I knew I was seeing something special.

Tea was scheduled for 4:30 pm – a much needed break for the Australians who only scored 133 runs with eight wickets. However, tea did not seem to help as England held Australia to a total of 160 runs in their first inning and came to bat again at the end of the day. Australia’s 160 run first inning total was Australia’s lowest test first inning since 1997 and their lowest first inning run total at the Oval since 1912.

England ended the day with 58 runs in their second inning with three wickets (15 total wickets were taken on the day) and appeared to be on their way to returning the Ashes to England by the end of the test series.