It's taken me a while to get around to it - I've been crazily busy - but I wanted to put down a few thoughts and impressions about my recent trip to Cardiff to see the opening match of the Natwest series between England and Pakistan.
If you follow either of those two teams, you probably know that the result from Cardiff was a washout. I can't complain too much, though. I saw I an Bell score 88 runs, and I saw Shoaib Akhtar take 3 wickets (as well as Stuart Broad taking 1 in just 3 overs).
I also got some perspective on two controversies. First of all, the controversy around picking Cardiff to host an Ashes match in 2009. I have mixed feelings about this one. My impression of the facilities at Sophia Gardens was not too favorable. It's a lovely enough ground, but the lines were huge, to get in, to get food, and for the porta-loos that were brought in because of a lack of adequate bathrooms. Of course what's there will all be torn down and rebuilt with a bigger budget, but it's an act of faith that they'll get it right. On the plus side, Cardiff's a great town to visit for a couple days. In a very short span of time, I toured the castle, went to the museum, saw the Rolling Stones live, walked around the touristy areas in Cardiff Bay, and saw the Dr. Who exhibition - all without ever having to rent a car.
The other controversy is this: What the heck are they doing holding day-night cricket matches in the U.K.? The stadium lights were pretty good, actually, but the problem is the weather. It barely rained at all, by U.K. standards, but at night the field just could not get dry. They need a helicopter if they're going to play big matches at night. I had one shot to see international cricket in 2006, and it was blown all because they wanted to finish the match at night for a TV audience.
It wasn't a bad trip, though, overall, and I saw a county match at the Oval in London.
I made a montage of my trip, including photos and little video clips, which includes a fair amount of cricket. It has other stuff, too, but you can click the progress bar to skip around if you just want to see the cricket:
