Key events
So that’s us done then. It’s easy to moan about September fixture scheduling but a week ago we were “basking” in oppressively hot temperatures – weather’s gonna weather, in these climate-ravaged times. And it’s wrecked today’s cricket everywhere in England – the county games have all packed up for the day too. But let’s hope for some sensibly agreeable early-autumn weather in Nottingham on Saturday and Bristol next Tuesday, so Ireland can get some sort of tour in and we can take a proper look at England’s reserves and up-and-coming young’uns. Join us then, and thanks for keeping us company through today’s nonevents. Bye.
Match abandoned
Our fears are confirmed.
“I met up with a friend from university a few weeks back in Leeds,” emails Tom. “We’re both in our early 40’s and hadn’t managed to allign the stars for a meet-up for nearly 6 years. He was swinging by the city and wondered if I wanted a few afternoon range-finders before he went onto a gig. The big issue for me was how much the bar scene of Leeds had moved on since I was regularly haunting it in theblate noughties. Everywhere I looked, inviting establishments offering decent ales seemed to have sprung up. I ended up bottling it and just visiting the old favs like Whitelocks, the Scarborough Taps and the Sam Smith pub rather than daring to brave somewhere cool and trendy.
“Similarly, when attending a T20 blast game this summer, I only made it into the Head of Steam next to the ground in Headingley and now feel a little disappointed in myself for not exploring more.”
Aye, but Whitelocks is a sensational pub, a proper cosy city-centre boozer of the old school (in a good way).
The umpires are back out againand Mark Butcher on comms is pessimistic about there being any play at all, based on the lack of warm-up activity from the players. Trainers are being squelched across the areas of concern. We have until 5:32pm to start.
Unsurprisingly, the crowd has thinned out dramatically, perhaps decamped to various hostelries along the Otley Road or Kirkstall Lane. Which gives me a chance to segue back into the conversation about good pubs near cricket grounds we briefly started on the OBO last Wednesday. Quite a lot of new places near Headingley these days, to complement the hardy old perennials the Original Oak, Skyrack, New Inn and Three Horseshoes. Any other faves?
Can-kicking down road update: the umpires will conduct another inspection at 4.45pm. It’s bright and dry now but the wet outfield is a concern. As our man, Ali Martin, reports: “4:45 inspection ‘due to saturated areas on outfield.’” Sky’s man in the middle, Dominic Cork, remains a tad sceptical – twenty-over game at best he reckons. “It is saturated,” he warns.
Meanwhile the umpires are out in the middlemulling over the surface. As Sky continues to show us the delights of that 2019 semi-final – have England ever produced a more thrilling and ruthless ODI performance than they did that day? They may have had every shade of luck going in the final but this semi-final one was a performance of champions.
Thanks Rob, and I come fresh from the aforementioned Jeremy Alexander’s memorial service. Journalists talking about themselves and each other is usually a tedious thing but Jeremy was as generous, thoughtful and talented as he was without ego, and deserved the huge turnout and fuss he was afforded today, even if such fuss would probably have bemused him. So I hope you’ll indulge us.
The inspection is happening as I type. I’m going to hand you over to Tom Davies for the next little while, and hopefully the first innings of a shortened match. See you later!
Sky are passing the time by showing highlights of the 2019 World Cup semi-final. I’ve had few happier days in the OBO bunker. I think we even received an email from your one from alt-J.
The groundstaff are still working on the run-ups. Everything else looks fine, and the latest inspection is still scheduled for 4pm.
There will be another inspection at 4pm. The outfield is still pretty damp and it looks like the umpires aren’t happy with the run-ups. The cut-off time for a 20-over game is 5.32pm.
It’s looking much better at Headingley. The covers are off, and the sun is starting to make its presence felt. We should have cricket in the next hour or so.
There will be another inspection at 3.15pm. I’m going to take a quick break before then, but there’s still some live cricke- actually, no there isn’t.
Ali Martin
Brighter skies and early moppage underway here. No news on inspection etc … radar suggests there may be a smidge more rain to come in the next half hour but clearer after that.
“I’m in Manchester city centreand we had your sideways rain (12.53pm) at about 12, before it headed off in the direction of the Pennines,” writes Dave Espley. “It’s now dry here with, incredibly, blue sky over to the east. If the direction of travel is maintained, we should be okay for a restricted overs match at some point.”
All that talk of 50-over experience, and they’re going to play another T20.
Yes, yes, that was meant for the County Cricket blog.
Play has been abandoned at New Road, where Worcestershire are playing Durham. Are? Were?
The groundstaff are going to work. The word is that, if there’s no more rain, we might have some cricket at around 3.30pm.
On this day in 1988… Pakistan completed an innings victory over Allan Border’s young Australian side in Karachi. The thing that always fascinated me about this game is that the offspinner Peter Taylor, who top-scored in the first innings, was sent back in as opener when Australia followed on, a rare example of funky thinking in Test cricket in the 1980s. It didn’t work but three points for trying.
Also, Australia’s run rate: they scored 281 runs in the match from – and you’ll like this – 186.4 overs.
And finally, it’s interesting that Australia complained about Steve Waugh’s LBW (see below). Thirty-five years later, it looks plumb. DRS gave us all new glasses.
This is another fine interview with the Durham allrounder Bas de Leedewho has the ability to put the hurt on the bigger nations at the World Cup.
Toss delayed
The covers are still on; it’s still raining. The forecast is for things to improve around 2.30pm, which would give the groundstaff around three hours to clean up.
Ali Martin
Greetings from Headingley, where it’s a pretty bleak scene. Can’t help but wonder whether Joe Root should have looked at the weather forecast when put his name forward for this match over the weekend. There’s still two warm-ups in India before the World Cup starts and given the lurch in conditions, can’t see masses of value in it for him today, no disrespect to Ireland etc. Still, we may yet get a game of some description (that description set to feature words like truncated, rain-affected).
Ali Martin is such a good interviewer. This is a typically readable chat with Sam Hain, who should finally make his England debut at the age of 28.
The cut-off point is 5.32pm. It’s now pelting down at Headingley – “it’s coming in sideways” winces Mark Butcher on Sky – but I do still think we’ll get a game.
The covers are still on, and the weather forecast has changed to include a potentially biblical downpour between 1-2pm. It does get better, though, so I hope we’ll get a shortened game later on.
“Hi Rob,” says Sam Rowe. “I can’t say I knew Jeremy Alexander as well as a lot of people, but I was good friends with his niece, and in fact when we finished uni, and realised we didn’t really know what to do next, we backpacked around the world together for a year. He was close with Liz (his niece) and I went to his Hyde Park apartment quite a few times to visit.
“He was such a kind man, and so obviously enthusiastic about sports and football in particular. It was contagious. Had many great conversations with him back in the 90s about the sports topics of the time. I was very jealous he could make a living from sport! Rest in peace.”
That’s very nicely put. He never stopped being inquisitive about life, which is an enviable quality.
We will get cricket today, I promise. It might end up being a Thirty30 game, something like that. While you wait, here’s Ali Martin’s series preview.
There is some cricket going on in the County Championshipand you can follow updates here.
This is a very sad day for the Guardian. An hour ago, hundreds of people gathered at St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street for a service in memory of Jeremy Alexander, who died in June at the age of 81. Sub-editors are the unsung heroes of any newspaper or magazine, the egoless folk who bowl long spells into the wind so that the glory boys can clean up the tail, and Jeremy was as good as any sub I’ve worked with. He was unfailingly warm and optimistic, always pleased to see you come into the office (no, really); and he was genuinely enthusiastic about the OBO and the internet generally, even though I suspect it was a foreign language to him.
I won’t go on, largely because Matthew Engel’s tribute is nigh-on perfect.
One peedie impediment
It’s Leeds, it’s late September, and the toss will be delayed. I’m glad to say the forecast is a lot better this afternoon.
Preamble
Let’s not pretend this isn’t a bit weird. England start their defence of the World Cup in a fortnight, and their C team (plus Joe Root) is playing an ODI series against Ireland. But you don’t have to reach too far to take the positives. Watching young people make their way in the world, unencumbered by the inevitability of infirmity and death, is good for the soul, and both squads are full of exciting young cricketers.
There’s every chance we will see the next superstar of English white-ball cricket over the next week. Might even be someone in the Ireland team. England are captained by Zak Crawley, whose only previous white-ball appearances were in the Covid series against Pakistan in 2021. That was loads of unexpected fun; this could be too.
