Three memories of cricket in 2023

Following on from reviews of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 here are a few more moments to savour.

1) The first ball of The Ashes

Crack! Roar!

At 10.59am on the 16th June at Edgbaston, nobody was queuing for a bacon roll and a coffee. Most had been in their seats for 30 minutes at least, a febrile mood going viral around the concrete bowl already living up to its reputation for housing England’s most fervent supporters. All it had needed was Ben Stokes to say, “We’ll have a bat” for fans to be out of their seats, war cries filling the air, the anticipation already dialled up to 11. It couldn’t possibly live up to this could it?

A hush descended as Patrick Cummins, Australia’s captain, ran in and delivered the first ball of The Ashes, a little full of a length outside Zak Crawley’s off stump. For almost 150 years, it would have been left alone, the opener pleased to settle the nerves, the guard marked again, the heart rate dropping. Not today.

Crawley stood tall and creamed the most perfect of cover drives to the boundary and… there was a beat. Barely perceptible, but it was there, each individual taking their own moment to register exactly what they had seen.

Roar! 

2) Drama at the Southbank

On a perfect summer’s evening, the Thames glinting before us, my brother and I were crouched over his phone listening to the commentary from 100 miles or so north. We were outside the National Theatre waiting to see Dear England, James Graham’s play focused on Gareth Southgate, but really about the changing face of masculinity in 21st century England. It was the unchanging face of Australian masculinity that preoccupied us at that moment.

Cummins and Nathan Lyon had joined forces with 54 runs required to win the first Test, but neither of us were confident that England could get the two wickets they needed. “Australia will bat out time now surely – they’ll be happy with the draw”.  

Two overs later, Cummins hit Joe Root for two sixes in three balls and showed that there wasn’t just one captain on the field who did not believe in draws. I looked at my brother and he looked at me and neither of us had to say anything.

Inside the theatre, the house was arriving, some asking us for the score. “Cummins and Lyon are still there – they need 17… 12…9…”. The same wan smile came back each time. Australia may not have won an Ashes series in England for 22 years (and counting) but they’re still Australia. 

Cummins hit the winning runs and a strange, glorious rollercoaster of a match ended with two bowlers batting their side to the victory. Little did we know that things were going to get stranger still at Lord’s a week or so later.

3) One day cricket at its best

In the autumn, the best players in the world assembled in India to play matches well short of the best, as 50 overs cricket did itself no favours, a Glenn Maxwell epic aside.

A few weeks earlier, not even the best players in Hampshire and Leicestershire assembled to play an unforgettable match that had everything, reminding us that sport is more about competition than it is about superstars.

The match had tilted this way and that, Hampshire reducing Leicestershire to 89-6 before Harry Swindells (“He’s one of our own” sang the fans who had made the short journey to Trent Bridge) and Sam Evans conjured 151 runs for the seventh wicket, batting with nous and flair to give their side a fighting chance.

Hampshire kept losing wickets at inopportune moments, but Liam Dawson, one of the form players of the summer, was still there and, with one over to go, he was in partnership with another old hand, Keith Barker, and just eight runs were required.

Josh Hull, having turned 19 a month or so earlier, had the ball in his hand. He had got some tap through the afternoon, but had clung on to a fine catch a couple of overs earlier, so he was in the game. I thought of the young man’s parents and the nerves I felt watching my son bowl the last over of a schools match – what must they be feeling!

Three singles and then Dawson, under pressure, is caught and the lad concedes just two more singles to win the match for the underdogs, the side who were down and out six or so hours earlier. The Metro Bank One Day Cup was Leicestershire’s.

What the future holds for the competition, we don’t know; what the future holds for Josh Hull will also emerge only in the fullness of time. Both will thrive if given the support they need. And those of us who were there to witness this match for the ages will only be too happy to provide it.