Fun not proscribed but prescribed
St Lucia - Those expecting an edict against fun when they arrived at the on Friday were to be happily disabused but the message seemed to be 鈥淗ave fun our way鈥.
Much has been made of the clamp-down on fans bringing musical instruments, including conch shells, into grounds during this tournament.
The sound of the conch and the horn, and the samba beat of the drum still ring out around the ground but if you look for the perpetrators you will find them wearing big plastic accreditation tags marked 鈥淓ntertainer鈥.
Two such professional fun merchants are Vincent 鈥淒r Secret鈥 Fredrick and his friend Oswald Beausoliel who, short of a nickname, promptly accepted this correspondent鈥檚 suggestion of Dr Obvious.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing this for fun ever since the stadium opened [four years ago],鈥 explained Dr Secret, at the time sporting a string vest but shortly to change into a suit in the St Lucian national colours of yellow, blue and black.
鈥淲e submitted a list to the local organizing committee of what we wanted to bring in and they let us.鈥
The duo have a suitcase full of instruments but their main weapons of entertainment are the conch and a couple of complicated plastic tubes that look as if they have been stolen from a nearby bathroom.
They tour the stands with their impromptu routine, although when I caught up with them they had yet to make it as far as the grassy knoll where the bulk of England鈥檚 Barmy Army were stationed.
Many ground authorities try to split potentially rowdy England fans up but this areas seems to be especially designed for them, complete with disco and bouncy castle.
There wasn鈥檛 much for them to cheer about as England struggled against Shane Bond and company but the party atmosphere stopped them worrying too much about their side鈥檚 travails.
颁辞尘尘别苍迟蝉听听Post your comment
As soon as Monty started bowling. Guess what we took a wicket. Rock on Monty
Complain about this comment
Has any England player dropped as large a percentage of easy catches as has poor K Pietersen ?
Is there anything he can do about it , or should he permanently field at third man or hidden as much as possible ?
Complain about this comment
Has any England player dropped as large a percentage of easy catches as has poor K Pietersen ?
Michael Vaughan must be a candidate.
Complain about this comment
can a test playing nation loseits test status ? eg zimbabwe
Complain about this comment
Yeah, i feel sorry for them. They do need to brush up on their feilding to stay in touch. Hope the next two are easy games.
Complain about this comment
This has to be the dullest tournament ever. Boring format, boring games, too many rules, too much profiteering and too little consideration for fans. I hope it is a massive economic flop and sends a clear message to the ICC that if these events are not about us, we won't support them.
Complain about this comment
can a test playing nation lose its test status ? eg zimbabwe
Complain about this comment
Omer, I think you're being harsh on Pietersen in this instance. It was a difficult chance, diving to his right. Had he held it, it would have been a cracker. KP has dropped a few but the quality of his ground fielding - stopping and throwing at the stumps - is consistently high.
Complain about this comment