大象传媒

When it comes to cricket-loving musicians, it is well known that the likes of Eric Clapton, , Mick Jagger and ex-Stranglers frontman are huge fans of the game.

But there is a new generation of music stars who follow cricket, like , who joined us in the box at Lord's to tell us how he got into the game.

Listen to the interview here

"I'm quite a latecomer to cricket. When I was 17, I started watching it on the telly as it was a great way of occupying five days before the next dole cheque came in," he said.

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England's cricketers have no time to reflect on their

They must instead switch their attention to the impending , starting on Friday, and remind themselves that they did an excellent job in the first match of the series.

In particular, the bowlers were terrific.

Bereft of any of the Ashes 鈥渂ig guns鈥�, and largely written off as being too green to take on India's ultra-experienced batsmen, they reduced them to 201 and 282-9 before cruelly being denied victory.

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LORD'S - Even Harry Potter couldn't conjure up an England Test match victory as the rain fell at Lord's - but I'm sure he tried. The actor who plays Harry, Daniel Radcliffe spent his 18th birthday at the home of cricket and joined Jonathan Agnew at lunch for a very special View from the Boundary.

You can listen to the whole interview online here.

It was his first live cricket match after getting into the game over the last year.

"Most people got into cricket when we won the Ashes; I got into it when we were beaten 5-0!".

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The hour after lunch is traditionally the time at a Lord鈥檚 Test when some spectators鈥� focus begins to wander a bit.

I mean 鈥� there are so many things to do besides watch cricket 鈥� eat, drink, have a nap in the sunshine, or on this particular Sunday find a TV screen to watch .

But a very typical Test century from Kevin Pietersen, his third at Lord鈥檚, kept virtually every spectator firmly occupied.

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Matthew Hoggard's late withdrawal from the because of injury did not only deprive England of their number one bowler for the first Test.

It also meant the organisers of an exclusive little soiree near Lord鈥檚 had to go about their business without their most noteworthy guest.

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In September 2002, spent 拢1.2m laying a new outfield at Lord鈥檚 with a drainage system of scientific precision.

Afterwards, they were assured they had a surface that could drain two inches of water in an hour.

Up until the against India on Friday, that guarantee had not been put to the test.

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LORD'S - So here goes! This is my first Test as the new producer of Test Match Special.

I am hoping that today is less stressful than the first one-day international I was in charge of four years ago.

That took place in Dambulla during England's tour of Sri Lanka. To be honest the image I had of life as a 大象传媒 cricket producer abroad was rather romantic, sitting back in some exotic location watching England in action. The reality was not quite the same.

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With the competition now in its fifth season, my first taste of live Twenty20 Cup action was long overdue.

The match between enabled me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, as I was able to finally meet up with , the former Australia Test opener who has also been a regular contributor to this website for the past seven years.

The signs weren't promising, however, with thick grey clouds overhead as I arrived at the ground to hear Weather with You by Crowded House and Bryan Ferry's A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall being played by the wag (no, not one of the wives and girlfriends of the Northants players - at least I assume it wasn't) in charge of the PA system.

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