Two of the great cricket stadiums of the world are right here in London: Lords, located in St John’s Wood, known as the “home of cricket” and the base of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), custodian of the laws of the game; and The Oval in Kennington where, in 1882, the “death of English cricket” was satirically proclaimed after Australia beat the home side on its own soil for the first time, giving rise to the “The Ashes“, the winners’ trophy in Test Match series between the two countries ever since.
During international matches, these two iconic old grounds are packed. Tickets are expensive and hard to come by. But in the earlier part of the cricket season, it’s a different story. My companion and I visited both to compare the cost, facilities and entertainment value at a couple of early season County Championship matches.
First up, a Saturday visit to the Oval, where home team Surrey hosted Essex on day two of four-day match. Tickets were just £15 for an adult and easy to obtain online. Getting in was easy too, with the ground just a few minutes’ walk from Oval tube station and nothing too tedious about the ticket inspection, the security check or finding seats. In fact, we could to sit anywhere we wanted except in the club members’ areas, and were free to move around, following the sunshine, during the day.
We enjoyed being able to spread out our belongings, a luxury unheard of in the packed environment of a Test, when space is at a premium and much time can be spent tucking in your knees as spectators come and go (too often these days while an over is underway). We were glad to have brought our own picnics, though, as there were few options for buying food and drink inside.
The closed outlets gave the Oval walkways a bit of a pre-season feeling. There was only one bar, where a large glass of rose cost an eye-watering £13.70, a food outlet called The Crispy Wicket and an ice cream van. My companion said we shouldn’t complain – no one had checked whether we’d exceeded our drink limit of four cans of beer or a plastic bottle of wine per person – and service was friendly and prompt when we did need it.
So often, towards the end of a long day at a Test, the crowd is more than a little the worse for wear and the stands are littered with empties. But here there was less drinking, and a patient, appreciative crowd took its rubbish when it left. Our sense was that people were there because they followed Surrey and knew the traditional game. A few were even keen enough to fill in the outcome of every ball bowled in their scorebooks.
At Lords, it was day one of Middlesex versus Durham. Tickets, at £20 for adults, were easily available if a slight tussle with app was required. Lords isn’t quite so handy for public transport as the Oval and half the stands were closed off, but there was a good crowd in, with plenty of members in the pavilion in their distinctive red and yellow ties (perhaps they don’t use the tube) and several school groups enthusiastically demanding – and getting – autographs from a very patient and perhaps slightly bemused Durham stalwart Graham Clark, fielding in the deep.
As with the Surrey match, there was less drinking than at a Test, a very pleasant atmosphere and knowledgeable fans. The wine was £8.50 for a 187 ml tin, but there too you could bring your own food and drink – two cans of beer or one bottle of wine in this case – and you needed to, as even less was on sale at Lords than at the Oval.
Both venues offered the same extra treat – the chance to walk on the ground during the lunch break. It’s a lovely bonus to stroll on the velvety grass, get close enough to inspect the wicket and take a selfie in front of the pavilion. At Surrey’s ground, kids could even have a quick game on the outfield and later say they’d played at the Oval. You could picnic there too – or, like one spectator, lie down reading Brideshead Revisited – whereas at Lords it’s hard to find a bit of lawn that you are allowed to even sit on.
A visit to Lords is a big day out. Emerging onto the pitch, with its famous views and sense of history, is a moment in any sports fan’s life. The strict dress code for members makes for a smart crowd and there’s something special about the mix of tradition and sporting prowess. The Oval can’t quite compete with this (though perhaps as it has its own heritage, a solid body of county support and the club’s winning ways, it doesn’t really want to).
As for the games themselves, much has been written about batting-friendly wickets that make high-scoring draws the most likely outcome. The runs piled up on both days, but boundaries and wickets were scarce. There was entertainment nevertheless from seeing Test stars and hopefuls trying to catch the eye of the selectors. Plenty of them were there too: Sam Cook, Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith, Dan Lawrence, Gus Atkinson and Dom Sibley at the Oval; Emilio Gay, Ben McKinney and Matthew Potts at Lords. At Lords, there was also a glimpse of the great man himself, Durham’s Ben Stokes, captain of the England Test team, albeit in the practice nets, not on the pitch.
Choosing between them, I went for Lords, with its sense of theatre and occasion, and my companion went for the Oval, iconic in its own less formal way, with its fans appreciating the nuances of the four-day game in the sunshine. He was not alone – that match was watched by more than 15,000, a record Championship attendance at the Oval this century. No wonder. Not T20-style exciting for sure, but the teams’ commitment, the buzz of seeing big-name players showing off their skills, the politely absorbed crowds – these make for great value days out.
Photo of Oval crowd from Kim B X/Twitter feed.
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