Sample Away Match Report - Trelawny

MTWD

AWAY MATCH REPORT AND RATINGS TEMPLATE

MATCH:                  India v Holland

DATE:                         7 March 2007

VENUE:                      Greenfields (Trelawny)

NEAREST TOWN:    Trelawny, Jamaica

An obscure fact about the venue or town: Trelawny is a brand new all-purpose stadium built for the ICC World Cup 2007, although only warm-up matches and the opening ceremony took place there.  The locals had planned to hold The Curried Goat Classic cricket tournament there to inaugurate the place, but there was no sign of that tournament when Daisy and I visited.

Getting there (e.g. accessibility, price of entry, obscure rules for visitors, quality of the pitch): We hired a car and driver (George) to take us from the other side of Montego Bay.  The road is not quite finished, so the journey took us 35 minutes – perhaps 10 minutes longer than it should have done.  Once the road is finished, the ground will be 15 minutes from the “right” side of Montego Bay.  Security at the ground far exceeded the crowd numbers that day.  The tickets are all security bar-coded and you enter through turnstiles that read your ticket.  Once inside, security was far more laid back.

Some Indian supporters told Daisy that they had paid $120 (£65) per ticket in advance to guarantee good seats.  Ged had noticed that price on the Internet before we set off on our hols.  As this expedition was not really part of our plan, we thought we’d take pot luck on the door, for which the published price was a more reasonable $20 (£11).  We decided to treat George to the game, which pleased him enormously – George is probably still talking about it – he certainly told anyone who would listen about it for the rest of our week in Jamaica. 

The ground is up on a hill overlooking the sea which is a glorious setting for cricket.  The cool breeze makes sitting out a pleasure, especially if you’ve paid to sit in the better stand – the one with shade and facing the breeze.  Everyone was in that stand.  When I say “everyone”, this international (albeit warm up) match in glorious weather had a crowd to befit a cold damp Thursday in April at Grace Road.  The TV cameras were there and must have had to use a lot of imagination to show any crowd activity.  Daisy recons that she, me and George were shown several times – I suppose we must have looked quite a trio.

Describe the food and beverage at the ground (e.g. quality of ales, variety of foods, prices, value for money): No ales, of course, but plentiful Red Stripe.  No bottles, not even plastic ones, were permitted in the stands, so drinks had to be served into big wide skiffs.  This meant we needed to return for fresh drinks at regular intervals rather than “hunker down” with a job lot.  As there was barely a crowd, this didn’t matter, but I’d hate that situation at a hot place if it was heaving with people. 

I tried the curried goat, in honour of the missing tourney, which was good but not as special as goat I have tasted in good Jamaican restaurants in London.  Daisy tried the curried chicken which she preferred to my goat – I preferred the goat.  George tried “spicy jerk” chicken from the rotisserie but said that it was not very spicy.  There was loads of choice – rotis, samosas, lots of veggie options too.

Meals were $3 to $4 a go – good value to us (by gosh you could fill your stomach with that rice and those rotis) – but pricey for locals.  Red Stripe was $3 a bottle – again pricey by local standards.  Still – all set there with my curried goat in one hand, Red Stripe in the other, sun, breeze, sea and cricket in front of me; what else could one ask for?

Comment on the locals (e.g. friendliness of local supporters, size of crowd, a stewarding story, snobbery or otherwise of the members’ bar): That northern Jamaican community is quite a  small one, so George knew quite a lot of the staff – which probably would have helped had we needed help!  But actually the staff inside the ground were very friendly and helpful.  There were very few locals other than the staff, sadly.  Darren Powell sat stock still a few rows behind us studying India’s batting carefully. 

When we got our lunch, we went and sat near the band for a while, which was a great experience to try once, for a short while, and then realise how lucky you are at a big match if you are not sitting too close to that racket!

What is there/was there to do during a rain break?: No real rain that day, just a couple of very small blessings.  There wouldn’t be much to do during a rain break, to be honest, but Caribbean rain breaks aren’t like ours.

Eccentric supporter of the day story (this might be a local or it might be a visiting supporter):  Probably goes to Daisy.  Noticing that the tiny crowd were nearly all Indian supporters, Daisy started to holler “come on Holland” and ended up competing with this tiny little Indian girl who could holler even louder than Daisy.  Believe me that is a scary noise.  This was all done in great humour and was probably very audible for those of you who watched the game on TV, as there was hardly any other noise when the band was quiet.

Summarise the cricket you saw (e.g. brief summary of events, your champagne moment, your man of the day/man of the match):  Let’s face it, we were there for the experience more than the cricket.  We saw 3 Middlesex alumni in action: Irfan Pathan, Daan van Bunge and Ajit Agarkar (12^th man).  We saw Tendulkar and Dravid both score half-tons.  Daan didn’t bowl – obviously he was saving himself for Gibbs.  Irfan Pathan scored a quickfire 20+ including a big 6.  Mahendra Singh Dhoni did similar.  Irfan Pathan bowled very tidily – the Dutch couldn’t get him away at all.  Sreesanth looked far more dangerous although he didn’t take wickets.  In the end the run rate grew and grew while the spinners winkled out the Dutch.  300/9 played 118 all out.  A rout. 

Daan got stumped off the Turbanator.  In a Janet-like moment, I was fiddling with my camera and missed the embarrassing dismissal completely.  I did snap Daan returning to the dressing room hanging his head in shame.  That was the Vimto moment.  I think the Champagne moment was Irfan Pathan’s six right at the end. Or perhaps Dhoni’s one a few overs before.  We’ll submit the best of the colourful pictures to Turkey Mark for the photo site.

Summarise the overall experience in words:  We had a really lovely day out and I would thoroughly recommend Trelawny as a ground.  I do hope the will is there to maintain these new grounds in the Caribbean and use them extensively over the years.  If that happens, then WC2007 will have been valuable to the region, at least in its legacy of facilities.