St George’s Park waits for Godot

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, St George’s Park

AS the players emerged into the strained sunshine of St George’s Park an hour after the scheduled start on Sunday, fresh and eager to resume hostilities having spent all but half-an-hour of Saturday’s play holed up in the dressingroom, Adrian Carter retreated to the shadows.

A spot of shade was the least he deserved. “I’ve been awake since 1.30am listening to it rain,” groundsman Carter said.

Carter had been at work since 6am, marshalling the efforts of his crew of 13 - and manfully mucking in himself - to squeeze as much water as possible out of St George’s Park and as much as play as possible onto it.

Five hours of effort on Sunday morning produced an outfield scarred with sawdust and squelchy, but playable. As for the pitch ...

“All you need is for one of the players to have walked on the covers and put a spike through the thing to have a hole and a leak, but thankfully when we took them off it was dry,” Carter said.

So, could he finally calm down and watch the game?

“The only time you relax is after the test match,” Carter said.

On Saturday, Carter and company had scurried hither and thither wielding covers and squeegees and other equipment in valiant attempts that proved in vain - no play was possible after 12.30pm.

Prospects for cricket were as bleak as the sky above, but still they toiled. Then, late in the afternoon, after pegs had been hammered into the brass eyes near the edges of the covers to secure them for the night, the umpires reminded Carter the hours of play had been extended to 7pm.

So out came the pegs and off came the covers, and all present waited for Godot.

Of course, Godot never arrived. But, despite a dark and drizzly night on Saturday and a sad swirl of cloud for much of Sunday, the cricket did. Thanks Adrian.