Life must be filled up

was hearing an American commentate on cricket. This afternoon (UK time) England played America in the T20 World Cup in Barbados. We won by ten wickets, with great bowling from Adil Rashid and Chris Jordan and great batting from Jos Buttler, who hit five sixes in one over. Considering their lack of fixtures and resources, America did really well to get to the Super 8s and especially well to have beaten Pakistan earlier. There were plenty of American fans in the crowd and their skipper hopes this will open American minds. So watch out, you guys: cricket is coming!

No, not the book but what happened at Lord’s yesterday. Batsman Jonny Bairstow, thinking the ball was dead, moved out of his crease, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey saw a chance and stumped him. Now, I personally think that Bairstow was a duffer and shouldn’t have gone wandering out of his crease; by the laws of the game, the umpires had no choice but to give him out. In cricket though, there is an idea about ‘the spirit of the game’, not just the laws of the game and this was a hugely unpopular decision. The noise of the booing from the normally sedate crowd at Lord’s was astonishing; in all my lifetime of following cricket, I’ve never heard anything like it. The Australians congratulated themselves but for a while it was a pyrrhic victory because they had annoyed Ben Stokes, England captain. Do not annoy Ben Stokes. The red mist descended: coolly and in complete control, he began smiting the ball out of the ground, bringing up his century with three consecutive sixes. He was bravely supported at the other end by Stuart Broad, who began by exchanging some verbals (technical term, overseas readers :-) and then playing up to the crowd by pointedly placing his bat right in front of the wicket, while eyeballing Carey. Stokes and Broad must be covered in bruises today, they took so many knocks.

The Australians were booed off the field at lunch and even heckled and jostled by MCC members in the Long Room. Members! They’re mostly respectable old gents. As a result, MCC has had to apologise to Cricket Australia. When Stokes was finally out for 155, even the Australian supporters gave him a standing ovation. He later denied that this astonishing performance was anything to do with the Bairstow incident, that he was just reading the game. I don’t believe a word of it. Once he'd gone, we were just waiting for the wickets to tumble and indeed they did and Australia won. (I think we’d have lost anyway.) The events have left very bad feeling. Pat Cummins, Australian captain, was even booed at the presentations (he had the option of withdrawing the appeal). The next match, at Headingley, will be very interesting!

Yay! The first Test Match of the summer at Lord’s: what an occasion. Everyone expected England to win and they did but not, as some were predicting, on the second day of a four-day Test. This morning, Ireland were staring defeat in the face (sports-speak cliché) and it looked as though they would lose by an innings. Instead, they put up a great fight so that England had to bat again after all, although they only needed ten runs to win. The applause and standing ovations showed how much the crowd appreciated Ireland’s stand.

That was all very enjoyable but next up: the Ashes! I can hardly wait but at the same time, I’m quaking in my Crocs.

Or, how to feel very old. Third Test, England v. Pakistan, Karachi. Rehan Ahmed, eighteen years old, has a five-fer on debut. For those not familiar with cricketing terms, this means he took five wickets in a single innings. His dad is out there to keep an eye on him and I imagine at this moment he’s the proudest dad on earth. Ahmed père told TMS that his son started playing cricket with his brothers in the garden and was bowling googlies when he was eight. Promising for England and let’s hope he has a long career ahead of him.

Second day of the Third Test against New Zealand. Spirits low as England are 55 for 6. Oh, here we go, same old same old, why can't we find batsmen who can stay in etc. etc. grunp, grump. Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton (it's his debut and he was picked for his bowling!) begin a partnership. At stumps, England are 264 for 6 and the deficit down to 65. Only in Test cricket do you get days like this, which is why I love it even though my nerves are shredded. What's really nice is that the New Zealand players all rushed to conratulate Bairstow on his century. I wasn't looking forward to watching the highlights on TV. I am now!

After thrashing the Aussies the other day (I could never tire of writing that), England were favourites to win. It all got rather close for comfort but England made it four wins in four matches. Jos Buttler! Is he even human? I’ve watched the clip of his brilliant run out three times, it’s so great. He says it was his favourite part of the match; this from a man who made a terrific century. We’re so lucky to have him.

The development of cricket in Afghanistan, although recent, has been rapid and excellent. Now, Cricket Australia say they will cancel their men’s Test with Afghanistan if women are no longer allowed to play cricket there.

Second Test Match against India today, although if it’s as dark at Lord’s as it is here, the umpires will have those light meters out and refuse to let them play. Dear England players, please don’t leave *all* the batting to Joe Root. Contrary to appearances, he’s only human.

The entire England ODI squad has to self-isolate after some positive testing. A team put together in two days has two good WINS over Pakistan and it merits not a mention on the news. The England football team LOSE and it’s the only story.

My explanation is that cricket is not free-to-air on television.

I really enjoyed this: Jonathan Agnew interviewing Sue Townsend in 2012. On BBC Sounds at the moment, you can hear several of these excellent interviews, originally broadcast as part of TMS. Here, Elton John talks about his love of cricket and especially, cricket on the radio.