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21 July 2005
Oh, what a charming day of cricket at Lord's and bomb blasts in London
One of the most delectable pleasures of being a cricket aficionado is listening to BBC's incomparable radio commentary of matches played in England. And what better occasion than the Ashes to renew my dusty acquaintances with CMJ (Christopher Martin-Jenkins), Blowers (Henry Blofeld) and all the background voices who chip in from time to time to correct inadvertent slips, offer snide and dryly witty remarks and sip tea and watch the whites moving like little pieces of automaton on the green turf. Little would you know that another part of London witnessed another series of bomb explosions until CMJ thought it fit to quip before handing over the microphone to Blowers that those tuned into the commentary would be updated with what is happening at the bomb blasts -- "Poor old Emergency Services... but it has been so difficult to keep in touch what with such a mesmerising first day at Lord's".Henry Blofeld now has the mike and makes very little of England's sudden downfall -- they are 19/4 with McGrath claiming #500 through #503 of his scalps in 7 overs and 4 maidens of his opening spell -- as he cavorts in his legendary avuncular voice oozing with patrician wit, judiciously impartial lexicon and flippant charm about Australian sea-gulls, huge jet-airliners in the misty air on a sunny afternoon descending over Heathrow as Flintoff too falls to McGrath at 21/5.
Only over the BBC, and in England can you imagine such a surreal shaping of events -- Blowers continues murmurring about how the crowd watches and goads on with bated breath every single ball England survives as a helicopter hovers around Lord's not entirely unconnected with the series of bomb blasts, the latest being at the Oval a couple of minutes earlier. Oh dread, Blowers reckons his time is up and hands over to Aggers -- who loses no time in ascribing to Blowers a most dreadful spell claiming two wickets in a matter of ten minutes -- and that grand purveyor of vintage moustaches, Merv Hughes.
