Welcome to the third instalment of a weekly blog offering a forum for cricket-loving folk around the world
How is the cricketing world looking upon Lord's today? Are people from Melbourne to Mumbai saying: "I see that when it came to the crunch, Lord's didn't have any vision?" Or will they look around a beautiful ground the next time they make a pilgrimage to the home of cricket and sigh with relief at the destruction that has not come to pass?
If we can draw one consolation from the economic downturn that in the UK will bring a decade of falling living standards for millions it is that at least "The Vision" is no more. "The Vision", once you cut through the PR, was to increase Lord's capacity in exchange for four dirty great tower blocks behind the arm at the Nursery End.
As an example of the grandiose thinking that was prevalent before we all realised that we were spending money we didn't actually have, "The Vision" was a plan for its time that fortunately will never see the light of day.
There are times when Lord's could do with being a little bit bigger. That much is obvious. But there is an essential difference between a cricket stadium and a cricket ground. Lord's, like the best places to watch the game, is a cricket ground, possessing a beauty and individuality that brings an appeal and contentment to even the dullest of games.
In all forms of international cricket, apart perhaps from Twenty20, there is time to gaze around and contemplate and if it is possible to do so without looking at a group of high-rises then so much the better. The architects said they would not cast a shadow on the outfield but they sure as hell would have cast a shadow on the soul.
I remember signing up with 38 Degrees in the days when it was known for fighting against the sale of our national forests, rather than as a pressure group for just about anything it can think of. I shared the obligatory link on Facebook saying Save our Forests, only to receive a response from a friend in building who retorted: "Build houses!"
His argument was hard to resist because we all know that the economy is most easily driven forward during a construction boom. But that does not mean construction at all costs, willfully ignoring the consequences. Any cost-benefit analysis at Lord's had to conclude that cramming more people into the ground, and shrugging that it was not quite as good as it used to be, was not the way to go.
That does not make me anti-development. I don't object to a new clematis by the Nursery Gates, for example, and I would personally walk around the crowd with a collection box if it paid for speed bumps on Wellington Road to stop the boy racers threatening my life every time I walked across the zebra crossing to the ground. And yes, before you take that too literally, I like other development too.
I am mightily impressed by the simple but effective new stand at Edgbaston, delighted to see that India's new stadiums are beginning to have an eye to creature comforts as well as capacity, and that Adelaide just about managed to build the Great Southern Stand without destroying its comeliness.
India has 10 stadiums with capacities of 40,000 or more. England has none. But that is India. In England, for Lord's to edge its capacity up to 35,000 during a financially troubled decade, and do so subtly and intelligently, is the best choice available.
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, would have recognised this as a more modest vision, but one designed to bring lasting contentment. "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart," he said. "Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
Lord's has looked inside its heart ? and it is all the better for it.
Thursday 1 December, 1.30pm update
? New Zealand halted Australia's charge on day one of the first Test at The Gabba as the former captain Daniel Vettori played a determined innings, helping the tourists reach 176-5 before rain washed out the final session. In Dhaka, meanwhile, Pakistan skittled Bangladesh for 91 in the first ODI and were reduced to 63-5 themselves before easing home to a five-wicket win.
? England bowler Tim Bresnan has undergone surgery on his elbow but is expected to be fit for the Test series against Pakistan in the new year. "His symptoms started during the England one-day squad's recent tour of India and have failed to settle with rest," read an ECB statement.
? And local A division footballers in India have been recruited to clean the Holkar Stadium of Indore - ahead of the fourth ODI with West Indies - in a bid to raise cash to buy themselves kit. "We'll use the money to change our torn boots," said coach Sanjay Nidhan.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/dec/01/guardian-world-cricket-forum
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