Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)
Early on Saturday morning, Gary and I
left Chelmsford, with hangovers, to pick up John in Milton Keynes and head
up to Birmingham for the first leg of our weekend sport extravaganza: The
First Test between England v India at Edgbaston on the Saturday, and the
Euro 96 games between Spain and Bulgaria
on the Sunday and France and Romania on
the Monday. The extravagance was justified: we hadn't all seen each other
since we'd worked together in Australia the previous year.
Due to a certain degree of tardiness on our part and atrocious parking problems around the ground, we arrive at a packed Edgbaston an hour after play starts. Because of this, and because we, along with half the crowd, nipped out for most of the afternoon to watch England v Switzerland in Euro 96 in a nearby pub, we only managed to see one of the eleven wickets that fell on the day! We were fortunate enough, however, to witness an exhillarating century from Sachin Tendulkar.
I don't actually remember too much about the cricket, but the trip to the pub was entertaining. The nearest pub was absolutely packed: we didn't have a hope of getting in. The second pub was populated by about half a dozen stern-looking, old West Indian men playing dominos and the chance of getting the TV turned on looked extremely remote. The third pub was also fairly crowded, but it had a big screen and we eventually got to the bar and found a spot where we could see the TV. The pub was offering beer at £1 a pint until England scored. John and I took quick advantage of this. Gary, the tight so-and-so, was queueing at the bar when Shearer put in England's goal. Brilliant! The pub also provided free chip butties at half time. I was particularly disturbed to hear a pretty mean looking chap behind me remark "It's just like the food we had in Winson Green!" (Birmingham's prison). England eventually drew 1-1 with Switzerland.
Back to the cricket...
India 214 (Srinath 52 Cork 4/61)
England 313 (Hussain 128 Prasad 4/71 Srinath 4/103)
India 219 (Tendulkar 122 Lewis 5/72)
England 2/121 (Atherton 53*)
England won by 8 wickets