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Nigel Scott: Failing the Test
THANKS a lot, England cricket team. All that Ashes excitement; all the build up; all the eager anticipation among cricket-lovers and the hard-pressed businesses of Leeds – gone, practically, within the first hour of a dreadful Friday morning.
It had been 20 years since I had sat and watched an England v Australia encounter from the northern end of Headingley, where that daft old electronic scoreboard with the yellow discs that never worked used to be a constant source of embarrassment.
Back then I was with Mrs S on a cold day when Australia, batting first, whacked our line-up of "pie-chuckers" for a mammoth 601-7 declared.
Friday was agreeably sunny – but that was the only agreeable thing (apart from my father's company) on a day when England lost the test before it had almost begun. The atmosphere in the crowd, even in the West Stand where many had come to party, was funereal, apart from the pockets of green and gold that signified the touring Aussie supporters.
The real tragedy, of course, was the fact that the game finished so quickly and the knock-on effect this will have had financially for those with an interest in seeing a tense five day encounter.
Earning brass is at a premium now and I'm sure many a business was left doubly gutted by the home team's abject surrender in this match.
Deborah Green, chief executive of Marketing Leeds, reckons the city will be about 2m worse off because of it – not a figure to be taken lightly.
Many of the great and good of the Leeds business scene no doubt felt the same as they, too, watched the game on Friday. I bumped into almost as many senior bankers, financiers and lawyers as I generally do at the annual Yorkshire International Business Convention. Clearly a lot of desks had been cleared and work delegated on that Friday and, I bet, by the end of it quite a few of them wished they hadn't bothered.
In the Headingley members' long room at lunchtime the gloomy faces told the story and there didn't seem to be too much of a rush to get back outside to watch the English capitulation.
While all this was going on, I was wondering if I would get to come back to Headingley on Sunday when Mrs S and I had been invited as corporate guests of Leeds Carnegie. We managed to squeeze in an enjoyable morning session when, with no pressure because the game was already lost, Chris Broad and Graeme Swann managed, at least, to put bat to ball and make our Antipodean friends look a bit daft for an hour or so.
Delightful
Talking of our Aussie friends, Mrs S and I shared the morning with a delightful young brother and sister from Down Under – she a student at Leeds Carnegie and in the university's netball team, and he a club cricketer and groundsman in Oz.
Because I lack that skill, which should be simple, but to many of us isn't, I can't give them both a name check here because their names didn't stick but they were good company for the short duration of Sunday's play when, understandably, they were in a chipper mood.
Over lunch we chatted some more. "You're both quite sporty," I ventured. "Does sport run in the family?" "Well," they replied. "Dad swam for Australia and won a silver medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and gold in the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. Mum was captain of the Australian women's netball team."
"Oh, just a bit then," I replied suitably impressed.
Both these relative – to Mrs S and me – youngsters exuded a charm and confidence that I reckon was due in part to their Aussie mentality but also to their sporting backgrounds.
As I have seen from my own kids, sport and growing up in a sporting environment can offer a lot to the development of young people – and for those teenagers and their parents who moan about there being "nothing for young people to do" I suggest they open their blinkered eyes and think about the positive benefits of sport at all levels. It's a shame the England cricket team, at Headingley at least, failed to provide any inspiration.
All white for me to back Owls...
IT was strange on Tuesday night to go to watch Leeds Carnegie Ladies and not to see our eldest daughter take to the pitch in an all-white kit.
Now at Sheffield Wednesday – as previously documented here and, yes, I'm still struggling to get used to it – she lined up with the Owls in their latest pre-season friendly when they were distinct underdogs.
They lost 4-0 but didn't play too badly, losing it really due to a series of defensive lapses which, hopefully, can be ironed out before the league season begins properly on Sunday, away at Manchester City.
It was good to catch up with a number of club officials and parents at Leeds who have become friends over the years.
I wish Leeds Carnegie Ladies the very best over the coming season and hope they can recapture their best form and hopefully, also, reach the FA Cup final again this year, a competition which did so much to raise the club's profile a couple of years ago.
As for Sheffield – at least that half of the city that sports blue and white stripes (mascots pictured below) – let's hope that this can be a promotion season from the Women's Northern Premier League and then we will hopefully end up playing Leeds Carnegie for real next year.
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
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