It’s great to see cricket back, but let’s end this madness over fans

In the days leading up to the long-awaited return of competitive cricket to Northern Ireland, a local builder went beyond the call of duty.
Alistair Bushe and his mother Joan watching the return of NCU cricket at The Lawn on SaturdayAlistair Bushe and his mother Joan watching the return of NCU cricket at The Lawn on Saturday
Alistair Bushe and his mother Joan watching the return of NCU cricket at The Lawn on Saturday

As it became increasingly likely that no spectators (ok, well kind of) would be allowed inside a ground to watch, the builder helped flatten a site he owned beyond the boundary at The Lawn. Spectators could watch from that vantage point within the parameters set out by the Stormont Executive.

Health and safety inspectors might not have approved, but, hey ho, this was no time to be fussy, and I placed two chairs and watched the early stages of Waringstown’s thrilling last-ball defeat to Instonians on Saturday. My mother sat alongside me, while my father and my younger son Jude enjoyed a makeshift cricket match a few yards away.

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Yes, cricket was back but not as we know it and despite the hours of blood, sweat and tears of members at Waringstown (and many other clubs around the Province) to make it all happen, the stench of farce lingered in the summer air.

Nonsensical stipulations over the return of competitive sport have given club volunteers logistical nightmares. While spectators were ‘banned’, clubs were, bizarrely, allowed to open so-called hospitality areas where people could eat and drink while furtively glancing at the cricket.

I hope someone connected to Stormont was present at a cricket ground on Saturday because they would have seen how ridiculous it all was. People congregated in numbers in the ‘hospitality area’ while the rest of the boundary area was out of bounds, cricket’s equivalent of Area 51.

Hands up, I got a telling off. Peter Hanna, Waringstown’s webmaster, was streaming the match live on Facebook on the boundary’s edge and suggested I join him for some commentary. As we were waiting for the audience to come online in numbers, a club official made it clear that I should take my leave and return from whence I came, to the building site by the boundary presumably. I briefly raised my hands in a half-hearted protest, but it wasn’t worth pursuing, not least because I’ve seen this man in a courtroom and you don’t ever win arguments with him.

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No blame attached to this official (he shrugged his shoulders apologetically to acknowledge the absurdity of it all) or to any club official who had to enforce these preposterous regulations over the weekend. I can only hope common sense belatedly prevails next week.

So what about the cricket itself? It was an imperfect but thrilling match that Instonians won by the narrowest of margins, probably because they fielded better than a home side who, I counted, fluffed at least four regulation chances.

Nikolai Smith, a batsman more associated with patience and longevity than belligerence, was Instonians’ ‘finisher’ at number five, his five sixes in an unbeaten 58 from 40 balls giving the visitors 15 runs more than they had perhaps expected. The fourth of the missed chances, when Smith was not taken at long-on in the final over, was very telling in the final analysis.

Instonians looked instantly more potent with the ball than the home side, Waringstown need to find some new seamers when 50-over cricket returns (presumably) in 2021. Shane Getkate, smarting from his Ireland exclusion, forced Adam Dennison to miscue a pull shot and then Morgan Topping was held close to the wicket after a four-ball duck on his return to Waringstown colours after two seasons at CSNI.

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Waringstown fell further and further behind the rate, Greg Thompson and James Hall both struggling for rhythm. With 11 overs left, exactly 100 to win looked an unlikely ask, but Thompson eventually found his range in partnership with captain Lee Nelson, who batted positively from the off.

More than 10 runs per over were required, but Waringstown were managing it to the extent that when Nelson launched Johnny Hunter out of the ground, the villagers were favourites with 19 needed from two overs and the fourth-wicket pair still together.

But Nelson, after batting beautifully for 32 from just 22 balls, showed too much of his stumps to Getkate, and suddenly the equation became a tricky, but very doable, 10 from the final six balls to be bowled by Hunter.

With Thompson at the crease, you fancied Waringstown but the young left-armer found a full and difficult length. Thompson needed to strike a boundary from the final ball but missed it altogether. He was unbeaten on 68 from 55 balls, with seven fours and three sixes, but with nothing to show for it.

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I don’t expect either of these teams will contend for the silverware on offer this summer, but as a reintroduction to competitive cricket, they served up a riveting contest.

It’s a pity just a handful of people were there to see it.

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Alistair Bushe

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