Park for football, watch cricket
The office of Lancashire County Cricket Club has been flooded with calls ever since it became known that India will be playing the semifinal in Manchester. Not for tickets, though. Those were long gone and they are not sold by the county anyway.
These calls are enquiries on car parking. The roads around Old Trafford cricket ground are narrow, and there are tram tracks on one side.
So parking is an issue on match-days. Now, most of these calls got the answer to park cars, they have to go to the other Old Trafford, which is about half a kilometre away. So for those going there, it will be a chance to go visit two famous Old Trafford on the same day.
Farokh yes, Ganguly no
Behind the office of Lancashire County Cricket Club, there is a board. It’s called Red Rose Wall. It has names of famous Lancashire cricketers and also of those who represented the county and went on to become notable figures in international cricket.
There is one name that appears familiar to Indians, that of Farokh Engineer. The first wicketkeeper to win a Man of the Match award in a World Cup game (in 1975) is a revered figure here.
After playing for Lancashire, he settled down in England, which has been home for him for many years. One notable Indian name that’s missing is Sourav Ganguly. He too had played for Lancashire, but doesn’t feature on Red Rose Wall.
Kane dismissed, bowler Virat
That Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson were the captains of their nations in the 2008 U-19 World Cup semifinal has become well known over the last few days.
They were reminded of this at the pre-match press conference, and both said it’s a funny coincidence here they are again, leading their teams in the semifinal of the senior World Cup.
But did you know who dismissed the Kiwi skipper in that match?
It was Kohli, who had figures of 7-1-27-2 while bowling fourth change in that game. Now, that caught-behind dismissal is something that even Kohli didn’t remember. Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Tim Southee and Ravindra Jadeja are the others who were part of that match in Kuala Lumpur.