This weekend, I was tempted to make a 100 mile journey to watch a bit of cricket at Uxbridge, a nice ground where my team, Middlesex, are entertaining the Sri Lankan tourists. How glad am I that I decided not to go.
Middlesex appear to have put out a second eleven composed of players who've never been heard of and the match seems to be nothing more than a practice 'knock-about' for the tourists and also for the England captain, Andrew Strauss, who hasn't wielded a bat in anger for several weeks, if not months.
There was a time when matches against the touring team were highly prized as opportunities for good county players to show their credentials and try to impress the selectors; no more it seems. Seven of the Middlesex team hadn't appeared for the county in a serious match yet this season; the bowling attack. if that's the right word, were unheard of. Nonetheless, spectators will no doubt have been charged the usual, or perhaps even enhanced rates, for the privilege of watching.
This 'match' is a shocking example of eveything that's wrong with English sport today; no longer does local competition matter but everything has to defer to the needs of the international arena. In this latest game, Middlesex have served simply as a mechanism to allow the tourists a bit of practice before the first test match; the game at Uxbridge is, itself, utterly pointless and an abuse of the spectators who've taken the trouble to go to see it.
As someone who's been following and watching cricket, and Middlesex in particular, for almost 50 years, I find myself starting to despise the game I used to love.
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