Woeful Windies loose to Derbyshire and my meeting with Sir Viv

I was at the County ground in Derbyshire yesterday to witness a shock win by Derbyshire against the wilting Windies. There was rain in the area all morning and during my journey to the ground but as I reached the ground, the clouds cleared as if to announce my arrival and play started on time.

I have never been to the ground before in a County which boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and is home to some grand stately homes that inspired Jane Austen to feature them in her classic books. The ground was smaller than I had imagined but was not full as I had anticpated but the wet weather might have had something to do with that.

The Windies were fielding a strong line up for the match and most expected an easy win against Derbyshire, who are not one of the strongest County teams. Debyshire batted first and made 135 which seemed a below par score and one which the Windies would cruise to. This is also what Sir Viv Richards felt as he was special guest at the ground. I was seated in the next table to Sir Viv, who has been so disappointed by the poor performances by his fellow countrymen. He still has this magical aura about him and one wishes that some of that would rub off on the Windies. Sir Viv recounted some stories of his cricketing career and his beginnings at Somerset with his close friend Sir Ian Botham, to his prolific form in the 1976 series in England which was inspired by 'we will make them grovel' comment by Tony Greig. He predicted at half time that the Windies would beat Derbyshire comfortably and if they did not, they should be sent home.

As I settled down to watch the Windies innings, I could not believe what transpired. The wickets started tumbling right from the start and there was a danger that there would be more wickets than runs on the scoreboard. The body language of the Windies said it all as they trudged off slowly with hardly any eye contact with each other. It was if they were helpless or just did not care, as there was no real effort put into their performance. Their bowling had been quite good but when they were batting it did not seem like a contest as they surrendered far too easily and were all out for 84. Maybe all the rain had dampened their enthusiasm, but everyone is quickly running out of excuses for this very sorry looking outfit.

It was just as well that Sir Viv was not there at the end or he certainly would have been fuming. He exudes pride and passion in all that he does and that certainly came out when he spoke and this is something that is sorely missing from this team at the moment. I managed to have a quick chat a and a photo with the great man.

As I started to make my way out of the ground, I had certainly not expected this result but it was the way that they played which most disappointed me. My first Twenty20 match had not been a fast and furious affair that I had expected, but I had a very interesting time at this quaint ground.

As I left the ground, the clouds seem to gather and lo and behold, the rain came back as if on cue on my departure. It poured down all the way as I joined the rush back to London and reflected on my day and meeting with a legend.