14 June,2019 08:00 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
A spectator plays cricket under the stands after rain played spoilsport at Trent Bridge yesterday. Pic/Harit N Joshi
Nottingham: The mood at Trent Bridge may have been dampened after the match was washed out, but the spirit of the Indian fans was quite high. Instead of being in their seats hoping for play to start, some fans started playing tennis-ball cricket below the stands. "We don't know each other. We were all in the same stand and since we had a ball and bat, we started playing cricket here," said Kane Basu, who travelled with his family from Mumbai for the match. The mood at the ground was all desi with dhols and Bollywood music playing aloud. One wondered whether we were at Trent Bridge or Wankhede.
Swann's problem
Yesterday, former England off-spinner Graeme Swann was held up at the Trent Bridge entry gate for a few minutes after experiencing some technical issues with the machine that scanned his accreditation card. Swann was already late for commentary duty and had no option but to queue up with others until the machine started functioning again. Swann's desperation to make it on time was evident when he made a dash to the media centre as soon as he swiped his accreditation card. Even former England captain Alastair Cook was in the queue during the lunch break.
Graeme Swann
Free travel in Nottingham
FANS were in for a surprise when ticket holders received an email on the eve of the match from the ICC, stating that travel on buses and trams within the city would be free. "We just have to show our tickets to the driver and that's it. It was very nice of the ICC to do this. I wish they had something similar in London as well where India played Australia at The Oval," said Rushabh Shah, a fan.
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Laudable effort
THE ground staff at Trent Bridge must be lauded for their continuous efforts to ensure the match takes place but they couldn't conquer the weather. It is learnt that they were at the stadium since 2 am to clear the outfield. With rain subsiding in the morning, there was a possibility of play, but showers later in the day didn't help their cause.
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