The boo-tiful game

No Marx for the fans who jeer at taking knee

- Keir Mudie

FANS are back for the cricket – 18,000 at Edgbaston for the Second Test and very nice to see them it was too.

In particular, one bloke in a Boris Johnson masks with a pint in one hand and a giant inflatable syringe in the other. He did not spill a drop as he chased another grown man who, also clutching a pint, was dressed as a coronavirus. The chase delighted the crowd until, in true English fashion, a steward broke it up.

Lovely stuff. The sight and sound of thousands getting gently drunk at the cricket even though the batting collapsed was a reminder of how sport can only come alive with supporters.

I watched a lot of sport through this lockdown – anything – and it is not the same without fans. The crowd is not just a passive entity, except maybe at Arsenal, but a participant, creating an atmosphere, affecting the players.

Racism