Facing page: Heavy skies and outfield looking immaculate. This page, top to bottom: Hover cover last to come off; Keith ‘knackered’ and continually checking the weather; the world’s most unhealthy blue tits?; The Barmy Army in full voice!


promised. Even as the toss was being completed, the rains came down again, soaking Messrs. Atherton,


Dilshan, Strauss and assembled cameramen and photographers, and the covers went back on. This was though, the final flurry of the day, and play eventually got underway at 3.30pm, with the hover cover the last to be removed at 3.28pm. I had the misfortune to sit in


front of three young doctors - Tim Nice-But-Dim and his two colleagues, Jim Nice-But-Dim and Tarquin Nice-But-Dim! As Keith and his crew struggled with the conditions, they spewed out comments such as; “Just get the covers off, it’s not raining!”, even though heavy clouds were approaching; “I’d tell that Grant Flower a thing or two”, and, when the batsmen had taken a quick single, “Where’s Chris Tremlett gone?”, who had been fielding in front of us for right handed Dilshan, but moved for the left-handed


twenty minute break for tea in glorious


Paranavitana. They did come up with one classic though; “I've just seen Jonathan Agnew. He looks so different in real life than he does on the radio!” Having been out on the square for over eight hours, I thought it prudent to allow Keith some time to gather his thoughts, grab a cup of coffee and, perhaps, a power nap, before finally introducing myself. At just after 4.00pm, I made


my way to his office to find him hovering over his computer looking at a weather map. “This one looks like it might get us,” he said, pointing at a dark swirl of cloud heading across Pembrokeshire. Fortunately, that one did ‘shoot up the valleys’ and play continued uninterrupted (apart from a


sunshine), until close. Keith, not surprisingly, looked a tad ‘knackered’. His team had worked tirelessly and efficiently to


ensure some play was possible. In truth, before the introduction of modern covers and drainage, the amount of rain that fell would probably have resulted in play being suspended for the day. The outfield, with its new drainage system, coped remarkably well, given the amount of water that had fallen on it. As I left Keith’s office to


return to my seat, I passed a closed off area, which turned out to be a designated smoking point where blue tits had taken up residence in one of the cigarette bins. I stood and watched for a while as both parents rushed back and forth to feed their demanding brood. It was, possibly, the highlight of the day as, in truth, the cricket was rather uninspiring. The England


bowlers, with the exception of Swann, looked under cooked, and the Sri Lankan batsmen played without their usual panache, possibly due to the cold and windy conditions. Even then, they amassed 133- 2 in the forty-eight overs available. The Barmy Army (including their trumpeter) did their best to enliven proceedings, and a rousing ‘Land of My Fathers’ was greeted with cheers by the Welsh contingent in the half full stadium. At the close of play at


7.00pm, Keith and his team headed back out to the centre to complete the final clean-up of the wicket and put the covers back on. My guess is that they wouldn’t have got away much before 9.00pm, finishing off a fourteen hour day!


FOOTNOTE: Three of the remaining four days followed a very similar pattern, with Keith and his team working tirelessly to ensure cricket could be played. In the end, it proved more than worthwhile, with England grabbing an unlikely innings and fourteen run victory in the final session of play on the final day.


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