Three days in 'nham: extreme heat, dissent and rage-bait.
16.08.26, 13:51 Updated 16.08.26, 13:51
Fred Atkins
“This is a sacred place. Now I may not believe it and you may not believe it, but by God it’s a useful hypocrisy.”
Lynton Barwick, from the film “In The Loop.”
It hasn’t rained in Beckenham for weeks. It felt like it may never rain there again and the award-winning outfield resembled a sub-continental dust bowl. Cricket groundstaff across the UK are experiencing unprecedented difficulties (Radlett looks just as bad) and yet as you enter the County Ground from Worsley Bridge Road you can peer between the gates of the Crystal Palace training ground and see verdant, green pitches.
The sprinklers were active. From certain vantage points you could see them over the hedge at the southern edge of the ground, and if you stood next to this hedge, you occasionally felt a fine spray of water coming over it.
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Fred Atkins Fred Atkins is a former Kent Messenger sports editor and has written several books, including The Spitfire Diaries, an account of Kent's 2021 season and Monty Panesar's "The Full Monty". He has followed KCCC since 1993 and has covered them for the ECB and Wisden since 2021.