‘To prostrate yourself at the altar of football, as so many do these days, is an unedifying sight at the best of times but that will not worry the less famous of Manchester's two Old Traffords. Mindful that England's World Cup second-round match against Denmark in Niigata, would eat into their Saturday crowd, traditionally the best attended at this fickle Test match venue, the authorities are to set up a giant television screen in the car park.
For many, it will seem a gamble worth taking, though with 14,000 advance sales out of a capacity of 18,000, it looks more like a gesture towards the area's soccer heartland than a serious attempt to make some profit. For the rest of us, who would not wish to be sullied by the preening hype football now generates, the barbarians will no longer be at the gate, but inside it.
There was even talk of extending the lunch break by half an hour so players could watch the match too but aside from Ramadan in Muslim countries where prayers not food are taken, cricket lunches are immovable feasts.
The giant screen will cost £10,000 and the idea was conceived by some young thrusters at the England and Wales Cricket Board in what Jim Cumbes, Lancashire's chief executive, called a brain-storming session following England's turgid draw with Nigeria yesterday. Well here's another brain-stormer for them, why don't they get hold of Fabian Barthez - he won't be doing much after all - and bung him a couple of grand to entertain the kids, or failing that, play French cricket during half-time.
Cumbes, who has learnt to put a cheerful spin on things here over the years, feels the idea will not detract from the cricket. "I hope England win the football and those watching the screen transfer their support to Nasser Hussain's team," he said. But what if Becks and Co lose? With three Manchester United players involved, everyone will probably traipse off home to sulk.’