A friend phoned one day and asked if I would go to a Hundred match with them. I asked if I could think about it – but was told they were booking now. I said yes on the grounds that it is supposed to be cricket – a nice quiet game where I could gently go to sleep… Then I looked up The Hundred!
I eventually succeeded in downloading The Hundred app onto my phone and we managed to transfer my ticket from my friend’s phone to mine and when it came through I did locate the QR code that would gain me entry to the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. I got train tickets to Southampton Airport Parkway station – although that wasn’t straight forward as the ticket man originally gave me singles instead of returns.
We met up, caught the train and at Southampton Airport Parkway we found the shuttle bus that took us to the Utilita Bowl. By following everyone else we found the way to the entrance and – with some help – I managed to scan my ticket QR code and gain entrance. Our bags were not really searched, despite all the things we read we were not allowed to bring in. All the man seemed to want to know was if I had any cutlery. I said no, but thinking about it now I did have a very sharp fruit knife!! We managed to find our seats without any problems as I had looked at the map, but it was a bit of a trek.
We then went to look round the food stalls and see what else was going on before the match started. We were sitting just in front of a loudspeaker so the too loud sound system was even louder – even with my hearing aids out. Also, being at the front we had the barrier in front of us and so not a very good view of the whole field.
The Southern Braves women were quite good, I think. I especially noted someone called Sophie Devine – probably not because I know what is good but because she is an all-rounder so her good bits had more chance of imprinting themselves on my brain!
We had our sandwiches when we arrived and at half time in the women’s match we went to find some coffee. At the end (Southern Brave women won!) we went to look for food but weren’t very hungry and all the food stalls we fancied had long queues.
I enjoyed watching the sky divers with their coloured smoke arriving on the pitch before the men’s match and the ground had been filling up but was still not full for the men. During the match I went looking for food but the pizzas were all sold out, so I went for the hog roast and after going back to consult my friend got them some chips!
The highlight of the men’s match for me was watching Jofra Archer bowling – the screens said two of them were 90mph and one 93mph! However the Southern Braves men were obviously going to lose to the Oval Invincibles so we left about 20 balls before the end to go and get the bus for the station. The organisation for that meant it went very smoothly.
When we got to the train platform it was fairly full and we were afraid we would have to stand on the train. Talking to a young man and his son on the platform – mostly about cricket – we discovered that there was another train just after ours so in fact not all that many people got on ours and we had an easy journey home.
So? Was it a good day, did I enjoy it and would I go again? Well, it was an interesting new experience and I quite enjoyed people watching but it was a very long day and the sound system was much too loud. I might go again if we had seats further from the loudspeakers (and I might take ear plugs) and where we had a better view of the ground. I might try to watch the pitch rather than the screens, too!