August 28, 2002

Happy cross-cultural mix

- Jonathan Dyson

T

owards the end of the day's play on Sunday at The Oval, an English fan stood up and waved in the air a small banner. It read "Shabash, Shabash". At first it was easy to think of it as a gentle mickey-take of Indian cricket culture. After all, during the 1992-93 England tour of India, one of the many excuses the England players gave for their woeful performance was that the Indian wicketkeeper distracted the batsmen by constantly exclaiming "Shabash!" to his bowlers. However, the joyful, expressive look on the supporter's face didn't suggest as much. More likely, it was another sign of the healthy relationship between English and Indian fans that has developed here and in India over the last few months.

At Bangalore during the final Test between England and India, one fan paraded the banner "Bangalore loves the Barmy Army". Without being quite as effusive, English fans at The Oval were clearly enjoying the presence of their Indian counterparts. A few English fans could be seen jigging to the beat of the Indian dhol, and dancing in the aisles with Indian fans.

There was throughout the Test a happy cross-cultural mix, reflecting the diverse area that South London has become. A mutual respect of each other's cultures and a common love of cricket was obvious. An English fan summed the whole thing up neatly when he told me about a moment during the lunch interval on the Sunday that made him laugh. While tucking into some curry and rice, sitting next to him were two Indian fans eating burger and chips.

Despite all this, both sets of fans were noticeably patriotic. This is the norm at The Oval, where crowds tend not to be as obviously appreciative of good play from the opposition as they do at Lord's, say, or Headingley. On the Thursday and Friday, with few Indian fans present, there was little noise when an English wicket was taken or when an Indian run was scored. It was a big contrast to the unabashed enjoyment displayed by the Leeds crowd during the third Test, when their pleasure at watching Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly strut their stuff was clear throughout.

As is usually the case at The Oval, the first four days were completely sold out, and capacity crowds of 18,500 were present throughout. The popularity of Test cricket here is such that plans are being made to extend the capacity to 23,000.

The Indian supporters' presence was strong throughout. This was helped not only by the fact that many Indian Londoners travelled to the game, but that several of the Surrey members are Indians themselves. More Indian fans attended the Saturday here than any other Saturday during the series, with about half the crowd supporting India. Flags, banners and musical instruments were out in force, continuing the trend seen throughout the series, in spite of the fact that, as elsewhere, The Oval officially prohibit such items.

The importance of the crowd and in particular how they enjoyed greeting Tendulkar to the wicket on his 100th Test appearance -- with a rapturous standing ovation -- was seen in the fact that Channel 4 actually showed this live, instead of running an advert, as almost always happens after the fall of a wicket. As the little genius reached the crease, a few English fans, with characteristic humour, could be heard chanting "Who are ya?, Who are ya?"

On Sunday, the Indian fans' presence was even stronger, with a big reception for Dravid and Laxman as they came out to bat first thing, indicating what was to come. Each run was greeted with huge cheers and the familiar sound of air horns. Evidence that the Indian players are aware of the importance of their support came on Sunday evening, when Harbahjan Singh was visibly trying to get the crowd going even more at the start of England's second innings.

The English fans also enjoyed themselves, with the usual array of fancy dress particularly prevalent. Perhaps the most curious of these was worn by a fan who had a bandage draped round his forehead, with false blood stains, and a plastic cricket ball taped on. The only obvious explanation is that he was a John Bunton impressionist. You may remember Bunton from Headingley, where he failed to catch a six hit by Ganguly into the crowd, and instead found the ball strike his head.

One English fan felt that there were two games played during the Test -- one when Vaughan was batting, and the other when he wasn't. With Vaughan at the crease, the cricket was fast and aggressive, and this was reflected in the crowd's obvious fascination and enjoyment of the cricket. Once he was out, however, the cricket slowed and never really picked up until England (and Vaughan) batted again. Again, this less exciting period affected the crowd, with Mexican waves on the Saturday and Sunday, and a streaker on the Friday. One group of spectators in a hospitality box got so bored that they started pouring beer on the crowd below. Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon, one section of the English contingent vented their feelings about Hussain's negative tactics by constantly chanting "Boring, boring England".

This was understandable. One positive feature of the crowd, however, was the presence of several young fans in a section called the Lion's Den, reserved exclusively for youngsters in association with the cricket-oriented animation The Prideside. With the attractive package of a £7 ticket and a free bag of goodies, this has brought in 5,000 children this summer.

Given the lively and good-natured crowd of the first four days, it was especially disappointing to see the final day washed out, as happened at Bangalore on the final day of the series in India. With adult tickets just £10, and under-16s and Surrey members allowed in for free, a big crowd was surely on the cards once again.

Also read:
- Final day feast
- Grounds for concern
- India score a double at Lord's
- India rule on and off the pitch
- India's 'home' support

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Illustration: Bijoy Venugopal