Limited satisfaction

There aren't many British celebrity cricket fans as cool as Mick Jagger. The likes of Michael Parkinson, John Major and Rory Bremner just don't quite have the X-factor that Ol' Rubber Lips has. So when he rolled up to the Queen's Park Oval to cheer England on, I reckoned he was definitely worth hanging out with.

In the end, it wasn't a case of hanging out, but more hounding out. After managing to locate his whereabouts on the second evening - he was schmoozing in the Sky Sports studio - I was bluntly told he was watching the cricket and not doing press. Fair enough ... try again tomorrow.

A report in one of the local papers said that Sir Mick was coming to the ground in the morning, but then leaving in the afternoon to catch a flight home. So, most of my first session was spent loitering on the staircase leading up to the Sky studio. Still no luck. No-one knew when, or if, he was coming. The security guard on the stairs was keeping an eye out for me, but her polite "No" soon turned into eye-rolling. accompanied by a shake of the head. "Looks like he's not coming," she mumbled. Maybe she was right.

As the day wore on - and the suncream wore off - the DJ pumped out the old Rolling Stones classic "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", shouting "this one's for Mick Jagger". "He's not here, you fool," I mumbled to myself, just as I looked up to see Jagger waving to the crowd on television. "What's he doing there?" I groaned, " ... and where the hell is he?" I was out of my seat looking for him quicker than you could say Jumping Jack Flash.

After lots of hurried enquiries, I eventually sneaked past security and onto the top floor of the Cyril Duffrey Stand to the hospitality boxes. "He's in that one, but he's not doing press," was the familiar message. "Just a couple of minutes?" I pleaded ... and that was what I eventually got.

Out he strode, wearing a light cotton shirt and black trousers, looking at me quizzically. "You've got to be quick, mate," he said in that unmistakable, over-impersonated voice. So up I started.

"I've been coming here for about 25 years now, but not every year, obviously," he said, accompanied by that legendary laugh. "I'd say today went according to plan for us. If we miss any more time for rain then that could be a problem, but I'm confident there'll be a result."

And did he think England could win the series? "Yeah, sure," he said with that pop-star drawl - the only thing missing was a "baby" on the end. "I know it's hard to win here, but seeing them play live, they can definitely win. They've definitely got the confidence and the ability."

As he started to wander off, I quickly asked him about cricket on the internet - his Jagged Internetworks website was the first to stream an England match on the web back in 1997-98. "Yeah, it's great, I watched the Jamaica game on the web."

And did he ever use Wisden Cricinfo? "Sure," came the reassuring reply. Last question: how did he get Sir Paul Getty interested in the game? "I taught him the game when he was at a low ebb, and I've been to his ground a few times, but only played a bit. The standard's too high for me!

"Allwwwight?" he twanged, and with that he was off down the corridor and back out into his pop-star world. Our meeting wasn't exactly how I'd imagined it, but you can't always get what you want.

Freddie Auld, Wisden Cricinfo's assistant editor, will be following England's fortunes in Jamaica and Trinidad.