C Randall: Giant screen to show captains as toss is made (18 Jul 1998)
THE MCC break new ground before the start of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Match at Lord's this morning by relaying the toss and subsequent interviews with both captains on the giant screen, using the public address system for sound
18-Jul-1998
18 July 1998
Giant screen to show captains as toss is made
By Charles Randall
THE MCC break new ground before the start of the Diana, Princess of
Wales Memorial Match at Lord's this morning by relaying the toss and
subsequent interviews with both captains on the giant screen, using
the public address system for sound.
The screen is to be put to further use in showing archive film footage
of W G Grace visiting the ground in his 50s. An exhibition marking the
150th anniversary of his birth has been running at Lord's since May.
The 50-overs match pitting the MCC, captained by Michael Atherton,
against a Rest of The World XI has attracted a near-capacity crowd,
with tickets at half the price of last weekend's bedraggled Benson and
Hedges Cup final. The MCC are cultivating a family atmosphere for a
grand occasion.
Today's teams compete for the W G Grace Trophy, which will have to be
treated with care if any joyous celebrations are contemplated. The
Waterford crystal prize has been valued at £20,000. The MCC hope to
raise in excess of £750,000 for the Diana Fund mostly through match
tickets, satellite television fees and some notable assistance from
British Airways, who have flown in officials, players, family and
friends free of charge.
The selectors have been restricted by availability problems which
mean, for example, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper and the Waugh brothers
could not be considered. Atherton and Graeme Hick are the only two
England players.
An intriguing part of the contest is that Sachin Tendulkar's Rest of
the World side have a strong batting line-up while the MCC side have
been loaded with bowling. Indeed, the MCC look decidedly flimsy in
batting by one-day standards - but events could always turn out
differently.
MCC: *M A Atherton, Aamir Sohail, S Chanderpaul, M Azharuddin,
S C Ganguly, B M McMillan, +I A Healy, A Kumble, J Srinath, A A
Donald, G D McGrath.
Rest of World: *S R Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, S T Jayasuriya, P A
de Silva, G A Hick, T M Moody, +A Flower, C L Cairns, Wasim Akram,
Mushtaq Ahmed, I R Bishop.
Umpires: D R Shepherd and S Venkataraghavan (India).
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)