'Ello from Brizzle
Our correspondent takes in the delights of the west of England, language quirks and all
Nothing like a delayed flight to get a World Cup off to a good start • Getty Images
Flight from Delhi to London delayed because the one coming in from London has arrived late. Once on board, realise this can't be a one off. This flight too will take an hour more than the usual nine and a half because aircraft leaving India or headed there cannot fly over Pakistan airspace.
Meet Shahriar Khan, former Asian Cricket Council media officer, who now lives in London. Talk about dodgy Sharjah match in 1991, where nobody knew the regulations when bad light interrupted play. Nobody knew which rain rule would be followed - if at all - with India in a good position when chasing. Mohammad Azharuddin, India captain, looked to press box for clarity but found none. Eventually, in light so faded the streetlights had come on, Waqar Younis bowled lethal yorkers to successfully defend 11 in the last over.
Bristol. St Nicholas Market. Lovely food stalls from the world over: Moroccan, Italian, Indian, you name it. Great for vegans. Does street food every Thursday and Friday. Proper market. Cash-only because small businesses can't afford to pay bank fees.
Finally see sun for the first time in two trips, five years apart, to Bristol. Last visit was too short to get a grip on Bristolian, the famous dialect. Pick up A Dictionary of Bristle. First lesson. "T" inside a word is not pronounced. Hence Bristle. "Churz drive" if you want to thank bus driver. Lose the "r's" at end of words. Replace most "me's" with "I's". Add "wl" where Aussies add an "r". If "idea" is pronounced "ideaR" in AustraliaR, it becomes "ideaWL" in Bristle. Drop all "h's" at start of words. Everything is shortened.
World Cup starts in London. Realise why The Hundred will be a roaring success when it launches. No hotel TV is showing home World Cup because Sky is too expensive for them. Even Sky's online packages are steep. The greatest broadcast in cricket - definitely best commentators in game - is coming at a big cost. Being watched in small percentage of households and sports bars only. The Hundred will be free to air. Massive percentage of kids will watch it as their first experience of cricket.
Pre-match training for Afghanistan and Australia. Try to ask Gulbadin Naib, Afghanistan's new captain, something in Urdu. Denied by ICC media officer. It can't be, but hope this is not an ICC embargo on languages other than English.
Afghan fans turn up outside County Ground in Bristol without tickets. Have driven in from afar. Find ways to buy them off others and make it in. Reminiscent of Gulbadin telling me last year: "We Pathans are a different race. If we make up our mind to do something, we don't let it go. Ever."
Discover three Bangladesh players were observing Ramzan fasts when beating South Africa in their first league match. Remember a chat with Afghan players who did it in the heat of India last June. Tried to reason with them that they should be allowed to forego fasting when travelling. Was told staying in air-conditioned hotels was not the kind of travel that the exception was made for. Even those Afghan players are not fasting here in England because the summer days are just too long: Sehri, the dawn meal, is before 3am and Iftar, the evening one, after 9pm, and not even a drop of water for 18 hours in between.
Bengali sweets in Brick Lane on Chaand Raat, eve of Eid. Pained to see racially named Habshi halwa has made it to Bengali sweet shops. "Habshi" was used to describe black slaves brought in from Africa to India in pre-British times. Comes from the Persian word for "Abyssinian". Is often casually used in north India and Pakistan for dark people. Habshi halwa, darkest of halwas.
Tattered old bat at New Zealand training at The Oval. Used to simulate edges for wicketkeepers. Since it's difficult to edge balls on demand, you try to bat normally, and anything not off the middle of the bat ends up being an edge for the wicketkeeper to catch. Tell Luke Ronchi, fielding coach, if they ever forget to bring "nicking bat" along, I could provide practice as expert at edging balls, even with proper bats. There might still be a future in cricket for this writer.
Match day outside The Oval. Saw foxes feast on rubbish here last night. Now vendors selling flags, facepaint and stuffed tigers. Water and slices of toast being given out for free. Bangladesh crowd totally drowns out three middle-aged men selling their brand of Christianity, reading out of a book into a mic. Ross Taylor feels like he is playing in Chittagong as the crowd lives every ball of tense two-wicket defeat for Bangladesh.
Feel like Afghanistan fans when showing up in Bath - along with Willy Nicholls, New Zealand's media officer - hopefully to play for the Forty Club, the "largest wandering club in the world". There is only one vacancy, and that has gone to Nicholls already. But sure enough, another shows up.
Not having watched - of course - West Indies lose to Australia, I read their complaints about the umpiring. Arguably West Indies are here because of umpiring error in crucial World Cup qualifier match against Scotland. West Indies won by five runs on DLS method thanks to an lbw four overs before a rain interruption, which would have been reversed on DRS, had it been there. Got to be more accepting of errors. Don't hear "replace X player with machine because he dropped catch". Shouldn't have to hear same thing every time umpires make mistakes. World Cup without villains, please.
The Oval press box has visitors. Schoolkids - under ten, all - on a tour of the ground. Usually these tours are conducted when press boxes are empty. Today they have journalists to ask questions of. First one: "Why does cricket stop when it drizzles?"
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo