Review of the first Benson & Hedges Cup 'Cricket Showcase' (5 May 1998)

Benson & Hedges Cup 'Cricket Showcase' at Canterbury, 5 May 1998

William Turrell reviews the evening

1998 marks the last season of the Benson & Hedges Cup; the domestic limited-overs competition that has been contested annually since 1972. The sponsors are holding a series of 'Cricket Showcases' to celebrate some of the cricketing history that has been made during that time. The first, in Kent, seemed to go very successfully.

The evening (attended by roughly 150 people) was hosted by Charles Colville (of Sky TV) and Jonathan Agnew (BBC Radio commentator) in the Colin Cowdrey Stand at the St.Lawrence Ground, Canterbury. The programme began with a cricket-quiz based on BBC TV's A Question of Sport. Matthew Fleming and Dean Headley were paired against Adam Hollioake and Alan Igglesden (Adam's brother Ben arrived late after having trouble finding the ground) with a selected member of the audience taking the third place on each team. Six rounds later the scores were level at 26 all - the Surrey team winning on a tie-break question.

The rest of the evening (which lasted just over two hours with a short interval) was split between a video of highlights from 27 years of the competition (narrated by Peter Baxter) and a Cricket Forum; Adam Hollioake and Matthew Fleming stayed on to give the players' view; whilst Kent coach John Wright and ECB Marketing Manager Terry Blake also fielded questions from the audience. Those questions included issues such as TV broadcasting rights, the proposals in the Lord MacLaurin Raising the Standard report and the balance between performance by county teams and the England squad.

The event certainly seemed to be enjoyed by the majority of those who attended - the format of the evening (which also included a raffle for Alan Igglesden's Testimonial Year and a 'Name the Player' competition for the audience) worked well. Tickets for the Cricket Showcase's are also free; so if you are able to attend one of the evenings taking place this season we would recommend that you do so. The next is on Friday 8 May at Old Trafford in Lancashire (6.30pm to 8.30pm).