Your editorial (15 July) says: “Never try to explain Test cricket to an American.” I took an American guest – it was her first cricket match – to Lord’s for the third day of the recent Test match between England and India. In terms of the kind of “excitement” that is the hallmark of T20 and the ghastly Hundred (explosive batting, athletic fielding), the day was somewhat lacking. At times, play was slow, almost becalmed. However, at the end of the day she pronounced that it had been one of her favourite sporting occasions, and despite leaving England the next day, she practically begged me to consider taking her again as a guest next year.
It turns out that generalising about a country or its people isn’t quite the slam dunk (to borrow a phrase from one of her favourite sports) that your editorial seems to think it is.
Edward Collier
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
I have an American wife and we live in Newport, Oregon. (As a too-early aside, one of the few places much rainier than the Rossendale Valley from where I hark.) Your opening sentence summed it up. My wife has become a fan of cricket and understands the rules better than I – to the point of knowing that it’s a five-point penalty if a ball hits a helmet laid on the ground. Nevertheless she could not understand the fascination of the last couple of sessions at Lord’s and departed to the kitchen where she was making baguettes, her comment being that watching yeast rise is more exciting (not that the yeast itself rises).
By contrast, I was enthralled and on the point of tears when it was over, watching Mohammed Siraj being consoled. This was one for Wisden.
David Farrelly
Newport, Oregon
Andy Bull (Never mind Bazball, this was Bazbrawl: say goodbye to happy-go-lucky England, 14 July) rehearses rules at Lord’s, including that “you do need a tailored jacket, tie or cravat to get into the pavilion”. Strange, I’ve been admitted to the pavilion on several occasions with none of those items. Each time I was wearing a dress.
Liz Fuller
London
Methinks Barney Ronay’s reporting also comes from a “place of love, passion and cinematic personal obsession”. As beautiful and poetic as the Test match (Stokes is a destiny man who loomed over Lord’s like the angel of the north, 14 July).
Seán Duffy
Stockport, Greater Manchester
