If heaven is a place on earth, as Belinda Carlisle so wisely observed, then surely that place has to be Lord’s on a Test match Saturday. Celestial indeed, and a privilege to have been there for just a part of what was one of the most thrilling Test matches in history. More runs scored than ever before in a Lord’s Test, 40 wickets taken, three magnificent centuries, technically brilliant from Williamson, sage and resolute from the Cook of old, jaw-dropping and Botham-esque from Stokes and five days of extraordinary sportsmanship.
There is no more civilised place to watch sport than Lord’s. I love the fact that it still trusts spectators enough to allow them to bring in their own alcohol and doesn’t kick up a fuss when champagne corks are popped on to the outfield. And they don’t feel obliged to have a Fancy Dress Day to get the crowd in. Far from it: this was electrifying theatre for a full house, more or less every day.
If sport means anything, it has to be about chivalry. When Kane Williamson was out on Saturday after a magnificent century there was an immediate cheer for the wicket, a brief pause, then a vast wall of sound as the whole ground stood and applauded him as he walked back to the pavilion.
When Alastair Cook was out on the morning of the last day, the New Zealand team stood together on the pitch to clap him home. And after Stokes reached his sensational ton, the first to shake his hand was Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum.
High in the Edrich stand, the best seats in the house, opposite the pavilion and under the media centre, I chanced upon the friendliest of communities, the Lord’s season ticket holders.
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