Cricket

The Summer Game

Cricket defines the English Summer. The first sight of white-clad players on the country’s playing fields and greens confirms the arrival of the Summer season. The game parallels the United Kingdom’s social history from the class-ridden days of “Gentlemen (who just claimed expenses, sometimes in the form of a good lunch!) vs Players (professionals paid to play)”, to today’s game where short-form games with coloured clothing and the encouragement and expansion of women’s cricket have attracted a new audience to the sport.

Legendary Venues

All cricket grounds have unique atmospheres and histories, from small village greens to the temples of Lord’s, The Oval, Edgbaston, Old Trafford, Headingley and Trent Bridge. Lord’s is known as the global “Headquarters of Cricket” and offers a tangible sense of the game’s history with its grand pavilion, museum and attractive garden spaces as well as a surprisingly modern-day approach to the ground’s expansion featuring the now-famous modernist media centre. During a Test match, the quiet background burr of the crowd punctuated by the sound of the occasional popping champagne cork contrasts starkly with Birmingham’s Edgbaston, for example, where the atmosphere at the big games can seem more like a football match!

A day at the cricket

Cricket takes a while. This is part of its magic to those that love the game and a drawback for those that don’t. Many a visitor from a non-cricketing nation has wondered at a sport that can take five days to play (and sometimes end with a draw) and during which the taking of lunch, drinks and tea is standard practice.

Whilst most cricket is played over the course of a whole day, the (relatively) recent popularity of the Twenty20 format enables one to enjoy a game of cricket in “just” three hours from start to finish. Given the lengthy periods of time involved, Twist & Shout offer an enormous range of ticket and dining options to suit everyone from the regular cricket fan to those wishing to host business guests in elegant surroundings.

So be it a county or International game, a Test match, a one-day international or a domestic or international Twenty20, we’ll find something to suit your wallet and palate. 2021 will see the beginning of a new and even shorter version of the game – The Hundred. We at Twist & Shout feel a bit “old-duffery” about an even shorter version of the great game but I’m sure we’ll adapt in time…