The Old Trafford wicket has been shifted 90 degrees so cricketers can now play without being blinded by a setting sun
Nobody knows what moved Lancashire back in the 1850s to set up their Old Trafford pitches on an east-west axis and ensure that generations of batsmen might be blinded by the setting sun. Perhaps the committee waited forlornly for several months for the sun to come out so they could get their bearings, eventually gave up and stuck the stumps in where they pleased.
Easter Sunday sunshine blazed down on Old Trafford today but the mistakes of history have finally been righted and the square has been re?orientated 90 degrees so that cricketers may ply their trade in peace. With Derbyshire taking the same action last season, the last east-west square has gone from county cricket.
For the first time, too, the Lancashire members sitting in front of the old pavilion are behind the bowler's arm and so can fairly claim to know what is going on. Not that they were particularly enchanted by a large black sheet acting as a temporary sightscreen that entirely obscured the view from the Long Room. It would have been no surprise to find a stubborn old member in the same seat that he had occupied for years, staring only at darkness.
Lancashire's CB40 tie against Unicorns, which the home side won by 20 runs, was only the second time that Old Trafford had been played north-south. Neil Saker bowled, Stephen Moore drove into the covers and a little piece of history had been made. There was not the slightest hint of applause, not the merest murmur of approval. The members are clearly reserving judgment.
Lancashire tried it as an experiment against the Pakistanis over the August Bank Holiday in 1967, preparation presumably involving the marking of a new crease and a quick up and down with the mower, but perhaps Ken Higgs had a problem with the run-ups or something because the idea was quietly abandoned.
In the intervening years Lancashire's chaplain, Malcolm Lorimer, argued, it appeared quite seriously, that Lancashire should buy a hot-air balloon that could be tethered in the car park, offer sponsorship opportunities and rides, and gently fall with the setting sun.
It was a perfectly still afternoon but Lancashire's chief executive, Jim Cumbes, an old swing bowler, is eagerly awaiting the first stiff breeze. "Most of the winds we get will now be crosswinds and that should help the swing bowlers," he said, eyes gleaming. "Before now you normally had to bowl into the wind if you wanted to swing it."
The square has been relaid and five new wickets have taken it up to 16, a respectable number for an international ground. The pitch lacked pace but behaved itself. All looks set fair for an ODI against Sri Lanka on 9 July and a Twenty20 against India on 31 August. Groundsmen can be notoriously pessimistic but Matt Merchant will sleep more soundly now. "I'm sure Matt has been more worried than he has let on," Cumbes said. "You always fear the unknown."
Far more unnerving for Lancashire is the protracted legal battle over their �32m redevelopment of Old Trafford which involves two new grandstands ? taking capacity to 15,000 permanently and 25,000 for England matches ? two extra floors on the old pavilion and new dressing rooms and media centre.
The property company Derwent Holdings, owner of the nearby White City retail park, lost a judicial review of Trafford Council's planning permission for the scheme, which also includes a Tesco supermarket on an unused plot of land at Stretford high school. Derwent Holdings, whose own application for a supermarket at White City was refused, was refused a right to appeal, and has now gone to the court of appeal ? arguing for the right to appeal. The scheme substantially depends on Tesco putting �21m into Old Trafford.
Cumbes, whose retirement has been delayed so he can bring the development to fruition, has repeatedly warned that a failure to win a 2013 Ashes Test could have disastrous financial implications. Lancashire's planning and legal bill is heading towards �2m. The winning tender from a shortlist of three contractors should be announced within a week. "We are virtually ready to build," said Cumbes. "We can survive a few months' more delay, but time is running short."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/24/lancashire-old-trafford-switch-wicket
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