Uh, oh.
Bad weather in February - who'd have thought it...
According to my Cardiff sources, last season the SWALEC stadium resembled a sink of water with the plug stuck in it. This emergency work is supposed to remedy that.
Question is - didn't the ECB think about checking something important like drainage before they awarded an Ashes test to Cardiff?
Another question - if the England vs Australia test does eventually start, who will the Welsh be supporting? Somewhat vexatious, yes, but at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, sixty thousand odd Welshman are going to be passionately cheering against a side bearing the name 'England' - so in July are they going to be equally passionate about supporting a side with the same name?
I'm not deliberately running up the repellent 'Tebbit Test' flag here - I know a load of Welsh cricket supporters who will be happy to support England for a few days. But bearing in mind even Andrew Flintoff has acknowledged that England are going to lose an element of home advantage in Cardiff, and also considering that Lords (venue for the second test) is little better than a neutral venue, it does seem that the ECB are happy to put giving a favour to an ex-chairman above ensuring proper home advantage.
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Your argument on support pretty much falls down because the England cricket team is in fact the England AND Wales cricket team. Welsh cricket supporters are not happy to support England for a few days, most tend to support England ALL the time because it is their team. (Except one-off One Dayers against a scratch "Wales" team). Unlike Scottish and Irish cricketers, Welsh players don't have to qualify to play for the representative teams of the ECB (the England and Wales Cricket Board).
I may want Wales to give England a proper tonking on Saturday at the Millenium Stadium but I also want the Test team to bounce back against the Windies tomorrow, and go on to thrash the Aussies in the summer. Just as I want the Lions, England players included, to beat the Springboks in June.
There were many valid reasons against giving Cardiff the first Ashes test - unfamiliarity, facilities, small stadium, greed, jumping the queue, short-sightedness etc - but lack of support and enthusiasm from the locals for the home team is not one of them.
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