Here's a story from Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Mr Yellow Jacket stops a chap from entering a restricted access area inside the ground. The chap pleads with him: "Can you please tell me how to get to my seat?"

Mr Yellow Jacket responds in a very matter-of-fact fashion: "Yes sir, you need to go outside the ground..."

Fans: made to suffer

The chap barks back: "Outside the ground? I've just queued up for ages to get inside the ground."

Mr Yellow Jacket: "You're at the wrong turnstile sir. You need to go outside the ground, along the main road to the traffic lights, turn left and walk through the B&Q car park to get to your seat."

I can't print the chap's response...

Shambles

That Twenty20 match was like an episode of You've Been Framed. It was a shambles, an awful shambles. The organisation was totally amateurish.

The venue was basically a building site with restricted access to the public and it was totally unsatisfactory for the 20,000 people who turned up. An international game should be an event, but with all of that building work going on, Old Trafford simply couldn't cope.

Usually I sit up in my nice air-conditioned ivory tower, but on Tuesday I had to walk around the ground to see a young friend who isn't very well. As I did so, I was accosted by hoards of irate spectators.

People were asking me where to go and what to do. People couldn't even get a beer (and I don't think they appreciated it when I suggested there was a pub around the corner).

All I could suggest was that they make a formal complaint in writing to the club - and hearing me say that wasn't going to do them much good.

My Twitter has gone into absolute meltdown with people venting their annoyance. The theme appears to be: It's a disgrace. We're not going to that place again.

Not fit

And then we get onto the subject of the pitch....

The pitch was 98 per cent fit to play, but one area was just a bog. Unfortunately, that happened to be the most important area on the field; the bit where the fast bowler jumps from.

I have no answers, but I have lots of questions.

Is there a problem with the drainage system? Why did the covers not do their job? Were they leaking? Why was it a muddied area, not a turfed area? Did the pop concert with 50,000 people on the grass create a problem for the drainage?

Jim Cumbes said a county match would have been played on that pitch, but the umpires and both teams agreed it was not fit to play. That is not the question. The question is why was it unfit?

Did the groundsman, who is a very good man, have enough resources? It's just an observation, but there are less groundstaff at Old Trafford than at any other international venue. Is there enough manpower there?

If there were puddles everywhere, people would accept that it was just bad luck. But when 99 per cent of the pitch is playable, people aren't going to be happy.

Merits

Shane Warne said they should have bowled from one end. That argument has its merits, but this is an international cricket match. Maybe that would have satisfied spectators, but that doesn't help us decide which is the best Twenty20 cricket team.

There are lots of things that could have been done, but that would be glossing over the real issue, which is why the pitch wasn't fit for an important game.

Lancashire County Cricket Club and the ECB need to answer those questions. I'd like to see an independent review into why it was allowed to happen.

The losers were the 20,000 people who braved the elements and sat in their seats for all that time. I could tell they weren't going to play - and in the first interview with Nigel Long he said there was little chance of play.

And then the chief executive said it was sweating! He might have been searching for words, but if it was sweating it was sweating like a big black Alsatian!

Not good

My own view is that Old Trafford was not the place to be. With all those people and so much building in progress it was not a good environment for spectators.

Furthermore, was it really wise to play a night match on September 1st? It was miserable, it was cold and it was not conducive to families.

Twenty20 is about families. I have had a Twitter from somebody who took their four-year-old son for the first time and says he'll never go again.

Quite simply, they should have played somewhere else. Twenty20 is supposed to be fun. Tuesday night was anything but.

Bumble answers your questions...

Send your questions to Bumble by filling in the feedback form below. Or you can mail them in by e-mailing skysportsclub@bskyb.com

WHO'LL WIN THE ASHES?
Bumble, we Kiwis know that your Poms won't beat the Aussies in Australia. For a start there will be an umpire referral system in place (Ponting would have got a ton at Lords if that had been operating and the entire series would have been different); Lee and Johnson will be fast and ferocious (I see your boys handled them well in the T20!!) and Anderson, Sidebottom, and Broad will be cannon fodder on those Aussie pitches (especially with no swing). Your best chance will be Sydney. Otautahi

BUMBLE SAYS: Two words for that: we'll see. All I'll say on umpire referral systems is that we'll see shorter games and it'll be swings and roundabout for both teams. And Brett Lee???

FLAG FURY
Bumble, you are a man of influence, can you persuade the flag officials at Old Trafford to fly the Cross of St. George at England games and not the union flag. This is a contest that does not involve Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. I have yet to see one of these countries fly the union flag at a national event, so why are the Old Trafford authorities and others not flying the England Cross of St, George at England games? Tony Earthy.

BUMBLE SAYS: I have no influence and as I've said before, write to the club. Unfortunately after what went on there on Tuesday, I think the flag is the least of their problems...

Bumble's jukebox

Plenty of people were coming up to me with the answer to last week's jukebox poser. Well done to everyone who spotted it was Disco 2000 by Pulp. Let's see how you get on with this snippet from a great song:

"Save the last dance for me my love, cause I..."

Answer next week...

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