England v South Africa: My day at Lord's with Sky Sports
Tuesday 30 May 2017 13:14, UK
LinkedIn competition winner and budding sports journalist, Lucie Johnson won the work experience of a lifetime and spent two days with the Sky Sports Cricket team reporting on the final game of the England v South Africa ODI series. Read her story below...
There's always a buzz when you visit Lord's.
The distinctive Egg and Bacon colours of the MCC hanging around the venue and spectators, the bulging picnic hampers and the constant popping of Champagne bottles. This time I had special access which many fans would dream of.
When I arrived at the North Gate on an overcast Bank Holiday Monday, I queued behind broadcasters all eagerly waiting for the final game of the South Africa ODI series. I weaved through the floods of people watching England squad members train on the Nursery pitch on my way to the JP Morgan media centre.
With the most direct route to the pavilion underneath the media centre, people of all ages swamped the area to catch a close glimpse of players, past and present. Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler greeted as many fans as possible, already making the day of some many people ahead of the match.
The lift to the media centre was small and I was overshadowed by former England cricketer Jonathan Agnew. The doors opened into the bustling reception area. Journalists in and out getting prepared ahead of the 11 o'clock start. Within the first 10 minutes, I had grabbed my first interview of the day, with the legend David 'Bumble' Lloyd.
A legend of the game, he had plenty of advice for me. His No 1? "Keep knocking on those doors!" he said in his distinctive Lancashire accent. Perseverance is essential to making it in sport. If you want something badly, you have to keep working towards it; even if you keep getting rejected.
The next stop was the Sky Sports commentary box, where all the 'banter' happens. Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton were carefully preparing for the match. Here I had the pleasure of asking Sir Ian Botham his match predictions. Choosing his head over his heart and he picked South Africa as the day's victors.
Walking around the media centre at Lord's is a honeypot of cricket legends; Geoffrey Boycott, Alec Stewart, Michael Vaughan, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Phil Tufnell and many more.
I was given a quick (and quiet!) tour of the production van just before Sky went live from Lord's. This is the true centre of Sky Sports on a match day. They run a military operation to deliver what we see every time we watch cricket on Sky, with eyes all around the ground and plenty of VTs for rain delays. (It was a 50 per cent chance of rain all day, they needed it!) It is unbelievable the amount of people it takes to bring you the cricket on Sky.
So what about the match itself?
England's outstanding performances in Leeds and Southampton saw them claim a 2-0 series victory ahead of the third and final match. With the Champions Trophy around the corner, stalwarts Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett were rested with David Willey, Jonny Bairstow, Steven Finn and debutant Toby Roland-Jones joining the squad for the last match.
As the clouds thickened over north London, Eoin Morgan's side faced the force of South Africa's bowling. In a matter of 30 deliveries, six English men fell victim to vengeful South Africans. Jason Roy was sent back to the iconic pavilion in Kagiso Rabada's first over, while Wayne Parnell trapped Joe Root in his.
The pressure got to England, with captain Morgan, Alex Hales, Buttler and Adil Rashid all heading straight back to the changing room with England 20-6.
Bairstow had the chance to prove a point to the selectors having missed spots in previous ODIs this season. Together with Willey, the partnership made the most of the hopeless situation with a 62-run partnership before Willey became another victim of Parnell.
Roland-Jones, a Middlesex man, had his first taste of international cricket at his home ground. Roland-Jones made the only maximum of the innings and felt like home as he found multiple boundaries. With Bairstow charging down the pitch and stumped on 51, Roland-Jones (37*) would see out the rest of the England batsman as England are all out in the 32nd over for 153.
With plenty of time left before the projected lunch, South Africa were quick in getting out to the middle. Hashim Amla punished the opening bowlers and achieved his 7,000th run in ODI cricket, becoming the quickest to this achievement. By lunch, South Africa were already 59-0.
Amla taking Lord's in his stride fell victim to Roland-Jones' first international wicket. Quinton De Kock sent packing as Ball found the gap in his defence. As Faf Du Plessis also fell to Ball's attack for five, England took three South Africans for six runs, a well-needed breakthrough.
Visiting captain AB De Villiers slowly got his eye in but found the gaps in the field to send the ball to the boundary. It came to Jean-Paul Duminy to take South Africa to the dismal target set by England in the 29th over, giving them a consolation win and momentum into the Champions Trophy.
A well-deserved man of the match was given to Rabada on his first visit to Lord's for an impressive 4-39.
