{"id":318062,"date":"2025-08-04T20:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/318062\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T20:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:41:10","slug":"bacon-rashers-hi-vis-jackets-and-a-dog-collar-all-life-is-found-among-oval-early-birds-england-v-india-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/318062\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacon rashers, hi-vis jackets and a dog collar: all life is found among Oval early birds | England v India 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six o\u2019clock. <\/strong>I think this is a good idea. It didn\u2019t feel like it when the alarm went off 20 minutes ago as watery light crept under the curtains. But now, cycling through the deserted dawn streets of south London to the Oval, my faith is restored.<\/p>\n

They still teach the \u201cGravedigger\u201d theory of news coverage in journalism schools around the world. Ostensibly, it describes the act of reporting on a headline-grabbing news story from the point of view of a peripheral figure or unexpected participant. Days like this do not come around that often. I dismount and stroll into Oval Cafe as the first rashers of bacon are sizzling on the grill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good, I\u2019ll do more breakfasts than I thought I was going to!\u201d says the owner, Mehmet, as his daughter-in-law, Seval, serves a couple of bleary eyed punters. They are a Harry Brook bat-toss from the ground but do they care who wins this morning? \u201cCricket isn\u2019t my thing. I\u2019m from Turkey,\u201d he says, smiling, before rushing off to rotate his rashers.<\/p>\n

Over the road, the sign outside St Mark\u2019s church says services are held at 10.30am and 6.30pm on Sundays. There is no sign of the Rev Stephen Coulson but I wonder if his sermon last night touched on biblical rain showers and the morality of Chris Woakes coming out to bat in a sling? I later spy him on the concourse 10 minutes before play begins sporting his dog collar and shepherding a flock of Graham Thorpe-headbanded fans to their seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a thing for me, cricket. I\u2019m football ,\u201d says Gergo at the Buzz Coffee stand in the churchyard. \u201cI do like hearing the roar from the crowd \u2026 but I\u2019ve got no idea what they are cheering about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans walk to the Oval from the tube station before the fifth day\u2019s play in the final England and India Test. Photograph: Chris Foxwell\/ProSports\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Surely I can find someone who is invested in the outcome of the final Test? As the first few travellers emerge from the Oval tube station I sidle over to the kiosk. Questions about how many hours Jamie Overton slept in his hyperbaric chamber are met with blank faces and played with a TfL stickered dead bat. \u201cAs long as everyone gets in and out safely, that\u2019s all that matters to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 7.30am, the ground is empty but there is a hi-vis hive of activity from stewards, litter pickers, security staff and food and drink vendors. The place is creaking to life, unexpectedly for one last time. The 25th and last day of a pulverising series.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t think you\u2019d be back today did you?\u201d chirps a perky steward. \u201cHopefully England have got a plan, they got themselves in a pickle yesterday,\u201d muses player and match official Hari Haran. He was in the ground as a punter on Sunday with his son. \u201cHe\u2019s at work today unfortunately, so am I, but I\u2019ll have a decent view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loitering on the boundary edge, the Oval looks impossibly beautiful even with a sheet of tarpaulin stretched across the square. The ground staff mow, hammer, sweep and eye me with suspicion, understandably after the week they have had. \u201cMorning,\u201d says the head honcho, Lee Fortis, hubcap hands carrying coffee and what looks like one of Mehmet\u2019s breakfast specials.<\/p>\n

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A construction worker by the Oval has a good view of the action. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Later, the players take the field to huge roars. The dhol drummers drum and Jerusalem is parped. \u201cWe\u2019re like two urchins\u201d says Andy, peering through the gates this morning but does not have a ticket. He is joined by Vicky, a local artist from round the corner in Vauxhall. They have just met but will watch the action<\/a>, or what they can glimpse of it, together. \u201cI had to come down,\u201d says Vicky. \u201cI\u2019ll combine it with a trip to Tate Britain,\u201d says Andy.<\/p>\n

Snatched conversations about the heavy roller as a comfort blanket can be heard as fans nervously take their seats. Prasidh Krishna stands at the top his mark. There is rain in the distance but the Test summer will finish today. Thousands in south London will remember it for ever, just as a cast of plenty go about their Monday morning as if it is any other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six o\u2019clock. I think this is a good idea. It didn\u2019t feel like it when the alarm went…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[1406,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-318062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114972438310293114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}