When we first got inside the ground, it seemed like a normal kind of cricket ground, with various stands around the field. Headingley, though, also has a rugby stadium sharing the main stand - so if you want to walk around the ground, you have to pick your way along the rugby grandstand - a strange thing to walk through a rugby league stadium on the way to a cricket match.
England won the toss and decided to bat - Bell and Prior built a decent total without losing a wicket - even if they weren't scoring tremendously fast. When Bell went and Shah came in, England looked to be struggling to score at a decent rate. At 113-3, we looked to be struggling. But then came the partnership that won the game - between Pietersen and Flintoff. It was what everybody wanted to see, and all the more surprising because those 2 don't often tend to put big scores on when batting together - but this partnership of over 150 did the job very nicely indeed. Chasing 276 to win, South Africa were undone by England's bowling - once the third wicket had fallen at 142, they kept on coming at pretty regular intervals after that. Harmison, Flintoff and Pietersen all chipped in, and South Africa were all out in the final over, still 20 runs short of the England total. A slightly unexpected, but obviously most welcome win - the batting partnership between Pietersen and Flintoff, plus the bowling display winning England the game.The new captain had great things to say about Andrew Flintoff, but he deserved a huge dollop of praise as well - scored 90, took 2 wickets, and presided over a successful run out. On the (admittedly limited, so far) evidence of his 2 games as captain so far, KP seems to be thriving - the sense of responsibility seems to be powering him to better and better performances - which can only be a hugely promising thing for the England team. Facing Pietersen the cricketer is scary enough for most players and teams - hopefully Pietersen the captain will be even more fearsome for our opponents, including the Aussies next summer.
This was my first trip to Headingley, and it was a real eye opener - sitting on the West Stand (where most of the action is), surrounded by people in fancy dress, getting very pissed indeed. The atmosphere there was fantastic - better than I can ever remember for an England game (with the possible exception of the Oval test in the last Ashes series here) - and of course it got better as England closed in on victory, and people got more drunk. The only negative was the ridiculous and overzealous stewarding, from "Green Team" - the scourge of fun loving cricket watchers everywhere. Their obsession with preventing people stacking beer glasses is ridiculous, and some of the other things they threw people out for were even more petty. There were more police there than any other cricket day I can remember - and most of them seemed to be there only to defuse the confrontations that stupid stewarding was causing. Headingley was much more "lively" than watching cricket elsewhere, and had a great atmosphere - shame the stewards seemed hell bent on dampening the fun. They didn't properly succeed - I will definitely be trying to come back for a day against Australia next summer.
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