Crowding out every other format from the centre of summer for this still seems odd, but if you sell it they will come and this was a good day
“T
hat was SO COOL!” What’s cool around here? The aggressively upbeat DJ box? The handsome supply teacher type with the roving microphone whose job is force people to clap and who promises to get your selfie on the big screen, but only if it’s “supportive”?
Perhaps the singer Sapphire is cool, present to perform a live world premiere of her new single during the interval, which she started just as the rain came thrashing down, sending 10,000 people stampeding from the stands as the opening notes rang out. To her credit Sapphire carried on gamely, serenading the empty seats. The new single is called Pessimist. Her last one was In Crisis. Presumably all of these are taken from the forthcoming album Career-Ending Side-Strain.
In fact the answer was none of these. It turns out Ben Stokes is cool. England’s Test captain could be seen wandering towards the Utilita Bowl, cap pulled down, an hour into the opening instalment of the Southern Braves versus Northern Superchargers women-men double-header. It was here that the good thing happened.
