3rd Ashes Test: After the Lord’s jeers, it’s Australia vs England and rowdy Western Terraces fans of Leeds
From the purgatory of Lord’s, the Ashes reaches the inferno of Leeds. If Lord’s ignited the series, it could rage into an all-consuming wildfire at Leeds. Loud and boozy, yet horic and beautiful, the stadium intimidates like a canvas of dark and brooding skies.In the last Test at the venue, between England and New Zealand, a brawl broke out in the stands. The reason: A drunk man was refused another drink. Stewards chasing beer cup collectors (to make the banned beer-snakes, once a Headingley trademark) is a common sight. Spotters prowl the stands to drag the over-drunk to a side and attempt to de-intoxicate them with a glass of water.Two years ago, during a Test against India, spectators hurled plastic balls at fast bowler Mohammed Siraj. Down the road at Elland Road, home of Leeds United, they are accustomed to pelting more siner objects like coins, bottles, lighters and smoke bombs at their adversaries.
Once the venue flirted with suspension apart from the recent racism storm. In 1996, fans of England and Pakan clashed during a Test, leading to the ejection of nearly 200 spectators, besides arresting 10 for public order offences.
Two decades before that, the last day of the third Ashes Test was abandoned as a crowd had vandalized the pitch, not quite for cricketing reasons though. The miscreants who dug up the pitch and poured oil over it were friends of George Davis, who was imprisoned for bank robbery. On the final day, Australia, 220-3 overnight, chasing 446. Davis, meanwhile, languished three more decades in prison.
Australia’s Alex Carey appeals successfully for the wicket of England’s Jonny Bairstow. (Reuters)
In 2004, some of the spectators arrived dressed as WWE celebrities and began to clash Smack Down-style lunch. From Scoo Doo to Saddam Hussain, the crowd likes to fancy-dress up.
Such is the hory that even former England captain Nasser Hussain is admittedly scared of the spectators. “When I was a player I had no issue with Headingley, because back then I was a Leeds United fan and the local people seemed to like me because of it. But now, walking around the ground, I sense an atmosphere that is not very nice and I certainly wouldn’t want to sit with my family in the Western Terrace.,” Nasser Hussain would say some years ago. After another game, he tweeted: “Day at Leeds ruined alcohol-fueled yobs shouting abuse.”
England’s Bay 13
The Western Terrace, now rechrened the White Rose Stand though the feiness remains undimmed, is the equivalent of MCG’s Bay 13 and Wankhede’s North Stand, a stage of ribaldry and rowdiness. Not surprisingly, “Western Terraces” has been trending on Twitter since the final day at Lord’s. The boos and jeers, the barracking and insults that the Australians would have to cop would be infinitely higher than what they copped at Lord’s. “I definitely think it’s going to be ramped up,” Ben Stokes fired a warning.
The Headingley crowd has all the more reasons to feel incensed. Jonny Bairstow is one of their own, born in Yorkshire and played all his county games for them. He is something of a cult hero and always gets the passionate crowd going. It’s a familiar sight, him urging the crowd to ratchet up the volume when the going is tough and the crowd invariably reciprocates, getting ferociously behind them, creating a bubble of unstained antagonism that invariably ends up intimidating them.The Barmy Army too would play its part in intensifying the atmosphere. “You just get that real sense of togetherness at Headingley and the community and they will get behind the team. It’s a very proud cricketing county, Yorkshire. It’s gone through a lot of jeopardy recently and it needs a bit of positive energy going there,” Chris Millard, managing director of the fan-group, told PA News Agency.
Over the years, in dire times. England have fed off this energy. After his epic he in the 2019 Ashes, Stokes thanked the crowd for the atmosphere and theenergy. “It would have been impossible for me but for their enthusiasm and vibrancy,” he would say.
Arena of Gladiators
So had Ian Botham, the architect of the original Miracle of Headingley. “It reminds me of a Roman arena with gladiators. I looked at the crowd when I won the Man of the Match award, and said: ‘This lot has got me those wickets and runs.’ It was quite unique because you could almost hear a pin drop when I stood at the end of my run-up, but once I started, the crescendo just built up. It unnerved a few of the Aussies,” he once told The Telegraph.co.uk.
After the match, the spectators spilled onto the ground, collecting every scrap of memorabilia and waiting for him to wave at them from the balcony. The same crowd has rebuked and ridiculed him for the catches of John Dyson and Trevor Chappell he had spilled. They hurl both abuse and advice. “You walked out at Headingley and heard 5000 captains giving you advice,” Brian Close, the former England all-rounder, would once say. Once when a Yorkshire terrier bit Dennis Compton, someone in crowd crooned: “Put some bloody Brylcream on it, Denis!” Compton was the Brylcream boy then.
Of late, it has been the stage of several comebacks from a series perspective too. Two out of the last three Tests, against India and Australia in the previous Ashes, England arrived here in search of redemption. Both times, they trailed 1-0 and both times, they departed 1-1. Most of the current crew have prospered here too. Bairstow averages 63.66 in 11 innings here; Stuart Broad is the highest wicket-taker on this ground (49 at 27); James Anderson is third with 43 (at 26); Joe Root has stacked 645 runs at 45; Ben Stokes averages 52.2.
The sight of Headingley, thus, should energize them. The sense of hurt in Lord’s should galvanize them at the theatre of miracles and hes. A mini-miracle they need to reclaim the Ashes, and the Bairstow incident could be just the spark that sparks a comeback. Waiting for Australia, thus, is the Leeds Inferno, burning and blazing.
