I’ve never seen a proper cricket match; I knew my year in London would not be complete without seeing cricket in action. Today I had the opportunity to tour Lord’s Cricket Ground, and to watch part of a T20-style match between the local cricket club and a team from the Isle of Jersey. “Lord’s is widely referred to as the ‘home of cricket’ and houses the world’s oldest sporting museum.” [Wikipedia]
Our tour guide was a delightful older man who had once been Captain of the UK Army cricket team, playing matches as far afield as Australia. He was a font of information about cricket and about this 212-year-old cricket ground founded by Thomas Lord in 1814. After a brief visit to the museum, he took us into the stands (where we watched the grounds crew removing covers that kept the pitches dry during the morning rains), and inside the press box (with a lovely birds-eye view of the entire grounds). Because there were only six guests in our tour group, he personalized the tour – tales of the Australia team for the three Aussies in the group, and explanatory notes for the naive cricket-novice (me).
As an unexpected bonus, he took us into the Real Tennis center, where two older men were playing a match of Real Tennis. Now, I must admit, any game that feels a need to call itself “real” has a bit of an inferiority complex. To be fair, though, I’d never heard of this game, never seen this game, which has origins in 12th century France. Although it resembles modern tennis, is played in an enclosed court, with play involving the walls and floor like squash or handball. Two other players were sitting in the spectator’s lounge, one of whom was an MP and shared tales of his time seeing Obama speak in Westminster Hall.
If you’re interested in sampling a bit of cricket – or if you are a die-hard fan and want to explore cricket history and artifacts – I recommend the tour at Lord’s, the most famous cricket ground in the world.
A few more photos, and a video clip, in the gallery.
David Kotz 
When I was at Manchester the research group went on an outing on a nice summer day. Cricket bats came out and we played a bit of a game. I think it is an interesting game and requires considerable skill. The downside is that it can go on for days.
There is a Bollywood movie around about a village that challenges the local British army to a match and of course wins. The movie is VERY long. We watched over two evenings. You might watch it for its story of Indian culture and the Brits who were there at the turn of the century. It is “Legaan.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagaan
Yes! classic, early Amir Khan movie.