Window of opportunity

It's all in how you look at, or through it

Dressing room with a view: Temba Bavuma gets an eyeful of Arundel during the warm-up match against Zimbabwe before the WTC final Matthew Lewis / © ICC/Getty Images

How often in cricket do you have the time to just look out the window, admire the view, not worry about the shambles down there on the field? Those moments are few and far between, unless it's a rain break, in which case there's no better vantage point than by the pavilion windows at the Arundel cricket ground. Rumour has it it's what helped South Africa captain Temba Bavuma plan his match-winning strategy for the WTC final, as he watched rain wash away his side's warm-up against Zimbabwe.

Windows are everywhere in cricket - except on the FTP - but few are more coveted than the ones in the flats that overlook The Oval. In 1976, as a workers' strike rippled across London, it left some people with a lot of time to watch the cricket, if not a lot of money. That called for some out of the window-box solutions.

When the going gets rough, the roof gets going: striking workers watch a match at The Oval from a unique vantage point © Getty Images

But every homeowner who has ever lived by a ground, maidan or stadium has had an unwelcome guest - the stray six that has found its way into the house via the window, like the horrified Hove resident in the photo below.

Heave Hove: it must be six o'clock David Ashdown / © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

But it's all about how you frame it: it could also offer you a different perspective of the match.

Sweep show: the cracks are showing in the defence Sam Barnes / © Getty Images

Of course, break a window with a six during a match and you make it into the match report.

Rovman Powell signs a window he broke at the Harare Sports Club Julian Herbert / © ICC/Getty Images

Then there are times when it's the window doing the offending. During an England-Pakistan Test at Old Trafford, play was briefly held up by the sun glinting off an open window.

Matthew Hoggard and Younis Khan play charades trying to get an offending window closed © Getty Images

In 2011, Matt Prior's moment of pique at being run-out triggered a series of unfortunate events that ended in a broken window at Lord's and minor injuries to a spectator.

No pane, no gain: Kevin Pietersen and MCC members look on at the aftermath of Matt Prior's disagreement with window © Getty Images

Remember the Sandpapergate drama? So do England, and they weren't about to let Australia forget it, even five years later, during the fractious 2023 Ashes. When Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, went to ring the bell at Old Trafford to signal the start of the fourth Test, someone helpfully propped up a crying Steven Smith mask in the background to remind Australia of the consequences should they lose. But they didn't, so Smith had the last laugh.

Window dressing: a tearful (picture of) Steven Smith watches the rining of the bell at the Old Trafford Test in 2023 © Stu Forster/Getty Images

You know how they say eyes are the windows to the soul? Sometimes it works the other way around too, when the players convicted of spot-fixing found out as they left for prison in London in 2011.

Photographers take pictures through the window of a prison van as it leaves Southwark Crown Court Ben Stansall / © AFP/Getty Images

If you're walking around Fitzrovia, stop for a pint at the Champion Public House, where you quaff an ale in the Technicolor company of WG Grace. The pub features stained-glass windows of Victorian legends designed by artist Ann Sotheran. Boxer Bob Fitzsimmons and explorer David Livingstone, among many others, are thus honoured in the pub.

He is elegance, he is Grace, he's watching you stuff your face © Getty Images

And sometimes, the view is less interesting than the reflection.

A window cleaner watches the Sri Lanka team practise at Eden Gardens Deshakalyan showdhury / © AFP/Getty Images

Deepti Unni is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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