Yeah LIV, talk Nassau
Jack Nicholson’s sweater in The Pledge neatly matches his moustache. The greys tally with a majestic dullness as if Roman Polanski had revisited his role in Chinatown but instead of slashing Nicholson’s nose had rather snipped out a perfect rectangle of his sweater and placed it neatly on his top lip. It’s a decent but very flawed film, whiffing of - speaking of top lips - cocaine fever dreams from director, Sean Penn.
As the T20 World Cup moves away from New York, we must mourn another dull yet majestic rectangle, the Nassau Country International Stadium strip. It faced down the batriarchy which had been so rampant during the IPL, providing us with thrilling encounters with an average RPO of under six. Cricinfo wrote a fascinating and enamoured stats piece on the ground. “The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has made a fascinating international debut…” it gushed coyly in similar vein to the Daily Mail writing a headline about a famous celebrity’s teenage daughter being papped in a bikini for the first time.
So there is something sad about seeing a stadium which pulsated with such joy being treated like it was bought from Ikea and is now on Facebook marketplace. I suppose the argument is it is simply not financially viable to have a stadium situated far from a city centre that fills up only sporadically. Hampshire might disagree, but anyway, that’s the argument.
Seeing the video of it taken down reminded me of when the Adelaide Oval’s renovation was filmed in corporate timelapse. The construction company took great pride in posting their efficiency on YouTube. Others felt this was a little incongruous given they were demolishing stands that had held thousands of eyes captive as Don Bradman batted. But things do move on. To a ground with a new but hinterlanded constitution heralded once again as one of the most picturesque on earth.
It’s not clear what will replace the Nassau stands, although it seems the pitch will remain, a beautiful ground for local cricket, doubling as a spiritual retreat for passing bowlers in the doldrums. Batters even. One day perhaps Joe Denly and Don Sibley will get lost in Long Island and stumble upon their wicketing nirvana.
It is clear what will happen to the stands, though. “After the last match is held at East Meadow on June 12, the stadium will be dismantled, the parts shipped back to Las Vegas and another golf event.”
Yes, as always, cricket’s nemesis golf is at the heart of things. Having injured Jonny Bairstow and Glenn Maxwell in the last couple of years, the game is now coming for our stadiums.
We will miss your dull rectangle that somehow oozed charisma, Nassau. But at least you struck a couple of lusty blows. For T20 bowlers and, briefly, the game itself. As a local plus fores fetishist website reported: “Long Island golfers will have limited access to the golf courses at Eisenhower Park next month while local and visiting cricket fans take in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, part of which will be held at the Nassau County park from June 1 to June 12.”
A heroic legacy.