The lengthy process involved in attending an England international at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl ...

Post-pandemic international cricket played behind closed doors is far from the full experience.

It seems light years away from the vibrant World Cup games played at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl just over a year ago.

Then England, India, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh and Afghanistan played in front of packed crowds, full of noise and colour.

Every game was an occasion and none more so than when little Afghanistan gave the giants of India a huge scare.

India eventually squeezed home by 11 runs courtesy of a Mohammed Shami hat-trick.

The atmosphere was electric!

That was never going to be the case as world champions England beat Ireland by four wickets at a deserted Ageas Bowl on Saturday.

To be fair the cricket authorities, along with the players, have worked miracles to get any cricket played this summer.

They must be congratulated for their efforts. It can’t be easy for some of the players going from a World Cup win in front of a sell-out Lord’s crowd to playing in empty stadiums.

From a media point of view, the experience is totally different from start to finish.

In the past it was a straightforward process of applying for accreditation ahead of the season and selecting the games you wanted to attend.

The first difference came when The News were informed that our application to attend the West Indies Test at the Ageas Bowl had been turned down. That has never happened before.

It was explained that there were only 12 media places available, instead of the usual 100 plus places, and priority had to be given to the international and national press.

In the circumstances that was understandable and I resigned myself to not covering any international cricket at The Ageas Bowl this summer.

Therefore it came as a surprise when, out of the blue, I was asked if I wanted to attend two of the ODIs against Ireland.

Delighted, I accepted - not realising that that was just the start of an extensive screening process.

Soon afterwards I was contacted by Aoife Murphy, Senior Broadcast and Media Operations manager for the English Cricket Board, who explained what needed to be done.

Firstly an Accreditation Registration, Behind Closed Doors form had to be completed after which I would be contacted by the Occupational Health Service, Healthwork, to organise medical screening and testing.

An appointment was arranged for a member of their team to visit my house and carry out a Covid-19 Swab Test.

It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, particularly the throat swab, but it wasn’t the worst either and was over in a few seconds.

There was also a follow-up phone-call to address a medical concern regarding my asthma.

Finally, I had to sign up to complete a ‘Health Passport’ questionnaire on a daily basis.

On the day of the game, the drive to the ground only served to emphasise the differences.

The roads were deserted, there were no crowds of noisy, expectant supporters and a complete absence of vendors selling their flags and other memorabilia.

On arriving I was directed to a health station, had to answer further questions and had to walk through a temperature checking station.

The ECB, quite rightly, were taking no chances of having their bio-secure bubble burst.

During last year’s World Cup, the media centre was packed to the gunnels with the world’s press.

It was a hive of activity and at different times celebrities like Mike Gatting, Phil Tufnell, Mike Atherton, Geoffrey Boycott and David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd would frequently wander in and out.

On Saturday there were a grand total of 12 of us, all socially distanced with facemasks and hand sanitisers on every table.

Before the game, it was odd to hear ‘Jerusalem’ blasted out over the loudspeakers. You did wonder just why?

Any hopes of returning to anything like normality were dealt a big blow last Friday with the announcement that the easing of the lockdown had stalled.

A limited number of spectators were due to attend Bob Willis Trophy county matches at Edgbaston and The Oval, but these plans have been quashed for at least another two weeks.

For now, we all have to make do with behind doors cricket - but that has to be better than no cricket at all.