Spirited England fans lapping up Test match experience in India Premium

January 28, 2024: English cricket fans celebrate as Australia loses to West Indies and England stuns India in Test matches.

January 28, 2024 will go down in history as one of the greatest days for the English cricket fan. Because Australia lost to the West Indies in the second Test at Brisbane and some time later, England stunned India in the first Test at Hyderabad.

“It was indeed a double delight,” John Lever, the former England swing bowler who is heading a group of fans that have flown down to watch the Test series, told The Hindu with a laugh.

“And we all thoroughly enjoyed the Test match. It was one of the best Tests I have ever been to.”

Lever, who had taken 10 wickets to lead England to an innings win against India on his Test debut at New Delhi in 1976-77, has been leading tours for the English cricket supporters around the country for years for a company called Spectate.

There are many such companies who take the fans and there are also a lot of people who tour on their own.

The English love Test cricket. This correspondent met two Englishmen who spent a considerable sum to watch India playing the recent Test series in South Africa. They both said it would have been difficult to get hotel rooms if England was playing.

Hyderabad hotels played host to hundreds of the visiting England fans over the last week. You could meet many of them at the airport waiting to catch their flight for Visakhapatnam.