It has been said many times by many people in the past that the Rose Bowl, located outside of Southampton on the M27 corridor in Hampshire is not suitable for international cricket. The basis for this opinion is that the transport links are inadequate and facilities are not up to the task. However, since the teething problems that characterised their first forays into international cricket, the Rose Bowl believe they have solved the problems for the coming summer and still hope to stage international fixtures in the future. So, with the improvements, is the Rose Bowl now up to the challenge of staging flagship international fixtures? We have reviewed the pros and cons seen at this year’s England vs Hampshire one-day game to see if the venue is up to it.

Transport Problems:

The main problem with the Rose Bowl as seen in the past is that there is inadequate parking in order to accommodate all those wanting to watch the important cricket fixtures. Coupled with this is the lack of proximity to public transport hubs. Since last year, for major fixtures, the Rose Bowl have brought 2 Park and Ride centres on line. One of these is located next to Southampton Airport Parkway railway station on the Western side of the ground; whilst the other is located to the East of the ground near the population centres of Gosport and Fareham. The result of this is eased congestion at the ground at the start and end of the match, and there is also easy access provided from the railway station at Southampton Airport; straight onto the park and ride buses. So, has this solved all the problems? The answer, largely, is yes. The main faults remaining with the facilities provided is that the Rose Bowl charge £5 for the use of the Park and Ride whilst it was noted that parking spaces at the ground were not fully occupied and were also priced at £5. This charge is only one part of the pricing problems at the Rose Bowl; as the next point illustrates.

Pricing:

Now, don’t get me wrong, I expect to pay slightly over the odds for food and drink when attending sport events. Where the Rose Bowl loses points, however is in several areas. Firstly, on reaching the ground, all bags and containers were searched for alcohol. This was not allowed to be brought into the ground. For the optimistic amongst us, this might be in the hope that the Rose Bowl frowned on binge drinking. However, judging by the reaction of the groundstaff when a drunken member of the ground was verbally abusing some other spectators, the Rose Bowl isn’t bothered about preventing drunken behaviour. No, the only conclusion that can be reached is that they prevent people from bringing in alcohol so they can make thousands of pounds of profit selling over priced lager to spectators who’ve already paid through the nose for the privilege of attending. On top of this, some of the prices for food were obscene; the sort of prices you’d expect to see in Soho or South Kensington. For example, the price for a standard Cheeseburger and small (very small) portion of chips was £5.50. If the Rose Bowl are going to be a world class venue for international cricket then they have to start treating customers with more respect and not just attempting to extract cash from them in every single way at every given opportunity.

Facilities:

On the whole, the assessment on the facilities provided is fairly positive. The queues at the food outlets and toilets were short throughout the day as both were provided in adequate amounts. The only times that the queues built up were in the normal peak period of lunch. As stated above, the cost of the food as compared to the quality was too high.

Entertainment:

Well, this was a surprise. In addition to the listed fixture, due to the early finish of the England vs Hampshire 50 over one day game, the spectators were treated to an additional 12 over per side match which went down to the wire. This showed a willingness – maybe on behalf of the Rose Bowl, but certainly on behalf of the two teams – to ensure that maximum entertainment was provided to the paying public. In a thrilling finish, Darren Gough hit the winning runs off fellow England seamer, Jonathan Lewis on the final ball of the match. Solanki and Pietersen put on fantastic displays of batting for the crowd with some lusty blows being struck to all parts. It was interesting to note that Hampshire scored more runs in the 12 over version, than they did in the 50 over version. Shown below is the scorecard from this game, for which the sides were slightly altered:

Hampshire (captained by Shaun Udal) won the toss and chose to bat:

Summary:

All in all, a vast improvement has been shown by the Rose Bowl on their ability to stage the big matches. However, personally, until they stop treating their customers as people who are solely there for the Rose Bowl Plc to extract money from, I hope that they do not get the international recognition they feel they deserve as this will only serve to legitimise their sub-standard treatment of their customers.