Monday morning in Chelmsford, a warm and humid day, a good crowd present to watch two strong County sides. It was to prove a fine game of cricket.

Wednesday morning in Leeds, unbelievably cold, 2nd day of the Test, and about the same number of people present as in Essex, I would guess. Perhaps a few more. This, too, was to prove a wonderfully entertaining game.

The ‘spectator experience’ was somewhat different at the two venues. At Chelmsford I paid my £15 to the smiling man in the little box. I was asked if I was a Yorkshire member and he took my word for it, waving away my offer to show the card.

At Headingley, having paid £30 in advance, I showed my ticket before having my bag searched. I then had to endure the body-search and having my small parts touched up by a stranger.

The crowd at Chelmsford, over the two days I was present, was quiet, knowledgeable and appreciative, excepting one class of schoolkids who were noisy enough to be faintly annoying. Apart from a few shouts of ‘Tino’ there was no tribalism.

Despite the poor crowd, by Test standards, there was plenty of flag-waving and tribal chanting at Headingley. At Chelmsford I had been able to choose my seat, and my companions, strangers who proved excellent company throughout the day. I could walk round the ground without restriction, view the game from different angles, do what I liked, basically.

I went to Headingley with two friends and we were supposed to sit in the seats we had bought. On the 3rd day I found myself next to a group of intellectually challenged, hard drinking Yorkshiremen. Such do exist, obviously, but I never see their likes at 4-day County games. As with the kids at Chelmsford, I’ve no complaints about their behaviour. Just that I’d rather sit next to someone else, which at Chelmsford I could. And did.

With warmer weather, the crowd at Headingley on the 3rd day was much larger and, with a higher proportion of neutral English supporters, the atmosphere was friendlier, less tribal. I was able to get into the Western stand and I watched for about an hour from there. Stewarding was quite relaxed, but suddenly – obviously under orders – the stewards went round asking sunbathers to put their shirts on. Why would they do that? Whose orders? To what end?

Just some Prat-in-Charge having authority and enjoying exercising it, I would suggest. Henpecked at home. Pillock.

For me, all these little annoyances accumulate. The body searches, the regulations, the stewarding, drunken loutish spectators….. all part of the Test Match scene in England, and the reason I prefer County cricket.

It’s not as though the Test Match ‘product’ is so much better, despite constant assertions that it is from the likes of Hussain and

Atherton. There are several members of the Australian team who would not get on the current Yorkshire side and, with a couple of exceptions, you could pick an alternative England team just as strong as the one the selectors have chosen.

I am delighted that England’s home Tests are now watched by crowds far larger than used to be the case. Rows of empty seats were the norm at all venues through the 1960s and early 1970s. But let’s not fool ourselves that all those people are there to watch the excellence of the cricket on display; most of them wouldn’t know the difference.

If indeed there is much of a difference.

Down at Chelmsford the game began with Cook v Bresnan. We then had Bopara v Rashid. We had Foster keeping wicket, Lyth and Bairstow batting, and another promising youngster Chambers bowling fast. Add to this list Rudolph, McGrath, Gale and Walker, to provide class and experience; and is Patterson any worse than Bresnan? Phillips bowled as well as Rashid in this game, i.e. pretty damn well, Brophy kept as well as Foster, Best bowled faster than anyone, here or at Headingley, and as accurately as Mitch Johnson……

There is nothing wrong with County cricket. The standard is good and the 4-day format is perfect for it to flourish. The old ‘soft cricket’ gibe simply doesn’t hold water, even if it did before. Just because players smile and accept decisions gracefully, it doesn’t mean they’re not trying. If the crowd is quiet and appreciative, rather than chanting, waving flags or doing Mexican waves, it doesn’t mean they are bored. Quite the reverse.

We in England are so lucky to have County cricket, flourishing and well supported, eighteen Centres of Excellence to entertain the old and to inspire the young. Let’s not let them ruin it because once it’s gone there will be no getting it back.

And if we have to put up with Test cricket to finance the real game, so be it.