A cricket ground is usually a place where fiction is not welcome.
The latest and most unusual example has come from Leicester, where the shooting of Sourav Ganguly’s biopic Dada: The Sourav Ganguly Story at Uptonsteel Grace Road has unexpectedly become part of a real cricket controversy.
The film crew spent a day at the Leicestershire ground four days before the county’s Championship match against Glamorgan in August. Leicestershire head groundsman Callum Lewin told the Cricket Regulator that he was not allowed to work on or cover the pitch during the shoot. With temperatures reaching 35°C, the surface remained exposed for around eight hours.
The match later recorded 43 instances of uneven bounce. Leicestershire won by 42 runs, but the pitch was rated poor. The club was fined £5,000 and initially received a 27-point penalty, later reduced to 19 points. Leicestershire have appealed. The filmmakers have maintained that the shoot was properly authorised.
Leicester is certainly not the first cricket ground to become part of a film story.
More than seven decades ago, The Final Test, made in 1953, faced a similar question: how do you put a cricket match on the screen without interfering with the real game?
Directed by Anthony Asquith and written by Terence Rattigan, the film tells the story of Sam Palmer, an ageing England cricketer preparing for his final Test at The Oval. His son Reggie is more interested in literature than cricket, but the film eventually becomes a story about father and son, generations and the powerful hold of the game.
The Oval itself created a problem.
The film was built around a fictional Ashes Test at the famous south London ground, but permission to film the dramatic cricket sequences on the actual turf was refused. The solution was to recreate parts of The Oval at Pinewood Studios. The replica included the pavilion and other details and was so convincing that the real England cricketers appearing in the film reportedly felt they were back at a Test match.
Yet the film had something most modern cricket movies could only dream about: the real England cricketers.
Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Alec Bedser, Godfrey Evans, Jim Laker and Cyril Washbrook appeared as themselves, while John Arlott provided the commentary. Hutton, one of England’s greatest batsmen, reportedly found the studio recreation so convincing that he felt he was taking part in a real Test match.
The film also mixed scripted scenes with genuine cricket footage. Real England players were acting on a fake Test ground, while actual match footage helped make the fictional game look authentic.
There is a tempting story that Hutton, Compton, Bedser and the other England players left an ongoing Ashes Test at The Oval to shoot the film. They did not.
The film was made and released in the same remarkable cricket summer of 1953, when England were preparing for the deciding Ashes Test at The Oval.
England had not won the Ashes since the 1932-33 series. Four matches of the 1953 series had been drawn, leaving everything to be decided at The Oval. And the man at the centre of the real drama was Len Hutton.
Hutton led England to victory. Jim Laker and Tony Lock bowled Australia out for 162, helping England secure a famous Ashes triumph.
The irony was almost too perfect for a film script.
The Final Test had imagined an ageing cricketer playing his last Ashes match at The Oval. Then the real Oval hosted an Ashes decider that became one of the great moments in English cricket history.
There was another remarkable connection. Denis Compton, who appeared in the film, was also part of the real England side that won the Ashes.
Cyril Washbrook, another England star appearing as himself, reportedly was not entirely happy with the script. His fictional character was dismissed for only 40, while Hutton went on to score a century.
