The 7.45 am from London Paddington to Penzance, calling at Reading, Bristol, and Taunton, was packed to the gills as it rolled out to South West England. Inside the train, the conversation was boiling with arguments about whether India would remain in the World Cup and why they had put themselves in such a perilous position of having to win their remaining league games to stay in the fray. "It's the bowling, yaar," one knowledgeable emigre offered, his accent a mix of Gujarati and Cockney. "Naa-ah! They are great individual players but they don't play as a team," argued another.And so it went on and on for two hours till the train slid into picturesque Somerset county. Outside Taunton station, hundreds of Indian immigrants streamed towards the Clerical and Medical Country ground. Two brothers had flown all the way from Muscat for the game and hung outside the ground as scalpers buzzed around asking 200 quid a ticket.The World Cup hasn't seen any Bradmanesque feats so far. But there is fact that iscausing the Don to be remembered often. The Brit press is one in saying that not since the days of Bradman have English grounds seen such big crowds. Every venue has been packed, especially in games involving any of the teams from the sub-continent.Unfortunately, but for the big grounds like Lords. The Oval, Old Trafford and Headingley, most county grounds accommodate less than 10,000. But the local everywhere say they have not seen such colourful crowds in years. The poet Rupert Brooke, who wrote of "some corner in the world that's forever England,' would have had a revised version if he witnessed these scenes.The English though are all wrapped up with the European Cup final today in which home team Manchester United take on Bayern Munich. Desi types who plan to hang out at pubs and watch the cricket game while guzzling beer will be tuned out at 3 p.m. If they have any sense, they should be taking cover. It's going to be a wild evening in this country whether United win or lose.Meanwhile, the tabloidsare aflame with the story about Ian Botham hanging out with a new bimbo causing further pain (as Bill Clinton would put it) to Kath, his long suffering wife of 23 years. Somerset incidentally was Botham's county for many years before he moved to Durham. Only last year, they named the main stand here as "The Ian Botham Stand." Wags have it that it will now be renamed "The Ian Botham one-night Stand."
