England and Essex cricket ace goes toe-to-toe with Guardian reporter (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

England and Essex cricket ace goes toe-to-toe with Guardian reporter

12:21pm Thursday 10th June 2010

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Ronnie Irani is best known as an Essex cricket legend and former England star, but the flamboyant all-rounder swapped his bat for a club as he took on our reporter Ross Davies at Chigwell’s TopGolf centre.

THE prospect of taking on one of the finest and most popular cricketers in Essex’s recent history was a daunting one. And I wasn’t even taking him on at his own game.

Ronnie Irani, in his pomp, was an explosive, entertaining batsman and a canny bowler, leading Essex for a number of years as captain, as well as starring in three Tests and a number of One Day Internationals for England.

But I was going toe-to-toe with him with a golf club in hand, rather than a bat.

The scene was Chigwell’s TopGolf centre, where Ronnie and his TALKsport co-presenter, former Scotland football international Alan Brazil, were taking on the Guardian’s competition winners.

The facility is essentially a two-tier driving range, but with a twist, given that the field ahead of you is scattered with targets that resemble giant crop circles. The concept is simple; the closer the ball lands to the centre of the target, the more points you score. The bolder you are in distance, the greater the rewards are in terms of the amount of points available. Scoring is similar to that seen in ten-pin bowling, in that the score for each shot appears on-screen seconds after landing.

In truth, despite being an occasional golfer myself, the game tends to be the pastime of many former sports stars, so I had prepared myself for something of a pasting. For that reason, I thought I would get in some practice before the big showdown in the bay next door to Ronnie.

After striking a few nice shots, I decided to orchestrate an interesting photo pose by attempting to swing the club simultaneously with Ronnie’s. It didn’t come off. In fact, the only thing that did come off was the head of my four iron, which bounded across the range and fell just short of the first target after I had blindly struck the ground, as opposed to the ball. Cue raucous laughter from the small audience gathered behind the bays. At least I had a ready-made excuse for my match.

By the time Ronnie and I had squared up on the bays, the former England all-rounder had worked himself into a nice groove, guiding the balls into some of the nearest targets.

I followed suit and even had the advantage over the first six or seven balls of our 20-ball game. But, after pushing the boundaries with a few bigger shots, my scoring gradually slowed. All the while, Ronnie was content to plop some leisurely pitching wedges into the shorter targets, which were interspersed with one or two gentle reminders about where my four iron had ended up.

By the time I arrived at my last ball, I needed something of a miracle. Out came the driver, with the aim of blasting it to the end of the range and in to the centre of a target bank some 250 yards away. I managed to get the distance, but the direction was slightly off, leaving Ronnie to claim a hard-fought victory.

Afterwards, he was glowing in his assessment of his first TopGolf experience. “It’s a magical thing. The atmosphere is amazing and it’s great for the single handicappers and people who have never played before.”

It is not so great for those who confuse their club heads with balls. That four iron would have made all the difference.

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