The BBC TV man put it rather well when he said that it really was a great day for cricket in this country, and that the real winners were Cricket Scotland. What a marvellous sight it was to see the Grange packed full long before the start, the beautiful sunny weather and the keen competitive cricket! The crowd had its Scottish and its Pakistani faction, but they mingled together well and at several points one could see youngsters happily sporting the flags of both countries – the one where their ancestors had been born and the one in which they themselves had been born. A political bigot of the lunatic extremes would have been very unhappy at that!

Scotland, surprisingly inserted by Pakistan, got off to a horrendous start and at 20-4, we were staring at a major embarrassment and everyone going away home again by about 2.30, but Ryan Watson and Neil McCallum got together and started beating records for Scotland v. Pakistan with such regularity that scorer and statistician par excellence Neil Leitch was chuckling with glee. “It’s SO exciting”, he said and the BBC Radio commentators were similarly impressed.

203 was hardly a winning total but it was a respectable one, and for a spell it looked as if Scotland might do it. But sheer experience of one-day cricket at the highest level counts for something, and the two Pakistani batsmen knew exactly how to build a platform and when to accelerate – to the undiluted joy of their massive support.

This Pakistan side is a good one, as England will discover later in the summer, and it was no disgrace for Scotland to lose to them. The performances of Watson, McCallum and Lockhart will be remembered from this great day. Playing against the likes of Yousuf and Afridi must be good for the development of such players, and the World Cup will not be in any way diminished by the presence of Scotland, in spite of what the Editor of Wisden might seem to think.

The game was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, the Press cabin was filled with the good and the great of Scottish sports journalism, at least two prominent members of the Scotland rugby team were spotted among the crowd – and generally Scottish cricket had a good day. It’s a pity that Jack McConnell didn’t show face, or that Gordon Brown didn’t give himself a rest from supporting England in the football, but that might happen on some other occasion.

Parking facilities were disappointing – at least the painfully slow exiting was – but I could not help thinking as I patiently waited my turn to get out, as I saw all the cars in front and behind me, as I edged forward ever so slowly, that Scottish cricket is perhaps now really on the march. After all traffic jams and cricket matches don’t often go together in this country! But, please, don’t anyone dare to tell me that Scotland is a country which is not interested in cricket!