Our home overlooks Headingley so we can watch Ashes for free – but that’s not the best part
FOUR students who live in a house that overlooks Headingley stadium say they can watch the Ashes for free – but that’s not the best part.
The Leeds Beckett lads have got a birds-eye view of the third Test at the cricket ground and dodged shelling out £150-per-day for tickets.
The pals clambered onto the hot slate roof of the shared student pad overlooking the home of Yorkshire Cricket Club with ice-cold beers and a radio to tune into match commentary.
They went viral on Twitter, especially with fans Down Under, after watching day two with an Aussie TV reporter.
Second year PE student Rory Kinrade, 20, told the Sun: “Howzat for a view – we’ve got the best seats in the house… for free.
“It must be the best student accommodation in the country. It’s like we’ve got a Test match in our back garden.
“There’s a phrase in Yorkshire, ‘owt for nowt’, and this is the ultimate.
“We can see 80 per cent of the pitch and we’ve got a clear view of whoever is batting.
“The best thing is we don’t have the queue at the bar – or for the toilet!”
Footage from Sky Sports‘ coverage yesterday panned to Elliot Longworth, 21, who was accused of nodding off on the roof with his arms outstretched.
Images of him seemingly snoozing in the sun went viral on social media.
But the second year sports business management study firmly denied having a nap.
He said: “I’ve been stitched up. I shut my eyes for a second and thought nothing of it. Then my phone started blowing up.
“There’s no way I could have fallen asleep yesterday, it was such a brilliant game.
“I’m a massive cricket fan and to watch this from the roof is just brilliant. We must be the luckiest students in the country.”
Rory and Elliot, plus pals Ben Mellor and Alfie Johnston, both 21, thought they would miss out on the action from their balcony – only to realise that the rooftop provided a grandstand view of England’s attempts to claw back the series with Australia 2-0 up.
Rory, from Manchester, added: “We were actually going to try and get tickets but we’re students on a budget, so it was never going to happen.
“That’s when we realised that if we could get on the roof we could watch it all for free.
“We can see 80 per cent of the pitch – it’s only the very edge of the boundary that’s obstructed.
“We were thinking of putting some signs up on the roof to antagonise the Aussies but all we’ve got is some A4 paper.”
Elliot, whose part-time shifts in Nando’s will stop him from watching Saturday’s action, added: “I’m a massive cricket fan and to watch Ben Stokes tear it up is amazing.
“The atmosphere has been brilliant. The place erupts with noise when England take a wicket.”
The antics of the perched–up onlookers has captured the imagination of audiences on social media.
“Look at those people watching the game from a roof instead of paying for a ticket. That’s not in the spirit of cricket,” tweeted one.
“How much did that view cost? Nothing… It’s on the house,” another joked.
A third added: “Three lads going through a roof patch.”
It comes after a couple living next to Wimbledon tennis complex say they are getting fed-up of the infernal racket caused by the annual competition.