Whatever the outcome of the Old Trafford Test, one assured winner is a cricket-lover and English painter named Andy Brown, a quiet, observant figure in the stands who has spent the week capturing the spirit of the game with watercolour, not words.While Bumrah hurls thunderbolts and Root rewrites records, Brown stands a few rows back, brush in hand, letting scenes unfold on his canvas. For him, Old Trafford is more than a venue — it’s a living, breathing character in cricket’s unfolding epic.Unlike digital sports photography or TV replays, Brown’s work is rooted in the tactile and immediate. He paints live during play, using watercolours on board or paper — a choice dictated by the demands of Test cricket’s shifting light, weather, and tempo.“Watercolour suits the moment,” Brown explained in a 2024 interview. “I’m responding to the weather, the sound, the crowd. It’s live sport — it’s meant to move.”His subjects are rarely individual portraits. Instead, Brown paints the collective mood — crowds swelling, flags fluttering, players mid-motion, the stoicism of a fan under a cloudy Manchester sky. The red girders of Old Trafford, its looming stands, even the ghosts of cricketing giants past – all find space in Brown’s visual retelling.Brown was born in Essex, studied fine arts at Loughborough University and worked as an art teacher before turning full-time to painting. Now 44 years old, he began his journey painting baseball stadiums in South Korea over a decade ago before turning to cricket — a sport he calls “a map of culture and memory.”As he put it in the same 2024 interview, “In a sports arena, you see a microcosm of culture — its economics, politics, and social interactions. It’s a window into society that I find fascinating.”He lives in the UK with his wife and children, but Brown’s work is global. Over the past five years, he has painted live at Tests in Hyderabad, Dharamsala, Edgbaston, Lord’s, and now Old Trafford.In Dharamsala, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) bought one of his works — commemorating James Anderson’s 700th Test wicket — and presented it to the bowler.“It was a great honour for my work to be owned by James Anderson… the video of him receiving the painting was truly special,” Brown said, recalling the moment with quiet pride.Andy Brown’s work has often featured Indian cricketers — not as posed portraits but as part of the unfolding drama of a match.Among those featured:Rahul Dravid calm and composed in a team huddle during the 2024 Test in HyderabadKuldeep Yadav, who Brown described meeting in Hyderabad: “The human side of it is, Kuldeep… coming over and saying hello in a verywelcoming… way.”Rohit Sharma, mid–pull shot in a 2023 Lord’s sketchJasprit Bumrah, in multiple watercolours — most recently at Old Trafford this week, with his distinctive sling-arm action dominating the creaseRavindra Jadeja, often appearing in sweeping, all-rounder movement — painted both in India and the UKRajat Patidar, featured briefly in a painting from the recent Edgbaston TestThese cricketers aren’t painted in isolation. They exist within Brown’s larger narrative: stadiums humming, fans reacting, flags waving. Indian diaspora fans in turbans, saris, or India jerseys are a recurring and affectionate presence in his match-day scenes.This week, Brown has been a quiet constant at Old Trafford — standing near the boundary, sketching as Root reached 150, Stokes battled on one leg, and Indian fans beat dhols under grey skies.His live match paintings, available via andybrownstadiums.com, typically sell for £150 to £250 (approximately Rs 17,250 to Rs 28,750) for signed prints, and £1,000 to £3,500 or more (roughly Rs 1.15 lakh to Rs 4.03 lakh) for larger one-off originals. His catalogue includes match-day scenes, historic moments, and stadium studies — each painted on site, during play, giving them the raw immediacy of reportage.In a series now named for Anderson and Tendulkar, it’s fitting that a quiet painter, working without fanfare, is documenting its mood for posterity. Brown is not on the team sheet, but his work gives the match emotional texture and longevity. He paints what cameras don’t catch: the rhythm of anticipation, the humanity of the crowd, the lyricism of play.Cricket, for Andy Brown, is more than scoreboards and stats. It’s colour, memory, community and, above all, movement.Old Trafford may forget who made fifty or who dropped a catch. But in Brown’s watercolours, the atmosphere will live forever. (The writer is the London correspondent for The Tribune)
The artist in the stands: Andy Brown captures the soul of Old Trafford in watercolour
