IT IS already the sporting capital of Wales, of course, but it will not be long before Cardiff is second to nowhere in the British Isles as a centre for leading sporting occasions. The FA Cup Final will eventually make its belated way back to Wembley, but rugby and football internationals will soon be followed by two of the biggest national sporting occasions of them all — the Ryder Cup at nearby Celtic Manor and a Test match between England and Australia.

Yesterday’s was the first full cricket international in the Principality — England v Wales at cricket hardly compares to the biennial clashing of the scrums some 500 yards away at the Millennium Stadium — and, until the weather intervened, it was a case of things going all right on the night.

Traffic through the city centre to the sylvan entrance to Sophia Gardens was slow but mobile, park and ride notices were unmistakable from way out on the A48(M) and everyone in a crowd of 15,000 had soon found a seat. There was precious little shelter for anyone, but stewarding kept the right balance between efficient on one hand and friendly and helpful on the other, and when the brightest of lights came on, there was no frantic squinting from anyone.

That included the privileged occupants of the press box, housed with the radio commentary boxes in a two-tiered Portakabin squeezed between the northern towpath of the River Taff and the edge of the boundary. A few weeks ago, a six went crashing through the plate-glass window behind which Edward Bevan, the commentator, had barely had time to say, “That’s a tremendous shot and it’s coming towards us . . . ” before glass shattered with all the unmistakable tinkling of a sound effect from The Goon Show.

Whatever else may be uncertain about the ground so controversially awarded an Australia Test match as the first it will stage, it may be safely said that it will have the shortest straight boundary for any Test match on the river side.

Sixty yards is barely over the internationally prescribed minimum and it will be no more than a forward push for six when the likes of Andrew Flintoff start to put bat to ball against Australia in 2009.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is to Sophia Gardens what Lord’s is to Shamley Green in Surrey. Even with the £9 million of investment that starts this autumn with a rebuilding of three sides of the ground at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff will be able to pack in a mere 16,000 compared with the 100,000 who will yell themselves hoarse at the MCG on Boxing Day.

By April 2008, however, the bold plan is for permanent covered seating for most, in purpose-built stands, and a full dress rehearsal when England play another international there against South Africa late that season. By contrast yesterday, all but 1,300 were in “temporary” seats and Mike Fatkin, Glamorgan’s chief executive, who expressed himself “pleased with everything except the Welsh weather”, estimated that the club had invested £1 million in temporary seating alone in the past seven years.

The City Council, the banks and the private investors who have underwritten the scheme that has caused such ire in Manchester, Southampton and Durham all think it is a good investment, too. At least they have the most important thing right before they start. As the cricket proved yesterday, the pitches in the middle are quick enough to produce vibrant cricket, with the right balance between bat and ball.