The Armchair Crease

He knows his Onions...

2009-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

BBC's 'England Rookies Backed By Strauss' article...

Someone would have said it!

RP

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1st Test England v West Indies

2009-05-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

Test match starts tomorrow. So, straight after work I'l be twiddling the old dial to catch the sound of leather on willow from Lord's.

Can't wait!

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

I've been pre-occupied...

2009-04-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

I've been pre-occupied with my other blog; A Glastonbury Tale. To the detriment of cricket I hear you say? Well after the Test Series it all seemed to fall a bit flat - loosing an' all. I know it's the game that counts but when you're supporting, you like a positive result!

Of course, there have been the One Day Internationals. England won and Strauss was rightly lauded for his part but I can't get on with a 'One Dayer' as much as a Test Series. I mean, as soon as it is started, it's over! You miss a day and you've missed the series (albeit a very short series, in a one day kind of way). This all seems to be at odds with current wisdom (that's wisdom, not Wisden) as everyone is plugging 'One Day, maximum return, in a credit crunch environment, people don't have enough time for Test Series' cricket.

The next speight of activity for me will be the 1st Test - England v West Indies, at Lord's. Come Wednesday the 6th of May I'll be glued to my Pure Evoke flow (in a metaphysical sense you understand, I try to keep glue well away from any electrical equipment), shift pattern permitting. I do keep one eye on BBC SPORT ¦ Cricket & Crickinfo (is that two eyes?) though and do see that 'Flintoff wins Pietersen IPL duel' & 'Yorkshire beat Durham by 80 runs'.

RP

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Lord's - The Home of Cricket

2009-03-09T04:09:00.001-07:00

Out of the blue we got invited to go to London for the weekend (a big thank you to my Sister-in-Law). What to do on Saturday? I know, go to Lord's - the home of cricket!

Lord's Sign

I took the District line to Edgeware Road and then the Circle line to Baker Street and then walked, trying to get a No 13 bus to St. John's Wood. However, it was not straight forward. First of all I nearly ended up going in the wrong direction, I was pointed 'across the road' but how far? Which road? I don't know what I'm doing! So I walked and then found that all the bus stops had been suspended. So I walked and a No 13 bus went straight past a bus stop that said a No 13 bus stops here! So I walked and then finally got to a stop and on to a No 13 bus. No sooner had the bus started when 'the next stop for Lord's cricket ground' was announced! And that was the shortest of the stops on the route! Typical!

NW8

I stepped off the bus and there it was. A large concrete wall inset into the ground perimeter wall, with large, over-sized cricket balls on top! Love it!

The Home of CKET!

Just beyond was a glimpse of the Media Centre.

Media Centre

I walked around the whole of the ground as close as I could. Houses dominate one end and at one point I even walked past the house where Billy Fury once lived!.

Just walking around the outside, there is plenty to keep the cricket fan (O.K. Geek/Anorak) entertained

Yet To Come

A Sign!

On to the Bicentenary Gate

Another Sign!

And here was the Gate

The Bicentenary Gate

MCC

Cricket Behind Bars

I saw some cricket being played!

Bowling Screen

Oh, it was just a photograph...

I saw Kevin Pieterson!

Kevin Pieterson

Sort of...

By the time I got the main entrance again Lords was closing - I asked if I could get in to see the ground briefly but he had just locked up! Ah well next time...
(He did tell me England's Test score though - only 4 wickets had fallen though.)

On my way back I got to see the famous Father Time weather vane

The Weather Vane

A final look at the Investec Media Centre

Media Centre 1

Media Centre 2

Media Centre 3

The centre was designed by the late Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete of Future Systems.

I got back home to hear the fall of the 5th wicket - Collingwood lbw, bowled by Baker for 161 partnering Prior after a referral which gave Geoffry Boycott something to comment about! Then it was time for tea.

RP

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Went to Lord's

2009-03-08T13:04:00.001-07:00

Lord's Cricket Ground

Went to Lords - more later...

RP

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Mole Found At Bath Cricket Club

2009-03-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

Mole at Bath

They really must do something about the mole in the outfield at Bath Cricket Club before the start of the season!

RP

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The 4th Test Had Everything

2009-03-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed the 4th Test, it had Strauss making a centaury, it had England declaring at 600 for 6, it had a bland surface, it had the West Indies making 749 for 9 and declaring, it had Cook making a centaury, it had everything.

Everything that is except and England win.

Ah, The 5th Test, now that is a different matter...

RP

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Attack in Lahore

2009-03-03T03:56:00.000-08:00

Cricket making front page headlines but not for the right reasons - BBC

The Sri Lankan cricket team were attacked by gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan on their way to the ground!

RP

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A PURE EVOKEd flow

2009-02-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to the 4th Test against the West Indies in Barbados on a new radio. Not just any radio, this is a PURE EVOKE flow, Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), internet-connected radio in piano black, with Snoozehandle. It is more than a radio though, it's expandable. I can add a speaker and turn it into stereo (mono is more than fine for listening to the cricket) and I can attach my iPod if I want to and it's got a USB port for updates - I do like a bit of room to breathe...

The black piano finish with burnished metal handle, speaker grill and ariel ooze a certain style which is complimented by the display. As well as showing the time it also has the match score update continuously scrolling up the OLED display. I'm never at a loss to know the score, which is really important when the commentators are off on some reverie, recounting some match from ten years ago and arguing about who caught who, when what you really need to know is the score! Well, there it is, in vibrant OLED green/yellow!

The sound quality is superb; a nice clear, warm sound from the 3" speaker. Tony Cozier's rich West Indian lilt emanates from the little black box in perfect contrast to the no-nonsense Yorkshire, drill of Jeff Boycott. It has touch sensitive controls which work really well. The whole thing exudes quality, it is a perfect blend of design and technology.

Oh, and when the cricket's finished, it has PURE sounds. These are atmospheric sounds of; birdsong, heartbeat, thunder etc... A sort of match comedown soundtrack depending upon how England have played. How cool is that?

Oh, and England are 221 for no loss!

RP

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Another Draw!

2009-02-24T06:32:00.001-08:00

England drew with BCA President's XI Tour match - I'm sensing a pattern!

[ BBC ] [ Crickinfo ]

RP

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Designer Balls

2009-02-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

Paul Smith Cricket Ball!

I found this at Bloomsbury in Bristol whilst wandering around aimlessly. I'm not sure what the ECB would make of it but it's kind of cool in an 'over-priced, totally useless, money to burn' kind of way.

RP

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A Draw

2009-02-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

Why so sad?

Yes, it's been a couple of days and some of you may be thinking this is old news - After such a good start, England only manage a draw with West Indies in 3rd Test!

Well, I've been sulking.

RP

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The Nightwatchman

2009-02-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Ah, The Nightwatchman! That hunched figure in macintosh and flat cap, his right arm held aloft with lantern, flickering in the dark. He walks to the brazier, glowing orange, providing the only warmth to the chill of the night air. He places the lantern down on the floor then warms his hands and rubs them together to generate a little warmth into his old bones. The moon shines down as a mist starts to seep into the ground...

Oh, I've just found out that 'The Nightwatchman' is a lower order batsman, sent in to play in dimming light toward the end of the day, to protect a more valuable batsman for next day's play! That makes more sense. I did wonder at the brazier ruining the pitch...

RP

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Gardyloo!

2009-02-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

I was bought a calendar of 'Forgotten English' for Christmas that details old, lost words day by day and yesterday's word was 'Gardyloo'. This was the call sign of medieval maids just as they emptied the contents of the chamber pot, out of the window, into the street below!

Sir Alan Stanford with his 'dealings' and the fallout for Giles Clarke and the ECB - Gardyloo!

Coincidence?

A fitting word of the day!

RP

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Testing Times

2009-02-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sat here waiting for the last day of the 3rd Test against the West Indies to start in anticipation. It has been an excellent few days with so much happening. England look in command but the West Indies give you the feeling that they won't collapse in a heap like England did in the 1st Test not so long ago! The Recreation Ground has proved to be a godsend, not least with the commentators who keep praising its 'atmosphere' and its 'history' and its 'location' and anything else they can think of (you'd think they had shares in it!). Strauss proved his captaincy by championing what became a 503 run lead, capturing 169 runs in the 1st innings himself. Collingwood pleased everyone with his eighth Test century. Owais Shah has fitted into the team well at the expense of Bell and Swann's bowling has pleased and impressed everyone. The worrying news is of Flintoff's hip injury and all the uncertainty that brings. England's bowling today to try and level the Test will be interesting to watch, not least to see if Flintoff plays.

So, just a mouseclick away, the pop-out player beckons, awaiting my command. The West Indies are 143 for 3 and rain has delayed play on the 5th day - it's all happening! Or not as the case may be!

RP

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That's better...

2009-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

Ah, listening to the 3rd Test in Antigua on the radio yesterday at my parents-in-law, as England, led from the front by captain Strauss made amends for the collapse in Kingston last week. The sun must have been shining down on the Antigua Recreation Ground and you could have been forgiven for thinking I was in the Caribbean. The heating was on and there must have been some serious lagging in the loft because I was sweltering! I half expected to see palm trees, a beach and the blue of the Caribbean sea out of the French windows...

I listened, ball by ball as first of all England beat the dreaded 51 runs, then Strauss got his half century, England made a hundred and Strauss made his century and beyond. By the time we left, England were 168-1 and I needed IV fluids to restore my fluid balance in the balmy heat of Wiltshire in winter! England's reign continued whilst in the car home and then on the laptop into the evening. England finished on 301-3 and I re-hydrated myself back at the 'clubhouse' known as home.

A great day's listening but I must remember to take water rations next time...

RP

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ARGghhh!

2009-02-14T05:50:00.001-08:00

Everyone to the A.R.G. on Sunday - O.K.?

BBC Sport Cricket - New WI venue in race against time

RP

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Life's a Beach - Sand Stopped Play!

2009-02-13T07:08:00.001-08:00

I'd just sat down to listen to the 2nd Test match, the banter from TMS setting the scene.
West Indies won the toss and put England in to bat on what was reported to be more of a beach than a pitch. This suited England and is what they would have probably chosen if they had won the toss.
Shah in for Bell / Anderson in for Harmison / Panesar playing. The National selector put a positive spin on what he called 'Bell's blip' in form.
Strauss was off the mark with 2 runs.
The scoreboard wasn't working and lots of people were still outside trying to get into the ground. At 14:08 rain stopped play with England 6 for no wicket.
14:34 and Cook was facing his 1st ball after the stoppage and was off the mark, long leg for a single.
The bowlers however were increasingly stopping short of bowling after their runups due to not being able to get a grip on the surface of the outfield!

Then, MATCH ABANDONED FOR TODAY after 10 balls - England 7 for no wickets!

Confirmed by match referee - Alan Hurst.
Looking into options.

Best laid plans... and all that - Life's a beach!

RP

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Yorkshire Tea

2009-02-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yorkshire Tea

To the traditional sounds of leaf on teapot... (Thanks The Orb - Check LFC's remix)

RP

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Snow on pitch

2009-02-12T10:44:00.001-08:00

Snow on pitch at Bath CCC

They'll have to move that before the next match!

RP

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It's coming home...

2009-02-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, (Football's) Cricket's coming home!

Telegraph article talks about possibility of Twenty20 cricket at Wembley!

RP

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Anticipation and Patience

2009-02-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

There is a time when anticipation starts. There is no big revelation, no cloudburst, fanfare or pyrotechnic display just a mild dawning. It is time, anticipation is there.

Anticipation around the 2nd Test in the West Indies starts around now; not too soon after the 1st Test, not too late before it all becomes too commonplace. It seems to me that everyone seems to have written off England, missing the point that this is a Test, it is carried out over several days and several matches. Patience is required as well as sweeping batting an fast bowling. This isn't a one day blast to see who can slam the most flamboyant runs for the cameras. It is an intricate game of stealth and patience, it is a mental game and above all, it is a team game.

I for one will be glued to my laptop screen (metaphorically speaking), listening to the 2nd Test in Antigua this coming Friday with anticipation (after all, it is Friday the 13th!). And a little patience.

RP

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England need a manager

2009-02-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of talk about England needing a manager (see The Surfer's blog). Just not one of them Bank Manager's that are so in the news at the moment though! Eh?

RP

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Use Your Loaf!

2009-02-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

There's not a day goes by without the press reporting upon England's need to use their heads and how it's all about thinking for oneself and personal responsibility 'n'all.

Maybe it's got to the point where its 'A Matter of Loaf or Death'!

RP

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A Big White Horse!

2009-02-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

'The Angel of the South' - that's what it's being billed as! A large white horse, 50 metres high (that approx. 150 feet high in old money), designed by Mark Wallinger, sited in Ebbsfleet!

I'm not a horse'y person, I would have liked to have seen a giant set of stumps with a bat and a ball! 50 metres high!

The Times The Times The Guardian

Intro page with pic of horse: Ebbsfleet Landmark Home

RP

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Distractions

2009-02-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

As the snow and ice melt away (although if you are unlucky enough to live in the South West, another deluge is forecast for this evening) tracks are left in the mud of the landscape from the games people played in the snow, sitting like scars and it calls to mind what must be left on the pitch at Sabina Park in Kingston. So as the critics both inside the team and out start to dissect the result and discussions have inevitably turned to the money, showered upon individual players by the IPL like flower petals on some new-found deity, we have to ask; does money lead to distractions?

Well, I know if I was just signed up to £170K a week I'd be putting maybe a little thought into replacing my 2" of bare forearm, just above the wrist for a Rolex Submariner Date and maybe I'd spend just a couple of seconds about replacing the clapped out French saloon I drive for something with a sweet-sounding exhaust and a picture of a bull on the bonnet and just maybe I'd looking to take my old jumper down to Oxfam and trade up to an Italian-sounding suit. I wouldn't be distracted though.

HOWZAT?

'Oh!'

RP

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Red and Yellow and Pink and...

2009-02-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

'Panesar takes a run up to the stumps and releases a yellow ball for a reverse spin...' wait a minute, rewind. 'Panesar takes a run up to the stumps and releases a pink ball for a reverse spin...' whoah! pink ball? Yes, it could be. Yellow, pink, white and other colours as yet to be determined are all in the running for floodlit Test cricket. The Times (Saturday, 7th February 2009, Sport P21) provides an exclusive discussion of the drive for floodlit Test cricket at Lords.

First the cricket jumper, then the introduction of the referral system for the umpire, now the famous red ball. All crickets icons are being dismantled , one by one. The game will son be unrecognisable, fans will be co-ordinating their clothes in line with the ball being played soon! 'A pink crocodile brogue in harmony with a yorker bowled under floodight'.

I suppose the benefits of batting into the balmy evening night, under actinic light as England strike a six at Lords is worth a little change.

I'm off to buy my pink crocs - artificial leather of course...

RP

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Stumped!

2009-02-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

What do I write? No play today all out for 51 yesterday, so I'm stood here, playing catch with myself, not exactly bowled over by the prospect. I daren't read the Sunday papers, god knows what the headlines will be!

Ah well, back to the nets...

RP

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3rd lowest total ever!

2009-02-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

England all out for 51

Collapse, rout, disintegration - so, moving swiftly on to Antigua - 2nd Test.

(I mean, I went out for an hour and everything seemed OK. Not brilliant but OK, something to work with. The worst of it is I was really looking forward to listening to the cricket tomorrow as well!)

RP

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I mustn't mention the snow again

2009-02-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

I mustn't mention the snow again, I mustn't mention the snow again, I mustn't mention the snow again. 'It's snowing again!' Owww!

Well the bowling didn't go as planned on day two - West Indies 160-1 in reply at close of play (I just love the language of cricket, don't you?). Hopefully a good night's sleep, a stiff talking to and a re-group will have done the trick. Yes, that's what it needs. Straussy and his gang can now get out there and take some wickets.

I'll be listening to it on the radio. I'd love to be watching it on TV but I haven't got Sky (damn you BBC for not bidding for TV rights for everything!). I'm not a 'Luddite', resisting the march of progress, hankering after a gentler age. No, I'm a 'Can't affordite'. Sky's core dump of everything you don't want mixed in with a little bit of what you do want (like Test cricket) doesn't speak to my credit crunch-strapped wallet.

So, it's internet-based 5Live Extra cricket with its scorecard visual or car-based Long Wave cricket with a little bit of static on top for me. If I place an exotic-looking drink with an umbrella in it on my desk, eat a banana and put a desert Island backdrop on my laptop I can almost believe I'm there - almost.

Oh, did I mention? It's snowing again.

Come on England!

RP

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All of a Twitter

2009-02-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is more of a Twitter than a Post

Just logged on to BBC Video player for the Live video scorecard (audio only) and found out that Flintoff went for 43 - gutted. The're on their way to 300 now but still!

RP

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Link in Park

2009-02-05T05:55:00.001-08:00

The snow has fallen again just to rub in, a little further how nice the weather must be in the West Indies at this time. As you look around at the impassable side roads and the whitened parks filled with people off work and off school, you see everyone unable to resist picking up snow, forming a ball and throwing it.

It's just a natural instinct and you are in the minority if you are not tempted. So, even in the grip of winter you can still feel a small link with the Caribbean sun that will be shining down on Sabina Park as England come out to finish their innings and then bowl, to hopefully turn around the game that started out yesterday as a struggle.

It's a pity I can't feel a link with the warmth though!

RP

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A TRIP TO THE NORTH

2009-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

It got decidedly colder the further we went North (I consider Birmingham North). There was a distinct chill in the air, the atmosphere seemed to bite! Oh, it's because they didn't have any heating on in the service station we stopped at. There was just the coldest weather since 1955-56 winging its way in from the East, snowfall expected. Why would you not have the heating on? A sign on the wall opposite read 'We want to make it better' followed by an apology for inconvenience caused during improvement works which were under way. 'Make it better? Just put the bloody heating on!'.

'I'm just off outside to warm up!'.

Well, as the day wore on, the snow came. It swirled ad whirled and ran ahead of the chill wind that ran at its heels. It was a numbing cold that threatened to make bits of my body so cold they were in danger of being snapped of. Important bits!

In the grip of the snow, the threat of more snow, the threat of ice and the threat not getting across the Pennines, we pushed on. Across the Pennines! But not before braving the deepening threat and trekking out to Old Trafford.

On this cold, cold day the curving cream wall etched with black letters played circumference around the white hospitality tent roofs.

The red rose (oh how it galls a Yorkshireman to even mention it - only joking) blooms between the railings. Both belie the sport to come in a more conducive weather forecast under a hopefully blue sky. It was a fleeting visit as we had to press on but I hope to visit again someday and watch play at this Test ground.

Crossing the Pennines, the hypnotic falling flakes of snow danced at the windscreen like silent sirens, tempting you into a false sense of security. You could have been forgiven for thinking you were watching a television screen with only one channel. It drifted onto the left side of the road, trying to get a hold on the dark grey and fill the gaps between the the white lines. Few people were about and those that were were driving the other way. As we got nearer our destination the snow got stronger, bolder and deeper. The wheels span and we passed spinning cars and queueing cars but inched our way into the heart of South Yorkshire.

We made it with minutes to spare before the weather closed in further and effectively closed down the county for the night and most of the following day. It was where we stopped, we stayed. I never made it to Headingley, the roads would have been to treacherous and we had to get back before more 'weather' closed in. It will have to wait for another day.

On the way back down to Wiltshire I did get to listen to England's opening at Sabina Park, a slooowwww beginning but serviceable, workmanlike.

RP

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Michael Vaughan

2009-01-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

Vaughan to play for Yorkshire in preference of IPL to hopefully regain an England Test place

The Independent has the story

RP

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West Indies A V England

2009-01-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

England's preface to what promises to be a year of fine cricket starts out as an as yet, unwritten book.

I do hope that the story of the West Indies 1st Test of 2009 isn't going to be entitled 'Something Wicket This Way Comes'

I say this because at the moment it all seems a little bit Agatha Christie: A Caribbean Mystery!

RP

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Ouch!

2009-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

West Indies A V England: 3 Day in St. Kitts: Day 1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7859652.stm

Like I said - Ouch!

RP

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The Great Cricketer

2009-01-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

The Great Cricketer

The plaque outside Memorial Ground, Gloucestershire County Cricket Ground, Bristol reads

To commemorate
Dr.W.G.Grace
The Great Cricketer
Born 1843 - Died 1915
This tablet was erected
Outside his county ground
At the centenary of his birth
16th July 1948

Memorial Ground, Bristol

2009-01-29T04:38:00.000-08:00

An empty board

Outside the Memorial Ground, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Bristol yesterday.

The pitch is in turmoil, upturned soil as far as the eye can see. Hopefully there will be a green, green grass at the home of Gloucester cricket in readiness for the start of the season...

Just found out that it is drainage ad irrigation works in the outfield [No Boundaries November 2008 issue 33 (the official magazine of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club]

RP

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Credit Crunch Cricket

2009-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

On a cold winter's morning where the nets hang with raindrops from the previous night's cold downpour, you could be forgiven for thinking that cricket is still some way off and reset the alarm, turn over and go back to sleep for a couple of months. However, there are stirrings. England are in the Caribbean hitting sixes, obtaining wickets and sustaining injuries. All this, in readiness for their 1st Test of the year which is; just over a week away! The papers are bristling with comment; will Lord Marland effectively challenge Giles Clarke for chairmanship of the ECB? What do we have to do to ensure Test cricket remains the 'pre-eminent' (thank you The Times, Monday 26 Jan 2009) form of the game? Will Flintoff's side injury be something or nothing? Yes, there are stirrings in the undergrowth, just off from the boundary. However, as the economy goes starts its free-fall swallow dive into the gaping maw of oblivion, it makes sense to me to look at how the cricket fan can make some economies.

Reading Material
Whilst waiting for tangible play, now is the perfect time for reading. Newspapers, as previously mentioned are bristling with news (which is just as well as it is what they are there to do!) but saving on buying 4 newspapers a day, which is costly to both the environment and the pocket is a reasonable economy to make. So, why not combine the need for news with that mainstay of the British economy (which, let's face it, you are never going to give up); the coffee. Most coffee places have newspapers available to read, for free! You are going to have that coffee, I mean, there are cost cutting-measures and there are cost-cutting measures, steady on, It's like breathing isn't it? So, combine! Just make sure that you get there early so you don't miss out upon the papers you want to read and end up with dog-eared old rags.
Books also fall under this category. We are coming to the end of the 'sale' period but charity shops are your friend. No honestly, they are. Although Oxfam are wise to anything remotely collectable and will be displaying prices that look like they have been appraised by the team from the Antiques Roadshow, other charity shops are less 'upmarket'. I got a copy of England's Ashes. The story of the greatest Test series of all time. 2005. Telegraph. London. Originally £17.99, saw it for £6.50, bought a copy for £1.75! Mint condition! One careful owner! Now that's what I call a recession-beater.

Clothing
Now I know 'technical' clothing is the way forward, with 'wickaway' materials such as ClimaCool and far be it from me to halt the march of progress. If it means more runs then I'm all for it but 'the Cricket Jumper'. There is something about 'the Cricket Jumper' that no other jumper can sartorially aspire to. Its replacement, the thin, scrawny 'techno-jumper', impostor that it is, means that a genuine, all-wool 'Cricket Jumper' is damned near impossible to get hold of and if you do happen to get within a sheep-hoof of, you need a mortgage to purchase it, which you can't get hold of because of the credit crunch! The England cricket team get theirs (used to get theirs?) from some expensive shop in London but you can't buy one unless you play for the team. Various cricket companies like Gray-Nicols and Gunn & Moore still produce jumpers but they are acrylic. If you want the sheep's best friend you have to go to Smart Turnout who provide old school (that's 'Old School', not 'oldschool' but then again, 'the Cricket Jumper' is so oldschool now) and old regimental (I refused to look at the American jumpers on offer, it's just not cricket is it?) cricket jumpers, in wool but they are expensive! And we are talking credit crunch here. So, as a last resort I found this from Crew Clothing Company. You cannot get them instore, I tried in both Bath and Bristol but online, half price! 100% wool, only a few left, then gone forever. The beauty of it is, I don't have to impersonate an old school attendee or bang on about my old regiment down the pub (not that I'm ever down the pub you understand). It is also a dark colour so I'm less out of place in the depths of winter. I may succumb to a cream acrylic one just for the summer but for now - credit is well and truly crunched!

Tickets
Now unfortunately, tickets do not fall into the same category as the above items. You can't purchase from a charity shop or get them at sale prices and there is none of this '3 for 2' malarkey. On websites such as Seatwave, the prices just go up. However, fear not, be judicious. Local cricket is cheapest, one of the non-19 county teams will enable a cheaper fix. ODI tickets are still available, claim one for a birthday or anniversary. I have, England v West Indies, Edgbaston. Visiting relatives? Then visit the nearest ground to imbibe the anima loci, it's free to look longingly though the gates (not too long though, you don't want to be had up for loitering now do you?). I'm hoping to get to Old Trafford and Headingley Carnegie in the not to distant future.

So, there you have it. Just a few ways to get 'cricketed' up without going bankrupt.

'Maximum Cricket - Minimum Outlay'

My Side! My Eye!

2009-01-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

Injuries dominate the news about England's performance in St. Kitts. It appears that some good bowling practice (great to hear Adil Rashid from Yorkshire get his first wicket) was obtained but at the expense of Owais Shah's eye.

Tour Match: St Kitts Invitational XI v England XI at Basseterre, Jan 25-27, 2009.
Jan 25, 2009: 424 for 8 424 for 8
Jan 26, 2009251 all out and 118 for 0
(Courtesy of Crickinfo)

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

The Tiger Takes Guard on Radio 4

2009-01-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

The discussion of Test cricket, whose importance is currently in the news with the recent review by the ECB (at Stapleford Park in Leicestershire last week) and how the IPL with its Twenty20 format affects this is discussed in the first part of former England captain, Mike Brearley's documentary on India's love of cricket on Radio 4.

Listen Again on iPlayer Radio Console [Part 2 next Monday at 20:00].

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Lovely Weather for Ducks

2009-01-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

A forlorn scoreboard in the dark of a stormy afternoon

As the rain poured down and Bath wrestled with Toulouse in the mud born of a monsoon rain, set under steel floodlighting, against a gunmetal sky at The Rec, I couldn't help thinking of England in the sunny Caribbean. Bath Cricket Ground looked lost and forlorn, water pooling on the creases only a ball's throw from its sister (or should that be brother?) rugby ground.

Pooling on the creases

I had scoured Radio 5 Live and any other Medium Wave sports station I could barely pick up on the wonders of old technology but cricket didn't get a look in. I listened through interminable football commentaries (alright, we listened through interminable football commentaries) on the way home and still nothing. At home, I sat through the news, to the bitter end and still nothing. Then, I got to the BBC Cricket website! Noooo! But Crickinfo gave a brighter picture; Pietersen made a century!

Not a magnificent start - out for a duck but considering the weather we experienced walking around Bath this afternoon, it was lovely weather for it!

Tour Match: St Kitts Invitational XI v England XI at Basseterre, Jan 25-27, 2009. 424 for 8 off 91.5 overs (Courtesy of Crickinfo)

The Outlook is Sunny

2009-01-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

From a cold, albeit sunny day at the end of January, the pictures posted on the ECB website of the the England team, training on the sands in the Caribbean pull a little twinge of jealousy (however it is not as big a twinge as in my leg which has been keeping me up nights over the past few days). They have arrived and are no doubt adapting to the climate of a greater 'personal responsibility' and anticipated income increase from the IPL, should they be lucky enough to be bid for.

Newspaper coverage is good, I'm struggling to keep up with it but a debate that is growing in my head is; does the web version of events from the big four newspapers; The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, and The Daily Telegraph capture all of their paper-based output? Will I 'miss out' if I just go to the web and don't buy the newspaper? The verdict is still out but I'll let you know.

St. Kitts hosts an XI versus XI at Basseterre, St. Kitts starting tomorrow. The first strike of the ball will be heard some time after 2:00 in the afternoon (although the sound will have to travel a pretty long way for me to hear it as I look out of the window (that I now see needs cleaning) here in Wiltshire. I shall be avidly checking Crickinfo for all the updates.

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Official Sustenance

2009-01-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

Marston's Old Empire
Original Export
India Pale Ale

It's powering this blog as we speak!

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

There in Spirit...

2009-01-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

The Armchair Crease - there in spirit, if not at every match or on the pitch.

The Armchair Crease sets out to provide a humorous look at County and International cricket from a Yorkshireman marooned in Wiltshire's perspective. It follows the fortunes of England and Yorkshire in 2009 from the comfort of the armchair.

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

A New Year, A New Obsession

2009-01-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new obsession (or a new 'phase' as my daughter likes to put it): cricket!

I did play cricket at school. Notice that is 'at school' not 'for the school'. I distinctly remember a projectile (ball) being thrown at me and me defending myself with a weapon (bat). I must confess, I was never really a sporty person. I watched cricket at the local ground, up north in the town where I lived. I used to go with my Grandad on a Sunday and I can still remember the sunny days, the clouds racing past and the sound of cliche on cliche. Cricket is one of the truly great English spectacles. I had a cricket bat, I remember buying it but trying to keep oneself amused alone, with the trappings of a team sport is never going to work (no-one to bowl to you, no-one to catch you out, no-one to umpire, the list is endless!). I supported local football avidly, both 'home and away' (that's fixtures not the Australian soap) and followed England's roller coaster ride of death but in the end it is cricket that is England's quintessential game. So it is now, in the January of 2009 with England in the West Indies, dust still pluming around the captain/coach debacle, the Damoclean Twenty20's hanging over preparation for the Ashes appearing to be moved and no terrestrial TV coverage of England's matches that I walk from the virtual clubhouse, to take up my position on the armchair crease to follow a year of what should be 'first class' cricket.

RP

Copyright © 2009 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.