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
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.
Showing posts with label Test. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Test. Show all posts
Monday, 16 February 2009
Saturday, 14 February 2009
ARGghhh!
Everyone to the A.R.G. on Sunday - O.K.?
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.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Life's a Beach - Sand Stopped Play!
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
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.
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
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.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Anticipation and Patience
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
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.
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
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.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Red and Yellow and Pink and...
'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
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.
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
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.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
3rd lowest total ever!
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
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.
Friday, 6 February 2009
I mustn't mention the snow again
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
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.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
All of a Twitter
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
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.
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
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.
Link in Park
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
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.
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
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.
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