'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.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Stumped!
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
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.
Ah well, back to the nets...
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.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
A TRIP TO THE NORTH
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
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'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
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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