Canterbury Bails!

I’ve kept a keen eye on the England Women’s results for the last 2 or 3 years, since I rekindled my interest in the game of cricket to a somewhat excessive degree. 

I went to my first Women’s cricket match at the Oval this year.  It was a T20 game and Middlesex won convincingly versus Surrey.  There was a smallish crowd at the game, despite the fact that the game was free to watch.

It was great to see a large number of future stars watching the game but it annoyed me that such talented cricketers had very little following compared to the men.  I had been to a men’s T20 game a week previously and the crowd had been over 20000 strong.  To add to my chagrin there was little or no interest from the stewards when it came to movement behind the bowlers arm, the crowd moving around in front of the sight screen at will, ignoring the signs on every seat asking people to only move at the end of an over.  It was then and there that I decided to take more of an interest in the Women’s game.

When I discovered that the Women’s Ashes Test Match was taking place at Canterbury, I hurried to grab tickets to the first day of the test.  Not only did I love the city but now I had the chance to see an Ashes test for £15 pounds…and that was the expensive ticket!  It took another few weeks for me to decide to book tickets for day 2 as well, spending the night in a Canterbury hotel.

I arrived a little late on Tuesday morning due to the length of time it took to make the journey.  It turns out I missed an outstanding spell of bowling from Katherine Brunt, a player I love due to her slightly unhinged nature, talent and fighting spirit.

I absolutely loved the day.  It was great to see such a large crowd, so many players i’d seen a bit of already thanks to Sky, players i’d been following on Twitter for a while and players who were all incredibly talented.  The coverage of the game on both Sky and TMS had clearly made a huge difference to the crowd numbers.  The professional nature of the game was there for all to see, even though the women have only recently been given similar treatment to those in the mens game.  I spoke to a few supporters at the ground, who had a really impressive knowledge of the game.  Depressingly, the day didn’t pass without one particular fan making a comment that the game would be a lot more interesting if all the girls were naked.  Why couldn't a day as good as that pass without casual sexism!

Sarah Taylor’s wicket keeping, Anya Shrubsole’s bowling, Katherine Brunt’s mammoth effort and Lydia Greenway’s fielding all stood out on the first day, along with some impressive batting from Jess Jonassen in particular.  The game was as good as the men’s game and no less professional.

Unfortunately the second day had a 2.5 hour rain delay and they still decided to take a lunch break…something common in cricket, which has forever puzzled, bemused and irritated me in equal measure.  As I was so tired and had a long journey back to Sutton, I decided to leave during lunch break.

England ended up losing the test to a very impressive Australian team, despite the rain delays.  On the plus side, I’ve no doubt that days like day 1 will help produce superb English Women cricketers for the foreseeable future.

Puppy Love!

It’s quite astonishing how quickly fortunes can change in cricket.

Clarke, lauded for his captaincy in the World Cup, winning in style, with Australia only picking up the one defeat against New Zealand on route.  Cook, lacking in form, dropped as one day captain days before the World Cup started, question marks over whether he would ever captain England again in any form of the game…and that’s without taking the 5-0 drubbing in Australia into account.

Now, England have won the Ashes in style.  Cook has rediscovered his form with the bat and his captaincy is finally being praised.  Clarke however seems a shadow of his former self, apologising after every game for his poor performances, looking like a shell of the player he once was.  Lost and dejected.

Clarke announced his retirement during the 4th test.  Something which I can’t really understand.  Why retire mid-test?  Why in the middle of an Ashes series?  Why after only one evening of discussions with friends and family?  How did the Aussie press get hold of the story and why did he not get to announce the decision himself?  I do feel there’s more to this story than meets the eye, though I doubt we’ll ever know the facts.

Whatever truly happened, Clarke should be considered a great of the game.  He has captained brilliantly at times, some of his batting performances have been sublime and many of his centuries should go down in Aussie folklore.  None more so than the century he scored vs India, closely following on from the death of his good friend Philip Hughes and fighting through the pain of a back injury.

I have no doubt that the death of Hughes affected Clarke’s game and outlook on life.  Nothing makes you think more about what truly matters than an incident like that.  He dealt with the aftermath beautifully with his very public grieving, finally winning the hearts of some Aussie doubters in the process…but i’ve no doubt that it must have taken a huge amount out of him emotionally and mentally.

Whatever Aussies think of the man, I personally feel that Clarke should be considered a legend of  the game and if I had one i'd tip my hat to you, Pup!

For a more eloquent Clarke tribute see the article below:

ESPN Article

Around the Grounds

I’ve loved cricket for a long time but in the last year, since splitting from my wife and spending 6 months off work with illness, it has become a huge contributing factor in my wellbeing and road to recovery.  I paid for a Surrey county membership for the first time this year and have been to a large number of County, one day and T20 games at the Oval.  I’ve fully embraced cricket on social media and have recently started this blog.  Now I would like to go one step further in my love for the game.

Since visiting Lords on a few occasions and visiting both the SCG and MCG on a trip to Australia it’s given me a newfound desire to visit all of crickets major grounds both in this country and abroad.

So, starting with this country, that’s what I plan to do.

Major Cricket Grounds - England and Wales:

The Oval - Surrey - VISITED

Lords - Middlesex - VISITED

Trent Bridge - Nottinghamshire

New Road - Worcestershire

Grace Road - Leicestershire

Wantage Road - Northamptonshire

The Spitfire Ground - Kent

The Rose Bowl - Hampshire

Edgbaston - Warwickshire

Chester-le-Street (Riverside Ground) - Durham

The SWALEC Stadium - Glamorgan

Old Trafford - Lancashire

Headingley - Yorkshire

County Ground, Taunton - Somerset

County Ground, Derby - Derbyshire

Nevil Road - Gloucestershire

County Ground, Hove - Sussex

County Ground, Chelmsford - Essex

…Starting with The Spitfire Ground next Tuesday!

Another swing of the pendulum...An England perspective

After 3 tests few comparisons can be made to the astonishing series of 10 years ago, when almost every test went down to the wire.  This series has so far been entertaining, though it's been a tale of 2 teams taking it in turns to win convincingly.

England took a much deserved 2-1 series lead yesterday.  It was a dominant display, much needed after the mediocre performance at Lords.  It was great to see a few England players really step up to the mark to silence critics.

Finn, with a decent performance in the first innings with the ball and 2 key wickets, produced a performance in the second that has surely cemented his place in the team for the remainder of the series.  He bowled both quickly and accurately, picking up career best figures in the process (6-79) and rightly receiving the man of the match award.  From unselectable to undroppable.

Bell showed signs of being back to his fluent best, scoring decent half centuries in each of his innings.  He played aggressively throughout and despite 1 or 2 scares looked comfortable and struck the ball well.

Anderson, wicketless at Lords and with figures of 0-137 (only the 6th time he’s ended a test wicketless) left a few people with short memories wondering whether he still had what it takes.  He responded in typical fashion with figures of 6-47 in the first innings.  Unfortunately, after bowling economically in the second innings and gaining a wicket, he picked up a side strain which is likely to rule him out not just for the next game but for the remainder of the series.

Out of the England team there is only one player who will be truly worried when selections are made for the next test.  Adam Lyth only managed scores of 10 and 12 in his two innings at Edgbaston.  That means that excluding the 107 he scored against New Zealand, in the other 9 innings he’s batted in he has only scored 115 runs, at an average of 12.8.  I personally believe that he should still be given the rest of the series.  Other than maybe Alex Hales, there is no obvious replacement waiting in the wings.  England have been guilty in the past of not giving players enough time to bed themselves into the team before looking elsewhere.

Finally, a word on Joe Root.  Another half century followed by a score of 38 not out, continuing his excellent vein of form.  It doesn’t seem to matter what position he plays at the moment or in what circumstances he enters the fray.  He is the brightest star for England now and will be for years to come.