We Didn't Lose
What does it say though about the state of our cricket team that we are all celebrating a draw in the first Ashes test as if it was a great victory ? England really didn't deserve anything from the match, our batting was patchy and especially in the first innings we just gave wickets away.
Australia delivered a masterclass in patient and risk free run accumulation, and slowly but surely ground us out of the game. As out top order crumbled away I should imagine that many England supporters were feeling just the same as me, batting collapse, one nil down in the series, and you know who always wins the Ashes when Australia win the first test.
But no, with only a handful of runs on the board and two sessions still to survive, Paul Collingwood came to the crease and dropped anchor. For almost six hours Collingwood was the Black Knight, none shall pass his battle cry. At a run rate that only Geoffrey Boycott could get excited about, the Durham right hander set about salvaging the first test. He had some support from Swann and Flintoff, but when Colly finally fell to the bowling of Siddle it looked to be all over.
Cometh the hour, cometh Monty Panesar, and let us be honest, how many people can stand hand on heart and thought there was any real chance of Monty surviving fifteen overs ? I thought we were doomed. At the other end, Anderson is man who does not like getting out, stubborn, limpet like, the England pace bowler faced 53 balls for his 21 runs, gradually pushing the England score ahead of Australia. The stadium erupted every time Monty managed to avoid getting out, has anyone ever had such an ovation for playing a forward defensive stroke ?
With two overs to go the umpires seemed unsure of whether the test had been timed out, the crowd was roaring for the finish, but no, the umpires made Australia bowl one more over, and now it was over, England had survived, improbable as it seemed at lunchtime. Australia had snatched a draw from what seemed to be a definite winning position, and they trudged from the field with heads down, the England players celebrated like they had managed a great win.
It really was a great test match and has left the England players and fans on a high, but, we really need to play much better than that in the remaining four tests to have any chance at all of beating the old enemy.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Familiar Territory
Oh dear, after an explosive finish to England's innings the first test took on a depressingly familiar feel as our bowlers failed to get anything out of a Cardiff pitch that was supposed aid our spinners. Australia set about accumulating a big total at a steady pace, and both Ponting and Katich made centuries before the close. 249-1.
I was a little worried yesterday when a lot of our batsmen lost their wickets to fairly soft balls, and the Australians showed that if you didn't hang your bat out and make half hearted pokes at wider balls then you could easily get a decent score.
Third day then, and we really do need some early success to stop Australia running up a huge first innings total.
Oh dear, after an explosive finish to England's innings the first test took on a depressingly familiar feel as our bowlers failed to get anything out of a Cardiff pitch that was supposed aid our spinners. Australia set about accumulating a big total at a steady pace, and both Ponting and Katich made centuries before the close. 249-1.
I was a little worried yesterday when a lot of our batsmen lost their wickets to fairly soft balls, and the Australians showed that if you didn't hang your bat out and make half hearted pokes at wider balls then you could easily get a decent score.
Third day then, and we really do need some early success to stop Australia running up a huge first innings total.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Moan, Whinge
I have just found out that my chef Phil is a foreigner, he's from Philistine. Mind you, he's also a Tyke glory hound who supports Man U, and who should therefore be birched outside the gates to Elland Road.
All through the first day's play of the Ashes I had a endure a rumbling of discontent and carping along the lines of "I could go home and watch paint dry instead".
I cannot understand why people would not like test cricket, unless you suffer from a very short attention span, as a sport, it is a marathon test of skill, endurance and concentration. Of course at times the game progresses at a slower pace, but there were nail biting moments a plenty yesterday, Pieterson's now traditional nervous and twitchy start, Bopara's even more nervous and twitchy start, Flintoff and Prior suddenly deciding they were playing 20-20 instead of a test, and some good bowling from the Aussies who had taken a fair amount of criticism for their attack in the press after Lee was injured.
That said, a lot of our batsmen lost their wickets to balls that were not all that challenging, Strauss, Cook, Bopara were all guilty of hanging the bat out to dry or having a half hearted poke at it. When KP lost his wicket, well what the bloody hell was he thinking ? He seemed to be going for the reverse sweep almost before the ball had left Hauritz's hand, an inch further and that ball would have been called wide.
Ponting must have been happy to have both Flintoff and Prior out before the end of the play and will be hoping to mop up the England tail in short order today. Anderson can be stubborn though, and broad can actually bat, Swann isn't likely to trouble the scorers much and you know what they say about Monty...
What's in Panesar's hand just before a wicket goes down ? A bat.
Let's hope they make another 50 runs though, and then hopefully the pitch will provide plenty for Swann and Monty to take advantage of.
I have just found out that my chef Phil is a foreigner, he's from Philistine. Mind you, he's also a Tyke glory hound who supports Man U, and who should therefore be birched outside the gates to Elland Road.
All through the first day's play of the Ashes I had a endure a rumbling of discontent and carping along the lines of "I could go home and watch paint dry instead".
I cannot understand why people would not like test cricket, unless you suffer from a very short attention span, as a sport, it is a marathon test of skill, endurance and concentration. Of course at times the game progresses at a slower pace, but there were nail biting moments a plenty yesterday, Pieterson's now traditional nervous and twitchy start, Bopara's even more nervous and twitchy start, Flintoff and Prior suddenly deciding they were playing 20-20 instead of a test, and some good bowling from the Aussies who had taken a fair amount of criticism for their attack in the press after Lee was injured.
That said, a lot of our batsmen lost their wickets to balls that were not all that challenging, Strauss, Cook, Bopara were all guilty of hanging the bat out to dry or having a half hearted poke at it. When KP lost his wicket, well what the bloody hell was he thinking ? He seemed to be going for the reverse sweep almost before the ball had left Hauritz's hand, an inch further and that ball would have been called wide.
Ponting must have been happy to have both Flintoff and Prior out before the end of the play and will be hoping to mop up the England tail in short order today. Anderson can be stubborn though, and broad can actually bat, Swann isn't likely to trouble the scorers much and you know what they say about Monty...
What's in Panesar's hand just before a wicket goes down ? A bat.
Let's hope they make another 50 runs though, and then hopefully the pitch will provide plenty for Swann and Monty to take advantage of.
A Book A Week in 2009 - Done !
Book 52) The Silver Chair (Chronicles Of Narnia) - C S Lewis
So that means I don't have to read anything else for the rest of the year.....riiight. I am currently reading Iron Angel by Alan Campbell, the QI Book Of General Ignorance, and I have the last part of the Narnia Chronicles to read, The Last Battle, and then Georgie and Paula have been badgering me to read the Harry Potter series so I might start on those.
I got some birthday money last week so I went up to the discount bookshop and brought home a stack of books including some more for my classics list - Pride And Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Gulliver's Travels, and another half dozen contemporary novels.
Life would be dull without books.
Book 52) The Silver Chair (Chronicles Of Narnia) - C S Lewis
So that means I don't have to read anything else for the rest of the year.....riiight. I am currently reading Iron Angel by Alan Campbell, the QI Book Of General Ignorance, and I have the last part of the Narnia Chronicles to read, The Last Battle, and then Georgie and Paula have been badgering me to read the Harry Potter series so I might start on those.
I got some birthday money last week so I went up to the discount bookshop and brought home a stack of books including some more for my classics list - Pride And Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Gulliver's Travels, and another half dozen contemporary novels.
Life would be dull without books.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
The Duckworth Lewis Method
Yes folks, it's a prog-rock concept album about cricket, really, what's not to like about that ?! By Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash.
Yes folks, it's a prog-rock concept album about cricket, really, what's not to like about that ?! By Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash.
I Did Not Watch Michael Jackson's Memorial
I would not have watched Diana's funeral given the choice, and after some deep thinking the other night I cannot think of a single person in the public eye whose funeral I would attend if I did not know them.
I'm not denying that Jackson was a brilliant performer, I quite like his music myself, but what possesses people to wail in the streets at the death of someone they have never met, no matter how many of his albums they might have bought ?
The overwhelming media coverage of every aspect of Jackson's death, and the same coverage of his memorial, and good grief, we still have the funeral to come, just demonstrates to me that we are becoming ever more obsessed with celebrity to the exclusion of events that are really important. I wonder how many young, and not so young, eligible voters registered for Michael Jackson concert tickets but couldn't be bothered to vote at the Euro Elections ?
People also seem to succumb to a form of mass hysteria when a famous person dies that leads them to believe that there must be some form of conspiracy, Diana couldn't have died in a car crash like mundane people do, Jackson must have been murdered by his doctor. People die, even famous people, and they die in the same ways that you and I might.
So he's dead, draw a line under it, get over it, you have your own lives to live, your own families to care for, your life isn't a pale reflection of somebody famous, and it is the only certain thing, none of us last forever.
I would not have watched Diana's funeral given the choice, and after some deep thinking the other night I cannot think of a single person in the public eye whose funeral I would attend if I did not know them.
I'm not denying that Jackson was a brilliant performer, I quite like his music myself, but what possesses people to wail in the streets at the death of someone they have never met, no matter how many of his albums they might have bought ?
The overwhelming media coverage of every aspect of Jackson's death, and the same coverage of his memorial, and good grief, we still have the funeral to come, just demonstrates to me that we are becoming ever more obsessed with celebrity to the exclusion of events that are really important. I wonder how many young, and not so young, eligible voters registered for Michael Jackson concert tickets but couldn't be bothered to vote at the Euro Elections ?
People also seem to succumb to a form of mass hysteria when a famous person dies that leads them to believe that there must be some form of conspiracy, Diana couldn't have died in a car crash like mundane people do, Jackson must have been murdered by his doctor. People die, even famous people, and they die in the same ways that you and I might.
So he's dead, draw a line under it, get over it, you have your own lives to live, your own families to care for, your life isn't a pale reflection of somebody famous, and it is the only certain thing, none of us last forever.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
WAR !!!
Yes, the Ashes are upon us. Tomorrow at Cardiff (but no bloody Headingly test you muppets!) we do battle with the enemy, the saggy greens.
Sadly the Ashes, as with all other forms of cricket, have sold themselves to Sky, and so we cannot see our national game on normal television, I also live in an area of very poor reception for long wave (and DAB doesn't exist in Ilkley, and might never arrive here). This means listening for updates on R5, having ceefax on the telly at work, and running upstairs to the house to catch repeats of wickets / centuries / stumpings etc.
Sorry to my American readers who are about to be baffled by two months worth of daily cricket musings, moaning about umpires and hawk-eye, and of course, either the sheer and utter desperation of defeat or large dollops of gloating, and I do hope it is the latter.
This really is THE event in cricket, for England and Australia fans anyway, it's Man U vs Liverpool, India vs Pakistan and The Lions vs South Africa all rolled into one. Like many England fans, I'm disappointed when we lose out at the World Cup, or T20, or lose an away test series to Sri Lanka, but everything will be forgiven and more if our lads can can beat Australia over the next few weeks. Playing and winning against the Windies or India is great, beating Australia is the thing though.
So come on lads, Strauss, Pieterson, Bopara, Broad, Swann and all, I'm not asking you to do your best, I want better than that, because Australia are always very good, and they would like nothing more than to come home from England with the trophy, let's send them home empty handed boys.
Yes, the Ashes are upon us. Tomorrow at Cardiff (but no bloody Headingly test you muppets!) we do battle with the enemy, the saggy greens.
Sadly the Ashes, as with all other forms of cricket, have sold themselves to Sky, and so we cannot see our national game on normal television, I also live in an area of very poor reception for long wave (and DAB doesn't exist in Ilkley, and might never arrive here). This means listening for updates on R5, having ceefax on the telly at work, and running upstairs to the house to catch repeats of wickets / centuries / stumpings etc.
Sorry to my American readers who are about to be baffled by two months worth of daily cricket musings, moaning about umpires and hawk-eye, and of course, either the sheer and utter desperation of defeat or large dollops of gloating, and I do hope it is the latter.
This really is THE event in cricket, for England and Australia fans anyway, it's Man U vs Liverpool, India vs Pakistan and The Lions vs South Africa all rolled into one. Like many England fans, I'm disappointed when we lose out at the World Cup, or T20, or lose an away test series to Sri Lanka, but everything will be forgiven and more if our lads can can beat Australia over the next few weeks. Playing and winning against the Windies or India is great, beating Australia is the thing though.
So come on lads, Strauss, Pieterson, Bopara, Broad, Swann and all, I'm not asking you to do your best, I want better than that, because Australia are always very good, and they would like nothing more than to come home from England with the trophy, let's send them home empty handed boys.
Book Review : The Truth Vibrations - David Icke*
David Icke, a fairly good looking lad, well educated and well spoken, a good news reader and sports presenter with a promising media career, suddenly began making prophecies of doom, worldwide tragedies and other weirder stuff, effectively ending his television career.
The Truth Vibrations was his first book, in which he attempts to describe his contact with the Godhead and the mental awakening it provided. Sadly though, Icke's visions are the most dreadful mishmash of every type of new age thing from chakra points to ley lines through healing crystals via spirit guides. I don't disagree with Icke's most basic points, that we should all be more open minded, nicer to our fellow man and more protective of the planet we live on, but his presentation of his views did leave me thinking that he had suffered some sort of mild nervous breakdown.
Icke went on to become a conspiracy theorist, and would later claim that aliens from the Draco constellation had taken over the British Royal family. His second interview on Wogan when he took apart poor old Terry's simple world view of 'well surely everyone knows what is going on in government' made for compulsive viewing and he put himself over very well, but when he mixes his theories about Bush looking for reasons to invade Iraq with all his other weird views it always serves to dilute and confuse his messages and often leaves him looking like a nutter.
I can't recommend The Truth Vibrations, for me it read like the diary of a mentally unstable person desperately searching for something to cling to and throwing himself at every new age philosophy and idea that came his way, sad really.
David Icke, a fairly good looking lad, well educated and well spoken, a good news reader and sports presenter with a promising media career, suddenly began making prophecies of doom, worldwide tragedies and other weirder stuff, effectively ending his television career.
The Truth Vibrations was his first book, in which he attempts to describe his contact with the Godhead and the mental awakening it provided. Sadly though, Icke's visions are the most dreadful mishmash of every type of new age thing from chakra points to ley lines through healing crystals via spirit guides. I don't disagree with Icke's most basic points, that we should all be more open minded, nicer to our fellow man and more protective of the planet we live on, but his presentation of his views did leave me thinking that he had suffered some sort of mild nervous breakdown.
Icke went on to become a conspiracy theorist, and would later claim that aliens from the Draco constellation had taken over the British Royal family. His second interview on Wogan when he took apart poor old Terry's simple world view of 'well surely everyone knows what is going on in government' made for compulsive viewing and he put himself over very well, but when he mixes his theories about Bush looking for reasons to invade Iraq with all his other weird views it always serves to dilute and confuse his messages and often leaves him looking like a nutter.
I can't recommend The Truth Vibrations, for me it read like the diary of a mentally unstable person desperately searching for something to cling to and throwing himself at every new age philosophy and idea that came his way, sad really.
Today
I ate three very large slices of fresh cream chocolate cake, I don't think it is possible to eat too much cake.
Thanks to all my wonderful friends and lovely family who made it a great birthday even if I was shattered from the previous day's 18 hour shift.
Thanks to everyone for the wine and beer and whiskey, and for the money, which I spent today on a large heap of books (Meg hasn't noticed yet so everybody keep quiet !).
I love all the children, but Stephen and Natalie's gifts made me smile, then laugh out loud, then almost cry, thanks guys x x
I ate three very large slices of fresh cream chocolate cake, I don't think it is possible to eat too much cake.
Thanks to all my wonderful friends and lovely family who made it a great birthday even if I was shattered from the previous day's 18 hour shift.
Thanks to everyone for the wine and beer and whiskey, and for the money, which I spent today on a large heap of books (Meg hasn't noticed yet so everybody keep quiet !).
I love all the children, but Stephen and Natalie's gifts made me smile, then laugh out loud, then almost cry, thanks guys x x
Sunday, July 05, 2009
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