June 2009 Archives

Walking in the meadows this morning I encountered a great big black figure coming the other way. It was a rottweiler.

"Should I give him a wide berth?" I asked its owner, friendly-like. The owner grunted and snapped that rottweilers are nice, implying that I was guilty of propagating a hideous, indefensible stereotype (that they are nasty, flesh-tearing man-eaters), before she stalked off through the buttercups, muttering, beast in tow searching for a calf to mutilate.

A minute later, scampering through the churchyard came two spaniels, gay and lively and friendly as could be, followed by their owner who apologised profusely if they were being a nuisance (which they weren't) and chatted awhile before heading off with a smile and a chuckle o'er the lea down to the gently winding river.

Maybe there is something in the theory that owners and their pets resemble each other.

Andy Miller (torn side-muscle) should resume bowling on Monday and be available for the three-day friendly against Durham UCCE starting on June 11.

Rikki Clarke (broken hand) will see a consultant next Wednesday but is probably at least another two weeks away from a return.

Naqaash Tahir, who has been troubled by a sore back and groin, is fit and available.

Darren Maddy will have surgery on his snapped cruciate ligament on July 1.

Must-win game for the Bears tomorrow. Time to give Bell a bowl and Tahir his long-awaited Twenty20 debut.

What an amazing Ashes contest the 1936/37 series in Australia was. See if you can spot the point at which the tide turned.

First Test (Brisbane): England won by 322 runs
Second Test (Sydney): England won by an innings and 22 runs
Third Test (Melbourne): Australia won by 365 runs.
Fourth Test (Adelaide): Australia won by 148 runs
Fifth Test (Melbourne): Australia won by an innings and 200 runs

In the first two Tests, Australia were bowled out 58 and 80. In the third they totalled 564 (Bradman 270), in the fourth 433 (Bradman 212) and in the fifth 604 (Bradman 169).

Guess that's what you call a turnaround.

The third Test was historic in that it was the first time in a Test match that both teams declared their first innings closed. Declarations were still a new-fangled idea in 1937 and skippers were still trying to get the hang of them which perhaps explains Gubby Allen's decision to terminate England's first-innings at 76 for 9.

The gulf showed tonight between a Warwickshire side weakened and in transition and a Northamptonshire team at their T20 peak with the likes of Harvey, Van der Wath and Hall.

Nice to see Willey, the only Northampton-born member of their playing-staff, get a look in. Also good to see Lee Daggett prosper. May he do so wherever life takes him. Lovely fella.

The shallowness of Warwickshire's batting resources was fully exposed. Beyond the top five there are no real T20 match-winners. Such a shame that the chap who sits sixth in the all-time T20 run-scoring list is sitting this whole tournament out thanks to an injury sustained in a warm-up.

Jonathan Trott has hit 119 fours and 23 sixes in Twenty20 cricket.

The crowd tonight for a match between two in-form teams in perfect weather was estimated at 5,500. The ECB really MUST rethink their plans to more than double the amount of T20 in county cricket next season. Every shred of logic suggests it would be a case of flogging a fading horse and possibly administering the fatal blows to it when sensible handling could safeguard and prolong its life.

The crowd didn't really engage with the "Buckin Bronco" did they? Northamptonshire, Somerset and Glamorgan have dispensed with such gimmicks.

There are usually hedgehogs in our neighbourhood. This year, none. Shame.

A chap called Tom Loxley writes in the Radio Times. I'm a bit hazy about who Tom is and what he does but, judging by his column in the RT, I like the cut of his jib.

Mr Loxley does not subscribe to Sky Sports and reflects upon the ECB's crass decision to sell cricket to them until at least 2013.

"Blinded by cash (remember this is the sorry lot who thought Allen Stanford was a good business partner) these chaps can't see the long-term consequences of selling their sport to a niche broadcaster (Sky Sports has four million subscribers) and by-passing a generation of would-be cricketers who could be watching on free-to-air TV.

"I know free-to-air doesn't guarantee success on the field. BBC cameras have covered Wimbledon since 1937 and we have not had a men's singles winner yet. But the day Andy Murray wins a grand slam, as he surely will, it won't just be my kids queuing to hit winners over the drooping net at the local tennis courts dressed in Fred Perry's finest. I wish they'd care if Flintoff helps England win the Ashes. But they won't, not even if he cuts the sleeves of his shirts, the legs off his trousers and gels his hair into meringue peaks. Like an Andy Murray winner, it'll sail over their heads."

Spot on, Tom. Right now, there has never been more money in English cricket. But far more important than money are enthusiasm and love for the game. Only they will sustain it at the heart of English sport. And how can all the children born here from 2000 onwards love a game they never see live?