I am tired after a good day when it continued warm and sunny, dare I say it for three days in a row with more promised for the rest of the weekend. A walk to supermarket had to be taken slowly but no less enjoyable as the town had a summer mood about it and after buying the milk and deciding to go elsewhere for cards I went for a cup of tea and could not resist sultana scone, filled with jam and cream and a slice of strawberry with both costing a total of only £1.50. Although tea time, the place was deserted with only two of the other thirty odd tables occupied and staff had to be whistled up, chatting away in the kitchen as they were.
Today was the start of the new football season, although in fact only one game of the championship was played, a boring nil nil draw between the relegated Boro at their Riverside (Tees) ground and visitors Sheff Weds who had missed out on promotion losing at the play off final at Wembley in May. Boro could only manage one significant shot at goal on target thus continuing their goal famine which doomed them from the Premiership last year. The BBC are showing the Newcastle game at West Brom, both relegated last season. Have they taken over the games which Satanta was to have shown and does this include the Premiership I wonder?
The farce regarding the sale of Newcastle continues although in fairness to Mike Ashley there was the suggestion in the media that bidders are finding it difficult to raise the cash for the knock down asking price, this is because despite its intrinsic value of stadium and players it has been run at an operating loss because of the player’s wages bill with one report suggesting the loss could be as a high as £30million this year, and the loss of season ticket and merchandise revenue is only one factor, given the club also receives a parachute payment from the F.A to cover this problem. Again the figure of £30million has been mentioned.
To accompany my tea time treat at the supermarket I bought the Journal’s newspaper which included reports on Durham’s smash of Worcestershire in the televised Pro 40 game and English prospects for the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.
I realise have not mentioned the Third Test held at Edgbaston a week ago which I viewed without the sound, listening to the radio commentary. Because of the weather I always felt a draw was the most likely outcome but England bowled exceptionally well and the Australian batting was poor in their first innings so England had a lead of 100 although at one time it looked as if the following on might be required. There was a combined public relations attempt top get the crowd in for the fifth day which petered out to a boring draw. The English commentators were talking up the chances of an Ashes win despite Australia continuing to top the world rankings and England being at best in mid-table.
This led to an unrealistic build up to the fourth Test as the indications were that Freddie Flintoff would not play because of injury. He has announced the decision not to continue playing in Tests for health reasons after this season because his body appears unable to cope with what is required for the five day Test series. As one commentator wisely stated, it was also unlikely that Captain Strauss would not be able to continue his fine run of high scoring performances indefinitely. I have also indicated that Steve Harmison’s value is the ability to fire above average missiles at the batsman as well as the wicket, but doing so he is liable to hit hard and often. He is brilliant at keeping the Australians down to 200 to 300 runs rather than runaway totals of 500 and 600 which then make it a competitive game if the English batsman do their job and get similar totals.
The shock before the match was not Harmison replacing Flintoff but that Matt Pryor the wicket keeper batsman injured himself in the warm up football kick about, much to the annoyance of Sir Ian Botham who has argued for long that this practice, one used by Durham, will end in tears. It was touch and go if Pryor would be able to play and the toss was delayed for ten minutes while a standby keeper was arranged. Pryor played but one wonders if this governed the decision of England to bat first after winning the toss. Australia had taken the unusual step of not including a spin bowler in their team which made Shane Warne express horror. The combination of one of the greatest spin bowlers the cricket world has seen with one of the top match pace bowlers brought Australia to their number one spot throughout the past decade.
Warne has had a major impact on young players all over the world being encouraged by their clubs to become spin bowlers. When the 20 20 format commenced the emphasis was on fun cricket with players going for the spinners as well as the fast bowlers, taking account of the shorter boundaries and the fielding restrictions which prevent players being dispersed to stand at the boundary around the ground preventing the scoring of four runs and therefore restricting the average run rate to one a ball, six an over from the seven to ten which quickly became the standard. Then it was discovered that accurate spin bowling could significantly restrict the run rate and this became Durham’s weakness in the 20 20 semi final against Middlesex last year when even world class Chanderpaul and Collingwood could not score at the required rate.
On Thursday evening, although it had been a fine and warm day, the prospect of a chill North East evening had no appeal and when the TV repair men said they would order and then fit a new sound board for the set when I returned from the next London Trip I decided to watch the game on the TV and listen to the BBC radio Wear commentary. The surprise was that Durham decided to include three spinners in the team. Gareth Breeze has been the club stalwart for several years but this year Ian Blackwell, more a high order batsman has proved himself a match winner, by taking wickets as well as restricting the run rate. To these two Durham added young Scott Borthwick who last year was given his opportunity to play in a 20.20 with some success. This year it was the Pro 40 and given his success of 2 wickets for 11 runs at the close I suspect he may be included in the final game at Worcester if the title has been won again before then. Team mates Blackwell got three wickets and Breeze one as Worcester were annihilated for only 129 after Durham had smashed their way to 274 for 4 and at one point had looked like getting more than their highest score in this competition. Phil Mustard 92 opened the batting for Durham with Ian Blackwell 36 and produced an electrifying start as fours and a couple of sixes reigned around the ground. Later former Captain Beckenstein made 52 and one wonders what would have happened if in form Di Venuto had played as well. The win by over 140 was one of the biggest ever and took Durham to the top of the Table with 4 points from 3 although Sussex have four from two and Hampshire 2 from 2. The competition is still early doors with two teams having played only one game with 1 point so that if they win their next two games they will 5 from three and overtake everyone else. However the Durham win established them as having become a superior class to everyone else in the eyes of the Sky team who covered their opening game against Somerset at the start of the season.
Back to the Test England won the toss and elected to bat and what appeared to be a good batting wicket. The Australian strategy of an all out pace attack worked as England was humbled on a pitch which proved to be fast, fiery, and swinging from the first ball. England were all out for a pathetic 102 and Australia was in no mood to follow suit. At the close they were 196 for 4 with Clark and North together again, reminding that these two put on a couple of hundred runs in the fourth innings to thwart England. England look set for a crushing innings defeat with four days, possible three. All the talk talk is great but what counts is what happens on the field of play.
I started to re-lay the kitchen flooring and the outcome will not be as bad as feared and I may be able to get away without having replace what I have except for the surround, although the mats will be required to cover up the patch ups.
I gave both rooms a close sweep and will wash after the kitchen floor is completed later today.
I also did some work although not as much as should have been achieved. I passed fifty win games as level 4 chess and was set to go much further when returning in the evening with my mind on several things at the same time I allowed he basic simplest of check mates to ruin the effort that had been put in. I can sustain concentration for 101 games I know I will make progress with the weight, but the cream scones and the glass of red wine taken for the first time in months will have to go, but not until the bottle has been drunk. I had 11 male cousins and six female and with my mother being the fourth youngest of her six sisters and four brothers, the majority of the cousins are older, but at the last count I know now of only four who do not have major health problems if they have not already departed. Until Thursday there were five and then news came that another was in hospital. If you add to this the partners of cousins who have died or have major health problems it reminds of one’s mortality although my health check was encouraging. I need to lose weight though if I am to continue for another decade.
Today was the start of the new football season, although in fact only one game of the championship was played, a boring nil nil draw between the relegated Boro at their Riverside (Tees) ground and visitors Sheff Weds who had missed out on promotion losing at the play off final at Wembley in May. Boro could only manage one significant shot at goal on target thus continuing their goal famine which doomed them from the Premiership last year. The BBC are showing the Newcastle game at West Brom, both relegated last season. Have they taken over the games which Satanta was to have shown and does this include the Premiership I wonder?
The farce regarding the sale of Newcastle continues although in fairness to Mike Ashley there was the suggestion in the media that bidders are finding it difficult to raise the cash for the knock down asking price, this is because despite its intrinsic value of stadium and players it has been run at an operating loss because of the player’s wages bill with one report suggesting the loss could be as a high as £30million this year, and the loss of season ticket and merchandise revenue is only one factor, given the club also receives a parachute payment from the F.A to cover this problem. Again the figure of £30million has been mentioned.
To accompany my tea time treat at the supermarket I bought the Journal’s newspaper which included reports on Durham’s smash of Worcestershire in the televised Pro 40 game and English prospects for the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.
I realise have not mentioned the Third Test held at Edgbaston a week ago which I viewed without the sound, listening to the radio commentary. Because of the weather I always felt a draw was the most likely outcome but England bowled exceptionally well and the Australian batting was poor in their first innings so England had a lead of 100 although at one time it looked as if the following on might be required. There was a combined public relations attempt top get the crowd in for the fifth day which petered out to a boring draw. The English commentators were talking up the chances of an Ashes win despite Australia continuing to top the world rankings and England being at best in mid-table.
This led to an unrealistic build up to the fourth Test as the indications were that Freddie Flintoff would not play because of injury. He has announced the decision not to continue playing in Tests for health reasons after this season because his body appears unable to cope with what is required for the five day Test series. As one commentator wisely stated, it was also unlikely that Captain Strauss would not be able to continue his fine run of high scoring performances indefinitely. I have also indicated that Steve Harmison’s value is the ability to fire above average missiles at the batsman as well as the wicket, but doing so he is liable to hit hard and often. He is brilliant at keeping the Australians down to 200 to 300 runs rather than runaway totals of 500 and 600 which then make it a competitive game if the English batsman do their job and get similar totals.
The shock before the match was not Harmison replacing Flintoff but that Matt Pryor the wicket keeper batsman injured himself in the warm up football kick about, much to the annoyance of Sir Ian Botham who has argued for long that this practice, one used by Durham, will end in tears. It was touch and go if Pryor would be able to play and the toss was delayed for ten minutes while a standby keeper was arranged. Pryor played but one wonders if this governed the decision of England to bat first after winning the toss. Australia had taken the unusual step of not including a spin bowler in their team which made Shane Warne express horror. The combination of one of the greatest spin bowlers the cricket world has seen with one of the top match pace bowlers brought Australia to their number one spot throughout the past decade.
Warne has had a major impact on young players all over the world being encouraged by their clubs to become spin bowlers. When the 20 20 format commenced the emphasis was on fun cricket with players going for the spinners as well as the fast bowlers, taking account of the shorter boundaries and the fielding restrictions which prevent players being dispersed to stand at the boundary around the ground preventing the scoring of four runs and therefore restricting the average run rate to one a ball, six an over from the seven to ten which quickly became the standard. Then it was discovered that accurate spin bowling could significantly restrict the run rate and this became Durham’s weakness in the 20 20 semi final against Middlesex last year when even world class Chanderpaul and Collingwood could not score at the required rate.
On Thursday evening, although it had been a fine and warm day, the prospect of a chill North East evening had no appeal and when the TV repair men said they would order and then fit a new sound board for the set when I returned from the next London Trip I decided to watch the game on the TV and listen to the BBC radio Wear commentary. The surprise was that Durham decided to include three spinners in the team. Gareth Breeze has been the club stalwart for several years but this year Ian Blackwell, more a high order batsman has proved himself a match winner, by taking wickets as well as restricting the run rate. To these two Durham added young Scott Borthwick who last year was given his opportunity to play in a 20.20 with some success. This year it was the Pro 40 and given his success of 2 wickets for 11 runs at the close I suspect he may be included in the final game at Worcester if the title has been won again before then. Team mates Blackwell got three wickets and Breeze one as Worcester were annihilated for only 129 after Durham had smashed their way to 274 for 4 and at one point had looked like getting more than their highest score in this competition. Phil Mustard 92 opened the batting for Durham with Ian Blackwell 36 and produced an electrifying start as fours and a couple of sixes reigned around the ground. Later former Captain Beckenstein made 52 and one wonders what would have happened if in form Di Venuto had played as well. The win by over 140 was one of the biggest ever and took Durham to the top of the Table with 4 points from 3 although Sussex have four from two and Hampshire 2 from 2. The competition is still early doors with two teams having played only one game with 1 point so that if they win their next two games they will 5 from three and overtake everyone else. However the Durham win established them as having become a superior class to everyone else in the eyes of the Sky team who covered their opening game against Somerset at the start of the season.
Back to the Test England won the toss and elected to bat and what appeared to be a good batting wicket. The Australian strategy of an all out pace attack worked as England was humbled on a pitch which proved to be fast, fiery, and swinging from the first ball. England were all out for a pathetic 102 and Australia was in no mood to follow suit. At the close they were 196 for 4 with Clark and North together again, reminding that these two put on a couple of hundred runs in the fourth innings to thwart England. England look set for a crushing innings defeat with four days, possible three. All the talk talk is great but what counts is what happens on the field of play.
I started to re-lay the kitchen flooring and the outcome will not be as bad as feared and I may be able to get away without having replace what I have except for the surround, although the mats will be required to cover up the patch ups.
I gave both rooms a close sweep and will wash after the kitchen floor is completed later today.
I also did some work although not as much as should have been achieved. I passed fifty win games as level 4 chess and was set to go much further when returning in the evening with my mind on several things at the same time I allowed he basic simplest of check mates to ruin the effort that had been put in. I can sustain concentration for 101 games I know I will make progress with the weight, but the cream scones and the glass of red wine taken for the first time in months will have to go, but not until the bottle has been drunk. I had 11 male cousins and six female and with my mother being the fourth youngest of her six sisters and four brothers, the majority of the cousins are older, but at the last count I know now of only four who do not have major health problems if they have not already departed. Until Thursday there were five and then news came that another was in hospital. If you add to this the partners of cousins who have died or have major health problems it reminds of one’s mortality although my health check was encouraging. I need to lose weight though if I am to continue for another decade.
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