Alas there is going to no me and family at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. For the past ten days I have checked the credit card account on line for an amount of up to £1000 to be deducted. I had made application for the maximum possible number of events in this first trance of applications but applying for the lowest price tickets available. Three days ago the amount appeared under transactions pending which if confirmed revealed that I had only been successful in one pair of £16 tickets or two single tickets for this amount. This could mean a visit to the Olympic stadium complex or to Wembley for the football or to the tennis at Wimbledon or two of the three venues.
I suppose that on the bright side I have managed to get tickets as 250000 applicants have not successful I gaining a single ticket but they will be given first opportunity to apply for tickets for events where there are seats available. After this any remaining seats will be made available to those like me who did not get all their first preferences and only then to the general public. One has to take account that a substantial number of the tickets for the events go for allocation to the countries participating and to the families of the participating athletes. There are also those which form part of hospitality packages as well as kept for dignitaries. As with last night’s European Cup final at Wembley it was possible to officially secure a good seat for £4000 and there was market for seats at several times their face value.
Manchester United were well beaten in the game 3.1 by the super team Barcelona who have become precision ball players with exquisite passing and a lethal ability to score goals as well as prevent goals defensively. Last night there was a ray of hope when Rooney equalised after Barcelona had opening their account midway during the first half. In the second half Manchester United were out classed and the score could well have been greater. It merits noting that while many Spanish footballers play in the Premier League no British player presently performs in any of the major Spanish sides. Having said that even in Spain while it is possible to win games against Barcelona they have a rare mixture of brilliant individualists who play according to a crafted and tested system which is superior to everyone else.
Warrington Rugby League team also displayed moments of brilliance which suggests they could walk away with the Championship although in terms of wins and points there are three other team competing for the top honours. Warrington has recently overwhelmed lesser teams in the division accumulating a massive match point’s total, 150 more than their nearest rivals. However Huddersfield has the same number of League points while Wigan with two gamed in hand could join them if they win their game tomorrow. St Helens are fourth just 2 match points behind.
There is a similar situation emerging in division one of the County Cricket Championships with Durham having an excellent win against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Friday in a rain affected game which prevented all but a handful of overs being bowled on the Thursday. Warwickshire have been deducted 8 championship points, half those awarded for a win, because of the fiery nature of the pitch which resulted in two of the opposition players being injured. The consequence was that the pitch was treated in such a way as to make it flat, that is to say that the fast bowlers were unable to get the ball to bounce high with any speed and more importantly in played true with balls either shooting low or higher than would normally be anticipated.
Fortunately Durham won the toss and chose to bat and there was the spectacle of three Durham batsmen again having major innings. The most satisfying was former captain Will Smith with 179, his first century for two years and the indefatigable former captain Benkenstein making 129 and present Championship captain “Colonel” Mustard one short if his century. Durham ended their innings 602 for 6 and set about Warwickshire in such a manner that by the end of the second they had lost 9 wickets with just 180 runs on the board. Young Stokes with 4 for 48 caused the most damage but Thorp with 3 for 35 and Steve Harmison 2 for 41 shared the honours. Stoke getting Miller out with one of the few balls bowled during the day. Late on Durham were able to bowl another few balls and had Warwickshire reeling with the overnight score 23 for 3.
With a weather uninterrupted day forecast for the Friday victory seemed certain but the lower order batsmen put up a great fight especially with a stand of over 100 runs for the eight wicket but as the end of the match approached and an unexpected draw seemed likely Durham were able to take the last wickets and won the game by an innings and 103 runs. Stokes took 3 more wickets finishing the match 7 wickets for 137 runs and Thorp 5 for 105. Harmison who strained his back after taking 1 for 18 was the only downside.
Durham is now second to Lancashire who they play at the Riverside Emirates Durham International to day Sunday 29th. Lancs have a game in hand so a win could make Durham and Lancs the potential champions. Warwickshire who had commenced to have hopes are now third having played the same number of games and 23 points behind Durham, similar Somerset. Notts who have played a game less having lost twice recently so even if they win their game in hand as Somerset and Sussex they will remain a score of points behind Durham. The teams will begin playing the 20 20 competitions games over the next six weeks. Hampshire and Worcestershire look the doomed teams with only 33 and 28 points compared to 118 and115 for the top two. Yorks with 57 are struggling.
The club has invited members to apply for tickets for the England Australia One day game next year on July 7th just before the Olympic Games commences and more speculative the England Australian ashes games in July of the following year but without the dates yet determined. I have applied for tickets for the one day game next July but not the Test Match where the day/ match can prove a major disappointment disrupted by rain and a boring draw the best outcome. This appears to be the situation with the first Test against Sri Lanka at Cardiff.
There has been no further reference 20 20 finals days, to the ground completion other than money available for the hotel or to the court case involving the builders of three quarters completed stand. I will leave reports on the Test Match and Durham’s game against Lancashire as well as the first 20 20 on Thursday to late in the week late in the week.
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