Sticky wicket

Before my golf fest started, SWMBO and I made our annual trip to Lords for the first test against New Zealand. It was a while since we had been there, and also a while since we stayed at the Lensbury Club.

First though the cricket. after a leisurely breakfast we set off for Lords. it does take a while from Teddington but we thought 11:30 was a reasonable time to arrive as we passed through the turnstiles. Imagine our shock then as we saw New Zealand were 12-3. Luckily more wickets followed as they were bowled out and England came out to bat.

We took a lunchtime stroll down St Johns Wood High Street,paying. particular attention to the charity shops, before rejoining the game.At this point we became aware of the large amount of alcohol the group in front were consuming and were just waiting for one of the girls in particular to stand up and promptly fall over!!

England only lost one wicket before tea and with Crawley in control we anticipated a final session devoid of drama, allowing us to depart early to our pre-booked dinner appointment. Joe Root came in and knocked a couple of 4's and with the score on 82-2 we made our excuses and left.

Our very pleasant evening at the Duke of Sussex in Waterloo was then shattered as I spotted a headline      ' England collapse again' and yes we missed a further 5 wickets at the end of the day.

So back to the Lensbury before home the next day for a 75th birthday party. The Lensbury is now a regular hotel which anybody can book into and like everywhere, they are suffering staff shortages. The clientele is different with the parents less likely to control their children than previously was the case. The hash browns at breakfast were pretty poor as well.

They seem to be fairing marginally better than the Anglers next door as we waited 35 minutes to be served there on the Wednesday night, and for a Fullers pub to not have any London Pride was just bang out of order.

Anyway, we are back on the horse so to speak and with a couple of rugby tickets for the New Zealand game in November, I can see if things have improved.    

The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey

Trips to London are less frequent than they used to be these days, but no less enjoyable. On Friday I had the opportunity to attend a lunch at Lord's cricket ground to celebrate the start of the 150th anniversary season of Middlesex county cricket club.

The room was littered with players from past years, many of whom I grew up watching from the stands as an impressionable schoolboy, and more recent players who are trying to emulate those true legends.

The afternoon was compere'd by Bob 'the cat' Bevan, an after dinner speaker of some note. He was joined on stage by Geoff Miller, a recent England selector, who told tales of Derbyshire cricket in his own inimitable style.

It was a very good way to welcome in the cricket season, even if the weather is still more suited to football.  The World T20 competition does continue in Bangladesh but England have no further interest in that after the usual last few overs they bowled flew all over the field. Quite why England persist with Dernbach in those situations, I have no idea. He also dropped a 'dolly' in the match against Sri Lanka, using the new catching technique adopted by the modern players where the palms face away from the body.

We were always taught to have the fingers facing skywards and the palms towards the body. I did ask Angus Fraser at the dinner why the catching art had been tampered with, but he was a bit grumpy so did not give me any plausible explanation save that apparently the players can watch the ball straight into their hands, or in Dernbach's case onto the grass.