Fitz: 40 Years On !

Hi everyone!

The long looked forward to College 40^th Reunion Weekend.

The Best College at the Best University in the World .. probably !!

The weekend got off to a gentle start with a couple of pints in the Sir Isaac Newton & (as always) Lamb Passanda at the Maharajah with the Class of ’71.

A cooked breakfast on Saturday morning & it was time for a trip down memory lane.

First Stop:

A tale to be told of The British General Election 1970.

Second Stop:

My first ever Supervision (in the first floor, right hand room) and what I learnt about being unprepared & Nigel Smethers.

Third Stop:

The traffic lights on Magdalene Bridge and the tale of the Queen’s Chaplain in Scotland and the off duty WPC.

Saturday evening: formal dinner in Hall & then a final pint in the College Bar.

A tremendous weekend !

And all back for the Golden Matriculands’ tea in 2021.

Surrey win the CB40

Hi everyone !




At Lord's on Saturday for Surrey v Somerset in the CB40 Final.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU to Andrew Merrifield of Clydesdale Bank who invited me.
    I can really recommend watching from Box A in the Mound Stand !!

Having been 79 for 5, Somerset were rescued by Josh Buttler who scored a very accomplished 86, hitting two sixes and seven fours off 72 balls , before being bowled by Man of the Match Jade Denbach, who took 4 for 30 in Somerset's 214 all out.

Somerset needed early wickets to stand any chance. And, although Murali Kartik crucially dropped Hamilton-Brown before he had scored, they made two breakthroughs around two brief rain breaks, Kirby taking the wickets of both Davies and Roy.

At 46-2 off seven overs, rain then forced the two sides off again, at which point the weather had caused sufficient delay for Duckworth/Lewis to come into play.I can confirm that no-one in Box A knows how the D/L system works ; so no surprise there!

Somerset's revised target was 186 off 30 overs, meaning 140 were needed off 23 overs, at 6 an over.

Although Suppiah had Maynard caught behind, Schofield helped Hamilton-Brown put on 58 for the fourth wicket.

Just when Schofield and Hamilton-Brown looked to be cruising home, Schofield slammed it straight to Trescothick before Hamilton-Brown was run out by a fantastic direct hit from Buttler at mid-on.

Spriegel (24no) and de Bruyn (17no) saw their side home in the 28th over - to complete a memorable week for Surrey, just three days after winning promotion back to the Division 1 in the County Championship.

From Box A you get  a good view of Father Time, turning in the wind high above the Mound Stand:

Just 60 or 70 metres to the Warner Stand from where I sat with Dad on my first visit to Lords 50 years ago for MCC v Australia in May 1961.

Has Life turned out I thought it would as an 8 year old?

    My Blog next year on 21 June will tell you !! 

The last game of Season 2012 and what a season it has been.

The Diamond anniversary of that Never To Be Forgotten match at Tunbridge Wells.


There have been the much looked forward to annual trips to the Nevill, to Southend and to Beckenham.
The evening game at the Oval.
Sitting on the benches in front of the Pavilion at Lords; a special afternoon with Bob Ayers
A first visit to Southgate, a delightful ground.


A first season of being able to walk to the ground at Hove.


And of course The Day I Watched Cricket with Young Jim Parks ... did I ever tell you the story !!!




Thank you to all of you who watched cricket with me in Season 2011.


I look forward to seeing you in Season 2012.


--


I don't want to keep you in suspense over the long Winter months:

That 8 year old did find the Rainbow.


And I know you will too !




Onward !!


Lord Ric 




PS


During the day Alastair Cook popped in to the Clydesdale box:

On the England  tours to the sub-continent over the winter ... I'm sure he will find the couple of tips I gave him about his batting extremely useful !!

Tremendous day at Lords

Hi everyone !


A tremendous day at Lords for England v India.


And a MASSIVE thank you for Michael for asking me.
Thebes entertaining at its very best  : http://www.thebesgroup.co.uk/


Excellent seats in the front row of the Mound stand and a big contingent from the sub-continent made for a wonderful day out.

India started modestly and after 33 overs had only reached 128-4.

But MS Dhoni (78 not out) and Suresh Raina (84) did not panic and rebuilt the innings steadily.

They both cut loose in the final 10 overs, bludgeoning the ball to all parts in scoring 109 in India's 280 for 5.

England's response started badly, with Kieswetter and Cook both falling to RP Singh.

However, with a good 50 from Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara scored a magnificent 96 to guide England to the brink of victory.

But with the rain falling and England needing 11 to win from seven balls under Duckworth-Lewis, a third downpour ended the match.

After some confusion as to just what the Duckworth-Lewis score actually was ... Final Result : Match tied.

At lunchtime Mike Gatting came round to talk to each of the tables.

I asked him about his nephew, Jo Gatting of Sussex.

As any Good Uncle should, Mike knew Jo's latest scores: 70 in the 1st innings against Worecestershire and a maiden Championship century ( 116*) in the 2nd.


And as for Phil Edmonds?
Mike agreed : Phil's biography A Singular Person summed up Phillipe Henri very well !
( I didn't have the courage to ask about Frances Edemonds' book Cricket, XXXX Cricket ... ...)

---------------

Just one match left this season : the CB40 Final at Lords next Saturday.

See you all soon !

Lord Ric

Lions eat Sharks

 Hi everyone !


I finished Dianne's Action List & set off for the Oval for Surrey Lions v Sussex Sharks in the CB40 Semi-final.


Had just got to the ground ... when the rain started.

A mere 3 hours later ... &  we were ready to go for a 24 overs a side match.


Sussex did have by the far the worst of the weather for bowling & fielding.
   But frankly it didn't really make any difference to the result.


Surrey set off at 10 runs an over & maintained that rate throughout their innings, finishing on 228 for 7. 
There was 60 from Maynard &  Zander de Bruyn hit 43 off 28 balls.


Sussex were soon in trouble with Matt Prior out for 7.
Only Joyce & Nash got more than 20 in Sussex's 157 all out.


It was a tremendous afternoon for Chris Adams, Surrey's cricket manager, who led Sussex to so much success *, and Rory Hamilton-Brown, the Surrey captain, who returned to the Oval from Hove.


* 
It all happened for Chris after he sat next to me at the Cricketer of the Year Awards, where I was a guest of Steve Tinton''s
   Probably just a co-incidence !!


The sooner Sussex get him back as their Manager, the better !


On the day the only thing that Sussex won was having the noisier spectators:

The chaps who always sit at the Cromwell Road end at Hove near the beer tent were out in force ; just below the flag in the photo above.
Having made good use of the 3 hours break for rain ... they were in fine voice.
But to no avail !!




So it's onwards to Lords for the CB40 Final : Somerset v Surrey.
I'm meeting Alastair Cook.
I expect he'll be asking for some advice on his batting !!






Lord Ric