For it is from the past that we learn

He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future.

For it is from the past that we learn.

     Sheikh Zayed

Hi everyone!

And hello from Abu Dhabi.

Alongside visiting Nicole, I have been able to watch the Pakistan v England Test Match:  Days 1 to 3 at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.

It has been a tremendous few days, for this is most definitely not like watching cricket at my beloved Hove.

You buy your ticket from a portacabin, somewhat mysteriously placed some 400 metres from the stadium.

And as you walk to the ground, you can see games going on, played on sand,

I won’t overly dwell on the Catering ....

Day 1: vegetable samosas – never again

Day 2: meat biryani

Day 3: back to the vegetable samosas !!

As someone who often benefits from Mrs Lambourne’s Luxury Cricket Picnics; I’m never going on an overseas tour again without you, Sally!!

The weather has been in the mid 30 degrees in the shade of the South Stand; probably closer to 40 out in the middle.

One Old Timer (*) said it was the hottest temperature for a Test Match since The Don scored 169 at the MCG against Gubby Allen’s England on the Down Under tour of 1936/37 for the Aussies to win the series, having been 2 down with 3 to play.

* (Editor: that would be an Old Timer with access to Google!!)

For those of you who have watched T20s with me at Hove on a Friday evening and felt the chill of the Westerly wind whipping across the County Ground, well there’s absolutely no need for a jumper and an outdoor coat here!!

In truth, the crowd has been small. Not so much the Barmy Army as the Barmy Platoon. Probably 3 to 1 Pakistan to England supporters. Fantastic supporters: the Barmies starting each day with their singing of Jerusalem and the Pakistanis waving their flags and cheering on their team.

I was very fortunate to be joined on Day 2 by Dave Marshall, a friend of Nicole’s, and on Day 3 by Dave, his son Wilf and Wilf’s friend Mia.

They were great company. I look forward to seeing them at Hove when Pakistan visit to play Sussex in Summer 2016.

As for the game itself, by necessity I must be even more vague than usual.

There was a fantastic electronic scoreboard on the far side of the ground. But the combination of the sun and my fading eyesight meant I could only read it with any confidence in the last hour of each day’s play!

As I write this, at the end of Day 4 Pakistan have scored 523 for 8 declared, with England on 569 for 8, leading by 46 runs.

This is not a pitch on which to be a bowler, especially not a debutant. Poor old Adil Rashid, playing his first Test for England, bowled 34 overs for 163 runs and no wickets; the most number of first innings runs conceded on debut without a wicket.

Take heart, Adil, for another leg spinner’s first bowling stats were 150 for 1. But it didn’t turn out to badly for him: Shane Warne ended his career with 708 Test wickets and was voted one of  Wisden's Five Cricketers of the 20^th Century.

(Post Blog note: in the second innings Rashid took 5 for 64. Cricket, eh !! )

With such high scores, there were batting records as far as the eye could see.

Alastair Cook, the England Captain, scored 263 and batted 836 minutes, the 3^rd longest innings in Test history and the longest ever by an England player. To put the 836 minutes in context, it was longer the entire Test match at Trent Bridge in the 2015 Ashes.And longer than the combined total match time of England at the last Football and Rugby World Cups!

For Pakistan Shoaib Malik was playing his first Test match for over 5 years.His 245 was the first time it had ever been scored in Test cricket. Only 229 and 238 are left to complete a full set of scores from 0 to 250.

Sitting next to me on Day 1 was a youngish (late 20s?) guy who was following Twitter.

A few minutes after Malik scored his century, the young guy said he had just seen a tweet from Andrew Samson, the Test Match Special scorer, that Shoaib had joined a very select band of players who have scored a 100 in their comeback Test after missing 40+ Tests.

I saw him look again at the tweet.

Only one English player on the list, he said. Anyone know anything about who J Parks was?

Truly the Gods look after those in the desert in their hour of need … As Sheikh Zayed said: He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present.

That would be Young Jim Parks, I said, my Favourite Player.

What would you like to know about him?

[Dear Reader: Please insert any – but surely not all - of the many stories you have heard me tell many, many times about Young Jim.]

I so, so enjoyed my 3 days at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.

Memories to treasure forever.

I will sign off with just one.

Watching England play overseas – especially with such a small crowd – you feel like part of a family. The players at the centre, of course, the backup staff, the media and finally the supporters.

Have a look at the photo, at the man in white shirt between the two umbrellas.

I had seen him on the first morning, on the edge of the outfield, looking at the England players warming up. He chatted to a couple of the England coaches.

And then about 15 minutes before Close of Play he made his way to sit by the photographers, whom he clearly knew very well, and watched the last few overs intently.

Every day he did exactly the same.

And every day I especially looked out for him, morning and evening.

At end of Day 3, as the England Captain walked back to the Pavilion not out 167, the man was one of the very first to stand up and applaud.

Most of us, I guess, have learnt to live contented lives, but by the Laws of Statistics  they are ordinary lives.

As I looked down at the man clapping, I wondered what it must be like to be a Sky Sports cricket commentator, to be paid to travel the world and to watch and talk about the game that you have loved all your life.

Beyond Wonderful indeed!

But what if you had played for England for 15 years in 102 Tests, scoring 5,200 runs and taking 383 wickets? If the scorecard had showed you as IT Botham?

Sir Ian and I have never met.

But we don’t need to for me to know that he would give up commentating in an instant if Cookie came over one morning and said: Beefy, we’re one short today, fancy playing?

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

It may not have been Hove, but some things never change.

My eyelids still get very heavy after lunch !!!