When Summer’s end is nighing

When Summer’s end is nighing

And skies at evening cloud

I muse on change and fortune

And all the feats I vowed

When I was young and proud

A E Housman  

Hi everyone!

Season 2016 ended with a very tense 3-way fight out between Middlesex, Somerset & Yorkshire for the Division 1 Championship.

With Somerset beating already relegated Nottinghamshire inside three days, it all came down to the last day of the season: whoever won at Lords between Middlesex & Yorkshire would be Champions.

I was lucky enough to be there on the Thursday for Day 3 with Richard Bradford & George Materna, both massive Yorkshire Fans.

Amidst a very exciting day’s cricket, there was time for a Spot of Lunch at the Lord’s Tavern !!

Please note the Healthy Option: Gherkins.

In a fluctuating final day, with Toby Roland-Jones taking a hat trick with the last 3 balls of the day, Middlesex won by 61 runs.

Meanwhile … … down in Division 2 Season 2016 was finishing much less dramatically, with Gloucestershire hanging on for a draw against Sussex.

In truth it has been a mixed season for “the Oldest professional cricket club in the world; and the Best”.

In the RL50 Sussex were bottom of the Southern Division with just one win from eight games. At least the one win was one better than Season 2015!

In the T20 Blast, although there were several very close finishes,  Sussex were 6^th of 9 in the Southern Division.

And  - a year after relegation - in the Championship Division 2 they were 4^th, most disappointingly never challenging for promotion.

But on the more positive side, young players from the Academy were introduced to the 1^st team, with Jofra Archer, George Garton & Phil Salt looking full of promise for the years ahead!

But cricket for Lord Ric is never just about the Results.

It is about so much more.

Of course, it is about being out in the Sunshine.

The Deckchairs at Hove 

I refer to research from Andrea Fagiolini of the University of Siena: strong daylight appears to improve sex drive.

“We found fairly significant differences between those who received the active light treatment and the controls.

Before treatment both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of about two out of ten, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction of about 6.3. In contrast, the control group only showed an average score of 2.7 after treatment.”

Suffice to say, and notwithstanding a very wet June, I was out in the Sunshine for plenty of hours in Season 2016!

And it is about sampling the Old & the New.

There were lots of days sitting in the deckchairs at the Cromwell Road end at my beloved Hove.

And the always looked forward trips to Arundel, Beckenham, the Nevill at Tunbridge Wells and to Lords and the Oval.

Arundel

And this season I was on the road for first time visits to Colchester, Worcester and to Sir Paul Getty’s ground at Wormsley and the Duke of Edinburgh’s at Windsor Castle.

Sir Paul Getty's Wormsley 

But above all it is being with Friends.

In the Sunshine at Hove:

Graham, the Young Man & David

Bill & Graham

Those I played village-green cricket with in the 70’s and 80’s at The Borderers:

The Lads at the Cromwell Road end

And those perhaps sampling their first cricket with me:

Mike, Mike, Muhammad & Tim at the Nevill

So many of you found time in your busy diaries to come & watch some cricket with me.

Thank you so very much !

I look forward to seeing all of you in Season 2017.

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

When Summer’s end is nighing thoughts always turn to the forthcoming Season.

Of course, every Season brings anniversaries and memories of bygone years, of matches seen which are never to be forgotten.

Season 2017 is a Special One for me  …

Long, long ago on Saturday 16 June 1973 Dad & I had walked round from Farmcombe Road to the Nevill for Kent v Nottinghamshire, captained by Sir Gary Sobers.

Just before 11.00 I witnessed something I was to think of and ponder many times over the decades that followed. 
And always when I entered the Nevill by the Tennis Club in Upper Cumberland Walk.

In Season 2017 it will be My Turn …

Will I accept the offer of the Pensioner’s Discounted Ticket?

Or will I – as Dad did a few weeks after his 65^th birthday – say: Thank you, but I’m not 65 until next year!

Where have the years all gone?

Time goes, you say?

Ah No !

Alas Time stays, we go

Henry Austin Dobson