Farewell Strauss

I read with surprise the news yesterday morning, suggesting that Strauss was about to resign as captain of the England cricket team. As the morning wore on, articles and items on the Guardian website and Sky News persuaded me that it was not just an idle flight of fancy. 

And then at 12 midday the press conference took place and Strauss resigned from the captaincy and all international and domestic cricket.

It was a real shock. I can understand resigning from the captaincy and the England team entirely - although if he only resigned the captaincy in order to concentrate on his batting, that would have been okay. But a complete break with the England team makes sense - he won't be a shadow, interfering in Cook's decision-making. He's done the decent thing and given Cook a clear run, so well done to him.

I am surprised that he won't be returning to Middlesex though, I would have thought another season or two could have cushioned the blow of his England departure. But again, I suppose we are coming to the end of the season, and he wouldn't play again until March next year. 

I know Cook is the anointed one, and he's been groomed for this role, but I'm not sure. And his first experience will be against India in India - not the easiest way to bed yourself in. In fact, it may be a bit of a baptism of fire. But let's wait and see, I suppose.

Fingers crossed he makes a good fist of it. I'm looking forward to it.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Saddened

Kevin Pietersen. I know that pretty much everything has been written already, but I wanted to say that I will miss watching him play. And it's a shame England can't accommodate him because I still think he has a contribution to make to English cricket.
Can't they just accept he's not a team-player and give him his own dressing room or something? That might seem like special treatment, but he wouldn't get to share the highs and he would have to internalise the lows.
That could be seen as a punishment rather than a privilege. And we'd still get to see him play for England.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Running IV

Woo hoo! I managed a sub-10 minute mile this morning, I'm quite chuffed. Obviously not on a par with any serious runners, but it's good for me...
I was almost sprinting at the end - or that's what it felt like, anyway. Probably not very nice to watch, but I did it!

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Away

So, last weekend we went away.

It was only a short trip, in both time and distance, to stay with the MiL and her man. But we went on Friday and came back on Tuesday, and during that time I completely relaxed and forgot about work.

On the Saturday we went for a walk in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, and despite the distance we walked, The Brood did remarkably well. I had The Youngest on my shoulders for a while on the way home, and they whinged a bit, but they made it. Well done...

On Sunday we had friends and their parents over for lunch. The friends have recently become parents, and their daughter was a delight.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, I suffered from a bit of food poisoning.  I was a bit concerned I had overdone it on the wine, but looking back now it was obviously something different. Anyway, I spent the evening in bed and missed the Olympics Closing Ceremony.

On Monday TW & I went into Oxford by ourselves; the MiL looked after The Brood. I was still weak from vomiting and lack of food, but appreciated the relative peace and quiet. I managed to rebuild my strength with a McDonalds burger and fries, which was a surprise, but it worked.

Tuesday morning TW and the MiL went into Witney with The Brood, and I creamed The Girl Who Played With Fire. I've finished it now, it's a good book, and I've started with the third in the series, I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

Any way, it was a good rest. I've been on light duties at work this week, or at least it's felt like that. But things are good.

TTFN.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Running III

So I continue to amaze myself. We stayed up until 23:30 last night, And I was up at 05:45 ready to go for a run. I'd had a bit of drink taken, but not overly so (and I reckon my unit intake was lower than The Wife's), but I was still surprised to be awake and ready to go.

And this time I decided to extend my run, to a whole 1.24 miles. Again, I ran the entire distance (except for a short stop while crossing the road, to let a car past). I maintained my average running speed at 10m19s per mile; a bit slow, I know, but I'm hoping this will come down as the weeks go on. 

In addition, I'm hoping to push out the distance I run, slowly so that I don't stop or have to take breaks. I may even get up to 20 or 25 minutes running - we'll have to see.

But tomorrow I'm off to the in-laws for a long weekend, so I won't get to run until Weds. Boo!

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Running II

So today I went for my third run in eight days. If I'm not careful, this could be habit-forming. Still just over 10 minutes for a mile, but at one stage today I felt like I was actually running, if that makes any sense?
Normally it's a case of putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to fall over or stop.
Today I realised I could stretch out my pace and run. I'm hoping for a bit more of that when I run again on Thursday.

Again?

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site