Friday night was another chance to see Sussex in some T20 action. The day had been mostly grey and rainy, but I had faith in the weather forecast, and at ten minutes to four o'clock the rain stopped and the sun started to shine. Work had been a bit of a bind on Friday, so I didn't actually get stuff wrapped up until 5.30pm, and then I headed off to Hove.
I stopped in Tesco and did my usual pre-match stock up, taking advantage of the £3 meal deal, and then walked to the ground. Despite the fact that it was a quarter past six, I was able to get a seat in the third row at the end, in the general area at the Cromwell Road end, which gave me a completely unfettered view of the wicket. I was quite pleased with myself. The only trouble with going to the cricket by yourself, is a slight concern about leaving bags unattended while going to the loo / bar. I don't want to lose my seat, so I don't want to take them with me, but I don't want them to be stolen or taken by an attendant. So when I use the facilities, there is always a slight fear that my bags might not be there when I return. So far, this has been a completely unfounded fear, it has to be said.
Middlesex won the toss and decided to bat first. As it got closer to 7pm, I wandered up to the bar for an ale They had Shark's Ale, obviously brewed specifically for the cricket ground, but unfortunately it didn't taste that great, and so I only had the one pint. I had a second pint in Sussex's innings, Amstel that time, which was more refreshing.
Middlesex got off to a flyer, Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling piled on the runs for them. Stirling got 88, and Malan ended up not out on 115. Eoin Morgan came in at #3 and I was looking forward to seeing him play, but unfortunately he was out first ball - shame. Middlesex ended on 221-2, and it was going to be tricky for Sussex to equal that.
I was glad I took my fleece, because although it was sunny, as soon as the sun disappeared, either behind a tree or a building, the heat went out of the day. After all, it is still May, and so there isn't really any underlying warmth. Bring on July, I say...
Sussex tried, but failed. Luke Wright did well though, he got 91, and when he partnered with Chris Jordan I thought they might be in with a chance. The required rate was 15, but it was sticking at 15, and they were doing well. I had to pop off for a minute though, and when I got back they were both out. It was all over at that stage really, but I stayed another over and saw Beer fall, and that sealed it, it was time to head off.
I do like going to the cricket, regardless of the outcome, although it is nice when Sussex win. It's a combination of things I suppose; the atmosphere, the fact that it's outside, the communal focus on the action, the lack of distractions (i.e., kids, I suppose), the pace of it... Even with T20 and its insistence that an innings take no longer than 1hr 15mins, it is still relaxing. And it was certainly what was required on Friday night after a tough day at work. More to come over the next few weeks about cricket, hopefully better news for Sussex. They're in the bottom half of the table, but with a few good results, they could get back on top.
TTFN.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Tuesday 15-05-19 A Win for Sussex
Sunday saw the start of the cricket season, for me. They have already played several county games, and last Friday saw their first T20 game away from home (they lost to Kent), but as this was the first T20 match at home, this was my opener. I have again bought a Sharks Membership, although they have renamed it to T20+ this year, as it includes the home One-Day Cup games as well.
I packed my old rucksack, brushed down my wide-brimmed Sussex cricket hat, ferreted out my binoculars and the old red fleece, and set off to the station. We were held up at Worthing for a few minutes, but eventually moved on. We got to Hove and I headed to Tesco to stock up on supplies; I had already made myself a sandwich but I fancied a little something extra. I searched for a pork pie, but they were sold out. I briefly considered a sausage roll, but quickly dismissed that idea as there was no brown sauce, and moved on to the sweets. I surveyed the pastry shelves but at that time of day (14:00) they were pretty thin on the ground. I settled on a Reese's Nut Bar and scuttled out (after paying, of course).
As I got to the ground, I thought they should have been playing Slight Return by Bluetones, with its refrain of "I'm coming home...". I was immediately relaxed and the weather certainly helped; it was sunny with a slight breeze and still had the coolness that you expect in May. Gloucestershire had already won the toss and decided to field first, so I found a seat and sat down sharp-ish, as play got underway.
Wright was out pretty quickly, but Nash stuck in and partnered Jayawardene pretty successfully; coincidentally they both got 43 each before they lost their wickets. Jayawardene was bowled, and Nash succumbed to an injury before he was caught. The rest of the batting was nothing to write home about, so I won't, and Sussex got to 167 for 5, which I thought was a bit low. I seem to remember Gloucs ran Sussex's score down fairly easily last time, so I was worried for Sussex.
So Gloucs came into bat, and Dent was out first ball, which was a good start. Cockbain was out in the third over, and they weren't scoring quickly, so they started to appear to be under the cosh. But Marshall and his improbable hair dug Gloucs out of a tricky situation; eventually he was out for 45 off 29 deliveries. After that, Sussex always had the upper hand; Gloucs came back at the end and needed 19 off the last two overs. They stayed in touch too, until the penultimate delivery; they still needed 8 to win but only scored one. The crowd, who were subdued most of the day, cheered, and then the final delivery fizzled out and Sussex had won their first T20 game of the season.
During the Gloucs innings they did manage to smash a six, and it came pretty close to me. I ducked out of the way, and another spectator tried to catch the ball - but failed. That was quite exciting, but I've been going for a few years now, I suppose it was going to happen one day.
A brilliant day, in summary, and I am looking forward to more games during the summer. Possibly more reports to come.
I packed my old rucksack, brushed down my wide-brimmed Sussex cricket hat, ferreted out my binoculars and the old red fleece, and set off to the station. We were held up at Worthing for a few minutes, but eventually moved on. We got to Hove and I headed to Tesco to stock up on supplies; I had already made myself a sandwich but I fancied a little something extra. I searched for a pork pie, but they were sold out. I briefly considered a sausage roll, but quickly dismissed that idea as there was no brown sauce, and moved on to the sweets. I surveyed the pastry shelves but at that time of day (14:00) they were pretty thin on the ground. I settled on a Reese's Nut Bar and scuttled out (after paying, of course).
As I got to the ground, I thought they should have been playing Slight Return by Bluetones, with its refrain of "I'm coming home...". I was immediately relaxed and the weather certainly helped; it was sunny with a slight breeze and still had the coolness that you expect in May. Gloucestershire had already won the toss and decided to field first, so I found a seat and sat down sharp-ish, as play got underway.
Wright was out pretty quickly, but Nash stuck in and partnered Jayawardene pretty successfully; coincidentally they both got 43 each before they lost their wickets. Jayawardene was bowled, and Nash succumbed to an injury before he was caught. The rest of the batting was nothing to write home about, so I won't, and Sussex got to 167 for 5, which I thought was a bit low. I seem to remember Gloucs ran Sussex's score down fairly easily last time, so I was worried for Sussex.
So Gloucs came into bat, and Dent was out first ball, which was a good start. Cockbain was out in the third over, and they weren't scoring quickly, so they started to appear to be under the cosh. But Marshall and his improbable hair dug Gloucs out of a tricky situation; eventually he was out for 45 off 29 deliveries. After that, Sussex always had the upper hand; Gloucs came back at the end and needed 19 off the last two overs. They stayed in touch too, until the penultimate delivery; they still needed 8 to win but only scored one. The crowd, who were subdued most of the day, cheered, and then the final delivery fizzled out and Sussex had won their first T20 game of the season.
During the Gloucs innings they did manage to smash a six, and it came pretty close to me. I ducked out of the way, and another spectator tried to catch the ball - but failed. That was quite exciting, but I've been going for a few years now, I suppose it was going to happen one day.
A brilliant day, in summary, and I am looking forward to more games during the summer. Possibly more reports to come.
Tuesday 15-05-19 Tunisian Holiday I
So we went to Tunisia on holiday at the beginning of May. It was TW's idea, she realised that since the bank holiday and the General Election coincided in the same week, we could take the girls out of school and only miss eight sessions. At the moment, there is a bizarre scheme in place in our local education system where if you take your children out of school for more than five days without authorisation, you get fined. And of course, "holiday" is not a good enough reason to obtain approval. So we did tell them in advance that we were going to take the children out of school, and the school marked it as "unauthorised absence". TW had searched the internet thoroughly and found a holiday through Sunmasters, which came in at just over £1,000, which wasn't bad for the five of us. I'm sure that it would be at least double that during the school holidays. We were flying Monarch and staying at a hotel in Monastir called the Delphin Ribat. TW chose not to book any luggage into the hold during the flight, so we were restricted to 10kg each of hand luggage. Actually none of us packed more than 7kg, and that was with the children taking a cuddly toy each. Working to that limit really concentrates the mind, and we don't normally max out our luggage anyway - we normally pack the 23kg to book into the hold and travel light in the cabin. So I packed one pair of trousers, one pair of shorts, trunks, two short-sleeved shirts and a t-shirt and obviously had what I was wearing; trousers, a long-sleeved top and a jumper, and sandals. I chose to travel in sandals and was planning to wear them for the week, but unfortunately I developed a blister and had to switch to my back-up sandals after a couple of days.Anyway, we got to Gatwick in good time, this was to be the girls' first overseas holiday and TW wanted to make the most of the experience with them, so that meant immersing ourselves in Duty Free and generally having a good look around the airport. We booked the car into "Summer Special" car parking, with a special deal which meant it was only £40 for the week, which was cheaper than the train tickets would have been, and it was so straightforward - we booked online, they told us to turn up after a certain time, we left the keys with them and then jumped on the shuttle bus to the North terminal. It was really simple, and it's certainly a service we'll use in the future. We had a go on the inter-terminal shuttle train to get to the South Terminal, which I think they enjoyed; actually they enjoyed the whole thing. Then we checked in, and they told us that since the flight was busy, we could check in our luggage free of charge, if we so chose. Result! That saved us about £200, not that we needed to check it in, but it meant that we could wander the airport unencumbered by luggage which was threatening to kneecap or seriously disable unsuspecting members of the public. So of course we agreed, and then we skipped joyfully to the security checkpoint. It was there that we hit our first hurdle; although we took all our metallic items (coins, rings, phones, etc.) out of our pockets, our middle child pinged as she went through the scanners. She had to go into one of the new-fangled complete body scanners to be scanned in more depth. I think it was due to the sequins on her top, but she looked very worried as she went into the "scanning chamber" - she'll probably never wear that top again :). We had a look around airside, and went for lunch at Frankie and Benny's; I have to say it was great value, and maybe the kids enjoyed it more than Pizza Express. The portions were large, and the drinks were refillable, which is the main concern for our children, at least. I had the Full English breakfast which was delicious; the bacon was a bit dry but apart from that, it was a full plate of deliciousness. We had to stock up on sun tan lotion because we thought we were taking hand luggage only, and so we hadn't packed large bottles of sun tan lotion; TW went to Boots and picked up some of their own-brand stuff, which came with after sun too. And then it was time to fly. It was amazing how the time sped by, and suddenly we were in the air. More to come next time...
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