It is that time of the year when there is a surfeit of sporting splendour. There has been Royal Ascot which is not so much an important event in the calendar of the racing of thoroughbred horses but the occasion when ladies wear the most bizarre and expensive of outfits to catch the eye of an camera, It is an absurd English event.
There is the continuation of Formula One motor racing every two weeks with the British Grand Prix over the first weekend of July at Silverstone. I have been twice. The first occasion when I was living at Oxford around 1967 and then at the early end of the last decade. I am presently too lazy and engrossed with tennis at Wimbledon to work out when. The location was on the far side of the course away from finishing line and the Pits but it was nevertheless interesting watching a procession of cars flash past. It occurred to me that it was much better watching on TV unless you were able to overlooking the start and finish and have the full hospitality package which could be purchased for around £2000. The drive there was not as bad as the drive back where you have to allow hours.
The immediate highlight is Wimbledon. Two weeks of day and evening viewing which commenced with listening games on the radio and then watching on the TV. Fortunately there have been a number of good British players to command patriotic support Christine Truman, Angela Mortimer, Anne Hayden Jones , Virginia Wade. For men the whole hope never making it at Wimbledon has been Tim Henman who I have seen play in a quarter final match on Court One after queue up in the early dawn, one advantage of the former home of mothers being on a railway line that ended at Wimbledon station via Sutton and where is also now a tram to Croydon.
I have also obtained tickets twice through the postal ballot, once on a final's day for Court one, where alas there were only other competitions going on but nevertheless it was a special occasion where one could nip out from time to time and watch what was happening on the centre court on the Big Screen. Today is rather a special day or British Tennis as in addition to Mr Murray appearing on the centre court in round two, a British born young woman to Asian parents who settled here, is now playing against Venus Williams and where after losing the first to games of the first set she has broken back, and is 4 games all at this point of writing. She has the surname of Keothavong so I will refer to her by Christian name of Anne. There is also a new British kid on the block who has caused a stir by the manner of his first round win and who is to appear later in the day. Anne, the British number one gave a could account of herself in the first set and could have caused an upset against the current women's champion Venus Williams but fell away on the second unable to cope with the power play. Chris Eaton entered Wimbledon through the preliminary competition, ranked over 600 in the world he made the front pages by winning his first game in a confident manner but meeting someone ranked just below the top 100 was going to be beyond his present abilities at the age of 20. His local club and community had raised £30000 to enable him to go on a international circuit playing in minor competitions where his records was not exceptional winning six matches against 13 loses. He out up a reasonable performance in the first set although he was always struggling prevent his opponent breaking his serve. He lost in three sets although he and the crowd appeared to enjoy themselves.
This should have also been a time for wall to wall watching of football with the European Championship taking place in Austria and Switzerland but England or the other countries making Britain failed to qualify which is a national disgrace and rightly led to the sacking of the hopeless at Manager, Steve MaClaren. I have watched bits and pieces of matches from time to time and celebrated Spain getting tot eh semi final. I have not been a fan Turkish Football given the aggressive nature of their home crowds. However they did not deserve to lose against Germany last night
And then of course there is cricket luvely cricket. This year one days and 20.20 games have proved of greater interest that Test Matches and the County Game. Ever since the glory days of Surrey of Peter May, the Bedser twins and Locke and Laker I have longer to watch a good team play and win. For a decade and a half Yorkshire as the nearest county was my adopted team although visits were occasional. Then I enjoyed becoming a member of the new Durham County and at one point nearly took out Life Membership. Now they have the makings of a great team on an attractive ground where the Members have been voted the best of all 18 first class counties by the Bible of Cricket Wisden's. This is because of their sporting good behaviour.
On Tuesday evening after a pleasant cay the clouds gathered and it looked like rain. Droplets commenced to fall as I set off towards Chester Le Street and continued until about the Washington Motorway Service area and my spirits were raised as the sky ahead looked brighter and less overcast. I had set off later than planned and arrived at the Member's veranda not expecting to find an unbooked seat, I was successful with one at the end of the front row nearest the management and player's veranda. I had brought with me soup and coffee and one sandwich. An announcement explained that Sky TV I assumed in association with Newsnight were making a film and supporters were asked to collect in one area near the players area so that a crowd seen could be filmed. Mainly children responded to the call and the film crew did their best to capture this faked moment. I understand this is because there are rules about taking photos for commercial purposes without prior permission of individuals. The Durham all stars were filmed doing their full routine and during the interval there was a display of martial arts by a display group who appeared on Britain's Got Talent. There were also the fireworks as the Durham opening batsmen took to the field of play but they were not in evidence after the interval as the clouds gathered again, and rain commenced to fall continuously. Given the forecast and the darkening skies as the game progressed it was something of a surprise that Yorkshire chose to bowl first. The Durham innings progressed satisfactorily with Mustard making 49 but Morkel disappointed and the final score of 162.8 was respectable and similar to that at Headingley, but not outstanding. There was drizzle very quickly after the start of the Yorkshire innings which Durham dominated with fine bowling and the scores were 9 for 2 then 29 for 4 and 39 for 5. The situation was such that Yorkshire had to continue playing because to have accepted the option of stopping for rain or bad light was likely to mean the end of the match. This is what happened at ten over although the game was not called as ended at that point although most of crowd in the open stadium went home. Those under shelter retreated tot eh lounge where an amazing event was taking place as Essex all rounder Graham Napier hit an amazing 152 off 68 balls with a record of 16 sixes and 10 fours.. This was the second highest such innings anywhere and the highest in England. The win was duly declared and made my way home to watch the end of the Essex game and the accolades flow for Mr Napier.
Lancashire won their game against Notts last night to close the game while the Durham game which started late was held up because of the late sun shinning in the eyes of players. However Durham who batted second and who had a shaky start with the openers both out for no score quickly took control especially after Morkel came tot eh wicket with Captain Blenkenstein and an 100 partnership saw the opponents total achieved with overs to spare in a reduced over match to 18 as sixes and four clattered around the ground from both players. This meant that Durham are the first qualifiers from the Northern Group and will continue to head the table even if they lose to Lancashire tomorrow. This should entitle them to a home draw and be one game away from the finals in Hampshire in July, I have never been to Hampshire's ground, the Rosebowl, near Southampton. Now there's a thought. The number of mini trips this summer commence to mount up
There is the continuation of Formula One motor racing every two weeks with the British Grand Prix over the first weekend of July at Silverstone. I have been twice. The first occasion when I was living at Oxford around 1967 and then at the early end of the last decade. I am presently too lazy and engrossed with tennis at Wimbledon to work out when. The location was on the far side of the course away from finishing line and the Pits but it was nevertheless interesting watching a procession of cars flash past. It occurred to me that it was much better watching on TV unless you were able to overlooking the start and finish and have the full hospitality package which could be purchased for around £2000. The drive there was not as bad as the drive back where you have to allow hours.
The immediate highlight is Wimbledon. Two weeks of day and evening viewing which commenced with listening games on the radio and then watching on the TV. Fortunately there have been a number of good British players to command patriotic support Christine Truman, Angela Mortimer, Anne Hayden Jones , Virginia Wade. For men the whole hope never making it at Wimbledon has been Tim Henman who I have seen play in a quarter final match on Court One after queue up in the early dawn, one advantage of the former home of mothers being on a railway line that ended at Wimbledon station via Sutton and where is also now a tram to Croydon.
I have also obtained tickets twice through the postal ballot, once on a final's day for Court one, where alas there were only other competitions going on but nevertheless it was a special occasion where one could nip out from time to time and watch what was happening on the centre court on the Big Screen. Today is rather a special day or British Tennis as in addition to Mr Murray appearing on the centre court in round two, a British born young woman to Asian parents who settled here, is now playing against Venus Williams and where after losing the first to games of the first set she has broken back, and is 4 games all at this point of writing. She has the surname of Keothavong so I will refer to her by Christian name of Anne. There is also a new British kid on the block who has caused a stir by the manner of his first round win and who is to appear later in the day. Anne, the British number one gave a could account of herself in the first set and could have caused an upset against the current women's champion Venus Williams but fell away on the second unable to cope with the power play. Chris Eaton entered Wimbledon through the preliminary competition, ranked over 600 in the world he made the front pages by winning his first game in a confident manner but meeting someone ranked just below the top 100 was going to be beyond his present abilities at the age of 20. His local club and community had raised £30000 to enable him to go on a international circuit playing in minor competitions where his records was not exceptional winning six matches against 13 loses. He out up a reasonable performance in the first set although he was always struggling prevent his opponent breaking his serve. He lost in three sets although he and the crowd appeared to enjoy themselves.
This should have also been a time for wall to wall watching of football with the European Championship taking place in Austria and Switzerland but England or the other countries making Britain failed to qualify which is a national disgrace and rightly led to the sacking of the hopeless at Manager, Steve MaClaren. I have watched bits and pieces of matches from time to time and celebrated Spain getting tot eh semi final. I have not been a fan Turkish Football given the aggressive nature of their home crowds. However they did not deserve to lose against Germany last night
And then of course there is cricket luvely cricket. This year one days and 20.20 games have proved of greater interest that Test Matches and the County Game. Ever since the glory days of Surrey of Peter May, the Bedser twins and Locke and Laker I have longer to watch a good team play and win. For a decade and a half Yorkshire as the nearest county was my adopted team although visits were occasional. Then I enjoyed becoming a member of the new Durham County and at one point nearly took out Life Membership. Now they have the makings of a great team on an attractive ground where the Members have been voted the best of all 18 first class counties by the Bible of Cricket Wisden's. This is because of their sporting good behaviour.
On Tuesday evening after a pleasant cay the clouds gathered and it looked like rain. Droplets commenced to fall as I set off towards Chester Le Street and continued until about the Washington Motorway Service area and my spirits were raised as the sky ahead looked brighter and less overcast. I had set off later than planned and arrived at the Member's veranda not expecting to find an unbooked seat, I was successful with one at the end of the front row nearest the management and player's veranda. I had brought with me soup and coffee and one sandwich. An announcement explained that Sky TV I assumed in association with Newsnight were making a film and supporters were asked to collect in one area near the players area so that a crowd seen could be filmed. Mainly children responded to the call and the film crew did their best to capture this faked moment. I understand this is because there are rules about taking photos for commercial purposes without prior permission of individuals. The Durham all stars were filmed doing their full routine and during the interval there was a display of martial arts by a display group who appeared on Britain's Got Talent. There were also the fireworks as the Durham opening batsmen took to the field of play but they were not in evidence after the interval as the clouds gathered again, and rain commenced to fall continuously. Given the forecast and the darkening skies as the game progressed it was something of a surprise that Yorkshire chose to bowl first. The Durham innings progressed satisfactorily with Mustard making 49 but Morkel disappointed and the final score of 162.8 was respectable and similar to that at Headingley, but not outstanding. There was drizzle very quickly after the start of the Yorkshire innings which Durham dominated with fine bowling and the scores were 9 for 2 then 29 for 4 and 39 for 5. The situation was such that Yorkshire had to continue playing because to have accepted the option of stopping for rain or bad light was likely to mean the end of the match. This is what happened at ten over although the game was not called as ended at that point although most of crowd in the open stadium went home. Those under shelter retreated tot eh lounge where an amazing event was taking place as Essex all rounder Graham Napier hit an amazing 152 off 68 balls with a record of 16 sixes and 10 fours.. This was the second highest such innings anywhere and the highest in England. The win was duly declared and made my way home to watch the end of the Essex game and the accolades flow for Mr Napier.
Lancashire won their game against Notts last night to close the game while the Durham game which started late was held up because of the late sun shinning in the eyes of players. However Durham who batted second and who had a shaky start with the openers both out for no score quickly took control especially after Morkel came tot eh wicket with Captain Blenkenstein and an 100 partnership saw the opponents total achieved with overs to spare in a reduced over match to 18 as sixes and four clattered around the ground from both players. This meant that Durham are the first qualifiers from the Northern Group and will continue to head the table even if they lose to Lancashire tomorrow. This should entitle them to a home draw and be one game away from the finals in Hampshire in July, I have never been to Hampshire's ground, the Rosebowl, near Southampton. Now there's a thought. The number of mini trips this summer commence to mount up
No comments:
Post a Comment