Sunday July 8th could have proved as memorable a day as was Saturday when through the amazing efforts of the ground staff at Emirates Durham Cricket Ground at the Chester Le Street Riverside, the waterlogged playing area was drained, dried and watched over until 1.30 am before returning at 4.30 am to achieve a start at 10.45 and a professional England Victory which gave the home side a 3.0 taking of the 5 match series with one game already cancelled because of the weather. The last game in the series at Old Trafford Manchester has been delayed because of the wet weather with a pitch inspection at 3 pm for the afternoon evening day night game. The game did get a start at 5 pm with a reduced number of overs from 50 to 32.
Australia batted first after England won the toss and only Bailey 46 offered resistance as the visitors had another bad batting day ending their 32 overs at 146 for 7. Bopara had 2 wickets for 8 runs off his four overs while Treadwell had two for 32 off his 7 overs. The England innings was disrupted by a further rain break which reduced their innings to 29 overs and a revised target according to the Duckworth Lewis formula. Captain Cook with 58 and Bopara with 53 not out, the man of the match broke the hearts of the Aussi’s and England comfortably gained the required runs in 27.1 overs and with 7 wickets to spare thus gaining a 4.0 win. The win gives England a 1 point lead over South Africa at the top of the world rankings with Australia now pushed into third position.
It also proved a good Tuesday especially as there was a 3D replay of replay of Monday’s game in 3D when Warrington beat the Catalan Dragons, the most improved Rugby League side in the Premiership, by 15 points to 6 in a hard fought top notch game. This brought Warrington second and in good shape for their Challenge Cup semi Final next weekend. Talking of Premiership both ESPN and Sky have published their opening live games. Throughout July and in early August ESPN are showing the friendly games of Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. Newcastle game against Monaco on Monday opens the broadcasting of 20 Friendly Internationals involving the top Premiership Clubs
For Newcastle’s home game against Spurs on Saturday August 18th for is on ESPN (1) followed by the away game against Chelsea on the following Saturday (2). Sunderland’s game against Liverpool is on the 15th of September (3) the week after the visit to the Paralympic games. On the Monday 17th Everton’s game against Newcastle is on Sky (4). On October 6th Man City’s game against Sunderland(5) followed by Newcastle home to Manchester United(6), Sunderland entertain Newcastle Sunday lunchtime 21st October(7) with Newcastle at Liverpool(8) on November 4th. Sunderland are then at Fulham on 18th November (9). Thus for 9 of the first 14 weeks of the season either Newcastle or Sunderland are showing and with Newcastle’s opening games being shown I will be able to judge if I want to see a live game at the ground before the cold sets in. There will also be the International fixtures where Newcastle will aim to do exceptionally well.
In addition to the England win on the Saturday morning there was further triumph to be enjoyed on Saturday evening when Jonathan Marray of England won the men’s doubles championship at Wimbledon for the first time since 1936. Jonathan was born 10th March 1981 in Liverpool with ambitions to be a professional singles player reaching a ranking of 215 in 2005 after having reached the third round at Queens in 2004. He failed to make further progress in part because of injuries and developed his game as a doubles player in which he has had some success and prior to the Wimbledon competition. Given that he was not only unseeded but had to be given a wild card invitation because of the failure to submit forms with his original partner his emergences at a top 20 ranked player in the world is remarkable. He moved up to 21st from 76 while his Danish partner moved from 87 places to 24th. The Danish partner had signalled his intention to concentrate on his singles’ career but it will be interesting to see what he now does given the increase in potential earnings his role as a Doubles Grand Slam champion offers.
Marray reached the third round of the Wimbledon doubles five years ago, his highest success in a major Grand Slam competition until now He reached the third round at Wimbledon again in 2009 which enabled him to achieve a ranking within the top 200 double players in the world. He played in the French open in 2010 with his brother Jamie losing in the first round. He was beaten in the second round at Wimbledon in 1011 and won two rounds in the USA open partnered by Jamie Delgardo and this partnership has proved successful on three ATP tours where he won five of seven finals reached. This year he lost in the first round of the Australian open and in the French he again lost in the first round with a new partner Dustin Brown.
With his new partner, the Dane Frederick Neilsen he reached the final of one competition which they lost in three sets. He was to have competed with someone else at Wimbledon but they did not get their paper work competed in time hence the allocation of a wild card. He has played with a wide range of other players on the Professional tour winning a number of championships sufficient to enable him to make a good living in terms of the expense of travelling and accommodation required training and other support staff.
On the way to the final they beat two seeded players, making three in all. They had a chance of winning the match in the fourth set which they lost on the tie break 6-7. The won the deciding fifth set 6.3. The win enabled him to break into the top 50 doubles ranking for the first time and he can now be regarded as the British number 1 doubles. He and his partner each won $200000. It was evident from his interviews after winning on the Saturday and then on the Sunday that he is yet to grasp the full significance of being the only male Winner of a Gram slam game for men, singles, mixed doubles and doubles since 1936. His performance was overshadowed by the anticipation of an Andy Murray victory. It is to be hoped that Jonathan will now receive the recognition his achievement is due.
I debated staying home to watch the final between Andy Murray and Roger Federer on the 3D TV until finding it was not being shown until 3.30 presumably not to undermine the 3D showings in the cinema at both Odeon’s and Cineworld with scheduled showings listed as 1.45 although from the experience of watching the World Club I anticipated that it might be only a few minutes before the commencement of the arrival of the players on court that the relay would commence. I was still hesitant about going to the cinema after finding there was no scheduled showing at Bolden although several other Cineworlds were listed. The Odeon at Silverlink was listed but several attempts to book tickets on line failed. I then rang through to the Telephone and it appeared that the show was on with tickets available.
I decided that I would visit early in the morning with sufficient time to get home if there was no show or all seats had been taken. I was able to use the prepaid disk to use the Tyne Tunnel at reduced cost noting that I had a low credit warning. I was confident I had enough for the return journey although as a precaution I did have cash to ready when I made my way home. I will add additional funds when this writing is complete.
The Silverlink shopping area is located just off the roundabout after the Tyne Tunnel on the AI as it crosses the dual carriageway out of Newcastle eastward to Whitely Bay. When one enters the large car park areas with space for 1500 cars and with the stores on two sides one does not immediately gain an impression of the size of the individual stores which makes them the largest I have seen as single storey buildings.
There is Marks and Spencer’s, Boots, JD Sports. Halfords, Mothercare, River Island, SCS Furniture, Sports Direct, Outfit, Next, Comet, Argos, Bens Beds, Halfords and Pound Store, plus We got it and New Look with PC World. There are also three restaurants McDonalds as one enters the site and Frankie and Benny’s and Pizza Hut either side of the Odeon Cinema which dominates the site at a raised level at the far end of the site.
I parked by the cinema and then after a short queue wait decided on a Premier seat at the premium price of £14.50. I had brought my own glasses. The Premium seats are wider with arm rests which can be raised and plenty of leg room. Given that the minimum price for a seat at the final is over £100 plus the travel and accommodation costs and that debenture seats were being exchanged for several thousand pounds I decided to treat myself in preparation for a disappointment.
I then made my way for a standard MacChicken Meal with Pepsi drink to take out and enjoyed in the car having stopped at the supermarket on the way for a copy of the Sunday Telegraph at £2. The total expenditure was therefore £25 including Tyne Tunnel fees plus ice cream during the match plus petrol. I mention the cost in this instance as I would win £20 if Federer won and £115 if Murray plus return of my stake of £40
I had made an initial bet with Ladbrokes of £25 for Murray to win at odds of 5 to 1. The same odds are available for the Olympic Games
I had opened an account with Ladbrokes to make use of the £25 free matching bet and invested this on Murray beating Chilic at odds of 1 to 4 on. This only produced a win of £6.25 as the free bet stake is not returned
I therefore made a new stake of £15 using £3 of the win for an £18 stake for Murray to win 4 to 9 against Ferrer in the next round yielding a net win of £8 return of stake £16 and £3.25 still in credit.
I then bet £27 for Murray to beat Tsonga at 4:9 and win £12 with return of stake and £2, 25 in credit. This was the most speculative of the additional stake bets as Tsonga had shown great form at the French but Murray had beaten the Frenchman several times. He had won the first two sets in imperious manner but then Tsonga came to life taking the third and looked good in the fourth before Murray was able to take command again and became the first Brit to reach the Men’s final for seventy four years. Of course I wanted to Murray to win as did the majority of the British nation although Tennis is not as popular a sport as many others.
I therefore decided to hedge bet using the £40 made up of £15 additional stake and £25 winnings on Federer to beat Murray at 1:2 yielding a win of £20 plus credit wins £1.25 and return of £ 40 which is the total amount of personal money betted.
The last time I was here for a sporting event I became agitated over the delay before the game was screened unaware that for the 3D events there was to be a separate broadcast unlike the HD relays of previous rounds where the TV edition with the build up was used. I was therefore relaxed and it was others attending who became anxious when 1.45 arrived and there was nothing on the screen. Eventually someone explained that they were waiting for the official relay to commence which did so shortly after this with build up film and comments by the former British Canadian Greg Rudeski.
It took sometime to adjust to camera angles of the 3D relay. For the BBC the cameras are above head level so it possible to see the ball when it reaches the ground across the net. Here the camera are more at the level of the rackets from the server viewpoint so you get a full measure of the speed and the ability of players to hit a ball from below the net, get it over and down all in one single movement. Every shot was repeated sometimes switching between server and receiver cameras after the point was played out. I found this added to my understanding of the skill of the players.
I became very excited as the first set progressed with Andy breaking serve, Federer breaking back but then Murray breaking again to take the set 6 to 4 for the first time in Grand Slam final have been defeated 3 sets to none in each of the three previous final he had contested, including 3.0 defeat to Federer. Murray played some great confident Tennis. Federer appear the nervous one and was making an extraordinary number of unforced errors.
Murray and two good opportunities to break Feeder’s serve in the second set both with two break points. Federer seemed to step up several gears to fight on and then took the set himself to one set all. It was during. Then it commenced to rain and the court covered before the roof was closed. The supporters on the big screen hill were drenched and I compared their experience to my own. The screen is on the far side of Wimbledon close to what is now the Number 1 court. I took the opportunity of the delay to go my car for the phone which I had left in the vehicle and to buy the ice cream as well as comfort visit. I sense the moment had passed and feared the worst because Federer is more comfortable in a closed environment and he became faultless and inspired where as Murray expressed his grow frustration and lack of confidence with a series of failed first serves. The third set was lost and failure loomed when he was broken midway during the fourth. He then appeared to make a courageous go for broke attempt but by then Federer showed no sense of being threatened and brought the game to an end. Murray was understandably upset and made a brave effort to congratulate the winner and to thank his team his family and the public for their support.
I returned home to find that Durham had only been able to tie their 20 20 game against Lancs and had failed in their bid to win a quarter final place in the competition. I had looked at the PC speakers and Cinema Sound speakers at the PC World but deferred a purchase until the outcome of the match became known. I continued to read the Sunday paper over the following two days.
Australia batted first after England won the toss and only Bailey 46 offered resistance as the visitors had another bad batting day ending their 32 overs at 146 for 7. Bopara had 2 wickets for 8 runs off his four overs while Treadwell had two for 32 off his 7 overs. The England innings was disrupted by a further rain break which reduced their innings to 29 overs and a revised target according to the Duckworth Lewis formula. Captain Cook with 58 and Bopara with 53 not out, the man of the match broke the hearts of the Aussi’s and England comfortably gained the required runs in 27.1 overs and with 7 wickets to spare thus gaining a 4.0 win. The win gives England a 1 point lead over South Africa at the top of the world rankings with Australia now pushed into third position.
It also proved a good Tuesday especially as there was a 3D replay of replay of Monday’s game in 3D when Warrington beat the Catalan Dragons, the most improved Rugby League side in the Premiership, by 15 points to 6 in a hard fought top notch game. This brought Warrington second and in good shape for their Challenge Cup semi Final next weekend. Talking of Premiership both ESPN and Sky have published their opening live games. Throughout July and in early August ESPN are showing the friendly games of Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. Newcastle game against Monaco on Monday opens the broadcasting of 20 Friendly Internationals involving the top Premiership Clubs
For Newcastle’s home game against Spurs on Saturday August 18th for is on ESPN (1) followed by the away game against Chelsea on the following Saturday (2). Sunderland’s game against Liverpool is on the 15th of September (3) the week after the visit to the Paralympic games. On the Monday 17th Everton’s game against Newcastle is on Sky (4). On October 6th Man City’s game against Sunderland(5) followed by Newcastle home to Manchester United(6), Sunderland entertain Newcastle Sunday lunchtime 21st October(7) with Newcastle at Liverpool(8) on November 4th. Sunderland are then at Fulham on 18th November (9). Thus for 9 of the first 14 weeks of the season either Newcastle or Sunderland are showing and with Newcastle’s opening games being shown I will be able to judge if I want to see a live game at the ground before the cold sets in. There will also be the International fixtures where Newcastle will aim to do exceptionally well.
In addition to the England win on the Saturday morning there was further triumph to be enjoyed on Saturday evening when Jonathan Marray of England won the men’s doubles championship at Wimbledon for the first time since 1936. Jonathan was born 10th March 1981 in Liverpool with ambitions to be a professional singles player reaching a ranking of 215 in 2005 after having reached the third round at Queens in 2004. He failed to make further progress in part because of injuries and developed his game as a doubles player in which he has had some success and prior to the Wimbledon competition. Given that he was not only unseeded but had to be given a wild card invitation because of the failure to submit forms with his original partner his emergences at a top 20 ranked player in the world is remarkable. He moved up to 21st from 76 while his Danish partner moved from 87 places to 24th. The Danish partner had signalled his intention to concentrate on his singles’ career but it will be interesting to see what he now does given the increase in potential earnings his role as a Doubles Grand Slam champion offers.
Marray reached the third round of the Wimbledon doubles five years ago, his highest success in a major Grand Slam competition until now He reached the third round at Wimbledon again in 2009 which enabled him to achieve a ranking within the top 200 double players in the world. He played in the French open in 2010 with his brother Jamie losing in the first round. He was beaten in the second round at Wimbledon in 1011 and won two rounds in the USA open partnered by Jamie Delgardo and this partnership has proved successful on three ATP tours where he won five of seven finals reached. This year he lost in the first round of the Australian open and in the French he again lost in the first round with a new partner Dustin Brown.
With his new partner, the Dane Frederick Neilsen he reached the final of one competition which they lost in three sets. He was to have competed with someone else at Wimbledon but they did not get their paper work competed in time hence the allocation of a wild card. He has played with a wide range of other players on the Professional tour winning a number of championships sufficient to enable him to make a good living in terms of the expense of travelling and accommodation required training and other support staff.
On the way to the final they beat two seeded players, making three in all. They had a chance of winning the match in the fourth set which they lost on the tie break 6-7. The won the deciding fifth set 6.3. The win enabled him to break into the top 50 doubles ranking for the first time and he can now be regarded as the British number 1 doubles. He and his partner each won $200000. It was evident from his interviews after winning on the Saturday and then on the Sunday that he is yet to grasp the full significance of being the only male Winner of a Gram slam game for men, singles, mixed doubles and doubles since 1936. His performance was overshadowed by the anticipation of an Andy Murray victory. It is to be hoped that Jonathan will now receive the recognition his achievement is due.
I debated staying home to watch the final between Andy Murray and Roger Federer on the 3D TV until finding it was not being shown until 3.30 presumably not to undermine the 3D showings in the cinema at both Odeon’s and Cineworld with scheduled showings listed as 1.45 although from the experience of watching the World Club I anticipated that it might be only a few minutes before the commencement of the arrival of the players on court that the relay would commence. I was still hesitant about going to the cinema after finding there was no scheduled showing at Bolden although several other Cineworlds were listed. The Odeon at Silverlink was listed but several attempts to book tickets on line failed. I then rang through to the Telephone and it appeared that the show was on with tickets available.
I decided that I would visit early in the morning with sufficient time to get home if there was no show or all seats had been taken. I was able to use the prepaid disk to use the Tyne Tunnel at reduced cost noting that I had a low credit warning. I was confident I had enough for the return journey although as a precaution I did have cash to ready when I made my way home. I will add additional funds when this writing is complete.
The Silverlink shopping area is located just off the roundabout after the Tyne Tunnel on the AI as it crosses the dual carriageway out of Newcastle eastward to Whitely Bay. When one enters the large car park areas with space for 1500 cars and with the stores on two sides one does not immediately gain an impression of the size of the individual stores which makes them the largest I have seen as single storey buildings.
There is Marks and Spencer’s, Boots, JD Sports. Halfords, Mothercare, River Island, SCS Furniture, Sports Direct, Outfit, Next, Comet, Argos, Bens Beds, Halfords and Pound Store, plus We got it and New Look with PC World. There are also three restaurants McDonalds as one enters the site and Frankie and Benny’s and Pizza Hut either side of the Odeon Cinema which dominates the site at a raised level at the far end of the site.
I parked by the cinema and then after a short queue wait decided on a Premier seat at the premium price of £14.50. I had brought my own glasses. The Premium seats are wider with arm rests which can be raised and plenty of leg room. Given that the minimum price for a seat at the final is over £100 plus the travel and accommodation costs and that debenture seats were being exchanged for several thousand pounds I decided to treat myself in preparation for a disappointment.
I then made my way for a standard MacChicken Meal with Pepsi drink to take out and enjoyed in the car having stopped at the supermarket on the way for a copy of the Sunday Telegraph at £2. The total expenditure was therefore £25 including Tyne Tunnel fees plus ice cream during the match plus petrol. I mention the cost in this instance as I would win £20 if Federer won and £115 if Murray plus return of my stake of £40
I had made an initial bet with Ladbrokes of £25 for Murray to win at odds of 5 to 1. The same odds are available for the Olympic Games
I had opened an account with Ladbrokes to make use of the £25 free matching bet and invested this on Murray beating Chilic at odds of 1 to 4 on. This only produced a win of £6.25 as the free bet stake is not returned
I therefore made a new stake of £15 using £3 of the win for an £18 stake for Murray to win 4 to 9 against Ferrer in the next round yielding a net win of £8 return of stake £16 and £3.25 still in credit.
I then bet £27 for Murray to beat Tsonga at 4:9 and win £12 with return of stake and £2, 25 in credit. This was the most speculative of the additional stake bets as Tsonga had shown great form at the French but Murray had beaten the Frenchman several times. He had won the first two sets in imperious manner but then Tsonga came to life taking the third and looked good in the fourth before Murray was able to take command again and became the first Brit to reach the Men’s final for seventy four years. Of course I wanted to Murray to win as did the majority of the British nation although Tennis is not as popular a sport as many others.
I therefore decided to hedge bet using the £40 made up of £15 additional stake and £25 winnings on Federer to beat Murray at 1:2 yielding a win of £20 plus credit wins £1.25 and return of £ 40 which is the total amount of personal money betted.
The last time I was here for a sporting event I became agitated over the delay before the game was screened unaware that for the 3D events there was to be a separate broadcast unlike the HD relays of previous rounds where the TV edition with the build up was used. I was therefore relaxed and it was others attending who became anxious when 1.45 arrived and there was nothing on the screen. Eventually someone explained that they were waiting for the official relay to commence which did so shortly after this with build up film and comments by the former British Canadian Greg Rudeski.
It took sometime to adjust to camera angles of the 3D relay. For the BBC the cameras are above head level so it possible to see the ball when it reaches the ground across the net. Here the camera are more at the level of the rackets from the server viewpoint so you get a full measure of the speed and the ability of players to hit a ball from below the net, get it over and down all in one single movement. Every shot was repeated sometimes switching between server and receiver cameras after the point was played out. I found this added to my understanding of the skill of the players.
I became very excited as the first set progressed with Andy breaking serve, Federer breaking back but then Murray breaking again to take the set 6 to 4 for the first time in Grand Slam final have been defeated 3 sets to none in each of the three previous final he had contested, including 3.0 defeat to Federer. Murray played some great confident Tennis. Federer appear the nervous one and was making an extraordinary number of unforced errors.
Murray and two good opportunities to break Feeder’s serve in the second set both with two break points. Federer seemed to step up several gears to fight on and then took the set himself to one set all. It was during. Then it commenced to rain and the court covered before the roof was closed. The supporters on the big screen hill were drenched and I compared their experience to my own. The screen is on the far side of Wimbledon close to what is now the Number 1 court. I took the opportunity of the delay to go my car for the phone which I had left in the vehicle and to buy the ice cream as well as comfort visit. I sense the moment had passed and feared the worst because Federer is more comfortable in a closed environment and he became faultless and inspired where as Murray expressed his grow frustration and lack of confidence with a series of failed first serves. The third set was lost and failure loomed when he was broken midway during the fourth. He then appeared to make a courageous go for broke attempt but by then Federer showed no sense of being threatened and brought the game to an end. Murray was understandably upset and made a brave effort to congratulate the winner and to thank his team his family and the public for their support.
I returned home to find that Durham had only been able to tie their 20 20 game against Lancs and had failed in their bid to win a quarter final place in the competition. I had looked at the PC speakers and Cinema Sound speakers at the PC World but deferred a purchase until the outcome of the match became known. I continued to read the Sunday paper over the following two days.
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