The first part of the day didn’t go to plan, quick runs didn’t
come, Cook was out for 162, Ali made 43 but England were all out for 345. As an England fan I felt confident we couldn’t
lose but how nervous would the kiwis make us?
After two balls the answer was “not very”. Five balls later it was “not at all” and when
Taylor fell with the score at 12-3 a win seemed inevitable. England’s bowling in the hour before lunch was
intense and brilliant.
NZ performed better after lunch, Williamson hung around a
while with Watling, (who had come in ahead of McCullum for some reason) but
Stokes ripped out two in two balls and England believed again. Watling remained with Anderson and they put
on 107 runs, could the kiwis hang on?
No, Wood bounced out BJ and Root snared Corey. The game was up, NZ hung around a bit but
eventually all out for 220 and England had won a brilliant test match.
The stats; 40 wickets for 1610 runs in five full days of
cricket.
This New Zealand side is possibly the best that has left
their shores, certainly much better than the abject rabble I watched surrender
in a morning at Trent Bridge in 2008.
For England to beat them is an impressive performance made even more so
because we kept battling back from adversity.
At 30-4 we are used to seeing England all out for 150 but instead we
recovered to 389. The Kiwis reached 400-3
but England clawed it back to 523 all out.
Again second innings we were 25-2 and 75-3 but reached 478 in quick time
too. Then on the last day our bowlers
had obviously learnt from their first innings mistakes and pitched the ball up!
Credit to New Zealand, they came and played the game in good
spirit and had spells in the game when they were dominant. In the end they may have become victims of
their own egos and perished because of their all out attacking philosophy?
As for England, well we looked a good team in this match but
there’s another tough test starting on Friday in Leeds. After this one we should be able to assess
our Ashes chances…
What a test match!
England were out early on day two but Ali managed to make his fifty and
England reached 389. How would NZ
bat? The answer was very well! Both openers passed fifty but both were out
with the score on 148. England’s bowlers
didn’t get it right after that. Two new
batsmen at the crease gave England hope but Taylor and Williamson batted to the
close then started up again in the morning.
Williamson got to a hundred early on day three then Taylor got to fifty
but England bowled well thereafter and slowed the scoring down and wickets
began to fall. Ali got a couple and Wood
looked good on debut. McCullum came and
went in the blink of an eye and racked up 40+ while he was there. Watling hit 50+ but the rest didn’t contribute
much but NZ finished on 523, a lead of 134 and control of the game. England’s reply began in familiar style with the
early wickets of Lyth and Ballance but Cook and Bell saw England through to the
close. England had lost two wickets and were
still over 60 runs in arears
So far three days of top class, entertaining test cricket
but day four was even better. Southee
got Bell on the third ball of the morning and I was thinking ‘oh no, here we go…’. There was no need to worry, Cook and Root
batted through difficult conditions through the morning but the partnership
flourished thereafter. Root looked
certain to get a century but hooked straight down a fielders throat on 84. With the score on 232 the game was still in
the balance. Great test cricket!
The next couple of hours got even better, Cook got a well
deserved century but was very much a junior partner to Ben Stokes who was just
brilliant. Stokes simply put bat to ball
and whacked it all over and out of Lords hitting 15 fours and 3 sixes on his
way to the fastest test hundred at Lords.
He was out soon after, the partnership with Cook put on 132, Stokes
scored 101 of them!! Buttler came and
went quickly but Ali stayed with his captain till the close with the score at
429-6, England have a lead of 295.
Twenty four hours ago we were wondering if we could avoid defeat, now we
think we can win!
What a cracking first day!
New Zealand won the toss and stuck England in and after an hour it
looked a good decision as the score was 30-4.
A couple of good balls and a couple of poor shots, seeing an England
innings in tatters has become too familiar.
Root and Stokes counter attacked and began scoring freely,
the two put on a partnership of 161 but both got out in the nineties. Buttler (who I rate) and Ali (who I don’t)
then put another century stand together but Joss was out on the last ball of
the day for 67. Ali finished unbeaten on
49 and the score stood at 354-7.
England will probably sleep better tonight. McCullum will not have wanted to see 350+
after inserting England and at 30-4 we should never have got there. The scorecard shows our middle order batted
very well but Boult and Southee can bowl better than they did today. Did we seize the game or did NZ let us take
it?
Joe Root is looking a class act, our best batsman by a mile
at the moment. Ben Stokes done well but
we need more consistency from him. England
will hope to reach 400 and if Ali is awake in the morning we can get it but NZ
can make it tough. Sometime tomorrow
England will bowl and this will put day one into context.
I like detective books and Mark Billingham is an author in this genre that I hadn’t
encountered before. “The Bones beneath” features DI Tom Thorne who is ‘baby sitting’ an
imprisoned serial killer as he leads the police to a body he buried many years
before. The story is set on a small
rocky island off the Welsh coast and the author is able to build the sense of
isolation as well as the tension. In
Stuart Nicklin he is trying to create a ‘Hannibal Lecter’ type character but he
falls well short. I enjoyed this book
right up to the end which I found unsatisfactory because I like things tied up
neat and tidy. Would I read another Mark
Billingham book? Yes I probably would
but there are many other writers in this genre that I’d choose to read first.
I’ve read several books by Ian McEwan and he really is a brilliant writer. “Saturday”
is a day in the life of wealthy Neurosurgeon Henry Perowne who lives a
privileged lifestyle with a beautiful family.
The book is set in 2003, after the terrorist attacks which changed the
world forever and before the war in Iraq.
Indeed the day in question is when two million people march in London to
protest against the Iraq war. Perowne’s
Saturday starts when he wakes early and through his window watches a plane
aflame on its descent to Heathrow, his whole routine is then thrown off kilter. What should be a routine day becomes anything
but.
Throughout Perwone’s day the reader is given an insight into
his musings and we learn his life history and those of his extended family,
there is also an unexpected encounter with a character hitherto unknown. All these elements come together in the evening
with a family reunion that goes wildly off plan. There is danger here and as a reader I cared
about the characters that were literally on a knife edge.
Ian McEwan at his best finds the extraordinary in everyday
characters and in “Saturday” he’s at his very best.
Irvine Welsh is
probably my favourite writer and I’ve read everything he’s ever published. I didn’t particularly like “Bedroom secrets
of the Master Chefs” and “Filth” was a bit too dark for me but I’ve loved
pretty much everything else; “Trainspotting” and “Porno” are two of my all time
favourite books.
“Sex lives of Siamese
twins” is the latest in paperback and is one of his best. Set in Miami it features Lena and Lucy as the
two main characters who are not actually conjoined twins but more alike than
they realise. Familiar themes from
Irvine Welsh; Obsession, addiction, dark humour & darker places, the best
and worst of human nature, weird sex, bad language and filthy minds, all are
present in abundance. With this story
you don’t know where Welsh is going to take you and there are shocks right up
to the end. Welsh’s stories often have
an uplifting conclusion, sometimes euphoric, “Sex lives…” didn’t quite take me
all the way but it came damn close.
In the weird and wonderful world of English cricket the
madness continues. First Andrew Strauss
is appointed as… whatever his job title is?
We love Straussy and hope things go well for him. Then before you can draw breath poor old
Peter Moores is sacked to be replaced for the short term by Mr Farbrace, (I’ve
been drinking some red stuff with ‘beaujolais’ on the bottle and it’s quite
nice but I can’t remember his name and can’t be arsed to google). Is Moores the wrong man? Or, has he been the right man at the wrong
time? We will never know. My problem with Moores’ two terms in charge
is I don’t think the right teams have been put on the pitch. Is this down to Moores or is this the responsibility
of the selectors?
Next the KPego saga rolled on, he makes a career best 355*
for Surrey then is told he won’t feature in England’s plans this summer. From what I’ve read the there’s nothing that
says the door is locked and bolted for KPego and if England have a bad summer
he may yet come back. On the one hand
KPego is a selfish twat and shouldn’t be anywhere near the England team. On the other, based on talent and recent form
he should be picked. I don’t like the
bloke but I do enjoy watching him bat.
Now up to date and the squad for the first test against New
Zealand has been announced and I’m disappointed to see its virtually the same
as the last one. Adam Lyth will make his
debut as Cook’s opening partner, fine. I’d
like to see Alex Hales given a go but maybe his time will come. The rest of the batsmen look fine too but
Bell has been inconsistent of late.
Buttler behind the stumps, no problem there either. The trouble for me is with the bowlers/All
rounders. Neither Stokes nor Jordan look
like they could bowl a team out so we only have room for one of them. Hopefully Wood will make his debut. If we’re going to pick an all rounder then we
should ditch Ali and play a proper spinner, surely he’s not our best
option? Give Rashid a chance! Where’s Monty?
I’ve said it before New Zealand are capable of beating
England, this will be a serious test series and even if we win, will we be any
closer to knowing what our best team is?
“I also expect England
to win, no matter which XI they put on the field.”
Words come back to haunt me…
England won the toss and batted making 257 built around a long overdue
century from Cook. Ali was the only
other batsman to pass 50 and most observers thought this total was way short of
par but the pitch was taking spin. In
reply Blackwood top scored with 88, Jimmy took six wickets and WI were all out
for 189. England’s spinners were poor
and again many people thought England could have done better.
England’s second innings was a cock up, all out for 123 but
a lead of 191 might be enough? Bravo
scored 82 and Blackwood was unbeaten on 47 to lead West Indies to a five wicket
win. Once again England’s spinners were
ineffective.
So the series ended all square which may have flattered WI
but the scorebook doesn’t lie. Like many
people I have a great affection for the West Indies teams of days gone by and I
would like to see them back competing at the top in test cricket. This side looks like it has plenty of
talented young players but I’ve thought this many times over the last twenty
years!
As for England well Trotty has retired saying he no longer
feels he is playing at a high enough level for international cricket. Trott has been a big part of one of England’s
greatest sides and a decent man on and off the field. He has bowed out at the right time and leaves
the international arena with honour and integrity intact. Adam Lyth looks next in line to get a go as
Cook’s opening partner.
England struggled to bowl WI in this series and only Anderson
looked anywhere near best. We played
three all rounders, none of whom really looked capable of bowling out
international teams. Stokes, Jordan and
Woakes (when fit) are all too similar and only one of the three should play at
any time. Ali simply isn’t good enough
with bat or ball and has to make way.
England need to select a bowler who can bowl consistently fast and
threatening, who? That’s anyone’s guess
right now. England also need a world
class spinner, anyone seen Monty lately?
Maybe this defeat is just the wake up call England’s selectors need?
Last weekend saw the richest boxing match in history. I’ve not seen enough of either Manny Pacquiao
or Floyd Mayweather to judge but most of the public wanted Manny to win by
knockout while most seasoned observers picked Floyd to win on points, which he
duly did. By all accounts the hype far
outweighed the action. Mayweather is an
unlikeable woman beating thug who has proclaimed himself the world’s best ever. He is technically a great boxer but he does
not compare to the subject of a book I read recently.
Muhammad Ali – A
portrait in words in pictures by Wilfred Sheed
Before I start I have to confess that I love Ali. As far as I’m concerned he is the greatest
heavyweight boxer that will ever draw breath and I admire him enormously as a
human being. I was a kid in the
seventies, what would you expect?
This is an old book in good condition that I added to my Ali
collection recently. It was produced in
1975 shortly after Muhammad had defeated George Foreman to regain the
title. It concentrates on Ali at the
peak of his fame, Ali the ‘Black Muslim’, Ali the poet and comedian, Ali the
media darling and Ali the great boxer.
It tries to analyse the ‘greatest’ and explain the man behind the myth.
This book was written before the damaging fight with Joe
Frazier in Manilla, before the career stretched on way too long and long before
the onset of Parkinson’s syndrome. This
book was written without any clue as to how Ali would become in his later
years, (arguably greater for his afflictions?)
It predicts a bright future for Muhammad after his boxing career come to
a close. It makes sad reading in this
context.
The author Wilfred Sheed attempts to analyse the various
facets of Ali’s life and character; how has his early life and family shaped
him? Is his religion genuine? Is he an intelligent man or an idiot faking
it? Once again the forty years that have
passed since this book was published have answered all those questions. In this context the author himself comes
across as an egomaniac. At times this
book is easy to read and I skipped through the pages quickly but at others it’s
a bit dull. There are loads of great
photographs throughout and it is a welcome addition to my collection of ‘Ali
books’ which now numbers ten at last count.
A couple of weeks ago I took Isaac to see “Avengers – Age of Ultron” at the
cinema. Isaac loves this kind of
superhero action movie, I can take them or leave them but he’s dragged me along
to see lots of them. This one is all
action from beginning to end, always plenty going on and Scarlet Johansson for
eye candy. Samuel L. Jackson is the
coolest man in Hollywood and he pops up in the nick of time too. Isaac loved it and I thought it was pretty
good too.
I’m happy to say Maddie has shunned the boy-band nonsense
enjoyed by most of her peers and is a lover of Punk rock. This is something the two of us have in
common and nowadays we are often trading CD’s.
One of our favourite bands is Nirvana, led by the late great Kurt Cobain. Anyone who was around in the early nineties
and enjoys real music must be aware of Nirvana. Some may have been put off by
the volume and attitude, if so I urge you to look beyond this and embrace it
for your own sake. Kurt’s music is
timeless and it works at full volume or turned down a little. This shared love of music gave me an excuse
to take my daughter to the cinema.
“Montage of Heck”
is a documentary of Kurt’s life made from private family footage filmed on ‘super
8’ as well as clips of tour diaries and over unseen footage from the Cobain
estate. His parents, family, girlfriends
and band mates contribute too. There are
animated sequences filling in some of the gaps from early in his life. There are bizarre, disturbing animations made
from Kurt’s own sketchbooks which are disturbing at times, maybe reflecting the
demons in his head.
The film is everything you would expect; dark &
disturbing, beautiful and moving, shocking and unpredictable. Kurt’s addiction is not glossed over and it
certainly isn’t glamorised. The concert
footage makes the hair stand up on your neck.
The film finishes a few weeks before “the end” but we know what happened,
at the time it felt inevitable and there is no need to replay it. Maybe we are a bit nearer to understanding
why. If you love Kurt, go see the
film. If you don’t go see it anyway.
