The one that got away

The fourth test, the one that got away.  For three days England played possibly their best cricket under the current regime, then came the rain which did enough to enforce the draw.  Australia actually came third in this match.

Barking mad Bairstow had his best game as keeper for at least five years then when interviewed admitted he wasn’t really fit enough to be keeping wicket.  If Foakes (no I won’t let it go) had been included at the beginning of the summer the man most likely to have been jettisoned was Zak Crawley who played a blinder and Chris Woakes, another player I’ve written off many times took five for.  Crucially, we were much better in the field, clinging onto the important catches.  Yes a cricket cliché but catches win matches and that is the main reason the Ashes will be returning to Australia whatever the result next week.

For England here won’t be any dramatic changes in personnel, nor should there be on the strength of what we saw in Manchester.  At this moment, sitting here I can’t see anything other than an emphatic England win to level the series which would feel right.

The other series finished level too which left England’s women by far the happier of the two teams, for the first time in a long time the Aussies were shown to be only human and didn’t much like it.

Red Hot Chili Peppers 21/07/23

Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of my favourite bands for over thirty years, “Fight like a brave” had opened my ears and eyes, “Give it away” had made my jaw drop.  I’d seen them twice before, first time was amazing, life affirming but the second time though still very good, at the same time slightly disappointing in comparison.  This gig was being held in Spurs football stadium and I didn’t really think about it having decided stadium rock wasn’t really my thing and the bands best days were behind them, weren’t they?  The tickets were a surprise, heart tugging gift from a family member who remembered my affinity for this band, I didn’t find out until a few weeks before and all of a sudden I had something to look forward to.

But there’s a slight downside. For me getting to a gig in London requires a bit of planning to avoid quite a lot of stressful driving on alien roads.  Best bet is to drive to somewhere on the edge of the jungle and get some kind of train in, but where?  After careful deliberation I chose Cheshunt on this occasion and it was all pretty simple in then end. Then there was another hurdle to overcome.  E-tickets, which for a technophobe are a nightmare and a source of great stress but I eventually managed to sort it out.  Tickets on my phone, really?  it’s just over complicating things in the name of simplicity, what’s wrong with a couple of strips of thin card?

I can’t ever recall visiting Tottenham before and what an absolute shit hole it is.  An environment that screams desperation surrounds a massive state of the art football edifice, how many that live in its shadow can afford to watch a match let alone see a band successful enough to fill it. Yup I’m a lucky boy.  The bloody E-tickets hindered our entry but the steward was patient and it was only when we were safely climbing the steps did I finally trust the bloody things.  Inside the stadium it’s all clean and efficient, nothing like the football grounds I visited in the last century even post Hillsborough.  Out onto the pitch, surrounded by enormous high stands yet somehow it still seems smaller than it should, as did Wembley as I recall whereas Lords seems bigger.

Usually time stops still when you are waiting for a band that are still a couple of hours away but not so tonight.  The support bands helped.  ‘King Princess’, decent pop rock but I don’t know if they are a band or is it all about the young American girl who was singing?  Either way they were okay but had nothing to set them apart from very many other bands who have tried to do the same thing.  Next was a collective called ‘Roots’, I suppose I’d describe it as hip hop with a big funky band providing the soundtrack which occasionally included homages to a few old classics.  But they murdered “Move on up” to the extent the Princess hadn’t realised they’d tried to play it, this is simply unforgivable.  The rhythms were good though and the music was moving me but whenever the fella rapped it swamped the sound and the band diminished.

So the Chili Peppers, by now only minutes away…It would be good for sure but good enough to make me forget the tribulations getting here had involved?  How many times can a band go round the world, filling stadiums everywhere but still be inspired to play their hearts out?  I’ve seen old favourite bands that could barely hide the fact that they were going through the motions.  Could the Chili’s bring life, love and rhythms to this giant concrete bowl?  Then the music started and all of that shite was forgotten in a second.

As usual they began with a jam - drums, bass and guitar, tight with band members smiling then bang “Can’t stop addicted to the shin dig…”  the perfect start. Pause – strum, “Scar tissue that I wish you saw…” just beautiful!  Take a breath “deep inside the cover of another perfect wonder…”  I have tears of joy running down my cheeks.  Past their best?  Are they fuck!

It didn’t stop all night.  Three masterful musicians that separate a tune so you can hear each instrument on its own right then bring them back together into a funky punky rock rhythm.  A front man with prowling presence who has a voice that fits and the audience in his palm.  Add to this a thirty five year back catalogue of tunes that have sound tracked my adult life.  And yes RHCP do still care!  They played with passion and the screens showed the smiles between them as they did so.  The Chilis usually play a different set every night of the tour so you never know what you’re going to get.  Tonight the stars aligned, it was as if I had chosen the set list myself, it couldn’t have been better.   And tonight it was as if they’d plugged the instruments into my body.  What was so different tonight compared to Birmingham NEC a few years ago?  Maybe the tickets, being on the floor not up in the Gods played its part.  Maybe the music suits the venue itself, the memorable first time I saw them was also in a football stadium. But maybe it was because the iconic guitarist was back.  I know nothing of the technical aspects of playing a guitar but I know that in almost forty years of gigging, no guitarist has ever moved me as much as John Frusciante did on 21^st July 2023, this was his show, he was just brilliant.

Towards the end of the set one of several between song jams ceased, then a second later a familiar guitar chord “Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind’s elation…” with the crowd singing every word, (actually this was the loudest crowd I’ve ever been part of). Final track was a monster hit “Standing in line to see the show tonight…” then they left the stage so we could get our breath back.  The encore was predictable but exactly what we needed, “under the bridge down town, is where I drew some blood…” had us singing and swaying, then a leap back up into punky spitting musical anarchy “What I got I gotta give it to yer mumma…”

The lights came on and dazzled us, we tramped stiff armed to the exits caught in a human glacier up the steps down the steps and all the way to the station.  Goodbye Tottenham, I won’t be rushing back to rediscover your charms and I’m still not won over by massive gigs but for ninety minutes we forgot where we were and it had been worth it.  What a fucking gig!!  This was next level, all time top ten, fucking wonderful glorious, emotional and beautiful.  It carried me all the way home unhindered by a closed road when I needed it least and through a disappointing rainy weekend when there was hardly any cricket.

Three down two to go

Another great finish to another tidal test match, flowing up and down with nothing in its path able to withstand the push and pull, wherever we are we just have to tune in and become absorbed.  Now a nice break to slip back into relative normality, time to regroup and time to think.  Australia may be 2-1 but even that margin flatters them, England are the better team and are only trailing because of their own mistakes.

The great selection debate goes on.  Ollie Pope will miss the rest of the series through injury but if Mo can score a few runs at three then it may be a blessing in disguise.  With Stokes playing purely as a batsman then maybe he should bat at first drop?  Either way we need another all rounder and Woakes’ selection, which came as an unwelcome surprise to me turned out to be spot on.  Then there’s the wicket keeper, the most important position on the field should not be filled by someone lacking form and low on confidence.  Sorry Johnny, Foakes must return, any other selection could cost us the series.  Just a thought, if we can move bowlers in and out of the team why can’t we select batsmen on a ‘horses for courses basis’?

Two matches to go and obviously this series could still go either way but even with a deficit I think England are the better team and I actually fancy our chances more now than I did before the series began.  That’s just poured piss on things…

PS Anyone else getting pissed off with hearing Vaughan utter the words “this England side…” every time he opens his cake hole?

The women’s series is levelling off nicely too, it’s hard to see anything other than an eventual Aussie win but England are competing and pushing back harder than anyone has done in years.  The gap between the sides is definitely closing.

Flashes.

Over twenty years ago I was keeping wicket in a local league cup final (Yes it’s fair to say I was one of the less talented team members…) and I stumped a batsmen (actually a former professional with Essex) in almost identical circumstances to the “Bairstow incident”.  The decision was given not out, I was fuming and that batsmen went on to score a match winning half century.  So I can’t find any sympathy, the umpires got it right, Bairstow was out.  Likewise Duckett was not out, Starc clearly grounded the ball, I don’t know what all the fuss was about.  Glenn McGrath must have been really worried at that stage because he lost the plot on air. 

Some would argue Bairstow’s stumping changed the course of the match but the blame lies with the batsman being too casual and going for a wander.  Johnny is a weird character, I love watching him bat but he’s a bit of a nutter, the manic stare and all that; let’s face it you wouldn’t want him living next door.  Last year he was brilliant but this followed a long period when his test match form was barely good enough to hold a place in the team.  Last summer he made all those runs batting at five, knowing he had Stokes and Foakes to follow.  I can’t believe he can be that effective batting at seven with a long tail to come after him.  Talking of Foakes I can’t help thinking that had he had played and had made the same contributions as JB then the media would be dissecting his selection.

While Stokes was at the crease we still believed and he played another one of those innings that only he can.  He didn’t get us over the line this time but we’ll remember this knock forever.  Another cricketer I love to watch but it can be infuriating when he just comes out swinging.  The same applies to his captaincy or more to the point his declarations, if he can learn from his mistakes he could go down as one of the great skippers.  But with the sight of him limping and grimacing I wonder how long can he continue?  Maybe it’s time to drop the bowling and move up the order…

Australia now have a significant lead but this has come after two exciting test matches and it could easily have been England in the ascendancy had we kept our heads.  But Australia deserve their leads because they’ve won the crucial moments.  It looks like this Aussie team have a quality that even the great sides that dominated for fifteen years didn’t have; they’ve learned how to win tight test matches.  But they are beatable if England can get it right.