Test cricket coming soon!

Time passes quickly and since I last wrote anything on here the World cup has gone to form.  The final four teams that contested the semi-finals were South Africa, India, New Zealand and Australia with the co-hosts making it through to the final.

England as expected lost to Bangladesh and crashed out at the group stage.  The ODI game has changed dramatically in recent years and England haven’t changed with it.  Where England push singles the top teams are smashing boundaries, with our approach to the game we can only hope to be anything like competitive on home soil.

The final was an anti-climax.  NZ started shakily with the bat but progressed to 150-3 then collapsed 183 all out.  Aus won at a canter by seven wickets with 101 balls remaining.  As a passionate England supporter it’s tough watching Australia being presented with the world cup.  It was made 1000 times worse by the grovelling Englishman holding the microphone.  Mark Nicholas was nothing more than an honest county pro but has always been a sickening, plum gobbed wanker in the commentary box.

At least now we have some real cricket to look forward to.  England play a test series against the West Indies with the tests beginning in Antigua on 13^th April.  This series is crucial and England must win well to gain some momentum going into the summer.  England will have their eyes on the Ashes series later in the year but before then we face New Zealand who are not to be over looked and are definitely capable of winning.

Thought for the week, Lewis Hamilton must surely be a multi-millionaire so why can’t he get himself a hat that actually fits?

News this week was dominated by the pilot that deliberately crashed a plane full of people.  Shocking, tragic & senseless.  Strikes me as an adult version of taking a gun to school.  Oh apparently there’s some political bollocks beginning soon.

I found an Ian Rankin title that I hadn’t read so bought it assuming it would be a Rebus novel.  It wasn’t, I was disappointed for a second but remembered reading other ‘non Rebus’ books that were bloody good.  “Bleeding Hearts” tells of an assassin who you can’t help liking.  After a hit Michael Weston (or is it?) feels he’s been set up and back tracks to find out what happened.  With enemies closing in on all sides he doesn’t realise just how set up he has been!  It’s a pretty good thriller and I enjoyed it but not as gripping as you know who.

Just not good enough

Saturday evening saw England take on Sri Lanka in the latest world cup match and for once I was able to sit down and watch part of the game.  Had I known how frustrating this experience would be I wouldn't have bothered.  Mathews captained his side well and his bowlers kept to plan. England posted a reasonable total of 309-6 built around Joe Root's 121 but I went to bed in the certain knowledge that this would not be enough runs. And so it proved, Sri Lanka cantered to a 9 wicket win with Thirimanne and the brilliant Sangakkara both making centuries.

It's time to face the facts.  The top ODI teams are playing a different game now and England have been left miles behind.  The plain facts are where England are pushing singles the likes of Australia, New Zealand, India & South Africa are clubbing boundaries.  England's innings stuttered along without any momentum and whereas 309 would have been considered a decent score once upon a time, nowadays it is 30 runs short.

The daft thing is England still have a chance of going on to the next stage of the competition with a win of Afghanistan, despite losing three games without even being competitive.  It would take an absolute miracle for England to make any meaningful contribution to this tournament thereafter.  England have gone into this World cup without the first clue of what their best team is, with a strategy that is a decade out of date and with a fear of failure rather than confidence in their abilities.  Moeen Ali and Gary Balance aren't up to the task right now, Bell seems to be feeling the responsibility of his senior position in the side and Morgan is not producing the goods.  Our bowlers look toothless compared to the attacks of the other leading side.  Lurking in the shadows is the KPego.  We don't want him back but we could hardly be worse if he was.

Peter Moores has been in charge of England for around a year now and has had indifferent results, just like he did in his first tenure as coach.  Is Moores unlucky to get the job at difficult times?  Or is he simply not up to it?

Only a month left

A couple of weeks later…  The world cup is still trundling along in the periphery of my life.  England have managed to lose disgustingly to a rampant New Zealand.  Southee & Macullum slaughtered us, the less said the better.  Since then we managed to beat Scotland fairly comfortably but definitely don’t look like a team that will progress far in this tournament.  In fact, at this moment they look clueless.  Elsewhere India thrashed South Africa which was a surprise and all the other matches have gone as expected.  Somewhere along the way Chris Gayle woke up and smashed 215 against Zimbabwe and Scotland managed to lose to Afghanistan.  There's still another month of this to go.

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have finally signed to fight in what will be the richest boxing match ever made.  In my heart I’d love to see Manny knock ‘money’ out cold but my head says Mayweather will win on points.

I’m not sure what this bird is, I think it might be an immature Buzzard but it’s not the first time I’ve seen a big bird of prey with this colouration in Norfolk.

Pyjama cricket

The ODI world cup started a few days ago with a very poor England performance punished by the co-hosts Australia.  England have to get everything right in order to challenge the top ODI teams but in this match they were nowhere near.  The umpires made a colossal howler at the end giving Anderson run out when the ball was dead and leaving James Taylor on 98*, but the game was decided long before that.  Taylor was probably the one positive from this match but it was nice to see Finn get a strange hat trick and a five wicket haul.  Finn is not yet back to his best but he is progressing.

Next up for England is the other co-host New Zealand who looked a very good side when thumping Sri Lanka and will go into the match as favourites.  England have to improve or we’re looking at an early exit.  Elsewhere South Africa started strongly in beating Zimbabwe and India comfortably defeated Pakistan.  So far first innings scores of over 300 are the norm but West Indies couldn’t defend 304 and managed to lose to Ireland for the first ‘shock’ of the tournament.  Ireland are getting used to scalping test playing teams and West Indies have been terrible in recent times so maybe not so much of a shock.

The World cup is a marathon that finishes on 29^th March but will at least be mildly interesting until England go to the Caribbean to play some proper cricket.

Michael Connelly’s “The Reversal” he teams up two much loved characters; Detective Harry Bosch and lawyer Micky Haller in another story of crime, corruption and chaos in Los Angeles.  This time Haller is acting as a prosecutor tasked at re-convicting a murderer who has had his conviction over turned.  He enlists Bosch to help as investigator for the prosecution and we have all the ingredients needed for another Connelly classic.  The book doesn’t disappoint and as usual is hard to put down but if I have one criticism the ending is maybe a little predictable, for a Connelly fan at least.  That doesn’t spoil it though, ‘The Reversal’ is a bloody good book.

This tune has nothing to do with the above but I like it.

History

One Summer – America 1927 by Bill Bryson.

I’ve read several Bryson books and mostly enjoyed them.  This was the latest to land in my lap and was a little different to the normal ‘quirky travel book’.  It charts the summer of 1927 which shaped the future of the USA and indeed the world for a long time to come.  I know little of American history but have no doubt that Bryson has done his research correctly and there is no doubt that 1927 was a hell of a year.  From May to September of that year a whole load of stuff happened that’s for sure.  It began with a notorious murder trial in New York while large parts of the country were underwater from a huge flood of the Mississippi.  Charles Lindberg became the first man to fly across the Atlantic whilst other tried and failed, some dying in the attempt.  Top bankers from USA, Britain & Germany held a meeting and made decisions that led to the stock market crash.  44 people were killed when a nutter blew up a school.  Prohibition was in full swing (we all know what a good idea that turned out to be) but the tide was turning and someone (can’t remember her name but it wasn’t Elliot Ness) worked out a way to bust Al Capone (& others) through tax evasion.  Two immigrant terrorists were executed, Jack Dempsey fighting Carpentier was the first sports event to be broadcast live on radio and this was followed later in the year by the Dempsey vs Tunney rematch.  Also television was invented, the silent film era ended.  Closer to the American heart Babe Ruth had a golden baseball season.  

Hang on a minute…  Dodgy bankers creating a depression, mass murder at a school, immigrants plotting terrorism, the death penalty still doesn't deter murder, gangsters growing rich from prohibition,; Hey don’t worry we have sport!  1927 or right now?  Things have changed but things have stayed the same.  Have we learnt anything from history?

This book was a good read because I learnt a hell of a lot about the good old USA.  I find British history fascinating and America’s short history intriguing.  I knew a little about Charles Lindberg but absolutely nothing about the massive flood that smashed through the states.  I thought dodgy court verdicts, political corruption and fuck witted presidents were a modern phenomenon but it seems they are as old as the constitution.  I was aware that racism was rife in these times (through the beautiful & brilliant Maya Angelou autobiographies) but didn’t know that there were movements towards Nazi style racial purification going on.  I knew about Henry Ford, production lines and the model T but I didn’t realise what a moron the man actually was.

In general nonfiction rarely holds my attention in the same way as a good novel and ‘One Summer’ was no exception.  It’s a good book that I’m glad to have read but with such a broad subject there will always be sections I find fascinating and others I can’t be bothered with.

“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak was as good as any book I read last year so I don’t know how I forgot to mention it the other day.  It’s set in Germany during the Second World War and describes the lives of the ordinary German people through the war years.  We forget these people suffered just as our own grandparents did.  If the author is to be believed many ordinary Germans were offended by the Third Reich too.  The story is told by Death as he charts the life of a young girl Leisel, who sees tragedy, friendship, love, bravery and more tragedy.  She thieves a few books along the way too.  That makes it sound gloomy which it isn’t, there is humour throughout and it’s an uplifting experience.  I loved it.

England are currently playing a three way ODI series in Australia who predictably beat us in the first match.  Next up England managed to batter India and its particularly nice to see Finn getting a load of wickets.  In a few hours we play our third game of the series against the Aussies again, we must be due a win against them?

Confused

I’m confused. 

If capitalism is so great why does most of the “free world” owe money to China?  Also why are there so many people living in poverty in the USA?  And why are they allowed guns?

The European Union confuses me too.  I suppose that on balance it’s good that most countries in Europe are united under one banner.  It must be better than the several centuries we spent at war with each other.  But how else does European union benefit me and my family?  I can’t see how membership of the EU can benefit the UK as well as benefitting a poorer country like Romania for example.  Someone could baffle me with figures and explain the EU is good for business and therefore good for everyone but in a capitalist society the privileged few feel the benefits far more than we, the people do.

Some things don’t confuse me.  I understand that democracy is a worthy ideal but it doesn’t actually work very well, in any situation, ever.  I know that all politicians are liars who are not worthy of my vote.  I know that my vote will change close to fuck all because politicians don’t run the world, big business (i.e. a few rich men) runs the world.  They find new ways to rip us off and we just lap it up. 

I may have a grim view of modern life but I remain happy because with the exception of these occasional rants, I ignore it all.  I just don’t care about politics and all that bollocks and I rarely watch the news.  I do what I must to get by with a smile on my face and make the most of my free time but doing the things I love with the people I love.  My closest friends have very similar views on life as I do, we all opt out.

I talk about books a lot on this page so I’ll end with one now; George Orwell’s “1984”.  Many people refer to this book every day without even realising it because things like “Room 101” and “Big Brother” are familiar in our world.  Just about everything predicted in this book has come to pass, you don’t have to use much imagination to draw parallels from what Orwell describes to what is happening in the world around us.  1984 is a terrifying book.  I dare you to read it.

Books and Stuff

14/01/15

Ladies on social media, pouting at the camera does not make you look sexy.  It makes you look like you've got a gob full of cake.

Ignoring Christmas works!  But the few days I spent with my loved ones was great and I got a load more new books to read too.  I got two books written by Elly Griffiths featuring “Ruth Galloway” and a cast of familiar characters solving mysteries and murders.  In the past I’ve read and enjoyed “The Crossing Places and also “The Outcast Dead” which didn’t quite work for me.  (I may have mentioned them on here but can’t remember).  Recently I really enjoyed the “Janus Stone” which is set in Norfolk as usual and features some of the waterways I like to fish.  Ruth’s skills as an archaeologist are needed to examine a child’s bones and the mystery starts.  The other book was “Dying Fall” in which the cast contrive to relocate to Lancashire for a short while, long enough for another enjoyable murder mystery to unfurl.  I like these books and will look out for Elly Griffiths and Ruth Galloway again.

During the break I discovered a wonderful local beer.  The picture tells you everything you need to know about it and if you enjoy a real pint, give it a go.  As the new year is upon us and I haven’t written much on here for ages here are a few of the books I enjoyed this year;

Best Classic was “Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy” by John Le Carre.  I read a few “Smiley” books last year and enjoyed them all.

Funniest was probably Jonas Johannson’s latest “The girl who saved the King of Sweden” if anything even more of a laugh than the “One hundred year old man…”

I can’t remember being disappointed by any novels in 2014 and it’s not fair to criticise Khaled Housini’s “And the mountains Echoed” because nothing he writes will be as good as the Kite Runner. A few biographies were a bit underwhelming, Ian Botham’s “don’t tell Kath” in particular.

I don’t think I re-read anything last year but I did spend a lot of time on familiar turf with familiar characters; Ian Rankin’s ‘John Rebus’ and Michael Connelly’s “Harry Bosch”.  I feel like I’m getting to know Edinburgh and Los Angeles and I love these two characters and their stories.

Surprising - I don’t know why I find a Stephen King book surprising because I’ve read and enjoyed loads of them.  King gained his reputation by shocking and scaring people but my favourites are the ones that move me.  “Lissey’s Story” had the supernatural element, was totally believable and definitely moved me.

The most Life affirming could also have been the funniest.  I loved the “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simison because it was moving, funny and heart-warming.  I also have a personal attachment to the subject which really made it resonate.

Since I last wrote on here England have shoved Alaistair Cook aside as the ODI captain and appointed Eoin Morgan.  As much as I like Cook this has to be the right decision for his test career and England’s world cup chances.  I’m not convinced that Morgan is the right man to take over but we wish him well.  In the coming weeks England have a series against Australia and India which will be a huge test and a good gauge of our chances in the world cup.