ODI is interesting at last

England and New Zealand have just completed an ODI series that may well go down in cricketing history as one of the best ever.  In the first match England scored a record 408 and bowled NZ out easily to record a comfortable win.  In the next the Kiwis scored 399 and England almost chased it down, in fact if it wasn’t for rain and Duckworth/Lewis I’m sure we would have won.  England scored 300+ again in the third match but NZ completed a comfortable win to go 2-1 ahead.  When they set England 350 to win in the fourth they may have thought they had the series wrapped up but England completed their highest ever run chase to win by 7 wickets.  This squared the series and set up a ‘Final’ for the fifth match at Durham.  This match didn’t have the high scores of the previous four but New Zealand’s 283 would have seemed competitive in a ‘normal’ series.  Once again rain and Duckworth/Lewis intervened making England’s target even tougher but they managed to get over the line to win by three wickets and take the series.

From an England supporter’s point of view the series win was pleasing but far more important was the way we played.  NZ were world cup runners up and are a very good ODI team yet we were able to beat them at their own game with attacking cricket.  At last England have caught up with the rest of the world and are playing the way we should have played in the world cup.  Batsmen dominated this series and Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Joss Buttler and in the final match Johnny Bairstow were all superb.  The bowlers suffered but Stephen Finn, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid can hold their heads up.

It may only be ODI but this series has given English cricket a vital lift ahead of the tough Ashes series to come.  Being able to play this way successfully will give England belief that they can do the same against the Aussies.  Time will tell…

“The Overlook” is another in the ‘Harry Bosch’ series of novels by Michael Connelly.  Bosch gets the call to a murder scene but the FBI are right behind him as this case appears to have terrorist links.  The whole story is set in one twenty four hour period and despite all the twists and turns we’ve come to expect, Bosch solves the case.  As Connelly’s books go this is not one of his best but even so it’s still a damn good read!

Leftfield, Worth the wait

I’m lucky that over the years I’ve managed to see nearly all my favourite bands or musicians in concert at some time.  There are a couple of very notable exceptions but those boxes will now never be ticked.  I never saw Bob Marley but I did see the Wailers.  Never saw Led Zeppelin but I saw Jimmy Page on stage with Aerosmith at a festival.  One of my favourite albums of the 90’s was “Leftism” by Leftfield, dance music at its very best!  Despite seeing many big names in this genre I’d always managed to miss seeing Leftfield, until last Saturday night.

Mr Green had sent me a link to a stream of their new album (are they still called that?), the first in years.  It was good and we decided seeing them was a must, it was a pleasant surprise to find out they were playing London Forum in just a few days.  So in the company of our better halves we pointed a motor southward and headed off to the smoke.  As ever the journey passed quickly in laughter and chat, within a couple of hours we had pulled up and parked just around the corner from the venue.  We were in London with time to spare so grabbed a beer and a fantastic pizza before the main event.

There was a DJ warming the crowd up, he was pretty good and got us moving but I can’t remember his name.  The Forum is a nice medium sized venue which filled up fast but we’d got a good position on the floor in the middle and we weren’t budging.  As usual there was a frustrating pause in proceedings; the crowd was ready to go! 

At last Leftfield arrived with a beat and a bang, the crowd responded and the atmosphere was perfect.  This was the way it stayed for the next hour and a half, loads of new tunes and a good sprinkling of old ones.  The room didn’t stop moving and the dub tunes in particular lifted the roof.  If I had to pick a highlight then an old fave, “Inspection Check one” would have to be it.  I love many types of music and there are many different types of brilliant live experience.  This didn't have the visual energy of the Prodigy and it wasn't the extravaganza of Screamadelica but for dancing with a crowd of blissed out, like minded people it was as good as it gets. There was the obligatory trippy light show and a couple of guests joining the show but it was mostly about the rhythms and the dancing.  Sometimes I want a gig to end, others I’ve had enough by the time they finish but I wanted this one to keep on all night.  I waited a long time to see Leftfield, I wasn’t disappointed.  Would I go see them again?  Hell yes!! 

Match, books, Gig.

03/06/15

I’m not going to write crappy match reports on this page anymore because anyone with an interest in cricket will know what has happened.  But I’m still going to talk about cricket.  England lost the second test to a very good Kiwi team.  1-1 is a fair result for this series between two well matched teams.  Whereas at Lords England fought back from poor positions to win, at Headingly we did the opposite.

England had good starts in every one of the four innings.  NZ were 2-2 but reached 350.  We had an opening stand of 177 but slumped to the same score.  The kiwis were 23-2 second time around but once again we let them off the hook.  Then 47-1 was pretty good in our second innings but we were bowled out.

The scorecard doesn’t lie.  England’s bowlers went around the park and our spinner was just not in the game.  Moeen Ali is a good cricketer but right now his bowling just isn’t up to scratch.  He needs to go back to his county for a season or two and work on learning his craft, just like Swanny did.  He might come back as a very good spinner.  Until then England must either give Rashid a chance or look to the county game and pick the inform spinner.

England got next to no runs from numbers 3, 4 & 5 in this match.  No problem with Root, he’ll come good but Ballance and Bell need to find form quickly or at least one of them must go.  Two batsmen waiting in the wings are Alex Hales and James Taylor.

In years gone by a draw with New Zealand would have been seen as a poor result but they are a very good team at the moment.  They play imaginative, attacking and entertaining cricket with a great attitude and none of the snarling nastiness that some teams, including England, have been guilty of. Going into an Ashes series a win against NZ would have been a big confidence boost but maybe the positive in defeat will be a changed team selection.

NZ vs Aus would be a really good series right now and from here it’s hard to pick a winner.  Aus are playing West Indies at the moment and this will be a good gauge as to how the rest of the summer may pan out.  At the moment I can’t see the XI that played against New Zealand beating the Aussies, it will be interesting to see if the selectors see it the same way.

More McEwan…

Circumstances and coincidences saw two more Ian McEwan books come to the top of my reading pile.  This author usually deals with human emotions but you never know where he’s going to take you and a happy ending isn’t guaranteed.  He keeps us readers on our toes!

The Children Act is about a Judge called Fiona Maye struggling through a difficult time personally whilst seemingly carrying on to her usual high professional standard.  The scenes are vivid, the characters likeable, the story very readable but the outcome not entirely unexpected.  A very good read but not one of his best.

Enduring Love starts in tragedy and threatens to finish in the same way.  In between the story meanders but picks up momentum and the reader is not entirely sure of the truth.  As usual it is easy to picture the places and people that McEwan brings to life.  This is a very good book but not as absorbing as Ian McEwan at his very best.

A Gig.

“F*cked up” won’t be to everybody’s taste.  I’d describe them as somewhere between Punk and Metal, loud and shouty with big guitars it sometimes get a little psychedelic. I’m not a huge fan but Giles is and it had been too long since I’d seen any live music so I decided to keep him company.  The evening began with a drive down to Camden and a club called Koko’s. 

We got in with a little time to spare.  F*cked up hit the stage and the room was soon up and jumping, even we two forty somethings were nodding our heads and bouncing a bit.  It was a short set but a good one with a few tunes that were familiar even to me.  I’m sure this is not just age talking but it was bloody loud and it didn’t do too much for the sound as the guitars seemed a bit swamped.  Still a bloody good set and a very enjoyable hour.

There was another band on but we decided as it was a week night to hit the road and get home at a reasonable hour.  As usual the car journeys fly by in conversation and laughter and it’s a shame when the night comes to an end.  I’d forgotten how much I love live music!

5th day Lords 25/05/15

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!

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!

Day one at Lords 21/05/15

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.

Some books

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.