Friday, September 30, 2005

The Rose Bowl -athon


It's a pity we only discovered it at the end of the season. My cricket-mad eldest wanted a birthday treat with a twist. He wanted me to take him and three of his best mates to one of the newest venues in the country for the beautiful game that is cricket: the Rose Bowl.

He did everything bar drive us to the ground - that was definitely down to me - but all of the other logistics - when, where, who etc. was down to him. Hampshire's ultimate Tote Sport League one day match of the season was on 25th September against Nottinghamshire.

OK, after an Ashes summer, this was only County fare, but still a chance to see Shane Warne in (almost) his natural habitat. He won the toss for Hampshire and put the opponents in to bat. We cheered loudly when Nottinghamshire couldn't get off the mark for about three overs and lost a wicket for 0 in to the bargain. However, they progressed steadily after that and built up a commanding score of 248-5, including some expensive overs at the end from the captain, Warne. The expected rain turned out to be no more than a couple of patches of light drizzle, the second of which nearly had the players off, until the boos of the crowd and the sun turned them round at the boundary rope and back to the task in hand.

Hampshire came out out to bat with guns blazing - Pothas scoring from the first, but getting out quickly as well, for 12. Two further wickets fell in the first six overs and the sky, which had gone from autumn sun to serious black, opened and deluged for half an hour. The hard-working ground staff had cleared up so that play could resume after an hour and a half delay. The birthday boy and mates were restless and close to quitting the ground, but the sun came out and a Duckworth-Lewis target of 165 was announced for the rain-shortened, now 20 over, match.

Hampshire went for the big slog - they had a challenging target. The wickets fell steadily though and yes they failed. With it came relegation from Division One, but everyone had had a day to remember, complete with Hampshire caps and signature bats from the club shop.

Goodbye 2005 - hello TSL Div 2 2006.

Saturday, September 24, 2005


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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Organic Milkman

Two posts in one day? I must have time to burn.
 
Along with the semi-skimmed and the bill this morning on the doorstep was a flyer. The milkman is going to deliver organic fruit and veg.
 
This is quite a departure from the usual fare of gaudy coloured milks, fizzy drinks, packaged meats and so forth - this stuff is healthy! OK it is not locally produced - it comes from Essex, so there is national distribution cost to think about. But for all you eco-warriors out there, at least the local distribution is on environmentally friendly, non polluting green machines - namely your friendly neighbourhood milk float.
 
Sounds like it might be worth a try - good seasonal produce brought to your door without the aid of greenhouse gases anyone?

Return of the Dead

Well, Waking the Dead anyway.
 
My favourite cop show is coming back to Sunday nights. Why do I like it?
 
Well the plot is always unfathomable which holds the interest - you feel that if you miss the slightest millisecond, a vital clue may have passed you by. They are intelligently written - being a good blend of 'not quite believable' but escapist, out of comfort zone storylines.
It is an ensemble piece too, the drama comes from the interplay of the tight-nit team headed by Boyd (Trevor Eve). He is a troubled man, as cops usually are. His team take the full brunt of his anger and frustration, because, unusually for police drama, he has no boss! Well, not that we have ever seen so far.
The cases seem to arrive out of thin air - no one asks the team to investigate, and he doesn't have to explain his actions or lack of success to anyone. This is the beauty of cold cases I suppose: it doesn't matter how long you take to solve them. Who mentioned the budget?
The team all bring their special strengths and the forensic side is an integral part of the investigation, rather than being out in a lab miles from anywhere.
Finally I must mention the glass - why do they always write on glass? No whiteboards or cork panels here - they write in chinagraph on transparent panels. Does this help them to see through the minefield of facts and get to the villian, staring them in the face all along?
 
I don't really care - I'll be glued to the series as usual.