365 Sporting Days
Sharing a passion for Sport!
I started out the World Cup with tickets to 15 matches, that meant I’d be watching and taking photos of every team at least once. Weather in Bristol meant I didn’t get to see Sri Lanka, both their matches there, against Pakistan and Bangladesh were rained off. However I did get to see the Top 10 Batsmen runs wise in […]
Where were we? Well, I’m going to take a step back to build more of a picture of how it was in the Upper Compton Stand on Sunday. I was sat next to Jonny, a Doctor, from Birmingham, now living in Wimbledon; he was with 3 or 4 friends and their tickets had been sorted for them by a friend […]
After 6 weeks of madness the World Cup Final was here! July 14th is a landmark day in my life, in a horrible way. My son, Luke died after being involved in an accident in Thailand, he was 21 and that was 10 years ago. Incredible how time keeps moving on, yet that’s only right. My day started with a […]
The summer arrived, then disappeared again as I was driving to Birmingham. I woke up to a drizzly, gloomy morning. Staying in Moseley I walked the 1.5 miles to Edgbaston. Let the frizzy hair commence! The toss was delayed, but as I sat down in the members lounge with a cuppa the covers came off and the players came out […]
MORE PHOTOS TO FOLLOW A first trip to Lord’s for this World Cup and a must win match for both teams. Pakistan won the toss and captain Sarfraz (or Sarfaraz depending on how many A’s you’re going for) elected to bat. The opening pair, Imam and Fakhar settled well and had reached 35 after 5 overs, the second highest score […]
This was one I couldn’t write while I was watching, the long awaited match between Pakistan and India. I drove up from Taunton through torrential rain, heading to Manchester a place renowned for rain at the best of times! Saturday evening was spent with some of my Stani Army friends at a restaurant in Wilmslow, Lal Qila followed by ice […]
The weather in Taunton has been nothing short of horrendous since I arrived on Sunday! I had a ticket for the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Bristol yesterday, but opted for Rocket Man at the cinema instead. That match was abandoned without a ball being bowled, so, good choice! Today the rain, at the moment has decided to […]
It’s been a torrid few weeks to be an England and Saracens fan, a time that started with such hope saw a crowd of us rock up at Allianz Park at 8am on a Saturday morning to watch England win the World Cup. That don’t quite go to plan as South Africa pretty much did to us what we did to the All Blacks, perhaps Warren Gatland was right and England had put in their all in that astonishing semi-final. Losing Kyle Sinckler after 2 minutes didn’t help. But the match literally personified the rugby saying – The forwards decide who’s going to win the match, the backs by how much – England were out muscled from minute one. Although […]
In November Saracens were given a £5.4 ish fine and a 35 point deduction, having been found to have breached the salary cap for 3 seasons. As a Saracens fan that’s felt pretty awful, but more was yet to come! There’s been a sense of glee around any negative news around Saracens from some quarters, I was loathe to believe […]
It’s been a few days since Saracens played Worcester, I’ve been feeling rather disheartened since then, with the ongoing feeding frenzy from some media outlets after an interview by returning Chief Executive Edward Griffiths was twisted to suit whatever their agendas may be. One ‘journalist’ Laura Lambert, now seems to be going by her maiden name of Laura Scott, and […]
With 2020 here, this is a good time to look back on a great summer for Essex, one that ended with them lifting the County Champions Trophy! This is my 2019 Wickets, Shots and Joy post! The season started with a loss at Hampshire for Essex, with Hampshire scoring a huge 525 for 8, I wasn’t there to see one […]
I first met Aaron before he’d signed a senior contract with Essex, he was still at school, but making his way in a world he was so clearly meant to be in. A joint appearance on Phoenix FM’s cricket programme 98 Not Out, thanks to Daren and Brett, gave me the opportunity to arrange an interview I’d been hoping to […]
Round 4 of the Champions Cup saw Munster arriving at Allianz Park; my first experience of Munster was at the impressive Thomond Park in Limerick in December 2012, followed up by their visit to the gloomy Vicarage Road. This was another double header and with the first match finishing Munster 15 Saracens 9 and the second Saracens 19 Munster 13 […]
With Saracens playing in Limerick I had some time to try other things over the weekend, my Saturday started in a quite horrible way with a final visit to the vet for my little dog, Shirley. I spent the afternoon with my grandsons for some much needed joy. I stuck to my plans for the Sunday however and drove to […]
2020 will see the 5th series of PSL, and this one is a special series, all 34 matches are due to take place in Pakistan with UAE as a back up. The opening ceremony will be held in Karachi with the playoffs and Final scheduled for Lahore. Matches are planned for Multan and Rawalpindi too. This is wonderful news for […]
My game day Saturday morning started early at Allianz Park, I arrived at 10:30 to meet up with staunch Saracens fans Debs and James Lee and their 15 year old son, Ben. My aim was to try to understand some of what it takes to get noticed as a young rugby player, what puts an individual in front of the […]
And so the Salary Cap debacle rumbles on; the 35 points deduction and £5.36 million fine have been accepted by Saracens. That’s left the club at rock bottom in the Premiership table, with a huge uphill climb to avoid relegation. News has come today of the Salary Cap Manager carrying out a mid-season review of Saracens’ books for the current […]
In common with most of my fellow Saracens fans I waited with baited breath for the team announcement for this second Champions Cup match. That will be a weekly occurrence for the rest of the season with the predicament the club finds itself in. A 35 point deduction means the club will be fighting to avoid relegation, while at the […]
County Cricket fans have been waiting with baited breath for the release of the 2020 season fixtures, me amongst them. A draft has been issued laying out the season format, with the main focus bound to be the lack of 4 day cricket in the traditional summer months of June, July and August. The game is going to be relying […]
I spent 8 days in Paris at the end of October, with a weekend trip to Rheims included, my daughter, Alex has lived in the city for nearly 7 years so it’s a place I like to visit as often as I can. By some strange coincidence there’s often a rugby match to go to when I make my Eurostar […]
Over the weekend in Paris, I discussed some ideas that my good friend Steve had put briefly on a Facebook page, to me they made absolute sense so I asked him to get them down in writing for me – they’re worth a read! A little about Steve as a starter – I started watching Saracens just prior to their […]
With the Premiership proper a week away and little or no pre-season for most teams, both of these teams saw an injection of experience. There were players on both sides who might be considered unlucky not to be in Japan. For some that time will surely come, with Harlequins’ Marcus Smith at 20 who has one cap and is very […]
My Summer was as busy as ever in spite of deciding to give the Ashes a miss. As well as watching my County, Essex, I went to 13 World Cup matches and was lucky enough to be at the Final. That means that as ever I have a collection of ‘favourite’ photos. Next years’ should be better, I’m actually doing […]
