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 […]
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 […]
The World Cup this year means we’ve had a strange start to the season, with the Premiership Rugby Cup kick starting things. Saracens got off to a flyer at the Ricoh Arena, with the final score being Wasps 28 Saracens 50. I missed that one as I was at Edgbaston watching my County, Essex winning the T20 Blast Final. That […]
Having written an article about the Eagles journey to the play offs (link below) I’m going to recap their route to the trophy https://debsknigsport.com/2019/08/31/essex-eagles-t20-blast-2019/ I wasn’t able to make the long journey to Durham for the quarter final, Essex were facing Lancashire Lightning who’d won 8 of their 14 matches, they finished top of their league, Essex had won 5, […]
It seems hardly feasible that I’m writing about the penultimate County Championship match of 2019, we’re in mid September and the season is very nearly done. Essex started this match in second place just 8 points behind Somerset sitting at the top of the table. That inevitably meant that those at Chelmsford were watching Essex with an eye on the […]
Where to start with this one? Two captains made a decision to put their opposition in to bat this week, one, Tim Paine, won the toss at The Oval and put England to bat, a ground which is notorious for good batting strips that seemed a strange decision from moment one. England were bowled out for 294 and Australia for […]
Finding myself free and single in 2011 I reconnected with one of my first loves, cricket. I was brought up at the side of a cricket pitch, running free while my Dad kept wicket and opened the batting. As I got older I progressed to scoring, there was no way I was making the tea! I joined Essex as a […]
Last night The Essex Eagles beat The Kent Spitfires to finish on 15 points, putting them in 4th place in the Southern Table, earning themselves a place in the quarter finals. A match against Lancashire at the Emirates Riverside in Durham. In their wisdom the ECB has scheduled the quarter finals to coincide with the Ashes test at Old Trafford. […]
Where to start with this one! Some might and do say that County Cricket is boring, this match was literally edge of the seat exciting! The first 2 days were rain affected, which was frustrating, but it didn’t spoil the trip down to Canterbury. Essex finished day 2 with a wicket down, Nick Browne was caught by Ollie Rayner from […]
My decision to give the Ashes a miss left me able to see more of Essex cricket this summer. Except the weather scuppered my T20 Blast plans! I believed the Met Office when Surrey came to play and took myself off to watch Lion King, only to find I’d missed an outstanding innings from Cameron Delport. Disappointing, but the film […]
There are plenty of places to find out about Central Contracts but here’s an attempt to put the information into one place. Central Contracts were introduced in 1999, the amount of international cricket was increased and the ECB wanted greater control of the England players. As far as the Counties were concerned it was clear they’d be without their players […]
In 2017 I wrote an article about my favourite World cricketers, I’d seen 9 teams that year and picked at least 1 player from each country. I picked 4 for England, being Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow. One of those players has since retired from international cricket, another may be doing so very soon. Moeen and […]
A warning – this is a proper geeks article – bringing out the real cricket tragic in me. I had no intention of a third day at Lords, having virtually melted over the 2 days I had been there, but an offer of a ticket from my friend Nigel was too good to forgo, history could have been made at […]
