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 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 […]
Day 2 of the first test of the summer and Ireland’s first test against England saw the hosts trailing by 122 having been skittled out for 85 on Day 1. We were predicted temperatures of 39 degrees and train journeys from my neck of the woods were due to have difficulties due to melting tracks! I chose to forgo Greater […]
Time has run out on me, more photos to follow, sleep and Day 2 beckon The first England test match of the summer saw them playing Ireland, an historic first test match for the Irish against England and at Lord’s. Add in the fact that this was the first 4 day match for England in the test arena and history […]
There was a lot of talk in the media about the magic 500 runs being scored for the first time in an ODI during this World Cup. England had played 5 warm up matches against Pakistan. The first at the Oval was rained off the rest were high scoring affairs – The Rose Bowl, Southampton – England 373/3 – Pakistan […]
By: Adarsh Shah Twitter: @shah_adarsh Many people have pointed out to me that there is no such thing as being a neutral in sport. I disagree, I have seen some amazing games when I don’t have anything riding on it, being less stressed and truly appreciate the game for what it really is without any bias creeping in. So carrying […]
A catastrophe at New Road Worcester gave me a happy consequence, an extra day of county cricket in Chelmsford. Warwickshire had moved their game against my team Essex only to be undone by a flood at the lovely Worcestershire ground. With a ticket for the World Cup Final a trip to Worcester wasn’t on the cards, but a 5 minute […]
A surprise win by South Africa against Australia meant India finished top of the table rather than Australia. That pitted India against New Zealand. For many Indian fans that was a certain Final spot, but the Blackcaps had other plans and the Final place is theirs. England and Australia would battle each other for the other spot. Edgbaston has been […]
An account of a wonderful Cricket World Cup from – Imran Asghar Head of Media and Communications at @staniarmy and tweets on @Pakcricket_ Mine and Stani Army members journey started way back last summer with the family ballot followed by the public ballot. We had eight different people applying for games and were only successful for a few games. This […]
