365 Sporting Days
Sharing a passion for Sport!
I’m going to try to keep this to the rugby! Well do my best anyway, although I’m not loving the pre-amble on BT Sport, I was at the game but I’m watching back if I can bear to. My own day started with lunch with two of my Harlequins friends, Sue and Henry, some good chat and a Costa, what’s […]
I started writing about rugby for the site In The Loose, before setting up my own thing. I’ve always considered myself to be fair, impartial and unbiased, in fact I try my hardest to think about the game first then my team. Being a Saracens fan has tested that resolve since the news of their Salary Cap transgressions broke in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sunday 4th October was the last time Saracens Men played a meaningful game of rugby, that being a 17 all draw against Bath rugby, they’ve had one warm up match against a Leicester Tigers XV but the club and its fans have been without rugby for nearly 4 months. We have to go back to Friday 28th February for Ealing’s last Championship game, a 8 – 17 win at Coventry. They played 2 games against both Newcastle and Bristol in November and December preparation for the new Championship season. This cup is a warm up competition with the hope that the Championship, now split into 2 leagues can start on March 16th; both teams featuring at Vallis Way have ambitions […]
Most Saracens fans will have been happy to put 2020 behind them for rugby reasons as well as all those everyone else faced. It was truly an Annus horribilis. Once the news of the club breaching the salary cap things went from bad to worse, as a £5.4m fine and a 35 point deduction was turned into a 105 point […]
A comment by a young rugby writer about Italy and project players got me thinking and on the back of that I wrote an article on Italy and where they are in 2020. https://debsknigsport.com/2020/10/25/the-6-nations-italy-when-is-enough-long-enough/ In their Autumn Nations Cup match against Scotland on the first weekend of the tournament they had just one ‘project player’ in their starting 15, being […]
Tuesday 17th November saw the Final of Pakistan Superleague 5 – a landmark day for the tournament as in its 5th year all games were played in Pakistan. The final itself taking place in The National Stadium in Karachi. The final was between the Karachi Kings and the Lahore Qalanders, meaning anew team would lift the trophy in 2020. The […]
A day after they beat Peshawar in the first eliminator Lahore Qalanders were back in the National Stadium in Karachi playing for a place in the Final against Karachi Kings. The line ups first:- Multan Sultans Zeeshan Ashraf (wk) Adam Lyth Shan Masood (c) Rilee Rossouw Ravi Bopara Khushdil Shah Shahid Afridi Sohail Tanvir Mohammad Ilyas Imran Tahir Junaid Khan […]
Match 2 of the re-started PSL 5 was the first of 2 eliminators for a place in the final, waiting for the winner of the second eliminator will be Karachi Kings, the team I’ve supported since the start. The line ups! Lahore Qalanders Sohail Akhtar (c) Fakhar Zaman Tamim Iqbal Mohammad Hafeez Ben Dunk (wk) Samit Patel David Wiese Muhammad […]
Pakistan Superleague 5 started on 20th February 2020 – today on 14th November 2020 the play offs started. The first between The Karachi KIngs and The Multan Sultans was for a place in the Final, with the loser going into the second elimination game. A look at the teams first:- Karachi Kings Babar Azam Sharjeel Khan Alex Hales Wayne Parnell […]
2021 sees a change to the way the Champions Cup is structured. The competition will consist of 2 Pool of 12 teams. The 24 teams, 8 from each league – the Premiership, The Top 14 and the Pro 14 have been put into 4 tiers. A draw was held to decide which team from each tier went into which pool. […]
I had an interesting exchange with Reuben Herbert in a County Cricket group during the summer and asked if he fancied putting his thoughts down. Here he writes as a guest blogger. His thoughts on structure would work across most sports in this country. I made a comment a while back that county clubs should be limited to 18 professional players with the development side of the game run through an amateur structure. This […]
I sat watching the re-started 6 Nations last night, a catch up game for Ireland against Italy. The scoreline was somewhat predictable as Ireland scored 50 points to Italy’s 17. A try in ‘extra’ time for Italy could have a big influence on the eventual winners on Super Saturday. Ireland are a point to the good with their 7 tries, […]
I heard someone talking about the media early on in the Covid Lockdown – it went along the lines of – It’s all about being first, facts aren’t important. Let’s hold that thought as I look back at the match between Saracens and Wasps last weekend. I realise I’m late to this subject but I wanted to be in possession […]
Lots has happened cricket wise since Round 4 of this summer’s red ball County Cricket competition. Not least the arrival of the Australians for a white ball only tour. Australia somehow managed to lose the first T20 from an unassailable position. They didn’t hit a boundary from the 14th over until the 3rd ball of the 20th! Dawid Malan had […]
A quick round up of England’s final test of the summer; Having had quite amazing weather virtually as soon as Lockdown started, the British weather decided to assert itself on England’s series against Pakistan. At least we had two complete innings in this third test. Zak Crawley well and truly introduced himself to the wider cricketing world with a truly […]
A refresh of the rules for this Summer’s competition A reduction to a minimum of 90 overs in a day’s play. Each county’s first innings of a match can last no longer than 120 overs. The follow-on will increase from 150 to 200 runs. The new ball will be available after 90 overs rather than 80 overs. Points awarded for […]
A reminder of the rules of the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy before a look at the happenings in Round 2. A reduction to a minimum of 90 overs in a day’s play. Each county’s first innings of a match can last no longer than 120 overs. The follow-on will increase from 150 to 200 runs. The new ball will be […]
After the disappointment of sitting through the most glorious Spring with absolutely no cricket, Saturday 1st August saw the return of County Cricket. It had been my intention to attend all but one of Essex’s County games and that only because I was due to be watching England play Pakistan. But that wasn’t to be this summer, I was however […]
