365 Sporting Days

My ideal week would involve watching all 3 days of the Essex v Surrey friendly, however a commitment to a photo shoot if you please, meant I had to miss Day 2.

Rather than sit and watch cricket in the horrendous wind I spent the day at Frinton and Walton dressed for summer having my photo taken along with 2 other shivering ladies!  At least I’d have had a coat at the County Ground!

 The freezing was however for a very good cause, the 3 of us – ‘normal’ ladies of a certain age are going to be the faces of a World Cancer Research Fund campaign in May.  Aiming to encourage people to make small life changes to increase their chances of staying away from cancer.

On to the sport!  I must confess while I was by the seaside I was hoping the cricket would go into a 3rd day, my thoughts were weather focussed (apologies of those of you who were there).

Essex carried on batting on Day 2 and were dispatched for 287, giving them a lead of 176.  Velani was the top scorer on 103, he’d been joined by Graham Napier on Day 1 who added 53 of his own runs.

 Having forgotten how to bat in Day 1, two Surrey batsmen put runs on the board – Arun Harinath with 81 runs and Dominic Sibley with 97.  Great as far as I was concerned – it meant I got a day of cricket!

I again arrived a little late – this really is something I need to sort out!  I hate being late for sport!

In the spirit of this game being a friendly it had been decided that Surrey would bat for a further 25 overs.

Vikram Solanki had already lost his wicket for 16 caught by Nick Browne from the bowling of David Masters – missed by me due to my tardiness!

The 5th wicket fell when Jason Roy was bowled by Graham Napier for 21.  Graham Wilson had his eye in but fell to what I’ll describe as a comedy stumping!  It was all a bit bizarre – hard to tell if it was a stumping or a run out!  It was a real shame – he was on 94.

Ben Foakes – former Essex man showed his mettle putting on an entertaining 50, add in Aneesh Kapil’s 4 and Surrey ended their allotted overs on 393-6, giving them a lead of 217.

Essex therefore didn’t have a huge total total to chase, however the Surrey bowlers were determined that the total wouldn’t be reached. With 11 overs down Tom Westley and Nick Browne only managed 14 runs.

Westley found his eye but saw one of the stumps fly out of the ground as he was clean bowled by  Stuart Meaker.

As a comment on a fair few of these photos – it was very clear again that Surrey enjoy being on the field together – they again had fun.  They seem to like each other, which seems an odd thing to say, but team spirit is a key element in sport.

Next to the crease was Jaik Mickleburgh – he was out LBW to Tom Curran for 10.  It was interesting to spot Reece Topley being put through his paces across the pitch as Essex were batting.

Nick Browne had hit some good runs, including a huge 6 over the River Stand, making 49 before he was given out LBW to Kapil.  He’d been fielding right in front of me at one point, I eluded to how cold it was, he explained that hands are the biggest issue – the ball hitting them hurts when it’s cold!

I’d also noticed Greg Smith doing what appeared to be yoga while in the field – it seems Essex had started their day with a yoga session – Nick said how hard it was!  As a yoga fan I concur!

Back to the Essex batting – and I apologise to non cricket fans – it does seem I’m going to write mini match reports here 🙂

 James Foster and Dan Lawrence were at the crease, Essex had looked to be in a strong position but again the run rate slowed down.

Essex had 20 overs after tea with 116 runs required, considering 20/20 run rates that felt like an easy task.

However Essex finished on 177 – 3 with Lawrence 58 not out and Foster 29 not out.  Not being a party to the decision making by Essex I found the lack of chasing runs rather frustrating.  And yet I thoroughly enjoyed my day!

A few of my standard points

• Nicest moment of the day – a very random one here – but it has to be the weather!  It was glorious!  So much so that I had to buy a sun hat!
• Best moment of the day – Nick Browne’s 6!  It was a belter!

Two random photos to finish with – just to prove I can and do take shots that don’t involve sport.  This was my view on my walk back to my car – non too shoddy!

Apologies if you’re looking at this on a laptop – the photos are all over the place!  Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the read in spite of that.