Championship Rugby 0

Ealing Trailfinders v Saracens – The Trailfinders Challenge Cup

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

Championship Rugby 6

Saracens – A new era!

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

England Rugby 0

Project Players and International Rugby 2020

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

Cricket 0

Pakistan Superleague – Match 34 – THE FINAL

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

Cricket Articles 4

County Cricket – Time for a Re-think?

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

County Cricket 0

The Bob Willis Trophy – Round 5

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

County Cricket 0

The Bob Willis Trophy Round 4

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

County Cricket 2

The Bob Willis Trophy Round 3

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

County Cricket 0

The Bob Willis Trophy – Round 2

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on

County Cricket 0

County Cricket is here! The Bob Willis Trophy

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 […]

By Debs K Posted on