Day Zero: 26 August 2026 – The Day Before the Test Match
I arranged to have a real tennis lesson in the middle of the day with Chris Bray. While I was battling away with my technique (or lack thereof), a gentleman ambled up the side of the court, clearly bewildered by the strange noise. He turned out to be Allahuddien Paleker, one of the umpires for the test match, who was on debut at Lord’s and had never seen the like of real tennis before. He was clearly fascinated; after asking a handful of questions he sat watching the lesson for about 20 minutes.
After returning home to do some work, I met up with Simon “Awesome Simo” Jacobs and Jon Gorvett, for a very pleasant evening at The Ship, then a quick guided tour of my recent Upper Marylebone Street/Thomas Paine research – see P7 of this linked issue of The Beacon and then dinner at The Grafton Arms.
Day One Of The Test: 27 August 2026
I had arranged to play tennis at 10:00 that morning. Unfortunately, I got soaked on the way to Lord’s for that early start. I now know for sure how to end a drought in London: arrange a Lord’s test match.
In some ways the tennis was well timed, as the start of the cricket match was delayed by rain, we tennis players got to see the start of the cricket match. Unfortunately, though, that sort of rain delay means that the tennis gallery is full of people eager for live action in the dry.
I’m not sure that four gentlemen of a certain age and stage at real tennis is quite the sort of action the assemblage was hoping for, but that’s what they got. Having said that, at least all four of us turned up and did our absolute best, which some cruel critics might suggest was not necessarily the case for all 22 players who eventually took to the cricket field for the next four days.
The headline photo is taken from the Upper Allen, which is only half built and not yet designated as a pavilion extension for test matches as the reconjoining has not yet happened. As a result of that factor and the weather, hardly anyone ventured up there for this test match making it an ideal location for me to enjoy some cricket and reading.
In the slot that was supposed to be lunchtime, we had an exhibition tennis match: the MCC Pros (Chris Bray & Chris Swallow) v the Petworth Pros (Louis Gordon and Tom Durack). It was an excellent hour of tennis, attended almost exclusively by tennis aficionados, as the cricket was rescheduled to run throughout that hour. Still the gallery was full of appreciative attendees.
During the intervals I had some family get-togethers in the dedans gallery. Lunchtime with nephew Paul and Meesh Boswell. Teatime with cousin Mark and Clare Briegal.
It was a really pleasant day. I headed home early to avoid the crowds and the risk of getting caught in further rain.
Day Two Of The Test: 28 August 2026
The weather was much better this day. Again I played tennis in the morning – 11:00 this time, missing a fair chunk of the morning session but still seeing plenty.
The exhibition match on this day was Rob Shenkman: the No 1 (gold racquet) amateur and Darren Long, the Moreton Morrell professional, formerly of Salford and therefore one of Rob’s mentors. A great fun watch and seemingly a great fun match for the fellas to play.
I didn’t take any photos on this day, but I did graze on a little patch of thistles I had put aside for my lunch on this day.
I headed back to the flat and then on to the house reasonably early for a rather splendid dinner with Janie.
Day Three Of The Test: 29 August 2026
The weather chose to be at its most shocking today, which was a shame, as today was “Committee Room Day” for those of us on the Tennis & Squash Subcommittee. Janie very kindly chauffeured me to Lord’s so I wouldn’t get wet in my “finery”.
Fortune did smile on us to some extent, though, as the rain allowed us to see some of the professional tennis exhibition match, between Jack Josephs of Hampton Court (formerly Middlesex) and Levi Gale of Prested. It was a very good watch indeed.
After the match, the two joined us in the Committee dining room for some grub. Somewhat comedically, the MCC dress code would not allow these sporting titans to join us in their sports kit, as they were not from one of the designated cricket quads – the only people allowed to break the dress code. Levi borrowed Simon Heilpern’s clobber for lunch while Simon played tennis, a “suits you, sir” moment I captured for posterity with consent.
Kindly, the players took questions form the assembled tennis, squash and golf folk, Jack very generously admitting at one point that i beat him level early in his career. (It was his first week and I think maybe only his third hour on court – he is SO good now.)
The weather relented briefly, allowing all to see some cricket from the glorious position that is the balcony of the Committee dining room.
Day Four Of The Test: 30 August 2026
Janie’s favourite day at a test match – Day Four Sunday. Often high on atmosphere, low on Champagne Charlies and quite likely to see a result. In truth, this test match was not the most atmospheric one we’ve ever attended.
Still, it was an opportunity to give Janie the Upper Allen Stand experience for a test match given the unusual status of that half-built, currently roofless space.
My weather app was promising a hefty rain shower between 2:00 and 3:00, which settled on an imminent shower coming at 2:30. Around 2:20 I suggested that we take our possessions and retire to the dedans gallery ahead of the deluge. Conveniently, my doubles partner for this year’s HD Johns tournament, Lawrie Graham, was on court, so Janie got a chance to see what the fuss has been about. We met Lawrie’s mum in the gallery, who in turn seemed pleased to meet us briefly.
As Lawrie and his opponent came off court around 3:00, the announcer informed the crowd that play would begin again shortly.
Janie started to express some irritation at the handful of Champagne Charlies who were within braying distance in front of us and at the slightly colder weather post storm.
We decided to leave while we were both feeling good and sated with cricket, guessing, correctly, that we’d get home in time to see the last rites on the TV. On the way home, while I was driving, Janie got to see some of the carnival from an elevated view up on the flyover. A Lord’s test coinciding with carnival was a rarity, until The Hundred started messing with the first class schedules five years ago.
Here’s the full scorecard for the match.
I certainly feel I made the most of this test match, despite its limitations as a competitive contest.
Day Six – A Different Type Of Test: 1 September 2026
After playing tennis at Lord’s that lunchtime…
…back at the flat, it was calculation test time.
Announcements about the following year’s International cricket seem to come earlier and earlier each year. This time, ahead of us even setting off for the Edgbaston test, an avalanche of messages from the MCC and Warwickshire for the Ashes next year.
Nigel suggested that I bring a pencil and paper with me to Edgbaston – I decided that I should reacquaint myself with my slide rule in order to try an calculate where we stand. Please note the yellowed instruction sheet and my mum’s carefully crafted block capitals on the outside of my slide rule’s case, to reduce the risk of some scallywag filching my device at school…or Edgbaston.
Day Nine- More Cricket & Tennis: 29 August 2026
Another day at Lord’s watching cricket was probably not exactly what I needed…
…but I wanted a lesson with Chris Bray that morning and there was a slot for me and Lawrie to get some doubles practice early evening. It would have seemed rude not to stick around between those two events and watch some of the MCC v MCC State Schools match.
Frankly I’d seen Daryl Mitchell score runs for fun at Lord’s before, when he played for Worcestershire. In many ways Haris Usman’s innings was more special, not least for the plethora of boundaries and then, towards the end, his increasingly obvious attempts to gift his wicket so that other players might have a go. Later I met his charming family in the pavilion and had a laugh about that ending, as well as a proper chat about how well he played.
You can have it all, if you want to watch the vid:
About two-and-a-half hours into the video, you’ll sense that Usman and Mitchell had been instructed to hit out and get out.
The cricket match ended at an ideal time for me to amble over to the tennis court for my early evening doubles.
More testing times to come next week at Leamington and Edgbaston.