Thus, it ended
28 June 2026: Bangladesh Women v South Africa Women, & Australia Women v India Women
We plugged for an elevated view on the day of the Lord’s double-header. Janie’s favourite pavilion spot for relaxed viewing is the sun deck at the top. There was plenty of space for us up there, despite our late arrival, after playing our traditional Sunday game of lawn in Boston Manor Park.
We caught the end of the Bangladesh v South Africa match, much of which I saw on the TV while Janie was getting ready to go to Lord’s. South Africa looked well set when we left home, then tried hard to choke at the end of that match, then choked in the matter of choking, thus going on to win the match with very little time to spare.
The sun deck remained sparsely populated, although we were joined by Sidney Yankson and his charming belle, Claire. Sidney is a real tennis afficionado – the Number One Real Tennis Hongkonger by his own RTO description – and the person who was daft enough to select me for one of my earliest representative real tennis matches.
Anyway, after a suitably brief interval between the two matches, we enjoyed the flag unfurling and anthem ceremony for Australia v India.
India batted first and seemed to have posted a modest score. India needed to win this match in order to knock out South Africa, whereas Australia were guaranteed top of the group billing whatever happened in the match.
We left Lord’s about half way through Australia’s innings, which seemed to be tottering a bit, but caught the end of the match on TV when we got home, by which time the Aussies had untottered.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day of neutral matches.
5 July 2026: Rita Ora, Clean Bandit, & The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final
For the world cup final, we got to Lord’s in good time and grabbed seats close to the action – i.e. some end of row seats near the front of the terrace. This seemed to be the corner of choice for several members of the real tennis community – Barry Nathan was there with his wife, Ruth. Also nearby were Robert & Carol Muir, Brian & Priscilla Sharp were also nearby, as was Graeme Marks.
Did we dance? Of course we danced.
Even Graeme Marks took some illicit footage of us having a go during the Rita Ora gig:
I enjoyed the Rita Ora music, which comprised some of her best known songs:
In truth, I was more than a little disappointed that Rita didn’t perform Hot Right Now, which I believe is the paciest of her numbers. Indeed, I had been practicing for days dancing in exactly the style and rate of the artistes in the following video:
Rumour has it that the authorities thought that 176 bpm in 30°C weather might be a bit much for MCC members, given the age demographic. Health and safety gone mad.
I mean, what was the point of me having a hip replacement last year if the powers that be don’t give me the chance to dance in a Hot Right Now stylee on the forecourt of the Lord’s pavilion?
Take away the sound stage.
I hadn’t realised it, but there was also to be a cricket match, as a polite interval between the two popular music concerts; an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final between Australia Women and England Women.
Unfurl the flags and anthems:
We were too polite to take pictures of the cricket match itself, which rather went Australia’s way, predictably.
But when Clean Bandit came on to get us all listening and dancing again…
…Janie and I were ready to dance some more. Earlier in the day, when Rita Ora performed, Sharpy told me, rather pointedly:
your good lady knows how to dance…
…which I took to mean that he thought that I don’t know how to dance.
Well, for the Clean Bandit concert, Janie and I both got busy with the video functions of our cameras, so you can all judge for yourselves, dear readers.
Suffice it to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the event, regardless of what you think of our dancing.