I had hoped to keep a fair bit of time free to enjoy some cricket at Lord’s in this very last week of the English season. A new idea for a new County Championship format, to have a trophy final at Lord’s between the top two teams. Up to five days if necessary. Love the idea. Not so sure about scheduling into October, but heck, sometimes the weather is still sufficiently good for hardy cricket lovers to dare watch.
I discussed the prospective fixture with Frank Dillon when he visited on the preceding Saturday…
…Frank had been at Liverpool for the last match of Lancashire’s main campaign. He suggested that I look out for a promising youngster named George Balderson, who opens the batting and bowls.
On Tuesday 28th, the first day, I was hopeful to see a bit of George bat either before or after my 11:00 tennis match, as Lancashire had been inserted and I arrived at Lord’s at 10:40…
…by which time Lancashire was already 9/2 and George was gone.
I peeked briefly through the Allen Stand gap and then played a tough and losing game of tennis against a newbie…except that, as a former rackets champion, he could already hit the ball much, much better than me.
By the time I emerged from the tennis, play had just resumed after a rain-affected lunch break and Lancashire were 57/8. As I stood at the top of the steps to the Warner, watching politely while awaiting the end of the over, it became 57/9.
The sole other arriviste at that entrance said, “it’s just brutal” in a distinct Merseyside accent. I thought he might be about to burst into tears.
“I’m sorry”, I said.
“It’s not your fault”, he said.
I mentally juggled headlines along the lines of “Only Wood Could Wield Much Wood” before deciding that I’m not much cut out for sports headline writing.
I watched the first two or three overs of the Warwickshire innings before heading home to get some work done ahead of a very enjoyable Zoom with Simon Jacobs & Jon Gorvett.
Wednesday being Janie’s and my FoodCycle day, I needed to get work done and couldn’t find time to show up at Lord’s at all, despite the fact that Rossmore Road FoodCycle is a short walk from Lord’s.
Thursday afternoon I was due back at Lord’s for tennis and managed to get there a good few minutes early. It felt like a bit of a race against time, as I spotted at lunchtime that Frank’s man, George Balderson, was still batting.
Would I get to Lord’s in time to see George bat and if so would I get there in time to see him reach 50?
I briefly took up a seat at the front of the new Lower Compton…
And got a shot of George Balderson’s shot to get to 50. I sent the above image to Frank from my position in the Lower Compton: “Just snapped yer dude Balderson getting to 50”.
Then, aware of the time and feeling a bit chilly too, I went round to the tennis court, where Dominic inflicted the sort of drubbing on me that Warwickshire were inflicting on Lancashire.
Here is a link to the scorecard and Cricinfo resources on that match.
After my match, I picked up Frank’s reply:
That really is the last of summer.
It sure was.