Tag: London Spirit

The Rest Is Cricket: Radlett & Lord’s In The Second Half Of August 2025

Clarification: The Headline Photo Is Lord’s. Not Radlett.

Readers of this piece might be deceived into thinking that I spent an entire fortnight at the end of August 2025 watching cricket. Nothing could be further from the truth.

However, the only photogenic and noteworthy events I attended, as it happens, were cricket. The rest is… [insert your choice of expletive here].

17 August: Middlesex v Yorkshire At Radlett

Much like the Middlesex batting, the camera at the Salter’s Field End couldn’t keep up

A long in the planning arrangement to meet up with Yorkshire Simon & Jilly Black at Radlett, where Middlesex & Yorkshire were to do battle in a One Day Cup match.

The events in the days prior to the match seemed almost too good to be true. Both teams were towards or at the top of the table, making the clash meaningful tournament-wise, unlike our previous meet-up there for the same fixture a couple of years earlier:

A Day At Radlett Watching One Day Cricket With “Pinner Pear Fran” & “Yorkshire Simon”, 22 August 2023

Also, it seemed that the weather would smile on us for the day, as it had done in 2023. That is one good thing about having the plethora of outground cricket in July and August – those are probably the most reliable months for dry weather, which really is a big help at outgrounds like Radlett.

We all turned up. Even some of Simon’s friends who we hadn’t been told to expect turned up, which added to the “informal gathering” vibe.

Sadly, Middlesex didn’t turn up, but we don’t need to talk about that bit. In 2023, Yorkshire barely turned up.

Jilly had never been to a cricket match before. Being someone who wouldn’t exactly describe herself as a sports lover, she showed some reluctance at having the LBW law explained to her in excruciating detail. Nor did Jilly seem keen to understand the difference between finger spin and wrist spin.

Jilly did, however, notice a women sitting in front of us, whose posture on the portable folding chair brought on a quite extreme “builder’s bum” appearance. I would never have noticed such a thing, but Jilly pointed it out to Janie and Janie then pointed it out to me. Once such a thing has been pointed out to you, it is hard to avoid taking the occasional glance, although I think I did better self-control job than Jilly:

Me, watching the cricket, Jilly, taking in the crack

Janie was too polite to photograph the costume malfunction woman, who, I hope, remained oblivious to the distraction she had unwittingly caused.

It was a weird afternoon in more ways than just bum cleavage. When Janie and I went to the loo, we noticed a person, quite clearly an elderly man, entering the women’s portacabin toilet. Janie and another woman went in soon after. I waited outside until all had emerged, just in case. First the man, then the other woman, then Janie. The two women paused to have a chat about the experience, as Janie had challenged the man, gently, asking…

…are you in the right place?

Yes…

…said the man, incredulously.

I went through the appropriate door, did my small amount of business and then turned/returned to photograph the portacabin toilet doors, to see if there was any ambiguity in the signage:

Unambiguous

“No ambiguity there. Perhaps the wrong-door-old-geezer was a little tired and emotional”.

None of this stopped us from having a very enjoyable afternoon at Radlett with Simon and Jilly.

20 August: The Hundred At Lord’s Plus The Night Tapes

Warner facing up to the Northern Superchargers

The weather was great. Janie and I got to Lord’s in good time and bagged one of Janie’s favourite spots on the sun deck. We enjoyed the women’s match pretty much in its entirety and then went to have a quick look at the tennis court, which turned into a longer look than intended such that we missed most of the gig, which is a shame because I quite liked the dreamy sound of IIris and her gang, The Night Tapes, when I researched the matter oh so thoroughly the night before the gig.

I especially liked this one, when researching:

As is often the case for us on these The Hundred days, we had enjoyed ourselves enough by about 65-70 balls into the first of the men’s match innings, so we grabbed some shawarmas from The Cedar stall on exit and followed the end of the match on TV while munching and drinking some wine.

Our day on finals day ended similarly, but before that day ended…

31 August: The Hundred Finals Day Including A Perrie Concert

Davina Perrin batting for the Northerns – remember where and when you first heard her name

Again we got to Lord’s in good time, although we were, for the first time in ages, to take in this match from the Warner stand, not the pavilion. I had prioritised a physiotherapy appointment over being able to log in first in the queue for The Hundred tickets on the day the tickets were released. 😇

Actually it was a nice perspective on finals day – not least because we could hear the hullabaloo better from the Warner than you can up top in the pavilion.

The women’s match was a good one.

During the interval between matches, Barry Nathan popped over for a chat.

After being elevated in front of the media centre, Perrie popped around to our stand, bringing her dance-and-pose troupe with her:

You can see Perrie’s full performance through this link.

Or you might prefer the highlights that Janie (Daisy) videoed for herself which, obviously, are better…or at least, shorter and more to the point:

After all that commotion, even the fireworks at the start of the second match seemed tame:

After watching the end of the second match at home over shawarmas and wine, I did wonder whether the Oval franchise might be renamed The Oval Inevitables unless the authorities change the recruitment rules for future seasons.

Still, Janie and I always enjoy these days out at Lord’s, and this year’s finals day was no exception.

Four Noteworthy Days In Oh Such Different Ways, 12 to 15 August 2025

Nat Oaks At Lord’s, 14 August 2025

Tuesday 12 August: Goodbye Hydrotherapy At Riverstone, Hello Chelsea Arts Club

I had my last hydrotherapy session for my hip surgery rehab with Michael Lambert at Riverstone that afternoon – highly recommended if you are recovering from major surgery or injury, btw. My entire focus now will be on the more gruelling home and gym based physio.

Criss-crossing the Borough all day – later that afternoon, I ventured to the Chelsea Arts Club, where Tony Friend had kindly arranged to introduce me to Nigel à Brassard, a fellow avocational writer/historian who is also to speak at the Real Tennis Society history conference next month. A most pleasurable early evening with some very interesting note-swapping. I think Nigel’s notes to me will have helped me far more than my notes will have helped Nigel. I don’t suppose he minds.

Wednesday 13 August: A Sad Day At Stuart Morris’s Funeral

A few week’s ago Janie and I were shocked to learn that Stuart, Annalisa’s husband, had died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure. We resolved to keep the funeral day free and attended the moving and dignified ceremony at Bierton Crematorium.

In truth, we did not know Stuart well, having met him perhaps once or twice before attending Annalisa & Stuart’s wedding, all those years ago:

A Long Weekend Near Dumfries For Annalisa de Mercur’s Wedding, Then Sharrow Bay For Afters, 12 to 15 September 1998

But of course we did know Annalisa well and wanted to be there for her. As it turned out, it was a very large gathering, as Stuart had been extremely popular and well -regarded by friends, police colleagues and even his latter-day colleagues from Whipsnade Zoo, whom Stuart had not known for long but the several who attended seemed much affected by their time with him, which had been so cruelly cut short.

Thursday 14 August: Nat Oaks Concert At Lord’s, Before & After Which Was Some Tennis & Cricket

I love being able to combine tennis and cricket on visits to Lord’s. Not least when this combination of activity affords the opportunity to watch some cricket with a fellow tennis player or two. On this occasion, some relatively gentle doubles (playing entirely left-handed at the time having torn my bicep tendon in late July), followed by The Hundred matches between the London Spirit and Trent Rockets, with Nat Oaks performing in-between.

Max McHardy, from The Bionic Quartet…

Plums, Spirits, Gunns & The Bionic Quartet: Only At Lord’s, 5 & 8 August 2025

…was one of the four again. This time, we had the opportunity to watch some cricket and contemporary music together after our game. It was great to watch some cricket with Max, as we had never much discussed cricket before, given the highly focussed nature of our mind sets, and therefore conversation, when playing tennis.

Max had never watched women’s cricket live before and I think was quite taken with it when observed from the rarefied atmosphere of the Lord’s pavilion terrace. We are so privileged being able to use those facilities as “our cricket club-house”.

I’m not sure that Max was as sure about the music of Nat Oaks. I rather liked it, having extensively researched the subject ahead of the match (i.e. I had watched two on-line vids before setting off for Lord’s).

This is what she looked like performing live at Lord’s – thanks to BBC Music:

Max stuck around for almost half of the men’s match. I stuck around for the entire first half of it.

Friday 15 August: A Day Chatting & Eating With Ben Schwarz

A follow up session with Ben Schwarz to try and cover some of the items we had meant to chat about when we met up at Lord’s a few weeks ago:

What Does He Know Of CLR James, Who Doesn’t Cricket Know? A Most Enjoyable Day At Lords With Benjamin Schwarz, 25 July 2025

It was a most pleasant way to spend a large chunk of the day. We nattered for so long over a pot of tea at Clanricarde Gardens, that by the time we got to The Orangery in Kensington Gardens, they’d stopped serving the lunch menu and had moved on to the high tea menu. A suitable venue for high tea, we shared one of those and then strolled in the gardens chatting some more.

This photo, in truth, from 1994, but the look of the place on a sunny day hasn’t changed

Naturally, we didn’t quite complete the list of topics we had been hoping to discuss, so we’ll chat some more in the autumn. It will be interesting to compare notes from our respective times in the USA when next we meet.

Plums, Spirits, Gunns & The Bionic Quartet: Only At Lord’s, 5 & 8 August 2025

Tennis, Followed By London Spirit v Oval Invincibles Double-Header, Observed Mostly From Pelhams, 5 August 2025

Actually I’m not sure whether we are supposed to pronounce the Lord’s Warner Stand Restaurant, which is named Pelhams, “Plums” or “Pelhams”. These days, probably the latter.

Anyway, I was cordially invited to enjoy the first The Hundred day of the season, London Spirit v Oval Invincibles, from the giddy heights of that restaurant, courtesy of the committee, as a thank you for being on the tennis subcommittee.

Here’s me looking suitably giddy up there. I took this picture to alert Colin Stutt, aka Olaf The Buddhist Viking, to the fact that I was there. I reported Olaf’s baby steps into cricket thusly:

A new fan at the London Spirit v Southern Brave washout – a match report

Since then, his enthusiasm for our sport has led him as far as Perth to watch a Women’s test match and back to Lord’s a couple of years later with a party of eight, including his daughter, Laura, for her 30th birthday treat – Laura’s idea! I conspired with Olaf to arrange a surprise personal tour around the pavilion for Laura during the interval between the two matches.

But before all of that, I had a good left-handed hit on the real tennis court with John Beatty & Giles Stogdon, ably assisted by Chris Bray who mopped up after my less penetrative shots. I thought I played quite well in the circumstances.

Then to Pelhams, where the tennis subcommittee was being entertained along with several other subcommittees, including the folk that organise the MCC cricket fixtures. The women’s fixtures committee included two people I know well: Leshia Hawkins from the ECB and Marilyn Smith from Middlesex.

Having done my homework a little earlier in the day, I surprised my fellow guests with my knowledge of the chanteuse who was to entertain us during the interval: Mimi Webb.

Just as well that no-one was able to challenge the depth of my knowledge there.

Leshia and I bonded further in the matter of music by both recognising one of the songs available for The Hundred app users to choose as the walk-on music for Danielle Gibson: Ride On Time, which, I am delighted to announce, was chosen by the majority and therefore played. A rare success for me – both recognising the song and being successful in choosing it.

The women’s match was a good one, with lots of runs and a fairly tight finish.

Walking round to the Edrich Stand to collect Laura for her surprise tour reminded me why I normally choose any time other than the intervals for walking around. The ground was heaving.

Still, we navigated the crowds and I was able to provide Laura with a fairly comprehensive, albeit slightly idiosyncratic tour of the pavilion. I don’t suppose many tours focus quite so much on the portraits of Spencer Ponsonby-Fane and Rachel Heyhoe Flint, but we had our reasons.

Laura was wearing a sash announcing that it was her 30th birthday, which encouraged many people to greet Laura warmly and wish her happy birthday. Laura surmised that I must know lots of people in the pavilion, which was slightly true, but a lot of the friendly greeters were not people I know – they were just friendly people. It is a genial collection of folk, young and old, in the pavilion on The Hundred days. I welcome it wholehearedly.

After Laura’s tour, I got back just in time to chow down eagerly, while watching the men’s match fizzle disappointingly. While the women’s match had been an excellent advertisement for women’s cricket, I thought the men’s Hundred match was a good advert for test match cricket, coming just a day after the end of a magnificent test series. Still, that second match gave me an opportunity to chat with some of my fellow tennis committee folk and also some of the other people in Pelhams that evening.

Without Leisha’s guidance, I made a foolish choice of walk-on music for the men’s match, not recognising the name Insomnia as the following track, which contains an infectious riff, which is very suitable (once you get 2/3rds of the way through the track) and was indeed chosen:

An exhilarating afternoon and evening: I got plenty of sleep that night.

Playing Tennis & Watching Cricket & Tennis On MCC Women’s Day, 8 August 2025

I had arranged to play tennis at 14:00, after the two-hour MCC Women’s Day gathering on the tennis court, to which I had not been invited as a player.

I arrived at Lord’s around 12:00, determined to watch some cricket and tennis before I played. I am very glad I did that.

The first match on the cricket pitch was between an MCC XI and Gunnersbuty WCC. This was in part a celebration of “The Gunns” centenary year.

Originally from “out our way” around Ealing/Gunnersbury (who knew), the club has actually moved around a lot, now in Barnet, but at one time (1960s) based at Boston Manor Park, where Janie and I play our “lawn”.

I must have been going through a purple patch in Boston Manor Park at that time

I watched with divided loyalties, as The Gunns turned what looked like a losing cause into an excellently-timed successful run chase.

You can read about all the cricket action from that day and even see the video here.

After that, I watched the women at tennis for a while, chatting with those who were off the court.

Then it was my turn to play, with three great stalwarts: Michael Keane, Max McHardy and Barry Nathan. I worked out that, between the four of us, there were only three organic hips on the court, the other five, including  Pinky, my new right hip, being prosthetic. Max boasted that both of his hips are originals, only then to confess that both of his knees are falsies.

I decided to name us The Bionic Quartet. I asked DeepAI to try to depict “The Bionic Quartet” based on a short description:

Not bad. I suggested fewer beards and tennis rackets rather than musical instruments:

Hmmm – AI seems determined to depict vast amounts of facial hair, even when asked not to. I didn’t dare try to get the software to depict real tennis rackets.

I stuck around briefly after tennis to see a bit of the second cricket match, but the thought of avoiding the rush hour on the tube and getting home in good time became a greater draw than the cricket quite quickly. I have seen a lot of the stuff over the past few weeks and will be seeing plenty more before the season is completely done.

An Afternoon & Evening “Watching” London Spirit v Manchester Originals At Lord’s

Janie “watching cricket” intensely.

This brace of matches (women’s and then men’s) was also a Nell Mescal concert.

Pretty much everything I wanted to say about our afternoon and evening was captured in a King Cricket piece, which was published with alarming speed, I think because it touched on one of KC’s pieces about Dan Lawrence’s gyratory bowling action.

Conspicuous indifference to Dan Lawrence’s gyrations from a human being

If anything were ever to go awry over at King Cricket, you can read that article here.

In the unlikely event that anyone wants to know what happened in those matches:

As is so often the case with these matches, the women’s one was closer and in that regard far more entertaining. We didn’t stay to the end of the men’s one. We rarely do, regardless of how it is going. You CAN have too much of a good thing – especially when it starts to get a bit chilly in the evening.

But as usual we had a jolly good time.

A “Billy No-Mates” Visit To Lord’s To See A Bit Of The Hundred, 18 August 2023

After a busy week and a visit to Ben the chiropractor that afternoon (nothing to do with Olaf The Buddhist Viking, btw), I thought I’d stop off at Lord’s before going back to the house and catch a tad of The Hundred, given that both of my previous attempts to see any (Janie wimped out on 2 August) had been to a greater or lesser extent thwarted by poor weather.

I got to see men’s as well as women’s cricket. I located myself in the pavilion for the women’s game, then shifted to the Upper Allen for the men’s, seeking a slightly different view and a good location for a fast getaway.

I wasn’t wild about the Charles music as it sounded live from the stands at Lord’s, although I must say I got more out of it listening on SoundCloud when i got home. Click here to listen to some Charles.

The MC/DJ implored us all to make noise before the start of the men’s match, as oft she does.

I sneaked away from the ground soon after the start of the reply innings of the men’s match. You CAN have too much of a good thing. I didn’t want to sit too long and I did fancy a timely dinner with Daisy.

An Afternoon & Evening At Lord’s Watching The Hundred & The Rain With Colin “Olaf the Buddhist Viking” Stutt, 8 August 2023

Everything that needs to be said about a most enjoyable afternoon and evening at Lord’s with Colin is contained in the headline and my write up for the King Cricket website – click here or below:

A new fan at the London Spirit v Southern Brave washout – a match report

In the unlikely event that misfortune ever befalls the King Cricket website, please click here for a scrape thereof.

As “So-Called Freedom Day” Came & Went, We Indulged In Some Cricket & A Bit Of Low Key Socialising, 7 July To 6 August 2021

It was a strange period; the height of summer in regular times but the autumn of the pandemic, as it were.

The government had signalled a possible “relaxing of pandemic restrictions” for towards the end of June, but the highly infectious delta variant of Covid 19 led to the deferral of that “freedom day” until 19 July.

There was much re-jigging of diaries and arrangements in the weeks leading up to and following the revised date.

For the most part, Janie and I carried on doing what we had been doing during partial lockdown: working, volunteering and playing tennis.

Middlesex v Leicestershire, Merchant Taylors’ School, 12 & 13 July 2021

The plan was for me and Janie to go with Fran & Simon on Monday 12 July, but plans have a habit of going awry. The weather forecast for the Monday was awful and indeed it was heaving down with rain in Ealing.

Janie and I abandoned all hope of going to the game by mid afternoon, despite the fact that the rain was mysteriously dodging Northwood and play was taking place beneath leaden skies.

I’m rather glad we did decide to bale out of going, as I learnt the next day that it took people from Ealing/Acton way a couple of hours to get home due to the flash floods.

Simon ended up watching some rather good cricket solo on the Monday, while I ended up doing similar on the Tuesday.

I had arranged to play real tennis at Middlesex University early on the Tuesday morning and went on from there to MTS for my first sight of live county cricket since September 2019.

The Fag End Of The Cricket Season, Lord’s, 23 to 25 September 2019

Social distancing was still the order of the day, so I sat in a reserved area and was suitably reserved.

We were allowed to stroll a bit, which enabled me to encounter some of “the usual suspects”, such as Barmy Kev and Jeff Coleman, who for some obscure reason were bemoaning Middlesex’s poor play and poor luck this season.

I tried to cheer myself up by reading The Economist, which for some obscure reason was bemoaning the economic devastation caused by the global pandemic.

Middlesex were in a bit of a hole second dig, so I do understand why people were pessimistic, especially as Middlesex had been snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory all season. Still, I was strangely optimistic about Middlesex’s position given my previous experiences of seeing teams bat last at MTS.

For once, I called it right – click here for the match scorecard .

Ealing Samaritans Gunnersbury Park Party, Tuesday 20 July 2021

Janie had hardly met any of her new Samaritans colleagues before, other than in an “on shift” context, as she had done all of her training by Zoom and they had not been able to meet socially during lockdown.

So the “party in the park” idea seemed to be the ideal opportunity to meet some more people…

…which indeed it was. It was just a shame that, apart from Janie and Ilkay, whom Janie had already befriended and met, no-one from their traning group attended that night.

Still, Alison Shindler (coincidentally an old friend of mine from BBYO, as reported here) was there with her husband Joe, which was fun. We met some other very nice Samaritans volunteer folk including some of the Ealing grandees.

Janie was so late back from work, however, that we missed the entertainment for the evening, Marie Naffah, who was doing 50 gigs in 50 days, apparently. We arrived just in time to say goodbye to her, so for now the video below will have to do.

The Hundred: London Spirit v Oval Invincibles Double Header, Lord’s, Sunday 25 July 2021

In the end we only got to see half a double-header, as the weather closed in after the women’s match. What was predicted to be the possibility of some light showers turned out to be torrential rain and flash floods which caused havoc around London.

Mercifully, my weather app tipped me off before the weather got too bad.

I have reported the event for King Cricket, click here or below:

A report from the first day of the Hundred at Lord’s

Just in case anything ever happens to King Cricket, a scrape of that article can be found here.

Despite shortened event due to the weather, we rather enjoyed ourselves. I had arranged to return for the midweek games myself and Janie was scheduled to join me on Finals Day, so we anticipated that we’d still get our fill of The Hundred.

Middlesex v Durham at Radlett, Tuesday 27 July 2021

Parking spaces at cricket grounds don’t get much more rural-idyllic than this

Janie and I had an early game of tennis, then met Simon at lunchtime/early afternoon at Radlett. I chatted briefly with Mike O’Farrell and others, holding up the process of finding some decent seats and settling in for some old-fashioned List A 50-overs-a-side cricket.

The weather sort-of smiled on us until mid to late afternoon, when a shower threatened to end proceedings but in any case was enough to scare us away from an exposed ground such as Radlett.

After the rain, a tense Duckworth-Lewis finish, which Janie and I watched on the stream at home. As has been the way this season, Middlesex were “close but no cigar”.

London Spirit v Trent Rockets, Double-Header, Lord’s 29 July 2021

In my desire to really check out The Hundred tournament, I had reserved a member’s place for myself at both of the midweek events at Lord’s. This was the first of them.

I enjoyed the women’s game from the pavilion terrace, where I was sitting right in front of the assembled rockets (as it were) while they waited to do their thing.

I was delighted to be invited to help choose the walk-on music for some of the players, although I didn’t recognise many of the bangin’ hits on offer.

I had planned to take in the men’s game from the sanctuary of the Upper Tavern Stand, but just before the end of the women’s game I was joined by Alvin, who then popped out to make a call before I had the chance to tell him my plans. So I watched the first innings of the men’s game from the pavilion, with Alvin, then relocated to the Tavern Stand for the final innings.

London Spirit did not do very well in these matches…

…women…

…and men.

Oh well.

Caroline, Alan & Jilly Visit Noddyland, 1 August 2021

A bouquet of yummy chocolate strawberries from Caroline

Long in the planning, it was super to see Caroline, Alan and Jilly after such a long time.

In fact, last time we saw Caroline & Alan for a meal, Janie and I were still full of Japan, as it were.

It’s summer, so Janie went for wild Alaskan salmon as the main, after some nibbles in the garden.

The afternoon and evening flew by, surprising us all when we realised that it was getting dark. That’s what tends to happen these days.

London Spirit v Northern Superchargers, Double-Header, Lord’s, 3 August 2021

An opportunity to watch some more cricket and get some reading done, I took in the second of the midweek The Hundred double-headers.

I decided to watch the women’s match from the Upper Allen stand and the men’s match from the Upper Tavern.

The women’s match was probably the best game (i.e. the most exciting game of cricket) I saw all tournament – see the scorecard here.

The men’s game probably the least exciting.

Oh well.

Pete Reynolds Memorial At Mosimann’s, 6 August 2021

Our first venture in a cab and our first indoor event since lockdown. Shirley was very keen that we join the event, as we (along with so many of their friends) had been unable to attend the funeral during lockdown.

Grace had organised the event wonderfully well. Mosimann’s is a stunning venue and was well suited to the occasion.

The speeches were heartfelt and moving, but it was mostly a party, which was, apparently, what Pete wanted. Pete usually got what he wanted in life, I believe, so he was certainly going to have what he wanted in this regard.

Philafrenzy, CC BY-SA 4.0

The First Day Of The Hundred At Lord’s, London Spirit v Oval Invisibles, 23 July 2021

In July 2021 Janie and I went to the first day at Lord’s of the controversial new domestic cricket tournament, The Hundred.

I wrote up the event for King Cricket:

A report from the first day of the Hundred at Lord’s

Should anything go awry with the King Cricket website, you can see that write up here instead.

Not much else to say, really, other than the fact that the rain that we dodged resulted in flash flooding and all sorts in West London, so I think we did the right thing to abandon the ground when we did.

Here’s a link to the scorecard for the women’s match we saw.