Tag: Lord’s

Miscellaneous Late Spring Cricket (And Lack Therof) At Lord’s, Late May to Early June 2026

That looks more like football than cricket to my tired eyes

Middlesex Double Feature: Men v Surrey & Women v Leicestershire, Sunday 24 May 2026

The end of the men’s game

Janie and I were not going to let a double header of county T20 cricket interrupt our regular schedule of playing tennis (modern) on a Sunday morning, before washing and smartening ourselves up a bit and heading to Lord’s.

The men’s game was scheduled ahead of the women’s game. We figured that seating in the pavilion was not going to be a problem for late arrivals. We were right.

While sprucing, I caught the end of the Middlesex innings of the men’s game and adjudged Middlesex to be many runs short of a competitive target. Indeed I, of little faith, told Janie that I thought we might not make it in time to see the end of the men’s match.

Actually, when we arrived, Middlesex were flattering to deceive…or providing a faint glimmer of misplaced hope…before succumbing to the inevitable before our eyes quite soon after we arrived.

There was a seemingly unnecessary long interval between the men’s match and the women’s match – almost encouraging those less devoted to women’s cricket to depart before seeing the second match.

Janie and I chatted at length with my tennis friend Barry Nathan and his good lady. Barry informed us that the men’s and women’s matches had been switched, timewise, because the TV company couldn’t imagine anyone watching the men’s cricket match at the same time as football play-offs were taking place on other sports channels. It’s all about TV sports scheduling these days – who knew?

It was a blisteringly hot afternoon, but the pavilion forecourt offered shady respite from the worst excesses of the relentless May heatwave sun. Barry recommended the view from the new Allen Stand – what there is of it at this stage – but not the very top, uncovered section, obviously.

I resolved to avoid jokes with phrases such as “Foxy ladies” (for the Leicestershire Foxes Women) or “hot totty” to describe a women’s match on the hottest May day since records began.

Janie and I gave that a try, until we realised that the middle tier, shady though it was, and excellent view though it provided, effectively had a radiator above it, in the form of the depopulated uncovered top section.

We retreated back to the pavilion, but not before I was accosted by a young man whose face looked vaguely familiar. He greeted me like an old friend and told his mate in slightly inebriated terms that he’d met me in the locker room and that I was an expert on tennis and cricket history. I waxed briefly about 1875 And All That, in the style of a minor celebrity who feels that he has to perform in his show-biz demeanour, while bemoaning the fact that my history expertise was not doing a great job of remembering this young man, nor whether he was tennis, squash or in the locker room for some other reason. I guessed tennis and probably showed the requisite amount of remembering to get a bare pass at recent history.

The “meeja” action unfolded right before our eyes

…as did the “mill around until the other team bats” action

We left a few overs in to the Leicestershire innings and caught the end of that match on the stream when we got home. Much like the men’s match, Middlesex flattered to deceive for a while but came second in the end.

Tournament-wise, the men’s team are doing their normal thing of barely winning a game, whereas the Middlesex women (albeit Division Two) have only lost the one game out of five so far as I write – it just happened to be the one that we attended.

Still, an enjoyable, albeit swealtering, afternoon at Lord’s.

England v New Zealand Test Match: 4 to 7 June 2026

Day Four With Daisy

I attended days one, two & four of this match. Good pick – day three was a near washout.

Days one and two I attended alone, having arranged to play some tennis as well as watch cricket on both days.

I try to book slots on the test match days that do not coincide with the intervals in play. This is not to avoid watching cricket, but more to try leaving the pre-match, lunchtime and post-match slots to players whose tennis performances have more “showtime” potential than the tennis I play.

Unfortunately, as the weather had turned shoddy for this test match, our lowly 12:00 fixture on day one coincided imperfectly with a rain interval. The viewing gallery filled up with people. Hecklers from our own real tennis cohort in the inner part of the dedans gallery. Bemused patrons in the dedans gallery bar, who had come to Lord’s in search of international standard elite sport, yet were, instead, faced with four keen but aging gents “having a go” as best we could. Hopefully, come the third or fourth glass of fizz, visitors could barely tell the difference between international cricket and amateur tennis.

This 1 min carefully selected sample from the MCC Club Weekend tournament at Lord’s in January 2026

I played again at 5:00pm, a slightly more high falutin’ game than the 12:00 bout, mercifully without a crowd for the tennis, as New Zealand were starting their innings. I played rather well, and was delighted to hear several huge cheers from the crowd beyond, as I landed a few rare winners during a good 10 minute period. I was a little deflated to learn later that the authorities weren’t showing my winners on the big screens – it was Ollie Robinson taking three wickets in an over on the cricket pitch.

The bit of cricket I saw on day one I mostly watched from the pavilion.

I got to see far more of the cricket on day two, after playing tennis at 11:00. The weather was better and I took up one of my more regular positions near Old Father Time at the despised end of the Tavern Stand. It is the least crowded members and friends area and therefore the easiest place for nomadic members, like me, who like to wander a bit more than most. After tea, I took to the pavilion sundeck, which was pretty crowded but a good place to just mingle and watch on a bit, before sitting again in the Tavern Stand for a chunk of the last hour.

Day four was supposed to be a day at Lord’s with Janie, but we knew before the start of play that it would probably only be an hour or two. Janie is always happy with that. In any case we take a modest picnic if it is just the two of us and Janie is always happy to get a chunk of such a day back, having taken in the Lord’s atmosphere and enjoyed some action. Seeing the end of a match has a certain form of satisfaction to it, which some MCC afficionados consider to be quite unneccessary; perhaps even a bit common.

Sporting my pillbox

I had received plenty of positive feedback throughout the match on my new choice of headgear – the pillbox cap rather than the peaked cap. Pillbox caps were all the rage until peaked caps became fashionable for sports from the last quarter of the 19th century.

Robert Allan Fitzgerald sporting an MCC pillbox cap. Drawing not all totally to scale.

I have now ordered another pillbox cap that looks even more like MCC colours. I’m going to start lobbying the MCC shop to start producing and selling proper MCC ones. The pillbox cap feels like a fashion whose time should come once again.

Anyway, Janie and I saw more than 90 minutes of cricket and I got half of Janie’s ticket money back!

Not a classic test match but still, as pretty much always, enjoyable times at Lord’s.

Some Sort Of MCC Cricket Day At Lord’s With Michael Mainelli, 11 June 2026

Michael has visited Lord’s with me many times, for both domestic and international cricket. Apart from the odd rain delay, we have never previously experienced a washout.

But this day was well and truly a washout and was destined to be so for several days in the build up.

Never mind. There are worse places to be than Lord’s. I showed Michael the library where I am doing a lot of my research, then we watched the last set-and-a-half of a good in-house tournament tennis match, which went down to the wire. Then we retired to the Long Room Bar / Old Library for luncheon after taking a stroll around in what, by now, was just persistent drizzle, which prevented mopping up after the torrential rain of the mid-to-late morning, ensuring no cricket play at all that day.

Michael presented me with a fridge magnet, in honour of Ogblog, emblazoned thus:

Whatever can Michael mean? You can absolutely rely on me to report matters faithfully from my point of view on Ogblog.

After Michael departed, I spent a couple of hours at Tennis Committee and then a further couple of hours at a town hall meeting in Pelhams Restaurant to discuss gender diversity in the MCC.

I even went back the next morning for another very enjoyable game of tennis.

I do now have my own locker at Lord’s – perhaps I should consider keeping a sleeping bag there as well.

Mayday, Mayday…A Day At Lord’s With Bionic Tennis Followed By Cricket As Tonic – Middlesex v Durham, 1 May 2026

The weather chose to improve a little at the start of May – my previous attempts at watching county championship cricket so far this season had led only to some glimpses from the safety of the Long Room and/or Writing Room behind glass, April was so chilly.

I got to Lord’s just before lunch was called, then got ready for a bout of doubles tennis early afternoon, with a collection of players similar to the Bionic Quartet reported last summer:

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

One of our number was having his first go back after surgery, so we played for fun off the book.

I had informally arranged to meet up at some point in the afternoon with Ed Griffiths (our London Cricket Trust mastermind) and Madz, who does some photography for Durham CCC. Can it really be four years since Madz last came to Lord’s on such a mission in May?

May Days At Lord’s, Not Least With Chas & Madz, May 2022

Yup!

Anyway, as it turned out, Ed was delayed until much later than he had intended to arrive, and Madz was engaged with matters photographic and the like also until late afternoon.

I thought I’d photograph Matt Potts in action this time, while waiting for the others

In the end, all three of us watched from the Warner Stand for a while late in the day. Here’s the scorecard from that match. A high-scoring draw. Why can’t they produce result pitches at Lord’s, I hear some irate, know-it-all readers cry!

MCC Women’s Day At Lord’s, With Special Guest Star – John Fry, 17 April 2026

The pavilion was a bit less crowded than this…actually a lot less crowded

John Fry and I had not really kept in touch at all after leaving Alleyn’s School back before the dawn of time. We were in the same class for, we think, just one year – the third year for me and the first year for him. We were both fast-tracked into the Bear Pit when just 15 – in John’s case on the grounds of talent and in my case possibly because I was in the right place at the right time to look the part.

Andorra, 23, 24 & 25 February 1978

Anyway, for reasons too daft to explain, John re-engaged with me earlier this year and invited me to a delightful lunch at his club, The Union Club, in late January 2026.

I wanted to reciprocate, but I don’t really have a club. Well, I suppose I do – the MCC, but John doesn’t much like cricket.

The solution was to invite John to Lord’s on a minor match day, when the ground is not crowded, the lunch is still a decent lunch and the cricket is as important or unimportant as you want it to be. John had never seen the place before and liked the idea.

Hence MCC Women’s Day.

I played tennis first thing against Paul Buchanan-Barrow who, coincidentally, had been my doubles partner 18 months earlier in the famous international fixture against the visitors from Newport, Rhode Island. Coincidental, because Paul and I had done battle with a women’s pair that day.

A Joyful Day Of International Real (Court) Tennis At Lord’s, Followed By Dinner, With The Burghers Of Newport Rhode Island, 13 November 2024

Paul wasn’t sticking around for the women’s cricket, so I waited alone for John, taking in a bit of the atmosphere of the day. Despite the early season scheduling, it was actually a bright sunny day which offered to be warm enough to watch in the great outdoors by afternoon.

But first, on John’s arrival, I thought I’d give him the informal pavilion tour. Rather unexpectedly, we ran into the Club President, Ed Smith, who greeted me warmly as we had not seen each other for some time, and later also the Chairman and CEO, all of whom were showing their faces and/or entertaining folk on this quiet but iconic day.

The potentially pompous experience reminded me of the following 2009 evening I wrote up for King Cricket…

Middlesex v Lancashire Pro 40 match report

…in which my old friend Stentor Baritone and I showed young Lavender and Escamillo around the pavilion.

That made me wonder what had become of Stentor, as I hadn’t heard from him since before the pandemic. Nor had he heard from me. I resolved to get in touch with Stentor by e-mail some time soon, but, strangely, Daisy and I bumped into him at The Royal Court Theatre the very next evening. Now that’s weird.

John seemed to be enjoying the cricket more than I thought he would, but I managed to wrestle him away from such distractions from our main purpose, taking lunch in the Long Room Bar, then showing him the library and the tennis court and the Performance Centre. There we took some tea in Filipa’s and watched the sun starting to come out in reasonable force.

That gave us the courage to watch some cricket from the Mound Stand, where normal people sit and watch and where you can take a little early season sun.

The day flew by, as Lord’s days do.

While gently watching on, John mentioned, in passing, that he had “a little bit of cricket heritage” in his family. Somewhere in the cousinhood, he couldn’t quite remember, women cricketers – twins as it happens. He’d try to track down the reference later.

The next morning, this reference/link arrived from John.

THE  BLAKERS OF KENT

I felt a surge of imposter syndrome – wondering whether my guests have more right (at least by birthright) to be hosts at Lord’s than I do – similar to the feeling I had when I took John Random to Lord’s seven years ago. Another friend who claimed no connection with cricket…except for his grandfather Herbert Ireland who was a doyen of Widnes CC to the extent that the function room at that club is named after him. See the Thursday entry “A Random Ramble Around Lord’s” in the diary piece below.

In And Out Of Lord’s For Four Days, Middlesex v Leicestershire, 14 to 17 May 2019

It must be something about people named John with equity surnames and left leanings.

Random as Trotsky

Joking apart, it was a most enjoyable day milling around Lord’s with John Fry.

“And the cricket?”, I hear you cry. Really? You can read all about it here. In fact, if you really want to, you can even watch it all on the stream recording, below:

Maetsro by David Tossell, MCC Library Book Club, Lord’s, 11 March 2026

The subject was Sobers, Janie was, believe it or not, sober

I spotted and booked this one on the members’ on-line system, before it was announced and several weeks before Alan Rees mentioned it to me in the library.

An interesting character, Garry (or should I say Sir Garfield) Sobers. As David Tossell said in his opening remarks about his book, Sobers has not been well served in print previously, with several books of dubious quality and little digging into his impoverished early life and his colourful career.

Before the talk, a traditional Library Book Club supper with two tasty courses, the most photogenic of which was the pud:

Then the talk.

David Tossell peppered his talk with fascinating anecdotes and well-chosen visuals

Attentive. No attention deficit here. Which is more than might be said for Sobers

Of course, Garry Sobers and I go back a long way. Not as far back as the memories many of the attending gentlemen had of watching Sobers play at Lord’s. But I could, in contrarian fashion, wax lyrical about the day that Sobers watched me play at Lord’s.

The Day Garfield Sobers Watched Me & Z/Yen Play Cricket, Lord’s, 30 June 2009

I can hardly wait to read the book. I expect there’ll be a reference in it to that day in 2009, which was surely a major moment in Garry Sobers cricket career…at least it was in mine.

Seriously, as always it was a most enjoyable evening; initially the dining and chatting with interesting folk around us. Then the bonus of a fascinating book talk.

MCC Real Tennis Skills Night, Lord’s, 4 March 2026

The original Hinds Trophy being presented in March 2023

The following text (or an edited version of it) will shortly appear on the MCC website, along with some of the photographs taken on the night. When that happens, I'll add a link.

Sixty years ago, in March 1966, one of the most coveted trophies in global sport, The Jules Rimet Trophy, was stolen from its apparently secure display location in Westminster. A couple of days after an aborted ransom sting, a dog named Pickles discovered a parcel containing the trophy in a hedge beside his owner’s home. Pickles became an overnight sensation, the Jules Rimet was presented at the 1966 Football World Cup Final, before being retained by Brazil, then, a few years later, in Rio, permanently stolen.

The Hinds Trophy (aka The Skills Night Wooden Spoon Trophy), another of the most coveted trophies in global sport, recently had a similar journey. The original Hinds was snatched from its secure location behind the Lord’s hazard end galleries, at some point in the summer or autumn of 2024. No ransom was ever demanded, nor was any canine heroism involved, as far as we know. But just a few weeks ago, long after its replacement with a replica trophy, the original Hinds reappeared just as mysteriously as it had disappeared. The replacement Hinds will continue to be engraved and displayed.  The original Hinds is now preserved at a highly secure, secret location.

Ironically, the coveted Hinds Trophy was nearly won this time by Andrew Hinds’s own team, Three Ravens.  Numerically and temporally challenged in many ways, that team started with just two but ended up with four players. They need words, not numbers; the collective noun for ravens is “an unkindness”.

The ravens team was especially unkind to two teams.  By performing so well on the final discipline, they knocked Souldiers Three (Hugo Fenwick, Gavin Yeats & David Pritchard) into the Hinds Trophy slot.  Then, with the final scoring of the event, those unkind ravens denied Three Things In Store late surge to the top spot. Instead, Three Poor Mariners – Richard Boys-Stones, Mary Strevens & Huw Humphreys – were, fairly, reinstalled at the top of the podium.

The Close But No Cigar Award went to neophyte Gerald Slocock, whose ability to almost-but-not-quite hit a target might become the stuff of legend, if he maintains form in that regard.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award went to Shaheed “Sid” Rashid, not least for being the only player to score two points off one hit on the central beam of the dedans gallery.

The Philip The Bold Golden Moment Award went to John Thirlwell, for an extraordinary hat trick of coups du pataugeoire -landing the serve in a paddling pool – which is much harder than it sounds.

There is a serious purpose to skills night; honing skills.  True, most of the skills honed on such nights involve eating curry, drinking, singing and the like, but the evening does include some real tennis skills too.

Skills night unquestionably proves the skills of the MCC admin team who organise the event so well, and our tennis professionals, who make the game swing with great reliability.  Which is more than can be said for most of us players’ tennis swings!

Here is a link to the piece, with pictures, on the MCC website, available to those who have a suitable login. Apart from the pictures, it is the above text, unexpurgated. What are the editors thinking?

…and here’s a link to scrape of that piece with pictures.

Paterson Bowl Final At Lord’s: Eddy Gray v Ben Havey, 3 February 2026

The players greet graciously; the manner in which the whole match was played

Big Match Build Up

At the end of the MCC Club Weekend, a couple of days before this match, I reassured Tom Carew Hunt that I had put aside the evening to join him at the Paterson Bowl Final. Tom said:

I’m so glad, as I am now a serious doubt for being able to get into London that evening.

I had a dreadful feeling that I would end up master of ceremonies for the post match presentation; a feeling that was utterly justified.

That sense of dread was magnified when I arrived at Lord’s to discover that the RG Paterson Bowl itself was under lock and key in the MCC museum, which meant that it would not be possible to present the actual trophy on the night.

On reflection, I realised that it is, in fact, an MCC tradition to restrict access to trophies in this way – The Australians have had nearly 150 years to get used to such limited access in the matter of “The Urn”, win or lose.

I also had a slight sense of dread, on Eddie Gray’s account, when I learnt of the handicap Ben Havey was due to receive. Both players are relatively new to the game and both are fast improving, which is rather wonderful, but Ben in particular is currently going through one of those “growth spurts” that talented players can achieve.

I had done battle with Ben only a couple of days earlier, albeit at doubles. Here’s a single rest (rally) clip of me serving to him:

Let The Big Match Commence

So, to the Eddy Gray v Ben Havey match itself. Both players started a little nervously, I thought, with one or two uncharacteristic errors. It was the first “big final” for both of them. It was also the first big final for our apprentice professional Henry de Lord, who has been working on his own game with both of these players lately. But all three of them settled quickly and then did very well.

Jonathan Potter also represented the tennis committee on the night. He was able to comment from first hand experience on Eddy’s recent progress.

Eddy indeed showed us his array of weapons, with several forces to the grille and some superb winners on the floor too. But Ben also has powerful winners, plus a very strong defensive game. That made the nine point handicap difference extremely difficult for Eddy to try and overcome.

Here is one point by way of example, in which an Eddy error results in the glorious ringing of the winning gallery cowbells…but from the wrong side. “Hell’s bells” I like to call them – they used to reside in my late mother-in-law’s apartment.

Here is another really excellent rest (rally) in which both players demonstrated their fast-improving skills, eventually resulting in Eddy landing a hazard chase.

Very soon after that one, Ben’s girlfriend, who was sitting a little nervously close by, asked me if the match was nearing its end. I said

…if I have been counting correctly, this is now match point.

Which it was:

The result: Ben Havey bt Eddy Gray 6-1, 6-1 on handicap.

As their handicaps move towards each other (hopefully both still improving) I suspect there will be some close battles between Ben Havey & Eddy Gray, plus some excellent representation for the MCC by both of them.

We held a short presentation ceremony on court, during which I said that sort of thing and presented both of the combatants with their mementoes. I also gave Ben advice on how to visit his trophy and handed him his well-earned bottle of Pol Roger fizzy pop.

The MCC Tennis Club Weekend, Lord’s, 30 January to 1 February 2026

My self-report card: 10/10 for a wonderful weekend, 9/10 for effort, 6/10 for performance, 0/10 for results.

I have written at length about the MCC Tennis Weekend before and certainly don’t want to bore regular readers. For those who have not read about such matters before: the 2024 report majors on tennis derring-do and nervousness about method acting…

The MCC Tennis Weekend 2024: The Secret Diary Of Ian Harris Aged 61 and 5/12ths, 26 to 28 January 2024

…while the 2025 report majors on potty adventures of one sort or another:

The MCC Real Tennis Club Weekend & Related Potty Adventures, 31 January To 2 February 2025

This year I’ll focus on the tennis. To get the least interesting bit out of the way, I’ll simply say that my partner, Jeremy Norman, and I, did not do well. Group B was especially strong this year, as evidenced by our group’s runners up eventually taking the top prize – Mason Sharp Trophy. Someone has to bring up the rear in each group.

We did, however, try hard. We also provided some entertainment…in a good way. We even influenced the result of the tournament by eliminating one of the stronger pairs in our last rubber, thus providing the eventual winners a semi-final slot. The following clip shows probably our best, albeit in vain, efforts during that last round robin match.

20 stroke rests don’t happen all that often at our level.

At the very start of our campaign, on the Friday, we were up against Giles Stogdon – my partner from last year, who literally produced a “lights out tennis” moment on court:

Jeremy Norman and I are absolutely convinced that, had it not been for the lighting deficiency on court for the rest of the tournament, we would have prevailed in all of our matches. 😉 . We would say that, wouldn’t we?

As for the Chair of tennis, Graeme Marks, he seemed hell bent on using the prerogative of the chair to sneak those extra few points that can make all the difference. A net cord that still makes the winning line, a spin-backer onto the grille ledge, another spin-backer into the dedans from his partner in crime, Paul Wollocombe…

…not that such “tactics” were enough to get them through to the semis, despite recording a good round robin win against the eventual trophy winners. Such is tournament tennis sometimes.

I was able at least to relax for most of the Sunday, after playing my heart out for pride just before lunch. The semi-finals and finals were a good fun watch, not least because of the convivial (and at times almost rowdy) atmosphere amongst those members who chose to stay and watch the concluding afternoon of the tournament.

It really is always a grand finale and enjoyable afternoon, regardless of the quality or excitement of the tennis matches. This year, as it happens, the tournament built up to a humdinger of a Mason Sharp final, which went all the way to a deciding game.

Firstly, for those who want to watch it, the final of the Osborn Parker (C/D Groups). Iain Harvey & Sebastian Maurin v Andrew Hinds & Giles Watkins.

Secondly, for those who would like to see the whole match, the final of the Mason Sharp (A/B Groups). Steven Bishop & Paul Cattermull v Nigel Smith & Paul Wickman.

If you only fancy the last three minutes of the big final, having already learnt that it went to a deciding game…here is just the deciding game:

It is most unusual for a team from the B group to prevail in the final – let alone the runners-up from the B group. In this case, even more unusual because Paul Wickman went home after their round robin loss on the final morning assuming that his pair had been eliminated. In fact, as the group had panned out, the comparative scores meant that Havey and Walker needed to thrash me and Jeremy Norman in the final round robin rubber of the group in order to overtake Smith and Wickman.

I did berate Paul Wickman, while also congratulating him on a fine tournament win, for assuming that Jeremy and I would be thrashed. “I hadn’t thought it through to that extent”, was his excuse.

Fortunately, “going home” for Paul did not mean “going over the hills, far away and unable to return.” He and Nigel put on a fine show, both in the semi-final and the final. Two of their very best rests were in the semi-final, which I shall use as a closing clip for this piece.

The atmosphere at Lord’s was terrific all weekend. So much effort goes in from staff and volunteer organisers to make the tournament seem effortless on the weekend itself. The organisational effort and skills cannot be demonstrated in a 90 second YouTube clip…but, fortunately, the tennis skills and effort can:

Looking forward to next year already!

MCC Library Book Club Dinner With Simon Wilde On Chasing Jessop, 28 October 2025

Alan Rees chasing answers from Simon Wilde after dinner

Janie and I really enjoy these Library Book Club evenings at Lord’s. It is a real pleasure and a privilege to be able to dine and hear about a recent cricket book in my favourite room in the Lord’s pavilion: the Writing Room.

This was our third visit. Last time…

MCC Library Book Club Evening At Lord’s, Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, With Mark Peel, 13 February 2024

…Janie found herself sitting next to Alan Rees, which led to my discovery of the research gem for both real tennis and cricket that is the MCC library, which Alan curates. My most recent opus and talk in Newport Rhode Island owes no small thanks to that happenstance in early 2024.

1875 And All That

Strangely, Janie & I are also no strangers to dining in Simon Wilde’s proximity. We had spotted Simon, along with John Etheridge and some other cricket writers in Sabai Sabai in Moseley on the night before the India test at Edgbaston earlier this year. I now realise I even commented on this fact in my write up of that trip:

Heavy Rolling In Edgbaston (Via Leamington) For The England v India Test, 1 to 4 July 2025

I mentioned this curious fact to Simon over dinner, who initially tried to deny the idea that he might have been dining with friends in an up-market Thai restaurant in Moseley, but then broke down under my interrogation and confessed to remembering the place. He even admitted to having eaten there more than once.

Top investigative journalism on my part, there, I feel.

But not as toppy in the investigative journalism department as Simon’s book, Chasing Jessop: The Mystery of England Cricket’s Oldest Record, which is a forensic look at a record-setting innings by Gilbert Jessop in the 1902 Ashes test match at the Oval. Spoiler alert: England won that test match but had already lost the Ashes. Not much changes…

Gilbert Jessop could give it a whack. Giving it a whack is back in fashion now.

Anyway, point is, Gilbert Jessop was an interesting and unusual character for the England test set up in 1902 who came off big time in that legendary match. But the exact details of his record are shrouded in some mystery, with the scorebooks having gone missing and the contemporaneous newspaper records being a bit light on details – especially one detail that matters to the modern record-setter: how many balls did he take to get to 100 runs.

If this all sounds a bit geeky…it is. But geeky in an historically-fascinating way, as it brings to light the ways that the sports media and sports fandom have changed in so many ways…yet in others, such as the fascination with speed record-setting, stayed the same.

But before all that book stuff, we ate the above meal. The grub side of things is always done very well at Lord’s for these events.

I sat next to Marek from Primrose Hill Books, who was there to help Simon sell the book. In the course of a most interesting conversation, Marek told me that this was his first ever visit to the Lord’s pavilion, which he found a little awe-inspiring, and that he had, in his youth, dated both of Mike Brearley’s sisters at one time or another. Not at the same time, Marek hastened to add.

By the way, if you want a signed copy of Simon’s book, I think Marek still has a few signed copies at the bookshop, so a request through the above link might score you one of those. Naturally the book is available from all good bookshops and also other well-known sources.

Alan closely guarding the legendary bat

Throughout the evening the very bat used in the legendary innings was on display. We could look closely but we could not touch. Given its unusually long handle and short blade, it might remind some readers of the Mongoose bat, which was the talk of the cricket world, not least on Alex Bowden’s King Cricket website, 15+ years ago now.

The Mongoose cricket bat means business

Alan didn’t guard The Right Honourable Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane’s cricket bat quite so carefully a few weeks ago, when I popped by the library to finish my 1875 research. Indeed Alan positively gave me permission to handle that historic bat and even photographed me doing so:

I got an almost child-like buzz out of this. Thanks Alan.

The MCC Library Book Club seems to be a bit of a magnet for real tennis types: for the Simon Wilde evening there were three of my tennis pals: Jim Chaudry, Oliver Wise and Brian Sharpe, which adds to the feeling of conviviality on thes evenings.

I had seen Sharpey three days in a row – at the Silver Racquet match on the Sunday, while endorsing MCC candidates on the Monday, and then at this event. When I broke the news to Brian that I wasn’t coming to Lord’s the next day, I think I saw him wipe away a tear. Joy? Laughter?

While we were in the Writing Room enjoying the chat about Jessop, history and books in general, in the Long Room (next door), there was a high-falutin’ dinner with parliamentarians from the House of Commons and House of Lords. I know where I would rather be – Library Book Club is more my cup of tea.

ALAN: Had Jessop been to the right sort of school? SIMON: No, and that was seen as a bit of a problem…

Two Club Nights & A Silver Racquet, Lord’s, Kimchee & Lord’s, 22 to 26 October 2025

Club Night 2018, with the 2025 register in brackets: Linda (present), Me (present), Sandra (present), Martin (absent), Liza (present), Andrea (present), Mark (RIP), David (present), Simon (absent), Ivor (absent)

22 October – Real Tennis Club Night At Lord’s

When I talk about club night at Lord’s, I am talking about a 9 or 10 times a year midweek informal event, enabling real tennis players of varying standards to rock up for some doubles.

Being a quintessentially varying standard player of the most average sort, I have stumbled into the role of curating these events. In truth, it’s probably more to do with the fact that I’m quite good at marking – i.e. umpiring and scoring.

The abacus (this photo at Hampton Court) is for show – I normally mark in my head.

We had a great turnout at Lord’s on 22 October – about a dozen brave souls gave it a go. There were one or two new faces, which always makes the handicapping just a little harder. One chap, who was new to the game and said he’d only played a few times and had a couple of lessons, nevertheless hit the ball like a seasoned player. It took the more experienced players a while to work him out and he’ll soon enough work out what they were doing to work him out.

It’s a great sport – requiring thought and mental agility as well as sport and (hopefully) physical agility.

23 October – Youth Club Night At Kimchee

But the term “club night” also makes me think of youth club night, which used to be an almost weekly thing in Streatham back in the 1970s. More than 10 years ago, several of us regrouped (as it were) and have been meeting up for youth club nights, mostly as an annual event in the late spring. The headline photo is from May 2018.

This year’s spring event was a very small scale affair, while I was still recovering from my hip operation. I sense that the four who gathered then felt that four was not a quorum. Hence the radical idea of having an autumn rescheduling at the scene of the spring “crime” – Kimchee in Kings Cross.

Six of us gathered: Andrea (thanks for organising), David, Linda, Liza, Me & Sandra.

This was the first “scale” gathering since the sad and untimely passing last year of Mark Phillips whom I (and indeed several of us) had known since we were very little indeed; before youth club.

When the idea of having these gatherings was first mooted (I think we started in 2013 or 2014 – I’ll need to diary trawl for the earliest one – as the first few were pre-Ogblog) – both Mark and I agreed to attend with some trepidation. I know this because I used to see Mark’s mum, Shirl, when I visited my mum in Nightingale. I also learnt via Shirl that Mark, like me, was surprisingly pleased with the gathering and resolute in wanting such gatherings to be repeated, which they have been.

My favourite Mark-related story from our gatherings is from 2019, when I discovered that Mark was now the headmaster at Deptford Green School, around the time that my cricket charity, the London Cricket Trust, was putting facilities into Deptford Park, in part for use by his school. The link below is the story of what happened – the punchline being that the great South African cricketer, AB de Villiers, rocked up at Deptford Park to open our new pitch a few weeks later

Mission Implausible, The Annual Streatham BBYO Alumni Gathering, Bill’s, 30 May 2019
AB & Me & The LCT, Deptford Park, 16 July 2019

26 October – Silver Racquet Match At Lord’s

Bertie Vallat (left), Chris Bray (centre) & Ben Yorston (right)

Janie and I brought our Sunday morning lawners slot at Boston Manor forward an hour, so we might get to Lord’s in time to see most of the Silver Racquet match between Bertie Vallat and Ben Yorston.

Aficionados of Ogblog will no doubt remember Bertie’s first mention, from 2018:

Tennis At Queen’s Followed By Dinner With Simon Jacobs At Brasserie Blanc, 12 September 2018

I mentioned a key feature of that match to Jonathan Potter, soon after Janie and I sat down in the dedans gallery.

HARRIS: I have played Bertie myself. I took a couple of games off him playing level.

POTTER: How old?

HARRIS: (thinking…) I was about 56 I think.

POTTER: Not you. Bertie.

HARRIS: (sotto voce) 12.

Strangely, it turns out that Bertie remembers the occasion too…or at least his early moment of “fame” here on Ogblog.

But you want to know about the Silver Racquet match, not my ridiculous ramblings about one of my many historic on-court humiliations.

And so you should, because it really was a corker of a match. We weren’t really expecting an epic battle, but we got a five set epic, which included some truly exceptional shot-making and especially impressive defensive retrieving by both players.

The dedans was pretty full for the second and third sets, but several attendees, not expecting quite such a long battle, had other engagements to get to, so only a few of us were able to stick around and see the match reach its conclusion.

Janie and I really were impressed and engrossed in watching the match. Even the final set, when both players were clearly pushing themselves towards and beyond their physical limits, was a great watch. Amateur sport at its best.

But you don’t need to take my word for it – Paul Cattermull has written an excellent match report for the T&RA, which you can read by clicking here.

You don’t even have to take Paul’s word for it – see for yourself on the MCC YouTube recording for that day, from 2 hrs 20 minutes in until the sweet/bitter end:

Been going since 1867. The Silver Racquet, I mean. Not Bertie, obviously.

Winning the Silver Racquet doesn’t just mean a trophy and bottle of pop. It also confers the right on the winner to compete for the Gold Racquet. Unfortunately, Janie and I won’t be able to make that match. Maybe next time.

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.