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 visualsAttentive. No attention deficit here. Which is more than might be said for Sobers
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.
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!
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.
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…
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:
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.
…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.
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:
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 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…
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
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Seeking an opportunity to spend some hours talking about life, the universe and everything…
…but in particular our shared interests in theatre and early music…
…I suggested a “relaxed day” at Lord’s, when the cricket was to be a club day, the crowd was due to be very small and we could readily chat, It would also enable me to show Ben cricket in its more traditional, low key form.
The idea worked.
It seemed to me most peculiar that Benjamin Schwarz, who is a self-confessed huge fan of the writing of CLR James, had never before seen a cricket match.
Frankly, Ben still hasn’t seen much cricket, but he has seen the pavilion in all its glory, and watched a bit of cricket from the Long Room and the front of the lower terrace. He has supped in the Bowlers’ Bar and dined in the Long Room Bar.
Ben has also seen the library, including the CLR James treasures therein.
Most importantly, Ben has now experienced the gentle art of watching on, while chatting about every subject under the sun with the possible exception of cricket. Actually we talked quite a lot about cricket too, including my cricket “origins” story…
…but not The Heavy Rollers origin story, which is differently interesting, not least the link to Nigel’s story, which is so close to a creation story it has a genuinely Old Testament ring to it, but without the ultraviolence.
One very strange coincidence emerged from our conversations, which was the fact that Ben’s son had recently lived on the very block in New Cavendish Street, formerly Upper Marylebone Street, where my dad was born and where Thomas Paine wrote the second part of The Right Of Man.
I told Ben about my research and discovery about the misattribution of the address and scolded myself for not getting round to writing it up. Ben agreed. I have subsequently written it up:
…including the indoor school which was eerily quiet, we returned to the pavilion briefly before Ben realised that he needed to get to the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, so we set off at pace for Edgware Road tube.
Ben said he had a most enjoyable day, as did I, so that’s good.
We didn’t cover half the topics we meant to chat through, so of course we’ll simply have to meet again very soon and spend a pleasant day covering those.
Limited attention span, limited time available or weather-affected cricket?
Some elements of all three of those “reasons” meant that Daisy (Janie) & I spent just a few hours at each of those two matches.
England Women v India Women ODI At Lord’s 19 July 2025
It was bucketing down with rain in London when we rose on the Saturday morning of the women’s ODI. We agreed that the forecast suggested that there would be no cricket until mid-afternoon.
No matter. We both had things to be getting on with and had in any case planned an easy day at Lord’s for that match – go by car, just a few snacks in a bag, and “play it by ear”.
By the time we got to the ground, after word reached us that there should be no more rain and play in a much reduced match would be starting soon, we’d still only missed the first few overs of India’s innings.
Daisy’s favourite spot on the pavilion sun deck was gloriously available – see headline image and the image below, in which we both feel smug having secured Daisy’s favourite spot.
It isn’t the most intense cricket-watching view in the house, by a long way, but it is a lovely spot to just relax and sense the atmosphere in the ground.
The lower tiers of all the public stands were very full, despite the weather. It’s great to see this at a women’s international match. When Janie and I went to our first women’s international, at Shenley in 2003, I think we were the only people watching apart from the players’ friends and relations.
Zooming in on the action
We went for a nice stroll during the interval and did that thing we only tend to do once or twice each summer now: we each had a whippy ice cream with flake.
After finishing our ice creams, we politely took our leave of that endearing lady and went back to our seats for a while.
Soon it became very clear that the match was going England’s way and Janie’s analogue weather app (sixth sense) detected that there might be a passing shower or two on the way. I checked on my digital weather app, which agreed with her.
Middlesex v Northamptonshire, Day Two, Merchant Taylors’ School, 23 July 2025
How many for 8?
Our original plan had been to pop out to Northwood and see some cricket at Merchant Taylors’ School mid afternoon on Day One. However, part of our purpose had been an errand “out that way” which was no longer necessary and the weather looked distinctly iffy.
I was liaising with Yorkshire Simon over this, not least because he was also minded to go that day, but for the weather.
SIMON @10:00ish: Good morning. Very grey here…I won’t be home till lunchtime. Forecast isn’t brilliant.
ME @3:00ish: We finished other stuff a bit too late and the forecast is a bit too iffy for us “fair weather fans”! We might try again tomorrow.
SIMON @3:30: Very wise. It’s actually ok here but light rain is forecast.
The forecast looked much better for the afternoon of Day Two, although again Janie and I struggled to dispense with our other commitments quite as early as we would have liked.
Whisper it, folks, but both of us do still work, albeit part time. There is a rumour that our version of part time has more hours of actual work to it than a lot of people’s so-called full time work, but let’s not start fretting about that on Ogblog.
Anyway, we got to MTS while Middlesex were still batting, racking up a record high score. Daisy took the above picture early enough to prove that we were there to see the moment that Middlesex passed 600, which I think is the first time I have ever witnessed such a moment, although I have seen other teams surpass 600 against Middlesex a couple of times at least, and probably have seen bits of Middlesex innings that ended up past 600.
Trying to work out how rare an event this 600+ score really is, while also keeping tabs on England’s progress in the Old Trafford test. It’s not easy to be a cricket geek at an out ground, you know.
We stuck around long enough to see Middlesex take some wickets, although naturally I chose my moment for a loo break at the perfect time to miss one of those. A wag among the small but friendly crowd suggested that I should go to the loo again when I returned from that break grumbling about missing a wicket.
Daisy and I soon decided to make an early departure to ensure that we got home in good time and didn’t have too late a night – we both had busy days scheduled the next day.
It was Daisy’s first experience of the Merchant Taylors’ School vibe (weather and work commitments had confounded her several times previously) and she now absolutely gets why I like the out ground cricket there so much. It is very much “out her way” in terms of Daisy’s childhood – we drove home past her old family home on Batchworth Lane.
A few very relaxing hours in the midst of a rather busy working week.
Real tennis Hong Kong dragon, not to be confused with a Welsh dragon
Tom Carew Hunt, in liaison with Charlie Barrows of Real Tennis Hong Kong, thought this occasion an ideal excuse…or should I say opportunity…to have an MCC v RTHK fixture on the same day.
It was a very bright idea which made for a very enjoyable day.
Ton Carew Hunt in the Lord’s dedans gallery, no doubt expounding on another bright idea
We MCC members had several conversations about ensuring that we were able to introduce all of our visitors into the pavilion during the day, only to discover that it was a “relatively relaxed” day, with no requirement to sign guests in.
After my rubber, I “introduced” (or rather, made an unnecessary attempt to sign in) John McVitie, with whom I supped in the Bowlers’ Bar watching cricket for a while, until an untimely short shower temporarily put paid to the cricket.
In the end, despite there being plentiful cricket to watch, I spent most of my time in the dedans gallery, where the majority of the tennis players were hanging out, watching tennis and chatting.
I did offer to mark a rubber or two, but Charlie Barrows was keen to mark most of the match. Tom marked one rubber, which I am told included a controversial call. But, sadly, my investigative journalism came to nought when the players all clammed up under interrogation. Strangely, it transpires that the video camera, normally in full flow throughout such matches, was suspiciously turned off during our match. “Fault-er-gate” will thus remain one of those unsolved mysteries.
Richard Wyse, Peter Brunner, Anthony Prince & Bill Higson line up for the final rubber
Below is the results card, showing, in excruciating detail, everything that Joe Public might like to know about this fixture, and more.
Although MCC took both the men’s and women’s cricket matches on the field of play, Real Tennis Hong Kong pipped MCC in the tennis fixture.
But more important than the result was the warmth and friendliness of the atmosphere throughout the day. Of course, most of the RTHK players are long-term friends of the MCC players through the real tennis community, plus, in many cases, through also being members of the MCC. It was lovely to spend a day at tennis and cricket in that relaxed and congenial setting.
