A rare sighting of Chris Bray, Chris Swallow & Henry de Lord, on court together
A brace of late changes allowed me the possibility of witnessing a rare, possibly unique, competitive bout between “The Lord’s Chrises” – Bray and Swallow.
Firstly, a most unfortunate accident on court for Robert Shenkman at Hampton Court Palace the previous weekend. While Rob is without doubt an unstoppable force in amateur real tennis, the walls of the Royal Tennis Court are also, without doubt, immovable objects. Fortunately, come the Thursday before the Cull matches, Rob was showing off his wound with a big smile and “no real harm done” chat at Lord’s, when we ran into him…
…but he was still to be off games with a doctor’s note for the David Cull Trophy. In stepped Chris Bray, our senior professional and former world No 2, to take up the top seed place for the Cull tournament. Hence a likely semi-final between our two pros, Chris Bray and Chris Swallow.
Secondly, a chance change to Janie’s hairdressing calendar, which meant that lunchtime on Saturday 25th was to be her rescheduled hair slot.
In that case, I’ll go to Lord’s and watch the semi-finals of the David Cull Trophy…
…said I. Once Janie found out what she would be missing, she bemoaned not being available herself, although I doubt if I’d have been able to drag her away from a sunny afternoon at home for indoor tennis that day.
The David Cull Trophy is a relatively new/renewed invitational competition, played level, open to amateurs and professionals with affiliation to or membership of the MCC.
The match between Messrs Bray and Swallow was an excellent watch. Chris Bray has not played competitively for years, while Chris Swallow still does play the occasional competitive match.
Both players had to play a quarter final in the morning before taking on each other in the semi-final.
I have scraped the final few minutes of all of the sets from the two semi-finals.
Let’s join the Bray v Swallow match at 4-4 in the first set:
Now let’s join the second set at 3-3:
The second semi-final was between two of our (MCC’s) very best amateurs: Neil Roxburgh and Ben Yorston.
Neil returning (above), Ben returning (below).
This match was also a very good watch.
Let’s join the first set at 3-3:
Afficionados might notice that the second match was marked by Chris Bray, hot off his 22 game marathon with Chris Swallow. At one point during the first set, when dropping off some balls in the dedans, Chris said, “starting to seize up a bit now”, which was unsurprising but spoke volumes about his enduring commitment to his work. I sense that he wanted to have a good close look at Neil and Ben’s play.
Let’s now join the second set at 5-1. Neil went through a lull at the end of the first and the start of the second. You’ll see signs of revival and some excellent rests in this final reel:
So there you have it. The final will be on Sunday 2 August at 1:00 pm between Chris Bray and Ben Yorston. Anyone with access to the ground for the Middlesex v Yorkshire cricket match that day (i.e. MCC members, Middlesex CCC members and/or anyone with a ticket for the cricket match) is welcome to have a look. It should be a truly excellent match and could well be a close one, with youth and recent tournament practice on Ben’s side, while Chris brings experience, albeit less recent, from the very highest level of match play.
It’s a shame that Janie and I won’t be there…unless changing circumstance intervenes yet again.
If any readers have a crazy craving for watching all of the quarter-final and semi-final action from that day, a seven hours of streaming is still up there to be seen/skimmed.
Janie and I had never been to Wormsley before. I was especially keen to spend a chunk of the Knight-Stokes Cup Southern Semi-Finals day there, as I am a keen advocate for and supporter of state schools cricket, not least through my role as a Trustee of the (soon to be concluded) London Cricket Trust.
Janie and I also pencilled in two or three additional dates for Wormsley this season, in the hope that weather and other commitments would allow us to attend for a while, by way of a reconnaissance mission.
2 July 2026: Buckinghamshire v Middlesex
2 July presented a suitable window of opportunity for us, with the weather and appointments diaries both allowing. Buckinghamshire v Middlesex – presumably a warm-up friendly for Middlesex to prepare for the 50 over cup. It was certainly seriously warm up there in the Chiltons.
By the time we arrived, Middlesex had dispensed with Buckinghamshire and the small but loyal crowd were enjoying the interval at that beautiful ground. But soon the cricket restarted.
Gently watching on – Middlesex at Wormsley styleGed: How do you spell reconnaissance? Dingy Bags: Look it up yourself, you muppet. Beefy: How do you spell muppet?
Middlesex seemed to be making short work of Buckinghamshire’s modest total.
But nothing much seems to cheer the loyal Middlesex fans these days, not even the realisation that there is a quality gulf between first class and minor counties. I suppose we/they have always known that.
16 July 2026: John Hampden Grammar School v Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet, Chelmsford County High School For Girls v Bournemouth School for Girls
Someone (not me) was video-ing the whole of the boys match
Our time window on this day was a bit longer than it had been on 2 July, but the boys match started early, such that our pre-noon arrival at the ground still meant that we had missed out on the John Hampden Grammar School’s innings in this 20 over tournament. (128, seeing as you asked).
Unsurprisingly, given John Hampden School’s location in High Wycombe, just down the road from Wormsley, the small crowd almost entirely consisted of friends and families of that local team. Janie and I sat amongst them in the tree-shaded area. We were made to feel most welcome.
Queen Elisabeth School batted well at times, but mostly looked behind the required rate given the regular falling of wickets. At one point, one of the John Hampden boys shouted out to his playing mates, “you’ve got this one nailed”, at which point the QE batsman hit a couple of fours to make the target seem possible again. “No-one should ever say that in a cricket match”, yelled one of the grandads, partly in faux-anger but also, I suspect, a tinge of nerves for his grandson’s team.
In the end John Hampden Grammar School did prevail, by 11 runs if I remember correctly.
There was quite a long interval between the two matches, while the girls teams warmed up and we strolled around .
Janie merely pretending to need the defibrillator. It was not that hot and we were mostly in the shade.A view through the pavilionJanie: Oy – who nicked my massage couch? The fine dining was set up for that evening’s Garsington Opera crowd – not for the likes of us.
We met some non-plussed and/or grumpy-looking model cricketers…
…possibly fretting that they too were excluded from the Garsington high tables
When we returned to our shady spot, the High Wycombe locals had been replaced by a posse of mums and grandmas from Chelmsford, supporting their girls against the Bournemouth ones, who appeared to have come by coach without a posse of supporters.
As with the High Wycombe folk, the Chelmsford women were very welcoming towards us, in our capacity of independent observers. They seemed quite accepting of the fact that we were only going to be able to watch about 10 overs of the girls match, which started a bit later than advertised, as I needed to get back to Lord’s to curate tennis club night.
Chelmsford were fielding, and the mums/grandmas were in a state of great excitement for almost every ball, even at this early stage of the match. “Stop the ball”, “throw it in”, “back it up”…
The match seemed well poised when we left at the 10 over mark. We learn from this Bournemouth School Facebook posting that Bournemouth scored 125/7 in their 20 overs and took the match to a last ball finish, from which Chelmsford prevailed. I dread to think what a state those Chelmsford mums and grandmas were in by the time it got to that last ball, given their level of excitement in the early stages. Just as well that defibrillator is at hand, plus a St John’s Ambulance presence, despite the small crowd.
We had a lovely time. Wormsley is a beautiful ground. And it was great to support the Knight-Stokes state schools competition in its inaugural year.
Unfortunately Janie and I cannot be at the Lord’s final this year, as we shall be at the Edgbaston test match that week. But I would thoroughly recommend that people attend if they can. The quality of the cricket, both boys and girls, was pleasingly high. We also met some really engaged and engaging cricket enthusiasts watching on, who will no doubt be at Lord’s in numbers, on Finals Day, 10 September 2026.
Janie and I blocked out the day to do research for our planned house refurb, and to visit Lord’s. We wanted to take a look at some women’s cricket – two matches against a visiting squad from the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and a Real Tennis Women’s Day that had been organised around the SCG visit. Oh, and we were also going on to the Wigmore Hall for an evening concert.
Mr Logistics (that’s me) worked out that all of this activity could be undertaken in Bayswater and Marylebone, mostly on foot with some minimal use of the underground sauna otherwise known as The Tube.
The paint business took a little longer than we expected, whereas the SCG Women’s Team dispatching the Middlesex Women’s team apparently took less time than people had expected. Basically Janie and I arrived in the pavilion as the first cricket match was concluded.
No matter – we were a bit peckish having walked from Westbourne Grove to Lord’s, so we soldiered on to the Nursery End of the ground, where I had been wanting to show Janie HoAM – the tasteful new cafe in the performance centre – for quite some time.
Tasteful environment, with tasty and mostly healthy grub
Determined not to miss out on seeing some cricket we made sure we were back in the pavilion for the very start of the second match.
Getting ready to goAh, cricket!
But we really wanted to have a proper look at the real tennis women’s day, so only watched the cricket for a few minutes before retreating to the tennis.
Ah, off to see the tennis I suppose…
…said Paul, the steward, who seems to have us well and truly worked out by now.
The atmosphere was warm and convivial – aided and abetted by some fizzy pop of the intoxicating kind, provided generously by Graeme Marks.
Janie and I politely declined. We had photos to take, shelving to examine, shoes to buy and music to listen to. It could be positively dangerous to do those things under the influence.
Several of the women, plus Chris Bray, warming down in the dedans (above)…while Mary Strevens and Lucie Grosset warmed for the final round robin match up on the court.
Janie and I watched that final round robin match: Mary Strevens & Lucie Grosset v Rhona Russell & Anisha Charania. It was a good battle, fought hard. Mary and Lucie were on the wrong end of the match itself yet fighting hard to try to scrap an extra game or two. We discovered that they were striving for a final place that would be determined on the number of games and boy did they show some fight to get there.
Ahead of the final, which Janie and I were unfortunately unable to attend due to our furniture appointment in a more southerly quarter of Marylebone, I was commissioned to take the group photo. Janie took a photo of me taking the photo, which rather breaks the “Bismarck” laws and sausages rule, in my opinion.
A dozen people all smiling with their eyes open doesn’t just happen, you knowThanks to Kate Evers for the photo finalists Sarah Sullivan, Mary Strevens, Chris Bray (marker) Peta Louise Jeffery & Lucie Grossett.
Mary Strevens is a new addition to the MCC squad, who had the dubious honour of playing her first competitive match for the MCC in January’s MCC v Old Harrovians match partnering me. We did OK. Still, failing to learn her lesson, Mary has also attended club nights on several occasions and also skills night. So, despite the fact that she is significantly better at tennis than I am, I feel that she is to some extent my mentee. Yet, despite that, she has nevertheless retained a strong competitive spirit and will to win, which progressed, in partnership with Lucie Grosset, into a tournament win on the day. Well done to both of them.
But everyone’s a winner on such a day, really. The spirit and convivial atmosphere was wonderful to behold, as was the quality of the tennis emerging from a morning of coaching followed by an afternoon mini tournament. I do hope the idea can become a regular feature in our MCC real tennis calendar.
You don’t want to know about our furniture research and Janie’s shoe shopping, now do you? Thought not.
But just in case you do want to know about the guitar and tenor concert we heard at the Wigmore Hall, here’s a link:
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.
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!
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:
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.
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.
