I got to Lord’s early on Day One of the test, but my purpose was to play tennis, rather than grab a prime seat. I didn’t play well that day.
By the time I’d showered and changed, the only seating available was in members’ overflow in the Lower Compton Stand, which is a pretty decent place to watch cricket. I needed to do some musical chairs during the day to avoid the sun, but managed that process quite effectively.
Towards the end of Day One, I wandered round to the Allen Stand end of the Tavern Stand, from whence I took the headline photo. There was a “ladybirds stopped play” incident at that time, which doesn’t show in the photo.
Day Two
I got to Lord’s pretty early again on Day Two – this time to try and secure a shady seat in the Tavern Stand for the morning session. Success. Tony Friend came and joined me for a while there.
Just before lunch I wandered around to the tennis court, as I was to have a hit with Chris Bray at 2:30. In fact, Chris told me that the Cull match was likely to end early so we could start around 2:00, which we did.
The story of Brian Lara witnessing a fair chunk of our 30 minute hit will appear on King Cricket in the fulness of time, at which point I’ll link it through to Ogblog. The court was free until 3:00, so I worked on my serve and striking sitters from the roof for a while.
By the time I’d showered and changed it was tea. I hoped to find a vacated seat in the pavilion for the last session and wasn’t disappointed.
I got chatting with some interesting fellows in the neighbouring seats, as is often the way in members’ sections at Lord’s. And yes, my tie got a couple compliments again!
Day Three
Janie and I played “lawn” at Boston Manor and followed the cricket from the luxury of our own home.
Day Four
Janie and I got to Lord’s early enough to find good seats in the shadier part of the Warner Stand.
Janie was more keen on doing the double-selfie thing than I was. Does it show?
We left a little early to freshen up at the flat. In the evening, we went to the Wigmore Hall to see a super concert:
Janie and I commuted to Lord’s for this “bonus” day, securing Warner Stand seats near to the ones we occupied the day before.
We thought we’d be treated to two to three hours of cricket, but in fact the final innings of this match turned into a fascinating extended nail-biter.
Anyway, Daisy and I did our usual thing in Leamington – stopping there for a game of real with Dr Snoddie & his pals; also lunching and shopping in that fine spa town, before driving on to Birmingham (Moseley).
This time we had taken an out house in a family home as our Airbnb, which was less eccentric than the 2024 place but not quite as spacious and posh as the 2022 place in Edgbaston.
Still, plenty of room for producing smoked trout and smoked salmon bagels, smoked chicken, duck and cheese sandwiches, grape and strawberry courses and assorted snacks.
Nigel joined me and Daisy for dinner at Sabai Sabai the night before the test started. Harsha was unable to join us until Day Two, hence his absence from the pre-test repast. He (and we) had very much enjoyed that place in 2024, much as we all did in 2025.
A fairly large table, including cricket writers Simon Wilde and John Etheridge also dined in Sabai Sabai that evening. Being cricket writers, they must be discerning folk who know what they are on about food-wise.
Nigel, Morg, Jonny & Me – photo by Daisy
Here we are gathered at the start of Day One, brimming with antici…
…pation.
Jonny Twophones was making a third appearance this year, while his friend, Huge Morg, whom I had met through Jonny at Lord’s a couple of years earlier, was making his first appearance at a Heavy Rollers event. Unfortunately we neglected to conduct Morg’s initiation ceremony this time, so it will have to be a more extreme version of the initiation next time. Something for everyone to look forward to.
Did Sam come and visit us at lunchtime on Day Two?
Yes. As well as this selfie, he also took the headline photo for us. Thanks Sam.
Of course he did.
Daisy took a good few photos around the back of the Eric Hollies Stand over the three days, which will find their way as an educational feature on the King Cricket website in the fullness of time. A link to that feature will be annexed soon after that fullness.
Here is an example of such a photo, not used in that feature.
Knight time is the right time.
My performance in the traditional Heavy Rollers prediction game was dismal this year, whereas Daisy, professing to “knowing nothing” did quite well for a change.
As always, the days seemed to fly by and sooner than we possibly could imagine we were all on our way.
In an unusual act of punctuality, King Cricket published my (Ged Ladd’s) write up of the four days I spent at Lord’s enjoying the ICC World Test Championship Final between Australia and South Africa, amongst other leisurely pursuits.
Pretty much everything I want to say about that match is included in that article.
Should a mishap ever befall the King Cricket site, a scrape of that piece can be found here.
Daisy omitted to mention the excellent meal Harish, Daisy and I enjoyed at Sabai Sabai in Moseley. We vowed to return there and stuck to our vow in 2025.
My only other comment/memory is a conversation I had with a charming fellow when we were milling around in the Tavern Stand awaiting the post match presentations and inevitable Jimmy farewell ceremonials. He had come down to London from a remote place in the North of England, the exact location of which escapes me but I think Northumbria. He was recently retired and was also recently widowed. He had treated himself to some fancy photographic equipment and was delighted to be able to photograph Jimmy’s last match at close quarters and seemed similarly delighted that he could talk photography with someone like me while he waited.
Did my new friend get better pictures than me?
Almost certainly. But mine with my phone are not too shabby.
There will be a King Cricket piece of mine about this test in the fulness of time – I’ll publish the links here.
Meanwhile, just a placeholder to note that I:
watched and played real tennis on Day One;
brought Janie as a guest on Day Two;
watched and (once the match was over) played real tennis Day Three.
It was a very one-sided match, but passing time at Lord’s when there is a test match on is always a pleasant experience, however the cricket is panning out.
I had planned to spend the whole of Days Two and Three at Lord’s, before taking guests on Day Four. As it turned out, following the wonderful trip Janie and I took to Eastbourne earlier in the week, I had a few things to sort out on the Thursday morning and didn’t get to Lord’s until about 2:15, by which time England had started to make a better fist of the match.
More in hope than expectation, I asked the friendly stewards in the pavilion if there was anything going in there. “Not really”, they said, “there might be the odd seat at the Allen Stand end, but you’ll probably get a better seat in the members’ overflow area”. That area was located just beside the sightscreens at the Nursery end, being seats roughly the equivalent to pavilion terrace ones but on the other side.
That seemed like a good idea to me and off I went. The view I achieved is depicted in the headline picture. I made a mental note to head for a similar location the next day without bothering the pavilion stewards.
I also took a selfie.
I chatted a bit with the members around me. A youngish man (by MCC standards) was devouring a whippy ice cream (a 99) when I arrived and soon went off to get a double-whippy (is that one named a 198, my arithmetical mind wonders?). Soon after that, he decided to move elsewhere. During that short period, he shed his membership pass twice – the first time being saved by a kindly gentleman sitting behind him and the second time saved by me. Perhaps it was embarrassment that drove him away.
But others around me were also suitably into the cricket, informed and friendly, making for a pleasant afternoon/early evening.
England were doing well but perhaps I put the kybosh on the team by wandering around to the other side in search of a slightly different view and strategic placement for a swift exit before stumps, as wickets fell just as England seemed to be taking control.
Day Three: Friday 30 June 2023
I did indeed head to the same spot again for Day Three, where there were some different people with whom to share the pain. Mostly members, but a few refugees from public areas where, for one reason or another, they were unhappy with their environment.
A very pleasant visiting couple from Yorkshire shared thoughts about the differences between Lord’s and Headingley. I suspect they had a super time the following week when they went to the third test at their home ground.
The gentleman next to me was from Dorset – although I suspected not originally from there – so it came as a bit of a surprise when it transpired that the “Yorkshireman” turned out to be a Lancastrian by origin, as did the Dorset (yes, a person from Dorset is supposed to be known as “a Dorset”); indeed both from The Fylde with mutual friends from school. Only at Lord’s.
I moved on just before tea, hoping to meet up with Alistair Robson and others from the circle surrounding the Doctors Of Leamington.
Needless to say, the normally thriving Champagne Bar was dead quiet in the absence of tennis this year.
After failing to find Alistair about 10 minutes into the tea break, I thought I might find a seat in the pavilion for the final session, which indeed I did. A gentleman from “Death Row” had the good manners to announce that he was going home at tea time, so I took root on his seat, reducing the average age on that row by some significant amount, I shouldn’t wonder. It was nice to see some Ashes cricket from there without actually joining the death row cohort just yet.
Janie joined me at the flat for the later part of the evening and a Four Seasons Chinese meal, as we had both eaten sparsely earlier that day.
Day Four: Saturday 1 July 2023, With Janie, Ian Theodoreson and Sally
…so I was delighted when I learnt that there were some wheelchair access places still available for the Saturday, which was the day Janie was joining me and is a day that makes parking a whole lot easier in Ian and Sally’s…indeed everybody’s…circumstances.
Game on.
I was on picnic duty and had ordered bagels from Papa Joe (Haminados), which meant an early start and a pleasing constitutional before driving to Maida Vale for Lord’s.
Janie and I got to Lord’s a bit earlier than Ian and Sally, just to make sure the arrangements were in place, but we needn’t have worried. As one of the stewards on that level explained, “we never quite know exactly how many people are going to want to sit with each wheelchair guest, but we always find a way”.
Ian and Sally appeared to know more people there that day than we did, although we did run in to Alan and Alex Curtis.
The cricket was a mixture of enthralling and baffling at times; mostly the former.
Me and Ian enthralled. Sally resting her eyes ever so slightly.
As always with such occasions, the day flew by. England were in a poor position at the start of the day, then an improved one, then by the end of the day a poor one again. But England still had a chance.
Day Five: Sunday 2 July 2023
Ian Ward interviewing the wounded (Nathan) Lyon
At the end of Day two, I realised the game was likely to spill into the fifth day, so took the precaution of securing a guest seat for Janie, so we could see the end of the match.
We headed for the Lower Tavern (not to be confused with the Tavern Concourse, which was out of bounds to members). Very happy with our seats, we were.
Before the start of play, we chatted with Westy and Brigitte who were seated nearby. Also John Franklin (from Moreton) and his family.
A very different vibe to the crowd on Day Five. We had some younger people sitting around us, plus an older Bajan gentleman named Charles whose face I recognised but with whom I had not spoken before. We chatted with him quite a lot throughout the remainder of the match, as did the young fellows sitting next to him.
The young fellows, along with most of the crowd, were pretty vocal once Jonny Bairstow was out by a form of stumping that many, me included, consider an unsporting (albeit legitimate) mode of dismissal.
Then, once Ben Stokes unleashed an explosive (although in the event insufficient) attack with the bat, it all got very exciting. On one occasion, the young men behind us crashed into each other while leaping with joy, sending a small shower of wine our way, for which they didn’t stop apologising for the rest of the afternoon. They even wanted to pay our dry cleaning bill – an offer which we declined.
It doesn’t get much wetter…I mean better…than this
Once the foreseeable ending became inevitable, Janie and I made a polite exit to avoid the crush at the gate.
We’d had tremendous entertainment that day – indeed the whole match. So disappointing that England came off second best, but in truth England had performed second best on balance, for more of the match than the Aussies.
Unfortunately Charley The Gent could not join us this year, so we added a late substitute to the group of five – Jonny “Twophones” Hurst, a friend of mine from NewsRevue. As part of his initiation into the Heavy Roller clan, Jonny & I spent some hours together during the Ireland test match a couple of weeks earlier.
The other four of us were me, Daisy, Nigel “Father Barry” Hinks and Harish “Harsha Ghoble” Gohil.
But before all of that, my now traditional stop off in Leamington for some medicinal tennis with the good doctors of that town.
Not just tennis, but a very pleasant lunch, after a very entertaining tennis match that was a close-fought affair. Five of us (four players plus Janie) sat down and the time flew by, such that I started to worry that we’d get no food and/or be late for dinner.
By the time Janie and I had done the picnic shopping, located our lovely digs in Moseley and unpacked, it was more or less time to meet Harish and Nigel for dinner. (Jonny chose to join us at the ground the next morning).
Early start for me as there was a picnic to pull together. Then a 25 minute stroll to the ground for me and Daisy. Bit of a queue, but not too bad at 10:15. We guessed that 5 or 10 minutes earlier the next day would be easier yet. We were right.
Daisy enjoyed photographing the pre match hullabaloo and our reaction to it.
Daisy also likes to photograph people behind the Eric Hollies Stand. Those people don’t seem to mind.
Who knew that Lord Farquaad and Princess Fiona were test cricket fans?
The weather was glorious and the cricket was captivating throughout our time at Edgbaston – indeed the whole match was a cracker.
We were all exhausted at the end of Day One, so went back to our respective diggings and regrouped the next morning.
Saturday 17 June 2023 – Day Two
Daisy took some more pictures during the lunch interval of Day Two.
She also persuaded our mystery lunchtime visitor to take a picture of us…
…then Ged took a picture of the mystery visitor with the Nigel, Daisy and Harish. All the while, Jonny Twophones was off on some mystery mission of his own.
Sam, who was said “mystery guest” wrote up his (apparently) terrifying experience on King Cricket, linked here and below:
In the matter of having a picture of all five of us rollers, Harish put matters right, photographically, with the following five-face selfie – very deft:
Of course it was not the same without Chas, but it was still a monumental Heavy Rollers occasion, with great company, good food and amazing cricket, lovely cricket.
In a minor break with tradition, we gathered at that Mexican institution, Cafe Pacifico, in Covent Garden this year, at Andrea’s excellent suggestion.
In compliance with the strict traditions of our group, Andrea was late. In the modern era, Andrea is able to pre-announce her tardiness by sending a message to everyone explaining why, on this one occasion, she has been delayed. It always feels in keeping with our long-established social mores. If Andrea is ever to be on time I think she should message us to warn us of that – the shock of her timely arrival might be too great for some of our ageing tickers.
Andrea back then
Anyway, it is always worth the wait to see Andrea, just as it is always worth the wait to see everyone from the youth club gang again. We used to gather almost every week, of course – youth clubs tend to be a bit like that.
Time rolls on, but when we gather it feels as though the decades have changed this gang remarkably little. Coincidentally, Cafe Pacifico similarly felt much like the place I remember trying many decades ago; probably because it is little changed.
As always, we had a very enjoyable evening.
Wednesday 31 May – A Redoubtable Bout Of Doubles Tennis At Lord’s
Our real tennis court at Lord’s has been sequestered by the cricket authorities “for media purposes” during the major matches this year (don’t get me started) so it made obvious sense to have a game the evening before the temporary closure.
Indeed, even without the closure, I realised that it was a personal tradition for me to play the day before an Ireland test at Lord’s – I have now done so every time such a test has ever been held throughout history (both times):
This time it was a ninety minute doubles helping to warm up my friends Andrew Hinds and John Thirlwell who are partnering each other in the in-house tournament. We had a three-set epic, which my partner, Bill, and I managed to take at the very last gasp in a decider, having been one-set-all, five-games-all.
Great fun and a good battle.
Thursday 1 June – England v Ireland Day One At Lord’s
Pavilion View
I went to the gym to get a bit of exercise ahead of the excesses of a few days at Lord’s. I togged up for the pavilion and enjoyed 30-40 minutes of cricket from there before lunch, chatting with Nick Brown from Dulwich College, exchanging interesting thoughts and word on our respective initiatives on community participation cricket.
After lunch, it seemed if anything to get colder in the pavilion. Then the sun came out and I realised that the pavilion would warm up slowly, whereas I might warm up more quickly in one of my favoured sunny spots in the Tavern Stand – if I could get there before the stampede from the chilly Pavilion and Warner.
Made it. No sweat. It was still quite cold, even in the sun, so no sweat.
I watched and read a bit, interrupted only by the arrival of Sidney Yankson & his entourage – I was inadvertently sitting behind their chosen patch. Sidney is one of my real tennis pals, whom I first met when he organised a match between the MCC and Honourable Artillery Company five years ago.
Mid afternoon I received a message from Jonny “Twophones” Hurst to say that he had a spare seat in the Compton Lower and was wondering whether I would care to join him and his mate, Huge Morg. Who could say no to such an invitation.
Jonny Twophones & Huge Morg
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching cricket and nattering…which is not exactly an unusual combination of pastimes when a Lord’s.
All very enjoyable.
Friday 2 June – England v Ireland Day Two With Awesome Simo
I decided to get to Lord’s well early to secure good Tavern Stand seats for me and Simon Jacobs. I figured that the previous day’s good weather and the sunny start would make the Tavern Stand very popular, which it did.
Despite being on picnic duty which included some hand-made onion bagels from Papa Joseph’s place, I was still early enough to secure a brace of end of block seats in the second row.
Tavern Stand seats with excellent view of Jonny Bairstow’s warm-upsI also wanted to tell Janie, pictorially, that I had arrived safe, sane & sound
Simon arrived around 11:30, but not before my row had been invaded by several real tennis “stars” in exile from our beloved court with only cricket to watch: Tony Friend, Simon Martin & (latterly) James Coley.
An engineer trying in vain properly to equip a 19th century tennis court for 21st century media.
Unfortunately, much like the chinwag occasion, Simon simply couldn’t help himself in the matter of mentioning the names of despicable politicians, usually just after I had eaten a few mouthfuls of delicious smoked trout bagel or some of my “salad-in-a-cup” morsels. “Cruella” being the cruellest mid-mouthful blurt of the lot.
Still, we managed to get over all that and enjoy a glorious sunny day watching the cricket.
I did so little getting up and walking around on this day that I thought my right leg had utterly gone to sleep when I finally gave up on the day about 15 minutes before stumps – Simon had baled out about 10 minutes earlier. Fortunately the walk to Edgware Road tube brought my leg back to life.
I have no idea why a day of doing more or less nothing is so tiring, but I always feel in need of a long deep sleep after such a day of cricket and achieve same without any difficulty. Some people sleep during the cricket, of course, which is an entirely different matter and not usually my thing.
Saturday 3 June – England v Ireland Day Three With Daisy
We might only be here for six balls
We had no idea what to expect of Day Three. The result was pretty much no longer in doubt, but we wondered whether Ireland might collapse within an hour or make a day of it. They did the latter, very well.
We got to Lord’s well early, mostly to get a decent parking space rather than a decent seat but the early arrival meant that we achieved both.
That allowed us plenty of time to observe the England team warming up and interacting with the crowd.
Josh TongueMatty PottsChris WoakesChris & OllieWe need help to identify these three. Any ideas?Early morning autograph hunters
We did a bit of strolling around but mostly watched the cricket during the hours of play and chose to stroll during the lunch interval. The place was busy but not heaving on Day Three.
Daisy’s mum, The Duchess, seems to be moonlighting as a fast food outlet
I ran into yet another of my real tennis pals, Alastair Robson, during a pit stop, or “in the jacks” as Alastair so politely put it. Janie and I chatted with him for a while before the resumption, although we’ll hopefully have plenty of time to chat with him in Leamington in less than two week’s time on our way to Edgbaston.
Subsequently Alastair crafted some material for King Cricket, which I helped him to submit under the name Doctor Alexander Snoddie.
If anything ever goes awry with the King Cricket site, you can read that piece here.
The match even went on until tea, during which time, while politely putting away most of our things as the end was clearly nigh, I also did a bit of stretching.
A dedicated follower of fashionat tea
When England took the final wicket we made our escape ahead of the crowds, realising that a lead of 11 runs was not going to take much hunting down.
…but when it came to publication, more than a year later in September 2023, King Cricket in his wisdom decided to combine the two, which worked rather well:
Here is my only abiding memory from those three days which is not in the King Cricket report. While playing tennis on the third day, I failed to get out of the way of a very firmly struck ball, from the racket of James Leeper. I wore that ball on the shin and ended up with the largest and most intransigent haematoma I have ever had, from cricket ball or tennis ball. James still seems to stifle a laugh rather than apologise again, when I tell that tale in front of him.
Thus, I emerged bruised from the tennis court that Day Three afternoon, only to discover that England had been severely bruised in the ego by losing to South Africa in such short shrift. That was a somewhat ignominious end to the event for me. Yet, I look back on those three days with fondness, as I more or less always do after spending extended time at Lord’s.
