Panda's, albino's and the conundrum of the train's toilet door.

I had the privilege of attending New Road on the final day of our Championship game against Worcestershire.  Varun Chopra’s superb double century on Day 3 had set up the real possibility of overturning the 175 first innings deficit.

After an eerie first hour that saw Warwickshire wickets falling quicker than runs were going up on the board, it all came pretty good.  Chopra, Troughton, Clarke, Johnson and Woakes had all departed without troubling Worcester’s faltering scoreboard before Ant Botha’s contrasting knock of 28 off 31 balls.  This set up an attacking declaration from Troughton that got tongues wagging amongst the modest crowd.  The target of 288 at just over 3.5 an over gave Worcester a sniff but also displayed Troughton’s confidence that his bowlers could get the job done in the 75 or so remaining over’s.   A little more than five hours later Chris Woakes had figures of 6-49, Warwkishire had dispatched their local rivals and I had the most stupid sun tan you’re ever likely to see (think Panda - red face but bright white eyes where my Sunglasses had been all day).

You don't often get to spend 7 hours sat by yourself...  People watching, eavesdropping on conversations, a cool bag of fruit, wine and Taramasalata and Alfalfa Sandwiches plus a well thumbed news paper.  To my right was the most sun tanned man in the midlands whilst to my left an albino chap– a beautiful and amusing contrast.  At one point Chris Woakes’ Mum and friends were stood behind me (I learnt this through overhearing their conversation – I am not familiar with the family) and it was nice to hear how proud she was of his England debut and his brilliant start to this season.

Well played Chopra and Woakes and well declared Jim.

I took the train from Worcester Foregate Street back to Birmingham shortly after the finish.  After a beautiful English day on the banks of the River Severn beneath Worcester Cathedral watching a glorious day of English County Cricket, the train was packed with folk who’d been out celebrating the day of England’s Patron Saint.  Now I don’t want to come across as arrogant or superior but, like most of you, I can actually work a toilet door.  Open – Close – Lock…  Simple.  However, a number of the St George’s Day revelers found this to be like a mental Crystal Maze style conundrum.  One clever chap managed to press the emergency stop button rather than ‘Lock’ and the train had to wait 15 minutes between stations whilst it was re- set.  Oblivious, he then emerged from his incarceration accusing the Train Manager of locking him in the toilet.  A string of others either failed to lock, close or even get into the toilet in the first place.  Later on I narrowly avoided a brawl with the aforementioned emergency stop button moron who took offence when I politely asked his friend to turn off the (terrible) music he’d decided to inflict upon his fellow passengers.  Looking back he must have been fairly bemused to be on the brink of a scrap with a man who looked like a human panda bear.

You don’t get much time to reflect on glories as the next day Warwickshire opened their CB40 campaign with a performance that will be chalked up in the ‘Heroic Defeats’ column.  Chasing 274, we came up just 3 runs short.  In  my head the competition doesn’t really get underway until our first home game of the season this Sunday, a date that’s been in my diary since the fixtures came out many months ago (at least that's my excuse for why I was watching the American made-for-TV movie about 'Wills' and Kate rather than keeping properly in touch with the score).  It’s the kind of tournament where you can’t afford to lose too many early games with only one team guaranteed to progress from groups of 7.

The next destination in the Championship was Durham where Warwickshire have again excelled in the batting compared to last year with another 400+ total.  However that looks like it will soon be wiped out by Durham as we are yet to take a wicket on the 3^rd day at the time of writing.  Some of our frailties as a bowling unit  (compounded by the injury to Ant Botha) are being exposed by Di Venuto, Benkenstein and Blackwell.  Last year Imran Tahir took 8 wickets up at Durham in the corresponding fixture and I fear he will be the big miss this Summer.

Finally, as if I don’t feel old enough for asking someone to turn their music down on the train, I’ve been reading today about Yorkshire’s Barney Gibson who has become the youngest ever first class cricketer at the age of 15 years and 27 days.  He’s less than half my age and he’s currently keeping wicket for Yorkshire against Durham University!

Dedications what you need if you wanna be a Record Breaker

My peers in the fashion industry generally obsess about fixed gear bikes and Summer Music Festivals (but not any of the one’s you’ve heard of – these are more obscure with a bit of a vintage twist).  In contrast, whenever my mind wanders it’s to thoughts of the County Cricket season which kicked off so marvellously at Taunton last week.  But alas, nobody seems interested in tales of Woakes, Chopra and Rikki Clarke and the way they took apart the competition favourites in our glorious opening fixture. I should stress (in case she’s reading) that I also think about my upcoming wedding as well which is set for September 17^th.  Of course if Warwickshire reach the final of the CB40 again then our first day of wedded bliss will be spent with one ear to the radio commentary (I imagine a trip to Lords will be out of the question)!

I’d wanted to get my last blog posted early.  I felt the need to have my moment in the sun with our massive first innings total because I wasn’t unconvinced that Somerset wouldn’t do the same?  The batting line- up looked strong on paper with Trescothick, Kiewetter and Hildreth and a track that was going to be kind to anyone in good nick who was prepared to play themselves in.  In a parallel universe there is every chance that my present feelings of joy and anticipation have been replaced by a flat sense of inevitability after Somerset’s 700+ first innings reply followed by headlines in the press bemoaning the 4 day game’s futile and tedious spectacle.  It’s depressing just to consider and, as luck would have it, reality couldn’t be more different.  Record after record was broken and Warwickshire cleaned up Somerset twice in a little over two sessions of play.  I have pulled together the following list of records from various sources that I understand to be true:

·         642 is Warwickshire’s highest total for 15 years.

·         An innings and 382 runs is the biggest winning margin in our 123 year existence.

·         This also represented the 6^th biggest winning margin in the history of the Championship.

·         If Chris Woakes had taken one more wicket he would have been the first Bear’s player to score a ton and take ten match wickets in 100 years (Swashbuckling and no doubt moustachioed all rounder and captain Frank Foster being the last in 1911).

·         The only man who was happy not to see that particular record broken was Rikki Clarke who took the final wicket of the game which was, surprisingly, the first 5 wicket haul of his first class career.  Figures of 5 for 10 surpassed a previous best of 4/21.

·         Chris Woakes has now scored the same number of first class hundreds as England Test batsman Eoin Morgan – food for thought!

·         The match DVD is currently the slowest selling item in the Somerset Club Shop.

Woakes has taken the plaudits for his all round performance and the likelihood of Warwickshire losing the 22 year old to more international duty this summer looks strong.  Just in case any of the England selectors are reading (and I understand Geoff Miller to be a regular reader), let me be the first the state on the record that Woakes’ figures were actually very deceptive.  He got a very lucky century on a flat pitch and then took 9 very lucky wickets on horrible surface for batsmen.  He has potential which is still best developed with his county side for the rest of this year (that should put them off the scent for a while)!  Varun Chopra should now be brimming with confidence and Jim Troughton can be pretty bloody happy with his first three days in the office as captain.  His toughest decision ahead of the visit to Worcester this week will centre around Mohemmed Youssef and who he will replace in the starting line up.  Ian Westwood must feel vulnerable after being the only man in the top six to fail  with the bat other than Jim himself.  Porterfield could open with Chopra leaving room for Youssef to come in at 3 but Maddy (especially having not been used as a bowling option) might feel equally worried despite a decent knock at Taunton.  The real fun starts when both Trott and Bell are available.

The weather is quite frankly glorious and, if Worcester manage to take the game into days 3 and 4 (a hint at some over confidence there), I might just pop down to New Road and watch my first First Class Cricket of the season in the flesh.

You Bears.

HELLO NEW EDGBASTON

What a beautiful time of year...  Winter is fast becoming Spring and the County Championship Season has begun.  All winter I have watched with the excitement of a child as the new Pavilion End at Edgbaston rose from the rubble of it's predecessor.  My only sadness was that the little Red Stripe Bar (later Marston's Pedigree) on the extreme edge of the Eric Hollies Stand had been reduced to dust - Many a memorable day had been spent in front of that fine little dispensary of cold refreshments.  When I say memorable, I should confess that I have only hazy memories of the evening sessions come to think of it.

Prior to picking up an injury in the Birmingham Half Marathon last October I would run passed the ground every night trying to visualise the inside and where I might be watching my cricket from in the 2011.  Since the running has been more sporadic, I've manipulated car journeys and walks through Cannon Hill Park with unnecessary detours down Edgbaston Road to catch a glimpse of developments.

I upgraded my season ticket to Full Pavilion Membership very early in the Winter break and Test Match tickets had been bagged more than a year in advance thanks to my very well organised friend Chris.  If I were to compare my excitement prior to The Ashes to that of preparing for a once-in-a lifetime holiday then the start of this Championship season feels like starting a dream job.

As a follower of Newcastle United, Coventry Rugby Club and the England Football team I'm familiar with having my sporting hopes and dreams killed off before they have any chance to blossom.  In stark contrast, Warwickshire have produced a batting performance superior to anything they managed last year, or in fact in the last 15 years.  Chopra made 210, Woakes 129 at a run a ball and Maddy, Botha, Ambrose and Porterfield have all contributed to a total of 642.  All that after losing the toss and being asked to bat.  The only flat notes were Ian Westwood's and Jim Troughton's early dismissals.  Both players come in off the back of poor 2010's and Westwood's place in the team will come under the most scrutiny when Bell and Trott are available and Mohammed Youssef arrives at Edgbaston.

This isn't the worst bowling attack we will face this season with Kirby, Willoughby and Mendis all being of decent pedigree.  Clive Eakin and Phil Britt assure me on Coventry and Warwickshire's commentary service that the pitch might not be as dead as this first innings total suggests which they also reliably inform me is the sixth highest total in our long history.  By this evening we'll know for sure but let's hope my next posting is describing the closing stages of an innings victory to kick off our Championship campaign.

This is just the beginning:  I plan to post updates throughout the season with a bit more humour and a bit more in depth analysis.  It's all part of my mission to build up a portfolio of work that will one day justify my place on the Test Match Special team.  I hope you might pop back for a read.