I do not get this excited for much else in my life but the Ashes is special, beating the Ausies is everything and when they are both in-form it is always a great series!

In 1981 I had already been interested in Test Cricket for a while watching it on TV as a young child and knew Boycott, Gower, Gooch and Bob Taylor behind the stumps a personal favourite because I fancied keeping wicket, but it was Ian Botham who made the game exciting. When he batted you came to watch whether it be in from the garden for me or back from the bar at the ground, he was amazing. He was failing miserably up to 1981 after being given the captaincy, a huge honour but too much for such a young man.

When he was sacked and Mike Bearley was handed the captaincy Botham had something to prove that he hadn’t become a bad cricketer and swashbuckled his way to proving his doubter (the England selectors) wrong! What followed that summer cemented my absolute love for testmatch cricket, and the 81 Ashes victory was named after him for his performance.

I hate the term “Bazball” to describe England’s new style of test cricket almost as much as I dislike the actual style but annoyingly it has transformed a poor England team into the most entertaining test team in the world and most importantly a winning team. This style is promoted and encouraged throughout the whole team entertain and it does not matter what happens you will not be dropped and what has happened is every team member has prospered because they are not under any pressure to perform.

Now when England play everyone wants to watch they come in from the garden or hate missing anything because they were at the bar and that has to be good for the game. I don’t like change but test cricket makes me feel like it did when Botham walked to the crease but that feeling lasts the whole innings(?)

My stick in the mud attitude still makes me mad when Ben Ducket wafts at a ball a traditional opener would leave and gets out or possibly the most talented cricketer in the world wastes his talent playing Bazball and gets out for one… but when Zak Crawley creams Pat Cummins first ball in the 2023 Ashes through extra cover for four it made me realise test cricket may never be the same again I may have to just sit back and try to enjoy it as much as the England team are…?

I had to go into the office so I had air-conditioning all day so it didn’t affect me even when I had to drive a lot my car soo n cooled. I think everyone else suffered a little but I hope this weather continues all summer I think it’s great even without AC

Tonight Lincoln had a cricket match against Haslington and after smothering him in Ambre Solair and filling his water bottle with iced water we left for SandbachCC as soon as I arrived home. With me having a pool match I watched the first innings and Lincoln bowled really well.

Here is the match report:

A new wicket for the under 11s thanks to our groundskeepers after the biblical rain on Monday.

We fielded a strong team today against a relatively unknown Haslington side who have had the bulk of their games called off.

Jonas won the toss and elected to bowl.

The bowling tonight was of our usual high standard. We managed to take 11 wickets over the innings.

Maidens for Mille and Levi.

Wickets for George (1 for 11), Fin (1 for 14) and Albie (1 for 7).

Alex picked up another 2 wickets for 12 runs. The consistent line and length paying dividends.

The pick of the bowlers was Lincoln who put in his best performance of the season picking up 2 wickets for only 5 runs.

The fielding came in two parts. The first 10 overs we were excellent, tight in the field and good decision making putting real pressure on the batsmen. At the half way stage we had kept the visitors to 31 for 6 (a net score of 1).

The second half of the innings was the polar opposite and the wheels fell off a little. The battings was no better than in the first half of the innings but misfields, stoppable boundaries, overthrows and byes accelerated Haslington’s score. The batters were taking risks and getting rewarded as we seemed to panic in the field.

There were some positive moments, we took 4 run outs during the innings, the best being a great throw from Levi above the stumps for Oliver to knock through the wickets with his gloves.

Haslington ended their innings 109 for 11.
A net score of 54 (or 254). A more than manageable target.

The second innings commenced.

We really struggled with the bat tonight. Although some of the bowling was difficult to hit and maybe not all extras given, overall, we made a meal of a relatively achievable target.

Too many times there were easy runs available but opportunities not taken due to a lack of communication. This is an area that had improved in recent weeks but seemed to regress tonight.

George and Jonas got us over the line in the end. The square leg umpire losing concentration in the penultimate over and not giving a no ball for a shoulder high wicket didn’t help (sorry Jonas). George had a decent knock scoring 9 for 0.

It was the however the batting partnership of Oliver and Alex who won us the game scoring an impressive 30 runs. Oliver scoring 15 and Alex 9. Without this effort we would have fallen short.

We won the game by 11 runs in the end scoring 91 for 5. A net score of 66.

Players of the match went to Alex (who batted really well scoring 9 for no wicket and picked up another 2 wickets) and Oliver (who scored 15 runs for no wicket and got a couple of runouts).

I was a little disappointed after the game but it is because I know we can play so much better.

We did enough to get over the line though.

The league run continues, 5 straight wins!

It was roasting at dinnertime and very muggy so I suggested we fill the paddling so the kids had something to cool off in they got home from school. By the time they had cooled off, got changed and lazed about for half an hour there were clouds gathering but it was still stifflingly hot and as both Mommy and me finished work it was spitting you could hear thunder with lightning flashing across the sky and although we sat for a while eating our tea we soon decided it was raining too much to sit outside any longer.

As the skies became darker and Billy was crossing his legs we went for a walk praying the deluge didn’t happen until our return. As I was already drenched when we got home I put the bins out because I could get more wet…

Man City complete the treble premier league, fa cup & tonight the Champions league not a great game but its the result the counts. City were the first team I supported back in 1978 and loved it when me and my dad went Maine Road, I’m not sure me Dad loved it as much…?

I really wanted them to win tonight and it was really good to watch it!

Tonight after getting the forst wood required I started to make my first window