We are the mushrooms.

So remember I mentioned the CI Cup? Well, we won. That’s right. Oh yes.

Writeups: here and here.

And yet more coverage in the Guernsey Press, where I somehow found my ugly mug (albeit in fortunately low-resolution) on both the front and back pages.

Awesome.

P.S. Fcking get in there!

Famous. Again.

Ahh, the pressures of being a cricketing supergod. Perhaps not.

But still, it’s always nice to get written up in the paper. ESPECIALLY when they get your name right. (Third time lucky.)

Matt on BBC website

OK, so it’s nothing major, but I got a small mention on the sport section of the BBC website, as part of its coverage of the Channel Islands Cup, in which I am playing, for PKF Wanderers.

The standard of cricket we play in Guernsey is very good and it’s right that the BBC monitor the CI Cup. Wanderers this year have an excellent chance of winning it, and it would be a fantastic achievement to do so. The semi-final last week was washed out, so we’ll try again this weekend. We’re strong favourites to win, which will most likely set up a final with arch-rivals (and Guernsey-based) Cobo who are unbeaten in all forms of cricket this season.

Fingers crossed eh?

The New Star Wars Kid: Sky Sports Cricket Kid

Captured this beauty whilst watching finals day of the Twenty20 cup at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. Kent vs Middlesex, and one particular lad in the crowd enjoying himself a lot. Top work from the wee man.

New Star Wars kid if ever I saw him.

The key to a horrific weekend

It actually took me a long time to think of a title to this post. There are many aspects to this post… positive, negative… the works. I’ll tell the story.

Read the rest of this entry »

They proved me wrong

Well done to the England boys for salvaging a draw from the India test series. OK, so it’s not exactly beating Australia, and there’s only so much triumphancy in saying “YEH, WE WON so we um, er didn’t, er, *ahem*, er lose the series.”

In fairness, the bowlers did an outstanding job on the last day, not in just taking the 9 required wickets, but in making India look very very silly in the process. Which is always good.

And it really makes you wonder… is Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff actually God, I mean actually God..? The man go do no wrong at the moment. Just when it seemed like the arrival of Kevin Pieterson was going to overshadow England cricket’s golden boy, Fred just stepped up about three gears. Not content with just being the best bowler in the team, and one of the best batsmen in the world, he has now successfully juggled these two responsibilities with possibly the biggest of them all – captaining the side as well. It is well documented for areas of team captains’ game to flounder, which tends to be batting (the only recent bowler captain I can think of is Imran Khan, and it didn’t seemed to phase him). Anyway, I digress, Fred has done a terrific job under impossible circumstances.

What will happen for the upcoming tour will depend ultimately on the injury status of the team – with so many players suffering one way or another, the team could be anything for its next outing – a home test series against Sri Lanka in May. I would be surprised to see Flintoff remain as captain if Vaughan is fit, but you wonder if Trescothick will get another shot at captaincy after what Fred has achieved.

The decline of English sport

England’s performances in recent sporting encounters have been nothing short of pitiful. In Rugby, where England are well-deserved World Champions, they finished a lowly 4th in the RBS Six Nations. Whilst France won the competition, in my mind, the team of the series was Scotland, having demonstrated an incredible improvement in their game, and well deserved their 3rd place. Ireland were fortunate to scrape to 2nd.

It remains though that England were shocking. After a promising thrashing of Wales, they slumped to defeats at the hands of Scotland, France and Ireland. That’s 3 losses in 3 against Ireland. Andy Robinson is promising a shakeup of the England team camp management and coaches, but I wager that he ought to be the one to go. He doesn’t have the presence that Woodward had, and probably doesn’t even have the tactical nouse. What was obvious in every England performance was that Matt Dawson is a better scrum half than Harry Ellis, yet Dawson didn’t start a game (I think). At best he was given a half to play and make an impact. Which invariably he did. The argument being that Ellis the new guy, and they’re breaking him in for when Dawson is no longer playing, but… it seems ridiculous when Dawson is playing well.

I can’t remember the last time I thought something about the state of English football. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. But for an all-Dutch final in the darts was frightening. England representatives had a nightmare at the Winter olympics, especially in the curling which ought to have been a shoe-in… nothing. Scotland even defeated us in the cycling at the Commonwealth games.

And to cricket. In the third and final test match of the India series, a match which England must win to draw the series, it seems any upsets (both mentally and physically) and have been set aside as England dominate on day 3. Posting a total of 400 would have been disappointing for the side, but to see Strauss score a hundred is a welcome change, and Flintoff appears to have taken the role as captain in his stride as he posted another half century. James Anderson has not baulked his chance of a permanent comeback as he played a crucial role in a dismal 279 all out by India in their first innings. So it’s all positive, it’s all good, isn’t it?

No. Because in England’s reply first-innings centurian Strauss was out for 4 and Ian Bell failed yet again, scoring just 26 runs in the whole match. His 9 and 1 in the first test was equally poor, and whilst managing scores of 38 and 57 in the second match, the match was eventually lost and so arguably worthless. For a number 2 batsman to score 131 runs in 6 innings is not good enough – they should be averaging above 30.. not 21.

It remains to be seen whether we can post a quick 200 runs and bowl India out in the final 2 days.