What can I say KP?   I was wrong.

Kevin Pieterson rode his luck after being dropped on 0 (Gilchrist / Hayden) & 15 (Warne) and proceeded to play one of the most exhilarating Test innings I have ever watched.   He did it when it really mattered and the final Test match at the Oval was still in the balance.   In fact it was probably tilting the Aussies way at lunchtime.

He went on to score 158 runs of the highest order and although some of his shots will never be found in a coaching manual,  who cares when it comes off so spectacularly.

As to whether he should have played for England ahead of Graham Thorpe at the start of the series, I am still not convinced.

As to whether he qualifies to play for England, the answer is yes.  

That I may disagree with the rules of qualification is neither here nor there, so I take my hat off to the new hero of English cricket, Kevin Pieterson.

 

Has anyone got any tomato sauce to go with my humble pie?

 

The Australians took defeat very graciously and offered no excuses, which does great credit to them.

England are good, let's hope that after the winter tour to the sub continent, a home series next summer and then a defence of The Ashes in Australia next winter that they become the #1 ranked Test team in the world.

It is also to be hoped that the GBTCC  - Great Britain Transplant Cricket Club - win the David Hookes trophy next summer.  

The date for the tour is looking like early July 2006 but as yet is still unconfirmed.

As soon as it is official I will let you know.

 

By the way I forgot to mention that England won The Ashes 2 -1.

I will repeat that - England won The Ashes 2 -1.

As I explained below I have temporarily hung up my pads until the World and British Transplant Games are over.
 

The David Hookes Series between GBTCC (Great Britain Transplant Cricket Club) and TACC (Transplant Australia Cricket Club) will resume next year.   We have had an acceptance from the Aussies that they will try and defend the trophy they won in Australia in 2004.

The dates have yet to be finalised but there will be two centres for the tour matches, which will also be confirmed in the very near future.

We hope to play a two day game at my home ground of Percy Main Cricket Club. The pitch and wicket are excellent.   Percy Main is located near to the coast at Tynemouth and is approx 10 miles from the 'party city' of Newcastle.

A one day game will be played too in the north east and once the dates are definite I will sort out another good venue.

The local TV is already interested as a result of our recent GBTCC UK Tour Games up here, so 'Dangerous George' better get his hair cut.

The second leg of the series will be played down in the balmy climate of the south west of England in the Bath area.

Dates and venues will be finalised fairly soon and I will post everything here when I know more.

 

The current Ashes series is a truly wonderful advert  for the game of cricket and the players are demonstrating that sportsmanship  is still possible even if the competition is  fierce and unforgiving on the field of play.

The series is level at 1-1 and the 4th Test at Trent Bridge begins this week with the final showdown at The Oval in September.

It is too close to call, but my (new) heart says England and my head says Australia to retain The Ashes.  

I will predict 2-2 for the series.

Whatever happens I just can't wait.

Sadly I have had to inform the captains of both teams I play for  (PMCC III's and Cooksons) that I am unavailable until August, possibly even September.

The reason being, that my left knee keeps swelling up the morning after I bowl a few overs.   Ordinarily I would put up with this as an inconvenience but as I am going to the World Transplant Games in Canada on the 16th July and am hoping to reach the final of the 100m, I have had to call a halt, albeit temporarily.

Likewise, the British Transplant Games are at the end of August and I will again be running the 100m.   I may not be a dedicated sprinter but I do take my competitions seriously.   It would be unforgivable not to give myself the best possible chance.   I hope everyone is sympathetic and understands my position.

29th June - My first game since the GBTCC UK Tour matches and an exciting one it was too.   Playing in the grounds of Viscount Ridley's home in Northumberland at Blagdon we, Cooksons, fielded first.   Kingstonians scored 144 -7 from their 16 x 8 ball overs.   Dave Sweeney their opening batsman scored a thrilling 82.    Apparently  8 ball overs are used so that the games are quicker in this grade of cricket.    Max of 4 overs per bowler.

When it was our turn to bat we made a brave, but ultimately unsuccessful fist if it.   Our opener, Terry, scored his fifty and was out next ball.   Hughie Cadwallader had kept him company and farmed the strike very well.   
 

I batted at number 5 and came in with 47 needed from the last five overs and was batting with Colin Smith.   Colin was in fine form and I did my best to keep giving him the strike.   We reached the last over needing 18 to win and I was facing the leg spin of Dave Swann, who played against GBTCC earlier in the month.  
 

I had decided before a the ball was bowled to have a mighty slog to leg and had told Colin of my plan with which he agreed.   Having missed the first one, my mighty thrash went straight up in the air and I was caught and bowled for 12 (from 11 deliveries, 1x4).   We crossed whilst the ball was in the air and Colin proceeded to hit a two and 2 sixes before being stumped, for 40, off the keepers' pads.   How unlucky can you get?    The match was effectively over when over tail enders could not put bat to ball in the last three deliveries.   We lost by 3 runs!

I forget to mention that we only had 9 players and fielded with 10 (they lent us one, which is fair enough).
 

My bowling figures (bowling at the end their innings) were 4 overs 2 -27.

 

Full details of the GBTCC UK Tour.

3rd June - GBTCC v Percy Main select II

2nd June - GBTCC v Percy Main select II
Percy main won by 2 wkts.
Full scorecard on Saturday.

1st June - GBTCC v Tynemouth select II - No play due to rain (What a pity)

26th May -   On the day that the first Test Match of the summer got under way (Eng v Bangladesh) Percy Main III's had a match too.    I  opened the batting again but dragged a wide one onto my stumps for just 2 measly runs.   A poor shot really.   We (PMCC) could only muster 68 runs in our 17 overs (20 max) against the City of Newcastle and were definitely 15 or 20 short of a good total.  I came on to bowl  the 14th over when they only needed 10 more runs to win with  Marty Smith bowling his leg spin at the  other end.   It took them four full overs to score the 10 runs and I had the respectable figures of 0 - 4 from my 2 overs.
If only we had one batsman capable of scoring about 30 or 40 runs we would be a hard team to beat.   All the same, it is great fun and they are a good bunch of (mostly) young lads.
 

19th May -   Percy Main III's away to Walbottle.   In a 20 over match the maximum any bowler can bowl is 6 overs.   So come the 13th over the skipper, young Craig Downey who is a fine prospect, turned to the leg spin of Marty Smith and the donkey droppers of a certain G. Marsh.
In the last  8 overs we gave away just 27 runs and took 3 wickets, all to Marty by the way.   My first three went for just 2 runs and then in the last over a couple of massive slogs went crashing through 'cow corner' for four and I ended up with 4 overs 0  - 13.   We restricted the home team to 91 - 8.
I was asked to open the innings following my creditable performance last week when I was undefeated.    I scored the first 9 runs, including a cover drive for four inside two overs and felt good.   Unfortunately I was the victim of a run out at the start of the third over as a result of a direct hit and made my slow walk dejectedly back to the pavilion.   Craig was also run out when batting really well and we could only manage 90 - 8 in our 20 overs and consequently lost by 1 run!
Great fun as always and I was just happy to be there!
 

17th May -   On what had been a beautiful sunny day we no sooner bowled our 7th over and it started lashing down with rain.   A pity because we (Cooksons) were playing the Cumberland in the idyllic setting of Priors Park, Tynemouth 'neath the gaze of the statue of Lord Collingwood at the mouth of the Tyne in sight of the two piers.    If you ever had the pleasure of watching Supergran on TV some years back, the wicket is outside of Scunner Campbell's window.
 

16th May -    Ball Tampering !!!

There is an article on the subject in today's Times written by the worlds greatest ever spinner who also happens to be an Aussie, Shane Warne.
He writes about the penalty of 5 runs given against Surrey for ball tampering as being somewhat derisory and jokes, "If that's all that happens I think I should start carrying sandpaper around in my back pocket to give the ball a good scrape and get it hopping around...."   He goes on to say, "Seriously, you won't see any of that from Hampshire.   I want us to play hard and tough and be in the faces of the opposition.   But that will not stop us playing fairly and in the spirit of the game."

Well said Warney!   Cheating has no place in any sport, especially cricket.
 

12th May  -  When I wrote yesterday's piece I forgot that a second opportunity would be available today playing for Percy main III's.   Our opponents were Backworth CC.   I made my debut against them last season and in two games failed to trouble the scorers.
We fielded first and had to watch the ball disappear to all parts as the home side amassed 160 for 5 in their 20 overs.   I was due to come in first wicket down and was at the crease to face the last ball of the second over against their highly rated leg spinner.
Leg stump yorkers seem to follow me around but I negotiated the delivery and proceeded to carry my bat through the innings.   Although I only scored 19 runs (1x4, 1x2 and 13 singles) I was trying to score quicker, honestly.   A mixture of  excellent spin and hostile fast bowling was hard enough to cope with, crashing it through the covers was another matter.   We finished with 80 for 5, falling well short of an impossible target, if indeed it ever was a target,

11th May - Fielding first, we (Cookson's) yielded 95 runs in 14 x8 ball overs against Merz McClellan at Clara Vale's beautiful  ground in up country Northumberland.   I managed to cling on to a skier thanks to my GBTCC sun hat, which allowed me to see the ball coming at me out of the sun.   Once more I did not get the chance to bowl but I batted at #3 this week.  

I arrived at the wicket in the second over and played every ball from somewhere near the middle of the bat.   Could I pierce the field?   No!   Following two singles I managed to hook as short ball for 4 and was feeling good.   My demise came when my ambition outweighed my talent and I failed miserably to clear mid on in an attempt to push the scoring along.   Oh well, there's always next week.

5th May - Did not bat or bowl in the massacre that occurred at Percy Main.   We managed a decent enough score of 108 from 16 x 8 ball overs.   Our opponents' opening batsmen were both Morpeth CC first teamers and plundered the required amount in less than 9 overs.   It was probably a good game in which not to bowl!   I was due in at #5 in the order but the late arrival of our star batsman meant we all dropped down one which was the reason for not batting.

Congratulations to Aussie transplant cricket captain, Nick Harris.   Nick received a kidney transplant on 20th April.   All players and supporters of the GB transplant cricket team (GBTCC) wish him well and hope to see him when the 'Wombats' attempt to retain the David Hookes Memorial Trophy in 2006.

Great news!   I received  the phone call from the fixture secretary of Tynemouth Cricket Club to confirm that we - GBTCC - have secured the ground for our evening game on Wednesday 1st June.   Probably a 20/25 overs match.

On Thursday 2nd  and Friday 3rd June we are playing daytime, longer matches (we hope).

I am as stiff as a board as a result of my first indoor net at Percy Main CC on Thursday night.   I shared the session with second teamers and some of the up and coming juniors.   They are definitely up and coming!

As Ken Oliver correctly pointed out in my 'Guest Book' (thanks Olly) I had my stumps knocked over on more than one occasion.   Oh alright then - three times!!!

I have been asked to play for a Wednesday night team at PMCC this season and foolishly I agreed.   CJ,  the captain, either has a warped sense of humour or is simply desperate for new blood.

So I will playing on Wed & Thurs from next  week until the end of the season, when available and of course, if selected.