Great Britain Transplant Cricket Club
Tour to Oz - is underway!

"On behalf of the England cricket teams and ECB we would like to wish the GB Transplant CC an excellent and successful tour to Australia in September.   Playing cricket in Australia is the greatest challenge in our sport and I'm sure the GB Transplant CC will relish these matches as much as the England team always does."  -

Michael Vaughan, England captain.

How about that for an endorsement of transplant sport in general and transplant cricket in particular from current England captain, Michael Vaughan.

Monday 20th September

United States 9½   Europe 18½

I admit it I am a hopeless predictor of sport and it's results.   I said before a ball was teed up that Europe would win the 35th Ryder Cup by 3 or 4 points.   This proved to be a wildly pessimistic scoreline as the European Team made the United Sates individual golfers look just that, a bunch of loners.

As for their ridiculous captain Hal Sutton, he presumably cannot wait to return home and count up his 'kids', as he was unsure as to how many he actually had in his speech at the pap infested opening ceremony.  

Bernard Langer meanwhile went about his job as he does on the fairways, calmly , systematically and with great dignity.

When Colin Montgomerie sunk the winning putt I had to wipe away a tear.   When it comes to The Ryder Cup Colin, "You're the man!"

Sunday 19th September

United States 5   Europe 11

So far so good.   To say that the European team is in a strong position going into the last day of singles matches, in the Ryder Cup, would be something of an understatement.   I am sticking with my 3 or 4 point win on the assumption that the Americans cannot get any worse (?) and will make something of a comeback today.

At 5pm BST this evening I will take root on my settee and savour every moment of what I reckon is one of the two best contests in sport.   The other being The Ashes.

Saturday 18th September

United States 1½   Europe 6½

The overnight score from Detroit  in the 35th Ryder Cup, from a European point of view, is great news.   Admittedly it is very early in the match and all things are possible, but as James Bond remarked in his game against Goldfinger "It's never too early to start winning".   We shall see.

I am sticking with my prediction that Europe will win by 3 or 4 points as I leave for my Saturday game with the 'TOGS'.

Friday 17th September

I am off to the gym for a final workout before I leave for Oz, must pay a visit to my mother and have an appointment with my IT guru at lunchtime.   Then I will slump in front of the TV and watch as Europe duff up the USA in the Ryder Cup, I hope.

My prediction is that Europe will win by 3 or 4 points.

Thursday 16th September

So far, I am having a mare today.   I travel to Australia on Monday to take my place in the GB Transplant Cricket Team to play the Aussies and am also playing golf in the Australian Transplant Games as an international competitor.

From that you may deduce that I have to take with me a cricket bat and other assorted clothing and equipment.   I also have to take my golf clubs, golf shoes etc.   I will also need to take my running shoes as I will be challenging Australia's finest sprinters in the 100m.

Great as far as it goes, except there is one major problem.   Qantas, who are one of the main sponsors of the event, will not allow me ( according to my travel agent)  an extra 10kg on my baggage allowance so the I may transport my sporting tools across the globe.   I have been told that I could be charged anything form £17 - £32 per Kg excess and that my cricket bat should not be in the same holder as my golf clubs.

Are these people nuts?   I am about to make some 'Mr Angry' telephone calls, and will update this lunacy later.

Wednesday 15th September

I am having a game of golf a little later on and then will chair a meeting at Tyne Youth & Community Centre tonight.

The first of our cricket team is already Australia bound.   Welshman Ian Hillier is winging his way to Perth as I type, before meeting up with the rest of us next week.   As I typed that last sentence I realised for the first time just how imminent the tour is.

Before I fly there is the little matter of The Ryder Cup.   This is one of two events that made me invest in Sky / Cable TV some years back.   The other being the screening of overseas Test Matches in our winter when England go on tour.

Sitting watching a Test Match from Jo'burg / Melbourne or Barbados when there is snow lying in my back garden is one of the great pleasures in life.   I find it hard to believe that in 10 days time I will be playing at the Adelaide Oval.   Our first two games are to be played on The Oval #2, which is adjacent to the Test ground.

I will be just happy to be there!

Tuesday 14th September

The sound on my TV set was not working last night so I could only watch the news.   What I would like to know is, why was Prince Phillip perched on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in a  Batman suit?    I know Mrs Windsor has garden parties for the great and good, I can only assume that they were playing hide and seek in fancy dress too.   The chap dressed as a policeman seemed to be the only one who knew where to look for quite a while until the bloke in his 'Bob the builder truck' also spotted him.

Monday 13th September

The Blueyonder system and my connection to the web was not working before I left home this morning.   Normal service and all of my news will appear tomorrow, I hope!

Sunday 12th September

The 'TOGS' v Percy Main XI cricket match and BBQ.

Full details are on 'Marsh on cricket' page.

Despite a shocker of a weather forecast for today, it's 11.30am and it looks OK to me.   The cricket is a go!   I will reveal all of the gory details later.   A couple of dozen buns  to be purchased and we're off.  

Just between you and me I have already agreed a spoof toss and the cricketers will bat first.   Let's be honest, if the 'TOGS' batted first it could be all over before the charcoal turns grey.   I understand some of the wives are arriving at about 4.30pm - I hope they are not expecting to watch a lot of cricket.

Update - The 'Togs' lost by 39 runs - full update tomorrow.
 

Saturday 11th September

I am off to play in what will probably be the last official golf competition of the current season at Tynemouth.   Whatever happens I will be playing through the winter months off a 10 handicap.

Friday 10th September  - Happy Birthday Suzie!

I was just about to leave home for my workout at the gym and the company who are putting the logos onto our cricket clothing for the trip to Australia, which is now just a tantalising 10 days away, rang to say the floppy sun hats had arrived at last.  

Five minutes later the phone rang again to tell me that our logo was too large to fit the hat and when reduced looked awful.   So being the all powerful executive which I am (?) made an executive decision and talked him through a logo change over the telephone.   I have to, pick up the hats some time this afternoon.......here's hoping.

Later - Job done, floppy hats are OK.

I had to supervise at Tyne Y&CC in the evening and got back home at 9.30pm.    Just another quiet day really.

News? I haven't had time to read a paper or watch the news.

Thursday 9th September

As a result of no bat arriving in the post from a well known manufacturer of cricket equipment which bear my initials, 'GM', I have been to Newcastle today and bought a bat which fits me.   It feels comfortable,  is not too heavy and the guy in the specialist cricket department assured me that if I were fortunate enough to hit a ball in the middle of this fine piece of willow it would proceed merrily to the boundary.

Taken in by all of this flattery I coughed up copious amounts of currency and purchased this implement of destruction.   As I was leaving his emporium of sporting finery I informed our learned friend that if I failed to score runs in Australia he would be getting the bat back.   I would exercise my rights under the Trade Descriptions Act and return it as not fit for the use intended.

I can have no excuses now if I fail to score runs when I am down under because (seriously) the bat feels good.

If there is anyone reading this who could supply me with a car bearing my initials ('GM'), I don't mind driving around with my name plastered all over it.   I have received a giant tomato and an enormous turnip, but genetically modified fruit & veg is not quite the same.

Wednesday 8th September

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My son Kevin, who plays for the 'seconds' at Tynemouth Cricket Club, is a 6 foot tall quick bowler, spent the best part of an hour trying to knock over my stumps in the nets last night.   The facilities were kindly offered to me for practice by the Chairman who also plays golf at Tynemouth.

Kev succeeded three times in the session, but when it was my turn to bowl, I got him first ball.   Like I said he is a bowler.   As long as the Aussies are not reading these notes, I am susceptible to fast round the wicket bowling, which I was trying to correct.   If the Aussies are reading these notes, I stroked every delivery with ease through the covers.

I played golf very early today because of a seniors competition which had tied up the course for our normal time.

Tuesday 7th September

Former President of the USA, Bill Clinton is recovering in a New York hospital after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass operation.   I wish him well and hope he has a speedy recovery.

For those of you who are interested, and I assume you must be or why else are you reading my website, I had quintuple heart bypass surgery 4 weeks before my heart transplant in 1999.   The other common denominator is that my sister who now lives in Canada has the surname Roddham (hi sis!)   The spelling is slightly different but it is the maiden name of Mr Clinton's wife Hilary.

Two pieces of sporting news are to the fore today as far as I am concerned:

1. Tiger Woods has been deposed as the world's #1 golfer by Vijay Singh.
   Following his 6th win of the current golf season, Singh has finally toppled Woods after he has been ranked at the top of the pile for 264 weeks.
   
   Tiger did not give up without a fight, he came second to Vijay in the tournament which saw the players swap positions.
    

2. If you were to ask Freddie 'the dog' Shepherd, hapless (or should that be hopeless?) chairman of Newcastle United, if Graeme Souness was the manager he had in mind when he sacked Sir Bobby Robson a week ago, I wonder what his answer would be.
   
   So this is the good news story we were promised when Jonathan Woodgate was sold to Real Madrid just before Sir Bobby's departure.   I thought Souness was a good player, albeit the dirtiest midfield player of his generation when Liverpool ruled the roost in the seventies.   His managerial credentials are somewhat mixed, but he has had his fair share of success at  Rangers, Liverpool and Blackburn.
   
   He still carries a reputation as a 'hard man' and disciplinarian and will undoubtedly take no 'stick' from Newcastle's current brat pack of over paid, under achieving pampered professionals.   Something will have to give ....or go!
   
   As a matter of interest Graeme Souness had triple heart bypass surgery in 1992.
   
   I am prepared to bet that the Newcastle United chairman will not refer to Mr Souness as Mary Poppins or call his wife a 'dog'.   I wonder which of them will survive at Newcastle the longest?

So that's it then, another quiet dull day ahead in the North East and it's only 7am.   Good morning Mr Parker!

Monday 6th September

The children are all back at school now, despite teachers wanting some more training days following their oh so short Summer break.   That means only one thing - The Club - Tyne Youth & Community Centre re-opens tonight for use by the little angels.

I shall be there of course, but will my other Monday night volunteers?   If not, then the Club doors will remain firmly closed.   Oh me of little faith.

I attended a meeting of the Freeman Heart & Lung Transplant Association which was routine as far as meetings go.   I informed the committee that our new website is now up and running and I await input from others.   The official address is www.fhlta.org.uk, take a look and follow it's development, if transplant stuff is of interest.

Sunday 5th September

How about this for a menu which was served up by our hosts, Lynne & Rob last night:-

Rosemary skewered monkfish with pancetta and ciabatta

Tray baked plaice stuffed with spinach, olives and tomatoes.
served with cauliflower cheese and new potatoes in parsley

Walnut tart served with fresh strawberries and crème fresch

Liqueur coffee with Bendick's mints served al fresco.

The term for such culinary excellence is I believe, haute cuisine.   Doddsy (Rob) may be a plasterer by trade but he is also a magnificent chef.   It seems that cooks of a certain calibre are also very temperamental and the term 'boil your head woman', could be heard coming from from the kitchen on more than one occasion as Lynne went to offer advice.

Saturday 4th September

I'm off to play golf in my second last handicap counting competition of the season.   I offer my  apologies to fellow 'TOGS' for my absence from the golf club barbeque tonight, but my nearest and dearest has made alternative arrangements.

 Later this evening Mrs Boggy and I will be wined and dined in splendour at Chez Dodds.   These soirées are OK but if you have seen Abigail's Party you can imagine what I think of it all.

Friday 3rd September

I retuned safely home following my 'MOT' at the Freeman hospital with only a few bruises to show for it.   If you check out my 'Guest Book' there is an entry from a young man by the name of Leigh Bauer-Nosan who was my radiographer yesterday.

It just so happens that he is from Adelaide, Australia and was very jealous of the fact that in 17 days time I shall be heading off down under to play against his countrymen at cricket on the Adelaide Oval No 2.  

Leigh was telling me how  the ground (first class status)  is thronged by fig trees and is a fabulous venue for cricket / barbie and a beer.  

All I can say in my defence is that someone has to do it Leigh!

For Leigh and my other readers I shall post updates in my 'Guest Book' from the Antipodes to let you know how we are getting on.   I forgot to tell him that I am also playing golf in the Australian Transplant Games too, as well as in Sydney and Perth.   He tells me the weather should be rather pleasant also.

It just gets harder and harder my Aussie mate!

Thursday 2nd September

Get well soon Lyndsey, we're thinking about you!

I'm in hospital - back soon.

Wednesday 1st September

It seems like a nice day to play golf.....so I will. 

As I am going into hospital for my 'MOT' tomorrow, I savoured every last bite of my evening meal.   Trout actually (I knew you really wanted to know).   I am not allowed any food or drink from midnight onwards, as is normal before any operation, but who wants to eat after midnight anyway?   Now, what can I rustle up for my supper?

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