cheltenham cricket festival, 2019…

I went to Cheltenham yesterday to watch day 3 (of 4) of Gloucestershire’s game against Leicestershire. It also gave me the opportunity of passing on a whole load of second-hand cricket books… although carrying them all to Temple Meads and then to the ground (amounting in total to a 70 minute walk) was something of a pain – literally!
It’s always fascinating travelling to a cricket match by train… you can spot a ‘supporter’ instantly (invariably male, grey-haired, aged, wearing a floppy hat, frequently wearing ill-fitting shorts, sun-tanned, carrying an old rucksack containing sandwiches, drink and newspaper etc)… and you join a line of them, making their gentle way from the station to the ground at 30 metres intervals. Maps are not required!
But I had a lovely day.
The setting, at Cheltenham College (despite, or because of, all its privileged associations), is quintessentially English and I spent the day simply watching the cricket, watching the people, sketching and consuming the odd glass of beer.
As a bonus, the cricket was pretty good too! Replying to Leicestershire’s 252 all out, Gloucestershire had started the day on 275-6 (having lost their last four wickets for something like 40 runs)… and there seemed every chance of the innings petering out tamely. But, actually, it was the complete opposite. The overnight batsmen, Jack Taylor and Benny Howell, added 157 runs – before Taylor was disappointingly bowled one short of his century. Gloucestershire ended the day declaring 252 runs ahead and going on to take two Leicestershire wickets for 78 runs.
So, a gentle day’s cricket in the sunshine.
During the course of the afternoon (especially in the hour immediately after lunch), I COULD have taken at least half a dozen photographs of aged cricket spectators slumped asleep in their seats, completely dead to the world… but I resisted the temptation! Had they seen Taylor’s dismissal? What about Bamber’s stumping at the end of the innings? Actually, they will invariably invent their own accounts of the day’s play… and that’s just fine!
Not very often that you see a side scoring over 500 runs in an innings in County Cricket these days… but I was there!
Photo: If you look closely, you might be able to spot the ball… the batsman’s advanced down the wicket (with the intention of hitting a six over long-on), missed it… and completely fooled the wicket-keeper, who’s also missed it!

cheltenham cricket festival…

Chris, Jeff and I went along to watch the third day of the Gloucestershire v Durham second division game at Cheltenham College yesterday. The Cheltenham Cricket Festival has been going for the past 140 years (apparently, it’s the world’s longest-running cricket festival) and yesterday everything was all rather lovely – the stunning setting of Cheltenham College (independent boarding school, of course!), idyllic sunny weather, good company, the odd beer tent and even the sight of England all-rounder Ben Stokes pounding in to bowl 18 overs… you get the general idea.
The cricket wasn’t bad either – some 350 runs scored in the day and 15 wickets falling. Somewhat predictably, given the sunny conditions, the only sources of shade to be found were in the beer tents and marquees.
Despite the school holidays, the age profile of the spectators was definitely on the ‘old’ side – we seemed quite sprightly by comparison with the average punter (the three of us being 68, 69 and 70 respectively!). The only youngsters on view were those who turned up for a mini-cricket tournament at lunchtime (they included a reasonable number of girls in the teams, which was good to see). In fact, the overall attendance was much less than I’d anticipated (I’d initially even wondered if we would have difficulty in getting into the ground). You could get a very decent view of the cricket from the seats scattered along the boundary edge or from the temporary ‘stands’ (which were somewhat mysteriously set back a fair way from the boundary - until one of the locals explained that the ‘real’ crowds these days turned up for one-day 50 over or 20twenty games – and this allowed them to put more seating in front of the temporary stands).
A delightful, typically-English, somewhat nostalgic, summer’s day.
Photo: The Durham slip cordon (including Ben Stokes, extreme left).