first day of the 2019 cricket season…

I had originally planned to travel down to Taunton today to watch Somerset play Kent, but the forecast was for light rain all day. I ended getting on the number 75 bus to the Brightside Ground here in Bristol (the forecast looked much more promising) to watch Gloucestershire against Oxford MCCU (a combined team formed from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University)… with the added bonus that entrance was free! The other attraction was that I could cart all my cricket books across town and donate them to the Club Shop’s secondhand bookstall.

Well, the day didn’t quite go as planned:
1. I set out from the house (suitably dressed for watching cricket - in several layers of clothing, including thermal underwear, fleece, waterproof, scarf and gloves… as you do) and, just as I was about to get on the bus, realised that I’d left my bus pass and bank cards at home. I duly retraced my steps, collected the aforementioned articles and eventually caught my bus.
2. The journey was fine and I arrived 25 minutes before start of play. I went straight to the Club Shop (I tell you, those books were bloomin’ heavy and I couldn’t wait to present them to the grateful shop manager!). Sadly, he told me that they weren’t ‘doing’ secondhand books this season… “Tony’s still going to persevere with the books off his own bat* (* that’s a cricket joke!), but he won’t be around until the Cheltenham Festival games later in the summer”. So I ended up having to lug all the books around with me… despite the temptation to leave individual books in secret places around the ground, just to lighten the load.
3. When I first arrived at the ground, the groundstaff were busy clearing away the cricket covers and huge tarpaulins ready for play to start at 11am… but then it started to rain. So the groundstaff had to reverse what they were doing and reinstate the covers/tarpaulins accordingly.
4. And so the crowd (numbering about six in total at that time?) sat around and waited for the shower to pass… which it did, eventually. In the meantime, there was an announcement that it had been decided that the players would be taking an ‘early lunch’ at 12.20pm, with a view to starting play some time around 1pm.
5. So, the ground staff recommenced their work… a tractor busied itself around the outfield clearing the surface rainwater, the senior groundsman started painting the white lines for the batting creases, the stumps were set up… everything was ready for the first ball of the season to be bowled.
6. Well (and you know what’s coming, don’t you?!), at around 12.40pm, it started to rain again (quite hard, steady sort of rain) and dark clouds surrounded the ground. I waited for a while in case there was an improvement…
7. By this time, I was feeling pretty cold and pretty miserable (yes, me!)… I’d been sitting out under cover reading for most of the time (NOT one of my cricket books!) and had also done a very quick stand-up sketch of one of the sightscreens (I know!). It was time to go to the bar, get myself a pint of beer and maybe a pasty… then I thought, do you know, I think I’ll just get on a bus home, get myself some lunch and settle down with my book in comfort!
In fact, play did start (just before 3pm). Gloucestershire batted and, it seems, made a terrible start (reduced to 17-3 at one stage) but slightly recovered to 51-3 before, you guessed it, it started to rain again! They restarted some time after 5.15pm and managed to play for another 40 minutes.
So, yes, I’ve attended my first game of the new cricket season… BUT I’ve still to see a ball being bowled in anger.
But, hey, it’s not ALL bad news. At least I was RIGHT in deciding not to go to Taunton… there was no play there at all due to rain.
Next time. Next time!
Photo: Being a member of the ground staff on a wet day is no fun!
PS: It’s feels somewhat ironic/nostalgic that Gloucestershire were playing Oxford University as, from the summer of 1968 until the mid-1970s, I used to go down to The Parks regularly to watch the cricket – featuring the likes of Imran Khan and Vic Marks.
PPS: Obviously, if you fancy giving some old cricket books a good home, please do let me know (seriously!)(I could let you have a list of titles).