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!