Season Two: April Round Up
A mixed start to the season! It was a nailed on certainty that after all the winter nets, the analysis of my game, the talking rather than doing that in …
Happy Birthday Fleur
Our little (literally) girl is twelve (12) years old today! Fleur arrived small and vulnerable and she has remained that way. She is a very small cat, with a huge …
Happy Birthday Moreno
Moreno is sixteen (16) today! He remains the most amazing cat. Externally he has hardly aged at all, and whist old age and arthritis have slowed him down and made …
Season Two: I have a plan
I have a plan, well several actually, for Season Two and they involve wearing tights! I think that anyone reading the diary last year will have worked out that it …
Net Strategy
I write this at the beginning of my first week without any nets planned since I started the winter Members Nets at Edgbaston on 18th November (and I could have …
Happy Birthday Orla (RIP)
Beautiful little Orla would have been fourteen (14) years old today which highlights just how long ago we lost this lovely lady, but just how much of a change she …
Happy Anniversary Teo (RIP)
Nine (9) years ago Teo came into our life, and turned it around for the better in so many ways. Can’t begin to say how much I still miss him, …
Remembering Sophie (RIP)
It is six (6) years since we lost our sweet Princess Sophie, the most gentle, happy, loving little cat you could ever wish to have in your life. It still …
Happy Birthday Dinky
Our reclusive, beautiful mummy cay, Dinky, is three (3) years old today and she will spend it doing exactly what she always does: whatever she wants! She remains very war …
Happy Birthday Marti
This amazing cat is six (6) years old today. He is by far the most versatile cat ever: he loves the older cats, the kittens, the dogs, people in fact …
Happy Birthday Teo (RIP)
Teo would have been thirteen (13) years old today. He was a very special dog and an extremely special friend that I miss each and every day. Please take a …
Happy Anniversary Oscar
Oscar aka Big Pud has been with us for thirteen (13) years today, a very lucky 13 for us and it has to be said for Oscar who was saved …
Happy Anniversary Hollie
Hard to believe that it is only four (4) years since we adopted Hollie as she seems to have been with us for longer than that, yet at the same …
Nets, Running & Core Strength
Should probably start by saying that I passed my ECB Core Coach Course at the weekend. This is the new course replacing the old Level Two and no longer required …
Happy Birthday Charmin
Prince Charmin is ten (10) years old today and if ever a cat landed on their paws and was a puurrrfect fit it is this superstar. He has simply been …
Happy Birthday & Anniversary Saidi (RIP)
Sweet Saidi would have been seventeen (17) today and it is fourteen (14) years since we adopted her. We lost her in June 2020 and these posts do not get …
Dry January: 35th Year
Here we go again, my 35th Dry January in a row! If ever a sentence made me feel old. I can remember the first year I went dry, my first …
Taking Stock (Off Season Reflections and Next Seasons Intentions)
In a recent post I discussed the Edgbaston Indoor Nets and what a great insight they had provided as to how the pros train, and given me some thoughts not …
Edgbaston Indoor Nets
I will talk about the impact the indoor nets, and specifically the coaching, has had on my own game in a separate post. In this view from the boundary edge …
View From The Boundary Edge
I mentioned in my recent post confirming the return of my Cricket Diary in 2022 that it would be concentrating on my life on the field – over the white …
12 Christmas (Time) Movies
It’s that time of year already, the official start of Christmas. The tree has been up (and down thanks to the cats) since the 1st of December and the Waitrose, …
Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket
Racism throughout cricket, incompetent and rudderless leadership from those responsible for English Cricket, and concerns over the increased focus on the short format of the game. Welcome to the 1960s …
Time to stop selecting and start building the Test Team
The background to this post is the not unexpected early finish to the first test in Australia for the England Team. Well I say not unexpected, and I am pretty …
Happy Birthday Tigra
Tigra is nine (9) years old today and whilst her body may be a little slower and stiffer than it was, her brain remains that of a nine month old …
Off Season, Rehab & Fitness
Before I started playing cricket again I wrote about my concerns regarding my fitness levels and how well my body would cope, and throughout the season I documented in my …
Want to buy new Cricket stuff? Good Luck!!!
Not that I need any more cricket kit, but ….. I was looking for a pair of Masuri Pads recently, and I was asked by a couple of people if …
Zoomies GB
Couple of questions I get asked most weeks playing cricket 1) Do you work for the NHS and 2) Why have you got a Greyhound Sticker on your bat? Answer …
Happy Anniversary Marti
Five (5) years ago we adopted Marti, partly because he has always lived with dogs and we wanted to have a young kitten to grow up with Tito who we …
Happy Anniversary Kasper
Nine (9) years today Kasper entered our lives. I was on a pet transport so Sands had the task of hand feeding him, then I took over when I got …
Happy Birthday Sophie (RIP)
Hard to believe but little princess Sophie would have been 6 today! Pretty, friendly, inquisitive, loved by all, into everything, friendly with the dogs she was a purrfect little girl …
Happy Anniversary Tobi
Five years ago today as we walked Teo from the van to the vets to discuss his treatment options for Lymphoma I heard a small meow, which I tracked down …
Happy Anniversary Fleur
Eleven years ago today I was in a mates bar in Spain with Sands when she got a call about a dead kitten and an injured kitten that had been …
Happy Anniversary Dusky
It is ten years since we walked along the beach in Spain and spotted a small, black, fluffy kitten – Dusky! A large pud he is the most gentle of …
Happy Birthday Kasper
Kasper is nine (9) years old today. He remains a strong character for sure: knows what he wants and usually gets it. He has calmed down over the last couple …
Cricket Diary: Muscle Memory
In an early diary entry I ruminated on the fist pump over the handshake. This weekend I was delighted to shake the hand of WIlliam James (maiden century), Olly Mills …
Remembering Saidi (RIP)
It is a year ago that we said goodbye to Saidi. Moerno’s mum she was part of our life for twelve years, having spent at least three years living on …