It's... THE ASHES!

You might have noticed that I am a little sports crazy!

So anyway... THE ASHES starts tomorrow. Cricket time, the war between England and Australia. I absolutely cannot explain how much I love it. I shall be obsessed over the Summer and again later this year for the return down in Oz.

Here is a couple of videos that get me totally excited about The Ashes (hopefully they will for you too!)

Love it!

Isn't Bumble (David Lloyd) singing the best thing ever!?!

The Friday File #52 - Stuart Broad

Stuart Broad is the man of the moment over here, he has taken six wickets already in the opening Ashes test in Australia. In Australia he is just known as the 27yo medium pace bowler after a little decision that happened in the Ashes series over here in the Summer. Basically some Australian press have banned his name and fans are booing him. SIX WICKETS! That booing is really working so far... ;-)

So anyway, Stuart Broad is a English cricketer and he is the captain of the Twenty20 team. And I love him. Based on my size, 5ft 3" and his 6ft 5" frame... this just would never work. A girl can dream though, right?

Time for The Ashes

The Ashes starts this week and I want to be able to stay up and watch it all but that's seriously gonna interrupt my sleeping pattern as coverage starts at 11pm here. I think my morning routine will involve meditation and then a cricket catch up! What a way to start the day :-)

Farewell Freddie

A sad day for cricketing fans yesterday as Andrew Flintoff retired from all forms of cricket. We all knew the news was coming but it doesn't make it any easier to hear.

Sarah Loves...Cricket

Having now moved within an hour's drive of Lord's Cricket Ground, I seem to have adopted Middlesex County Cricket Club as my cricket club of choice. This also means that International cricket is also just down the road, including the England v Bangladesh Test Match that starts on Thursday. 

My trip to Old Trafford Cricket Ground

Having booked the tickets months ago I figured I wouldn't have had the need to take a coat and umbrella to watch the cricket at August bank holiday weekend, how was I wrong.

The weather had improved in the days leading up to Sunday before we went. It was feared it would just be rained off. On the morning's weather forecast it became more likely it would rain about 4 o' clock, and with it set to start at 2.30pm I thought well at least we'll get to see some cricket.

My brother and I tucked into a massive (and I mean massive) burger from one of the vans inside the ground and then went off to find our seats. It was cloudy and overcast but still relatively warm. Next to us on the right were some other England fans (one of whom I might add was dressed up as Wonder Woman, a man that is), to our left was some Aussie fans and as this game was England V Australia you can imagine the competition already was heating up! Behind us we had some people from New Zealand who actually didn't care who won!


Before it all started there was a parachute jump from the RAF Falcons which was fascinating to watch, although I thought they would never actually land in the ground the plane seemed so far away!


England selected to field, and although most people like to watch the team of their choice batting, my brother is a big Ryan Sidebottom fan (I think because of the name!) so I was pleased if rain was coming at least he would see him bowl. And so we did.


After the twenty overs Australia were 145-4. England came into bat and we were 4-2 in the second over before consistent rain caused the game to be abandoned. I might add my brother and I were absolutely soaked by now.

Although it was a shame to not see the game come to an end, at least we got to see some cricket. The second Twenty20 test yesterday never even got underway due to rain, although somewhat controversially I believe...

But overall we had a lot of fun and it was our first trip to watch live cricket and we'd definitely do it again, maybe for a test match next time though.

Update

Totally fed up of our non-existent Summer! Had a few hours of sunshine today but not really warm enough to sit out in it. But luckily it's enough to get the garden back into some kind of order!

Peas and Runner beans are being picked once a week at the moment. Tomatoes are still green, so waiting for them to turn red. I have 2 gem lettuces that should be ready in the next few weeks, with a further 3 growing also.

Our buddleia is so beautiful and tall, it's definitely attracting the butterflies. There were 4 painted lady butterflies on it today! I'm thinking about buying a butterfly house, going to do some research on them first and where is best to put them etc

I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last week, and as I say whenever I watch the latest film 'that was definitely my favourite'. Tom Felton's performance as Draco Malfoy throughout the series has always been the best of the so called 'child actors', and he does not disappoint in this latest installment. I just cannot wait for the next one.

I've nearly got my other blog properly up and running now. Then all I need to do is just add to it every few days. Yuwie seems to be working okay, but I'm still learning what I'm really doing!

In my to-do list I have pencilled in that September is when I'm going to start serious writing with my book/story, so I have to get all my planning done by then. Should be okay...

All of the fish are doing very well. Luke who was a orange and black oranda is now just a orange oranda with tiny bits of black on the tips of his fins and tail. He is definitely still the boss of the tank but occasionally the other oranda Katie shows him that she's in charge! Good on ya girl!

I'm getting very excited about the twenty20 cricket I'm going to at the end of the month at Old Trafford. I've been learning my barmy army songs!

That's all for now

Sarah

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