More luck this time

I don't want to tempt fate as there is still one more day to run at the test match for England and the Black Caps up in Napier but we did enjoy our trip to the match on Sunday.

It was a bit of a worry though as we turned on the radio on Saturday morning only to hear that England were 18 for 3. Crikey, it was going to be a torturous weekend. As you might imagine seeking someone to blame for the Brit's performance I was called a bad jinx. Last time I went to a cricket match it was in Melbourne to watch England play Australia in the ashes. And we all know what happened there.

The sun didn't shine on us in Napier but we did at least watch the final overs of England's first innings and then see the Black Caps bowled out in less than one day!

Fingers crossed we get the right result and the boys don't let themselves down.

Batting for England

Interesting notice for lunch break

Doh, I think that they meant this lot who were closer to the pitch! It was a wonderful sight to see kids playing cricket and an inspection of the pitch by fans.

More lunch time entertainment - Ian Botham, Mike Atherton and David (hmm, still looking good!) Gower broadcasting for Sky

Afternoon tea entertainment - NZTV and the Dilmah Team sponsored guest spot where every guest get's their Dilmah goodiebox!

Yah, back on the field again - our boys from blighty

Ssh, don't mention the cricket

Reading this blog you wouldn't know that the England cricket team are here on their NZ cricket tour. It's not something that get's talked about much in our house but rather much desparate staring at the TV screen in disbelief.

So far it's not been a great tour. The one day games have been pitiful and they lost the first test hands down. But, things have been looking up and they've been playing at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. MT went this morning and joined the serious cricket watchers in the shade of the stand.

MT's view of the match

The Basin was packed with 8,000 capacity crowd. Lots and lots of Brits frying in the NZ sun. They always say you can't beat Wellington on a good day - today is a good day and the cricket has been going pretty well for England.


I won't say any more about the score at this point for fear of tempting fate but suffice to say that the headlines in the paper reads "Black Caps face massive task" ..... and there is lots of pics of the Barmy Army on tour!

It's not the winning.. but the taking part

Can't help but thinking that the English Rugby Players are not feeling very happy! Jonny certainly looks like a big sulk is going on. Shame really as there is no shame in losing in the final of the World Cup. Better than falling out of the competition in the quarter finals!

It was a tough game to watch since the potential for winning seemed to ebb away - the English boys just didn't seem able to hang onto the ball at crucial moments.

There is one definite positive now - the darn rugby is over and we can reclaim office water cooler chats back to wind and other weather phenomena!

A beautiful thing!

Now look, I hope you don't think that this is really my thing of beauty but I feel duty bound to point out to readers that yes, it's true, Coventry FC are currently sitting at the top of the League. It makes MT happy so that's all that matters - enjoy all you CCFC supporters.........

Divided house

High excitement with the big rugby match to watch - not quite the same when the first thing you hear in the morning is the result. Although I'm not such a dedicated rugby fan to get up at 4am to watch the match live, it was fun watching the re-run tonight.

Only problem was I kept getting told off for supporting our boys from the land of the long white cloud. MT was firmly in the Red Rose camp whilst was sticking to the All Blacks. Couldn't help feeling good about the end result although it was also encouraging to see that England did actually play well and there's signs of improvement on previous performance.

Rubgy U hasn't been the same for me since Jonny, Lawrence and the other World Cup squad moved onto real life and hung up their boots. Don't know these fresh faced lads now donning the England's whites. Even though may see this as not patriotic I'm taking the view that it's the AB players that I watch most weeks and even went to see them at the Super 14s.

Well done Dan, you might not quite have the comical potential as Jonny but still a marvellous kicker. Probably worth saying that our dearest Telecom NZ have a spoof advert intended to wind up the poms where lads on the beach playing rugby and one does a Wilkinson style kick only then to hop around in agony from injuring himself. Cruel but quite funny!

PS - in case you didn't know the score England 20 - New Zealand 41