red star, i think we're up first against lancashire. i'm not very confident, unless it's overcast and we put them in.

how tight is the security swingers?

glos don't allow beer in, but i still managed to get a few cans into every 20/20. i must have an honest face.

about the knobhead students, any pretty ones with big tits?

well the security is laughable usually and I've strolled in with 6 cans on a regular basis and never ever been checked. however a 20/20 finals day might be a little different so i wouldn't like to say. my advice is to risk it and there's always the shop over the road to gain cool refills.

probably mate but i always get lumbered with the flat chested bookish ones who smell of organic soap. come to think of it they'll have gone home now anyway, they get like three months off for summer.

Last time I went to Edgbaston there were full bag searches and someone with a metal detector (which she hit me in the goolies with)...........but that was a Test match.

I've a feeling that as it'sa final you won't be able to take beer into the game.

just got my tickets. coach leaves at 7.30 am. we're in the eric hollies stand. that's the new one isn't it swingers? is it a good view?

thankfully we're not behind the bowlers arm.

yeah it's fairly new in a sense that they reseated it and gave it a bit of a clean up a few years back. It's on the side of the pitch and is notoriously the loudest stand in international matches and probably so will be for 20/20 finals day. The view is fine but it's a really wide stand covering pretty much the whole of that side of the ground and best of all, it has a roof!

Unless you're sitting behind one of the concrete pillars that holds it up

looking at the tickets, it says i'm not allowed to take any weapons or firearms in with me.

well fuck that then. i'm not going.

Nice map Aqua.
My stand of choice is the RV Ryder Upper. However for a bit of current bun I would opt for the Priory Stand.
Top ground though, even if I do say so myself.

I shouldn't be here. I should be watching cricket in the sun. But it's still bl***y raining again at Headingley so it's not worth going. Shame as yesterday was an interesting day ... even though Yorks had a nightmare.

Thankfully I wasn't fully prepared when it was anounced that the Yorks/Surrey game was to start at 2:15 so decided not to bother. After 15 mins they came off for rain. I'd have probably made to the ground AFTER they came off (phew)

I was talking to Wakarimasen this morning.
He got home from holiday last night and this morning a neighbour gave him a Registered delivery letter that they'd taken in for him on the 17th.




Inside were 2 pairs of tickets for the first and second days at Lords for the present Test - he'd won them in a competition.


He is not the happiest of people

Following on..................Wakarimasen 'phoned the competition organisers this morning and told them the sad tale.


They have said they'll send him a pair of tickets for Trent Bridge on Sunday instead

england are going to win if it doesn't rain.

It rained

A mate won 2 tickets for the Trent Bridge test ..... great except that this weekend he's in a B&B at Scarborough watching it rain on the Yorkshire vs Kent game !! oh how we laughed

The weather IS getting better. Yorks's last 2 championship games have ended during in the 2nd innings of the game. In the Yorks vs Surrey match that finished today we actually had 1 over & 1 ball of the 3rd innings (& poor Craig White got out) before they went of for bad light ... 5 mins before it chucked it down. Sussex are going to the win the Championship because they are having the luck with the weather.

It was a nice evening for the Pro 40 on Tuesday..............and a good win for the Outlaws

Our season I fear will fizzle out now. The bowling attack seemed ok when we were batting well but now that's dried up so have the bowlers.

Btw, how is Mark Wagh doing at Notts Aqua? His father was a supply teacher at my old school if memory serves but Wagh never really became the batsman he was touted to be. When he left the Bears he said that the Notts pitch would suit him better but I have no idea if this is true.

Also, has anyone purchased International Cricket Captain 3 for the PC? I've just ordered it, looks really good.

He scored 66 off 81 balls against Warc's

Wagh caught a brilliant catch last Tuesday in the day/nighter. Mark initially took the ball whilst falling backwards over the boundary. As a result Wagh he threw the ball up, regained his balance by putting his foot behind the boundary rope then after he'd raised his foot caught the ball to take the wicket. It was totally legal (as it's only a boundary if the foot is ON the ground whilst touching or behind the rope) & very clever.

Due to the rain at Scarborugh the Yorks/Kent LVCC game ended as a bore draw. We lost than more than half of the first 2 days & the pitch was so good that it was back to getting bonus points. Once the 130th over of the Yorks inningshad been completed the game was completely dead. After tea Geraint Jones was in the field rather than keeping. Some of us were disapointed when Jones didn't dowl as Kent did use 10 bowlers in the innings.

The Pro 40 game vs Somerset was much better. Yorks set off at 8 an over but ended up getting 261. Somerset were in trouble with 6 down, till Blackwell started hitting out (Scarborough isn't be biggest ground). Losing 2overs to rain near the end didn't help. Thankfully for the Phoenix, Brophy stumped Blackwell off a leg side wide & Yorks just made it. We even had a male streker (for the ladies) ... why do I never get a female one

p.s. Scarborough was having a 40's weekend so we were overflown by a Spitfire, Hurricane & a Lancaster.

With Warwickshire's ritual end of season plummit now in full force, I can genuinely look forward to the start of the football season.

I suppose questions will naturally be asked about our coach as he's managed to cause so much bad feeling within the squad in just one season that one wonders where it will all end. Ian Bell is being forced out, as is Dougie Brown, expect to see Heath Streak do the same. I like Darren Maddy as a player but he doesn't strike me as a leader, seems more like a yes man to me. Bringing in a slow left armer like Harris just seemed a bizarre choice.

swingers, i don't know if you got down to bristol on sunday. if not you missed a fine game that went the full distance, warwicks could have tied with a 4 of the final ball.

2 different groups of lads on stag do's provided further entertainment when play got dull, which wasn't often.

photos here

I had every intention of going Moster until it started wanking it down with rain in your part of the world and thought it best to leave it.

You're lucky that there aren't any pictures of the Yorks vs Zumerzet game as Scarborough last Sunday. The one day games at Scarborough always attract a crowd (they claimed 4,000 but it looked larger than that to us) . The North Marine Road side is always full of lads out for the day (i.e. on the p***). The group in dresses was just about OK .... but the male (boo) streaker wasn't. He ran on in underpants & then stripped completely. Justin Langer showed he did have a sence of humour by returning said underkecks to the streaker has he wasbeing carried off. Langer turned his head away as he passed them over.

It was the best limited overs games Yorks have had for years. Yorks batted first went off like a train but slowed down as they lost wickets ending up with 261 due to some late hitting by Bresnan. Our Lurpack (Kolpak) Jaques Rudolph scored a ton 50 offf 28 balls & 100 95 balls. Somerset were 98-7 & out of it. Luckily no one had informed Ian Blackwell who proceeded to hit the Yorks bowling to all points (including out of the ground !!). Thankfully Brophy was wide awake making an excelent stumping off a leg side wide to remove Blackie. The Somerset lower order batsmen hit on. Yorks were fortunate that we then lost 10 mins for a sharp shower. This allowed someone to get it into Bresnan's head that he should pitch the ball up. Yorks finally won a match that ebbed & flowed when D*r*n G**gh took 2 wickets in an over to bowl Somerset out a few runs short of victory. It was the sort of game that neither team deserved to lose.

Many (including me) had been at Scarborough for the 4 day county game vs Kent which was ruined by rain (surprise surprise). Apart from Younus Khan getting 200 & Adil Rashid another Michelle (Fifer !!) the most exciting thing was wondering if Kent would bowl all 11 players on the last afternoon. Unfortunately they only used 10, although Geraint Jones did field in the outfield for all of the last session with Dexter behind the stumps .

not much mention of the england - india tests. couldnt keep you guys quiet two summers ago..mind you , it should be one test a piece , the english were defintely robbed of victory in the 1st test..Tendulkar is still a class act even though he has missed so much cricket of late

Stop being naughty Brendon. I'm not heartborken by the performance of the England team. Then England beat Aus in 2005 the 'luck' was with them as the teams were pretty evenly matched. In this series the teams are again matched but India have been the more fortunate. Only bad light/rain stopped England winning the first test. In the 2nd the toss was very important, but even then Ryan Sidebottom could have had a number of wickets in the 1st Indian innings (he continually beat the bat) but only got 1. The ball that 'bowled' Vaughan could have gone anywhere. If it had missed the wicket & England got a 150-200 lead the game could have been 'interesting.

As for this weekend. Where is Moster today ..... probably nursing a hangover after the 20/20 final.

Thanks to Glouc for beating Lancs for us ... BUT I was glad you lost after Marshall catching Key when the ball had grounded.... Mallender does seem to be getting a few wrong (& he's a Tyke you know) ... at least it was a very entertaining fianl. I was surprised when Glouc didn't bowl Fisher in the final. Greenidge did seem to 'bottle' it in that last over (p.s. I'm NOT gloating mate, just telling it as it is)

well brendon, as you well know, when you are missing 4 out of 5 first choice bowlers, then to only not be level because of rain isn't actually that bad.

given that australia have been over reliant on 2 bowlers for the last 15 years, and (according to you) would have won the 2005 series if they had both appeared in every game, you need to raise your game bit to get a bite there mate. it will be interesting to see how you cope without them, i still see nothing coming through to get excited about. you still have lots of great batsmen, but will you be able to consistantly take 20 wickets? i don't think so.

red, we beat lancashire for ourselves not for you. mind you, at least we could beat them, like.

apparently marshall said over the mic to the sky team that he wasn't sure if he caught it, and by all accounts the angles available proved inconclusive.

i think fisher wasn't bowled after the treatment under lights that tredwell received. besides, hardinges and gidman were the ones who slowed kent up, there was no way on earth that either of them could be taken off given the match situation.

similarly, greenidge had to take the final over, the final over goes for lots anyway so there was no benefit in bringing greenidge back sooner, and you can't ask a spinner to defend the final over when he hasn't bowled all innings. lewis gambled on strangling the game so much that the last over didn't matter, it almost worked. there's a lot to proud of today. if the umpires had the guts to call malinga for chucking, it wouldn't have mattered, we'd have been home and dry.

anyway, what a cracking day out the 20/20 finals are. we met up with lots of supporters from counties not even involved in the day and had good craic with people near us. took a shit load of photos, the link of which i'll stick up soon.

Didn't know about Marshall saying he wasn't sure, he definitely appealled .... & if there's any uncertanty it should go to the batsman .... as I said Mallender does seem to be getting 'em wrong recently. Yes you couldn't bring Fisher on for the last over, but Greenidge bowled 2 no balls (4 runs + 1 free hit) which virtually gave Kent the game which most people thought Gluc had won .... 13 off the last over is a big ask.

Anyway I'm glad you had a good day. We're you actually boozing for 11-12 hours or did you have the odd rest ??

i was very well behaved actually, i only had 6 pints all day. mind you that was largely down to the fact that the nearest cider was half-way round the ground, and the bars near us ran out of lager at 7 o'clock. and i'd be gang-raped by the tottenham lads before i drink a pint of smooth.

i was certainly better behaved than the sussex and kent fans who were fighting near us, home counties hooligans. well i say fighting, more of a lovers tiff really, but at least 2 bottles of beer got thrown. full ones and all. dozy pricks.

So you didn't check out the big-breasted student girls then Moster in either the Tavern or Sir Harry's?

didn't have to mate, there was a cracking lass from oldham in a very revealing vest top sat further along our row. lovely tits and, dare i say it, a cracking arse on her too.

That's one very good reason for going to 20-20 games

pictures now available here

Didn't you get any shots of the lass from Oldham Moster???
Tut tut, very disappointing.

i did, i just didn't plant them on the internet.

So how do we get to see them ?? (Once the forums Aunties see this email)

actually, in the one of the lad holding all the carlsberg bottles, you can just about see her arse at the top of the picture, in line with his right shoulder.

How did Derbyshire mange to lose tonights Pro 04 game against Leic?? I watched the game & still can't figure it out. The 'Foxes' needed over 50 at a run a ball with only 3 wickets left & made it with 1wicket to spare.

thats got to be the worst wank material i've seen in a long time.

good, my flickr account isn't for perving over females in skimpy tops.

i can give anyone a list of good sites for that sort of thing though.

Your Suzanne Dando pic' has made Wakarimasen very happy

The Bears are being linked with Stuart Broad and Mushtaq of Sussex in the local rag in Brum. Looks like Broad is opting for either Yorks or Notts tho, there's a shock. The media are also circling on the coach now as well, turns out he's none to popular with the local press as well as his own squad.

Might go and watch us away at Hampshire at the end of the month, solely to watch Shane Warne really.

Yorks play Middlesex tonight. Anyone who's got Sky is safe. I can't be bothered to fight my way down the motorway to Leeds to freeze to death so it's red wine on the sofa.

From Thurday to Sunday it's the game of the season at Headingley. Yes the Roses game (Yorks vs Lancs). There is a literal cloud on the horizon. It looks loke it's going to rain over the weekend (booo).

Unfortunately Hoggard's not fit to play. 2 years ago Hoggy batted for over 2 hours to get us a draw in the Roses game. For the last 90 mins or so the last pair were at the wicket. Every ball was agony. The relief (for Yorks) at the end of the game was probably heard in Bradford.

As for Broad, someone has said that 16 counties are interested. I'm not so sure though. IMHO the last thing Yorks need is another bowler who's only available for the odd game or if he's returning from injury.

Yes it's even more strange that we would want him considering the present Bears coach works under the saying, "you play for England or you play for us," quote unquote. The idiot.

We get similar problemswith 'the faithful'. For years some people have moaned that Hoggy wasn't trying when he played for because because he wasn't taking as many wickets as expected. The more reasonable of us thought Hoggy was trying & it was interesting that the bowlers at the other end were getting hatfulls when he was on. For some reason we can't work out this season 'the luck' has been with Hoggard in a Yorks shirt. Matthew has taken wickets so everyone 'loves' him even though there's no noticable difference in either effort or the way he bowls.

What an awful day. Yorks all out for 144 (with 7 batsmen getting themselves out with stupid or no shots) & Lancs passed that score for only 2 wickets by the close. I fear Yorks are going to get a good hammering..... & me with many Lancs friends. I'm going to have to go into hiding once the game is over.

Completely inevitable but nonetheless sad news about Ashley Giles' retirement yesterday from the sport of cricket.
I remember standing on the boundary once as a young lad waiting for his autograph when he'd just broken into the first team, he was incredibly polite that day and has always come across as a top bloke. Took way too much stick from the press a few years back regarding his position in the England side but the fact is, until Monty, there was no one better to take his place.
Anyway, good luck 'Gileo' looks like there could be a coaching job coming up at Edgbaston soon if you're interested?

Shire have won their second championship game of the season, away to essex and all, not a bad scalp. steve kirby took 5 in each innings, and jon lewis took 5 in the first innings.

would it have been a different story if these two hadn't missed so much of the summer injured?

the only people dissapointed to see the retirement of ashley giles are the top 6 batsmen of all the test playing nations.. he would seriously have to be one of the most over rated spin bowlers in the history of test cricket. a definite pie thrower.

ashley's batting was better than his bowling , but not by much. I mean you wouldnt put his batting in the same class as anil kumble...ha ha ha

its another cricketing miracle, how did kumble score a test hundred. that is more amazing than jason gillespie scoring a double ton vs bangladesh . But at least gillespie faced decent bowlers.

Well there was certainly no examples of the over-rating of Ashley Giles in my previous post on here, just facts. I'd be interested to see what his wicket return was like on the international stage actually, probably marginally better than a pie thrower's I suspect. I can clearly remember him taking plenty of wickets against a 'formidable' Austrailian batting order anyhow.

I'm actually quite optimistic for English Test cricket. Vaughan looks like he's returned to form and the batting looks strong and of course, we've got Monty. Our predominantly reserve bowling line up was beaten by the rain in the first test and has pushed India pretty far in parts. Not many nations could have such a depleted bowling attack against India and be able to say that I guess.