Dio, UK tour, November 2009

One of the great voices of heavy rock music returns to the UK this autumn as Dio brings his Greatest Hits tour over here, in particular to Bristol Academy on Monday 30th November (rescheduled from Sunday 29th)

At 67 years of age, Ronnie James Dio (wiki) is one of the genre's most enduring frontmen, with a wonderful voice complementing the music of Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath.

His band Dio (official, wiki) had some great moments in the 1980s, with the seminal debut album Holy Diver being the defining moment.

More recently, he has been back working with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler in Black Sabbath project "Heaven and Hell"

Catch him while you can. He really is a true rock great.

Glamorgan Wanderers 27 Ebbw Vale 23

It may still be August, but the rugby season is under way, and it began with an extremely frustrating afternoon for Ebbw Vale at the Ely Memorial Ground.
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A stunning first half display, masterminded by new half backs Andrew Jenkins and Gareth Bowen, saw Ebbw lead 23-0.

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With Ebbw playing against the wind 2nd half, Wanderers upped the ante, and scored 27 unanswered points in a 30 minute spell.

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There was much for the Ebbw faithful to be positive about, but an opening day away win was within grasp and would really have kickstarted the season.

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Pics

1st half

The 1st half was spent almost entirely in the Wanderers half

Gareth Bowen test the wind before converting a penalty

Wanderers clear

2nd half

Ebbw pressure

New Ebbw captain Andrew Jenkins spins it out

There's a few clips over on my You Tube site.

Glamorgan v Middlesex @ Swansea 20-22 August

Glamorgan made it 2 Championship wins in a row by securing a 23 run win in a low scoring contest at St Helens, Swansea.

On a wicket that turned from the start spinners Croft and Cosker for Glamorgan, Kartik and Udal for Middlesex, took most of the wickets.

Glamorgan still have a chance of promotion to Division 1, but will need to bat better than they have recently, where the tail has bailed them out.

It may have been the last game at the historic St Helens ground. For me, it will be a sad day if Glamorgan finally leave the old ground as I'm very fond of the place for many reasons, but it has to be said that the seating and facilities are quite lacking these days, the changing rooms are 'tired', and the wicket is poor. In this match 40 wickets fell in 2 and a half days, no batsman passed 50, and 22 wickets fell on the Saturday.

Some pics

Day 1

Mike Powell defends Steve Finn

Mark Wallace hits it straight in the air

Udal to Rees

Forever Swansea: slightly older, slightly shabby, but still Swansea

Jamie Dalrymple

Dalrymple defends

Day 2

Adam Shantry bowls

James Harris bowling

No Welshmen in the slips? Allenby, Gibbs, & Dalrymple

Crofty: at his favourite ground, St Helens...

...with match figures of 9-109

The Ashes are back home!!

England win the series 2-1.

Fantastic!!

There really is nothing like beating the Aussies (especially when you experienced the 5-0 loss of 2006/07 first hand).

Well done England.

England v Australia, 5th Test, The Oval, Thursday

So it all comes down to one Test Match.

After a superb victory and a winning draw at Edgbaston, the wheels came off for England at Leeds.

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That said, it's 1-1, and anything could happen. Listen to the media, you'd think Oz were 4-0 up.

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Of course Australia are favourites, England's confidence must be shot to pieces, but thankfully they've refused to press the panic button and listen to the nonsense about recalling Ramprakash - super player, but couldn't cut it in his prime.

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Win the toss, bat, and put a score on, then anything could happen.

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England - this will be your best chance for a long time, you'll have no Flintoff down under in 18 months time!!

Glamorgan v Northamptonshire @ Colwyn Bay 9th August 2009

An excellent Pro 40 game at Colwyn Bay saw Glamorgan fall short by 6 runs against Northamptonshire, despite 4 wickets from Robert Croft and a superb 100 from 57 balls from Tom Maynard.

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We really should have more Sunday cricket like we used to have in the days of the John Player League: a good crowd, over 500 runs and fine weather. Great stuff!

Cosker

Croft takes 4 wickets

David Lucas

Monty Panesar

Monty's 1st over is here.

Tom Maynard saluting his maiden ton for Glamorgan here.

Glamorgan v Leicestershire @ Colwyn Bay 5th - 8th August 2009

Glamorgan recorded their 1st Championship win of the season by an innings over a troubled Leicestershire at the wonderful Colwyn Bay CC ground in Rhos-On-Sea.

Day 1

View from slip: Adam Shantry bowls

More of Adam Shantry bowling to Boeta Dippenaar here.

Day 2

Tom Maynard hits out

Claude Henderson in the middle of a marathon spell

Leics skipper Boeta Dippenaar

Wallace actually gets caught at short leg here

Day 3

Crofty passes 100

The 1st Kolpak player: Henderson

Glam: 566 all out, Croft 121, Shantry 100

Croft takes the applause of the crowd...

...and his team mates

Also, Croft and Shantry pass 50 here, and Shantry salutes his maiden ton here.