Saturday, May 31, 2014

Glamorgan v Sussex, T20, Cardiff, 30/05/14

A superb night's cricket at the Swalec Stadium saw Glamorgan chase down 179 off the very last ball largely thanks to a superb 65 not out from Chris Cooke.

In a tremendous advertisement for evening Twenty 20 cricket, Sussex amassed a huge total off their 20 overs due to some fine all round batting from Ed Joyce (39) Luke Wright (22), Matt Prior (39), Rory Hamilton Brown (27) and Ben Brown (26). New signing Darren Sammy bowled well, as did Dean Cosker and Graeme Wagg.

It seemed too many for Glamorgan to chase especially as at the halfway stage they still needed over 100 runs, but Jacques Rudolph hung in there with a valuable 50, Jim Allenby got 26, Ben Wright a quick 15 before Sammy hit the winning runs off the last ball.

Cooke in particular looked a class act and it's difficult to believe that he's not a regular first choice at Glamorgan as he looks a far more natural cricketer than a few others at the club. He has the ball skills of an AB de Villiers type character in that you could imagine his clean straight hitting and fast hands being equally adept at playing hockey or golf.


T20 at home for Glamorgan


Luke Wright


Michael Hogan bowls


West Indian Darren Sammy bowls on debut....


...and fields just in front of us


A nice evening


Allenby c Prior b Yardy 26

The win gave Glamorgan a good start in T20 as they've now won 2 out of 3, and are handily placed moving on to the next game versus Somerset.

The scorecard is here and the report is here (from @TheCricketGeek)

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Glamorgan v Leicestershire, LVCC2, Cardiff, 25-28/05/14

Sadly the weather had the final say in this County Championship encounter as Glamorgan, despite bossing the game from start to end, were unable to finish the job as Whitsun half term rain brought the game to a doggy, drawn conclusion.

In fact the only 'nice' day in terms of weather was Bank Holiday Monday, so thankfully I managed to take a few pics then.



Sun at last


Jacques Rudolph...


...and again




 Leicestershire's Zimbabwean bowler Anthony Ireland....


...taking a breather


The scorecard for the game is here and the report is here.


Saturday, May 10, 2014

Glamorgan v Worcestershire, LVCC2, Cardiff, 04-07/05/14

It's always nice to get the cricket season up and running, and, with being away on hols for the first home match, it was the visit of Worcestershire which formed the basis of my first live cricket of the summer.


Truth be told Glamorgan were 2nd best for most of it, as the match was dominated by the batting of Worcester captain Daryl Mitchell, who hit 109 and 151 not out. He probably delayed their declaration a little too long at the back end of Day 3, as ultimately Glamorgan hung on for a draw.

It didn't look like that though when they were 38/4 chasing an unlikely 382 for victory. It was the battling qualities of skipper Mark Wallace with a patient 47 (to go with an unbeaten 51 in the first dig) plus the much improved Will Bragg with 91 not out who saved the day for the home county.

The scorecard is here.


Glamorgan's overseas player, South African Jacques Rudolph


Murray Goodwin looks on


Rudolph again, scored just 7 and 4


England T20 man, Alex Hales, on loan to Worcestershire from Nottinghamshire

Friday, May 2, 2014

Lanzarote at Easter, April 2014

We do like spending Easter in the Canary Islands, and this year it was back to our old favourite Lanzarote, staying in both a villa and then a hotel which we had been to before. With just 15 minutes of rain and about half a day of cloud, it makes a great sunshine holiday.

First up was the villa in Puerto Del Carmen.



The villa


with heated pool


Down the hill to the sea front

Then the hotel bit


And then on to the wonderful Hotel Coronas Playa...


... in Costa Teguise

Good food!


Mexican platter: Tacos, Chimmichungas, Enchiladas



T Bone - medium rare!


Pimientos de Padron, covered in salt, buenissimo!


Sampling the Amber Nectar....


...but it can make you tired!

Rocking again!


Perfect Circus are now the house band in the American Indian Cafe..


...whilst Lanzarote's finest rock covers outfit, Question, are at the Big Easy...


...complete with backing vocalist


Giovanni and Olivier still going strong....


....with Paul and Paco the rhythm section