It’s Raining Today

It may have been released in 1969, but the atmospheric magnificence of the Scott Walker classic “It’s Raining Today” perfectly captures the situation, during the recent Winter and Spring months. Actually, Bob Dylan may have been even more accurate with “A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall. 

For not only has it rained, almost without pause during this time, it has done so with a thunderous glee that must have left cricketing ground-staff dreaming of changing to less stressful jobs. Maybe running the customer satisfaction surveys for Thames Water, potentially being the person in charge of the Pothole repair plan for virtually any county in the U.K. could be easier. It could be that trying to tell Kim Jong-un that the rice crop is in danger of failing in North Korea could be a good option. 

Any of these occupations are surely more likely to give a good night’s sleep, than preparing a cricket pitch that will be available for action, for four consecutive days before June. Off course once we reach June, they can relax a little, hoping the occasional single dry day will be enough for a game to be completed.

Many of you will know that the first 4-day game of the season for Glos, away against Derbyshire, was abandoned without a single ball being bowled. Our first home game is scheduled to start this Friday in Bristol against Yorkshire. This has been the opening fixture in Bristol for the last two seasons. Last season, we didn’t see a single ball, can it be different this year? The forecast isn’t bad, in fact there is even a chance of sun on Friday. The problem will be how the predicted, relatively small amounts of rain over Tuesday and Wednesday are absorbed, into the gigantic soggy green sponge that is the Gloucestershire ground.

Talking of the ground, my last post on here (back last year) discussed the potential relocation of the cricket club. I understand that the hierarchy of the club will be looking to recreate the Bristol match day experience as closely as possible when the move does take place. 

With this in mind, I can exclusively reveal that three locations are topping the list of a possible location. I can’t say who gave me this information, but I believe it to be true, and I congratulate the club on its determination to make the move as easy as possible for fans. 

The current favourite is within the Cotswold Water Park, sitting amongst the 180 lakes that make up the wetlands landscape. It’s thought that it could provide a mirror image feeling to an April day at the Seat Unique Stadium. The major advance with this site is the plethora of boats that are available to move both players, and spectators around the ground.

Next up is the Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Again, there will be no problem will the amount of dampness available. The one worry though is the that the large number of Flamingos, with their brilliant pink plumage, may confuse fans into to thinking that an enormous T20 Vitality Blast game is taking place. The other major concern is that the Beaver population could start building dams which would interfere with the run up of Marchant de Lange.

A third, a more radical option is a move to the man-made surfing lake just north of Bristol, known as The Wave. This does produce some exciting options as the incredible technology at The Wave, allows the staff to control the speed that the water moves, and indeed the height of the waves. Something that the current staff in Bristol can only dream of. It’s also thought that both Zafar Gohar and Ollie Price would be able to cause great difficulties for batters on the beach like surface, in front of the current clubhouse. Of course, the thrill of being able to surf to the wicket when batting has been a major factor in tempting a new wave (sorry!) of Aussie cricketers to the county.

We await the final decision with keen anticipation.

Back though to the current day, and the match that is due to start on Friday. Glos fans are delighted to see the return of Mark Alleyene to the club, in his new role as Head Coach. A popular and unifying figure around the club, he feels like exactly the right appointment after a couple of very difficult seasons. 

Regarding the difficulties of the last two seasons. I can’t help feeling that I must take a share of the blame. Prior to my returning to the fold as a Glos member, things had been going reasonably well for the county. Since I’ve returned, we have seen successive bottom of the table finishes in the County Championship. I feel I need to take some of the blame, bringing with me a long history of supporting underachieving sporting teams, has obviously influenced things. I hope for better levels of performance from myself and the team this season.

Finally, I can’t end this first post of the year without mentioning a couple of sad losses. Firstly, the man who embodied Gloucestershire cricket in my youth, the incomparable Mike Procter. A man who gave so much pleasure to cricket fans, no matter who they supported. I feel truly fortunate that my introduction to the game coincided with his time in the West Country. He was still a regular visitor to Gloucestershire and I’m thrilled that I was able to shake his hand a couple of years ago, thanking him for the joy that he gave me, and thousands of others.

The other loss is more personal but just as strongly felt. My schoolboy friend, with whom I first experienced the joy of watching and playing cricket, sadly passed away after an illness that restricted his ability to come to games last season. Spending time sitting alongside Clive once again, watching hours of cricket together, as we had done over forty years ago was a great joy. I thought Clive and other teenage friends would have the good fortune to do this together for many years. Sadly, I’ll never see him produce that enormous Tupperware container of food again. We shan’t talk of cricket, football and music but his memory shall live on whenever I watch Glos in action. 

C’mon Glos let’s do it this season for Proccy and for Clive. 

Enjoy the season everyone. Enjoy the friendship that this ridiculous game generates.