High Land, Hard Rain

Almost exactly a year ago, one of my first posts on this site was to record my thoughts on the first home match of the season. It was a 4-day County Championship Division 1 game between Glos and Yorkshire. With a pleasing sense of symmetry, I should be writing about the opening home 4-day County Championship of this season, between those same teams, although both would be disappointed that it was in Division 2, following our joint relegation.

A year ago a young chap called Harry Brook was impressing me with a century for Yorkshire. After an incredible summer and winter, he is now one of the big names in world cricket. Sadly that means that rather than playing for Yorkshire, he is now out in India playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He certainly deserves the chance to make some serious money from his talent, but it’s a shame that he won’t be seen too often around the county scene this season.

Sadly, the English weather had other ideas about the match up between Glos and Yorkshire, and on what would have been the morning of the third day, the match was abandoned without a bowl being bowled. Thankfully that doesn’t happen very often but it’s a very disappointing start to the season. If you are a glass half full type Glos fan though, you can enjoy the fact that they now haven’t been beaten in their last five championship games over 2022 and 2023! Clutching at straws though I admit.

Over the last few weeks, very large amounts of rain had been falling in Bristol. Frustratingly, this meant the water table was much higher than normal, causing difficulties with the outfield being able to drain. As I write this the sun has been shining all day, on what should have been day 3 of the game, which just makes it all the more vexing.

Not the actual outfield in Bristol but not far from it!

We were pretty fortunate with the weather last season, with just one T20 Blast game being completely washed out in Bristol. Fortunately, I live pretty close to the ground, so that on dodgy weather days, I can wait at home and see how things are developing, rather than wait around at a cold, wet ground in the hope that play will start.

It was a little different when a friend and I ventured down to Taunton on the train last season. Hanging around most of the day, with very little cricket actually happening. We did have some excellent chips though.

My first real memory of being at a game when rain really had the upper hand was a john Player League 40 over game, back in August 1974. The opponents that day? Oddly it was Yorkshire! Looking at my Glos yearbook from that season, it must have been a wet summer. Of the last five JPL games, only one was actually played to a conclusion, two being abandoned without a ball being bowled. 

Maybe, contrary to nostalgic beliefs, the summers weren’t always longer, sunnier, and warmer.

Back then to that Yorkshire JPL game. This was to be my first chance to see the legendary Geoffrey Boycott in the flesh. He was famous for having recently opted out of playing for England, something that my young brain could simply not understand. Why on earth would you not want to play Test cricket? Well, of course with my notable lack of both technique and natural ability, I would not have fancied it. But someone who was regarded as one the great players of the game, why on earth would they opt out? 

Anyway here he was, on a murky Sunday in Bristol. The thought of Mike Procter bowling to Boycott, even off the shorter run that JPL games demanded (a maximum of 15 yards, rather than usual sight of Procter steaming in from threequarters of the way back to the boundary), was an exciting one. It turned out that Mr Boycott didn’t hang around for long, out for just 10. Mike Procter was involved in his dismissal, taking a catch from the bowling of Roger Knight.

You can see from the scorecard that after 17.2 overs Yorkshire were back in the pavilion and no further play was possible. That though, was when the real fun began for my friend “C” and I. 

Collecting autographs is an important part of any young person’s development. Well it was back then, I suppose that these days getting a “selfie” with a star, is more important than an undecipherable  scribble on a piece of paper. Then again in these days of purely digital images, will they have the joy of going through a drawer in twenty years’ time, finding a piece of paper that appears to have been scribbled on by a three-year-old, then spending a couple of hours trying (often without success) to work out who they had shared a precious moment with, in the past. Sadly, they probably will not. They will have to find some other way to fill their time.

Back in the 1970’s the old pavilion was still in place at what was then call The County Ground. The away dressing room was behind some tiered plastic seating on the roof of the building. If you were lucky, a player would sometimes stick his head out of the window, enabling you to thrust your scorecard, autograph book, cricket bat, or scrap of paper in their direction. 

On this damp afternoon, when the players had been forced from the field by the inclement weather, we were taking advantage of our “Junior Members” status to wander around the pavilion area on the lookout for players. At one point the window opened, and Richard Lumb poked his head out, asking us if it was still raining? We rather optimistically mumbled that it had virtually stopped. Then, the face of Geoffrey Boycott emerged, looked towards the sky and said the immortal words “No, It’s pissing down.” 

To my easily impressed, early teenage years, this was rather thrilling. Boycott had spoken to us. Rather more accurately he’d spoken in our vicinity. I claimed it as a conversation though, almost fifty years later, I’m still holding onto that.

We did also manage to get his autograph. One of us, and I can’t remember who, got him to sign our bat. Now if it was my bat, it would have had a perfect middle, as the ball never came into contact with it. There were scuffs and marks on the edges, but the middle would have been virtually as smooth as the day it left the factory. If it had been “C’s” bat, the reverse would have been true. He was always a much better player than I. 

So, although the cricket had been a wash out, the day was still memorable. 

Thinking about rain during cricket matches, my big discovery last season, was the joy of taking a small towel to the game. Sitting on a damp seat after a break for rain, is very little fun. Of course, some folk have cushions with them but they can be a little bulky when you already have clothing for every type of weather, food, drink and mobile phone charger in your bag. 

What a fantastic feeling it is, to magically turn a wet seat into a dry one, basking in the glory of the impressed looks of those around you. It’s a game changer. 

Although I failed to see any cricket this week, there will be plenty more opportunities to catch some proper game time. I thought it was great to see this posted outside the ground this week. Especially pleased to see dates for the possible quarter, and semi-final of the One Day cup. We live in hope! Such a good idea to list all the games of cricket that are taking place at the ground. There is obviously a notable lack of cricket in July, something that saddens and frustrates me in equal measure. 

Of course in England we can have bad weather at any time. But to lose 4 days play already in April, which is always something of a lottery, and have virtually nothing scheduled for the height of summer, still seems to be incredibly short sighted. 

Let’s hope that sunny skies and a dry outfield are in place for the game against Sussex, starting on April 27^th. 

I also hope that you will be able to get to see a day or two in the flesh, wherever you may be.