18/11/06 – Saturday and it's a gloriously sunny day.
Today is a day for meetings and inspections, the first inspection was at the Wanderers ground – The Bull Ring. It’s a hugely impressive place to play cricket and immaculately turned out every time I go there. Today was no exception! The game tomorrow is to be played on the same pitch that was used for that incredible match last season between SA and Australia, in these parts they are lovingly calling it the ‘438 game’! Everything is in order except that the South Africans were supposed to be training at the ground today but they never turned up so my umpires didn’t get an opportunity to stand in the nets and get used to bowlers and bounce and light.
England were playing South Africa in a rugby International from Twickenham, so that was a must see event in my book and I’d tried unsuccessfully to get our captains meeting delayed a while because it fell right in the middle of the match. No matter our meeting only lasted 10 minutes at the most so I was able to see England just squeeze past the Boks but it wasn’t a good game!
One of my umpires Brian Jerling was suffering from an ear infection so that was some concern the day before the game but he was on antibiotics and was confident that he would make it for the game, which he did.
19/11/06 - Sunday and game day.
Today is a day/night game and there was huge expectancy as there is at the start of every series. Both these sides hadn’t realised their ambitions in the recent Champions Trophy so both of them would be out to prove a point with the World Cup coming up early next year. The weather didn’t look great but everything was set fair until I started to walk out for the toss and then it started raining – drizzle at first and then proper rain.
We waited and waited until 7 o’clock before it became clear that the rain was not going to abate so the match had to be abandoned. Very frustrating as it always is when weather intervenes but there’s nothing anyone can do to beat the weather!
20/11/06 – Monday, well today is a travel day as our next game is in Durban.
We leave the hotel at 9 o’clock for a 10.55am flight from the newly named OS Tambo International airport in Johannesburg , named after the deceased ANC politician Oliver Tambo. It’s fairly smooth operation as Billy Doctrove and I travel with Brian Jerling who has done this journey many times during his time as an umpire. There is a slight delay on our departure due to slow baggage loading but it’s a smooth flight and we get upgraded to business class so the food is slightly better and the wine also!
Durban is a hot place with tropical weather conditions, which means that at any time a thunder storm can build up out of nothing and produce an almighty downpour. Today was overcast but the forecast was clear of rain. I made contact with some friends of ours, my wife spent some time in Durban during the 2003 World Cup and I’ve been here a few times as well and it’s always nice to get out of the hotel environment which is what happened this evening when I met up with 4 mates at a restaurant called ‘The Butcher Boys’ in Florida Road which is where a lot of good restaurants are in Durban.
21/11/06 – Tuesday and it’s another ground inspection day today.
Kingsmead has been hosting ODI matches here since December 1992 and the first match happened between SA and India. There is a huge Indian community here so the ground will be packed to the rafters so the inspection has to take into account the ground safety and security measures. The pitch has a little green grass on it which might suggest some seam movement but batting under lights also provides assistance for the bowling side so an interesting decision for the captain who wins the toss here tomorrow.
The afternoon is spent on the golf course with a mate of mine whom I played cricket with and against and who is now a first class umpire in the UK , Nigel Cowley. He’s over here coaching and ground supervising for a private school called Clifton college and he’s a tidy golfer playing off 5. Our third player is Ari de Beer, the anti-corruption officer for the ICC. We play at Royal Durban, a nice course that has hosted the SA Open but not for some time. After recent rains and a huge thunderstorm that woke everyone up at 4am this morning the course is saturated and there is a lot of water lying on the fairways but the greens and tees are good and I enjoyed the walk even if I didn’t win the money! The evening was again spent in Florida road at a place called Mo’s noodles a lovely rice and noodles place and for us Brits it’s so cheap. I had a starter and main coarse and shared a bottle of wine which cost me 150 Rand, at todays exchange rate that’s about £11!
Today is a day for meetings and inspections, the first inspection was at the Wanderers ground – The Bull Ring. It’s a hugely impressive place to play cricket and immaculately turned out every time I go there. Today was no exception! The game tomorrow is to be played on the same pitch that was used for that incredible match last season between SA and Australia, in these parts they are lovingly calling it the ‘438 game’! Everything is in order except that the South Africans were supposed to be training at the ground today but they never turned up so my umpires didn’t get an opportunity to stand in the nets and get used to bowlers and bounce and light.
England were playing South Africa in a rugby International from Twickenham, so that was a must see event in my book and I’d tried unsuccessfully to get our captains meeting delayed a while because it fell right in the middle of the match. No matter our meeting only lasted 10 minutes at the most so I was able to see England just squeeze past the Boks but it wasn’t a good game!
One of my umpires Brian Jerling was suffering from an ear infection so that was some concern the day before the game but he was on antibiotics and was confident that he would make it for the game, which he did.
19/11/06 - Sunday and game day.
Today is a day/night game and there was huge expectancy as there is at the start of every series. Both these sides hadn’t realised their ambitions in the recent Champions Trophy so both of them would be out to prove a point with the World Cup coming up early next year. The weather didn’t look great but everything was set fair until I started to walk out for the toss and then it started raining – drizzle at first and then proper rain.
We waited and waited until 7 o’clock before it became clear that the rain was not going to abate so the match had to be abandoned. Very frustrating as it always is when weather intervenes but there’s nothing anyone can do to beat the weather!
20/11/06 – Monday, well today is a travel day as our next game is in Durban.
We leave the hotel at 9 o’clock for a 10.55am flight from the newly named OS Tambo International airport in Johannesburg , named after the deceased ANC politician Oliver Tambo. It’s fairly smooth operation as Billy Doctrove and I travel with Brian Jerling who has done this journey many times during his time as an umpire. There is a slight delay on our departure due to slow baggage loading but it’s a smooth flight and we get upgraded to business class so the food is slightly better and the wine also!
Durban is a hot place with tropical weather conditions, which means that at any time a thunder storm can build up out of nothing and produce an almighty downpour. Today was overcast but the forecast was clear of rain. I made contact with some friends of ours, my wife spent some time in Durban during the 2003 World Cup and I’ve been here a few times as well and it’s always nice to get out of the hotel environment which is what happened this evening when I met up with 4 mates at a restaurant called ‘The Butcher Boys’ in Florida Road which is where a lot of good restaurants are in Durban.
21/11/06 – Tuesday and it’s another ground inspection day today.
Kingsmead has been hosting ODI matches here since December 1992 and the first match happened between SA and India. There is a huge Indian community here so the ground will be packed to the rafters so the inspection has to take into account the ground safety and security measures. The pitch has a little green grass on it which might suggest some seam movement but batting under lights also provides assistance for the bowling side so an interesting decision for the captain who wins the toss here tomorrow.
The afternoon is spent on the golf course with a mate of mine whom I played cricket with and against and who is now a first class umpire in the UK , Nigel Cowley. He’s over here coaching and ground supervising for a private school called Clifton college and he’s a tidy golfer playing off 5. Our third player is Ari de Beer, the anti-corruption officer for the ICC. We play at Royal Durban, a nice course that has hosted the SA Open but not for some time. After recent rains and a huge thunderstorm that woke everyone up at 4am this morning the course is saturated and there is a lot of water lying on the fairways but the greens and tees are good and I enjoyed the walk even if I didn’t win the money! The evening was again spent in Florida road at a place called Mo’s noodles a lovely rice and noodles place and for us Brits it’s so cheap. I had a starter and main coarse and shared a bottle of wine which cost me 150 Rand, at todays exchange rate that’s about £11!
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And he was also fanatical when it came to keeping education notes.
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