Caledonia Dreaming or Ian38018 Sporting Travels: Headingley

England v Sri Lanka

(Second Day of Second Test)

21st June 2014

It had only been ten months since I last saw England play, but in that period almost half the side had gone. I do appreciate there had been the disastrous Ashes Series in Australia (and all the associated blood-letting) since, but even so this did appear to represent a significant changing of the guard.

Nothing wrong with that I reflected - all very good to allow a few young English-born players the opportunity to play for their country and progress. Except I noted that three of the new faces Sam Robson, Gary Ballance and Chris Jordan first saw the light of day in Australia, Zimbabwe and Barbados respectively. Up and coming home-grown players must occasionally wonder why they bother.

This transitional England side had nevertheless made a reasonable start to the Brave New World, with perhaps only a slightly conservative declaration preventing them winning the First Test of this two match series with Sri Lanka. And in the opening day of this (the second test of the series) England had dismissed the tourists for 257, and had successfully batted themselves for a spell in the evening. This it was, this second day saw

England

resume on 36/0.

The home side began to nibble into this lead, but goodness me it wasn’t half hard going to begin with, with a mere 29 runs being added during the first hour.

However the run-rate inexorably picked up and England even survived the early loss of Captain Alastair Cook as the aforementioned Robson and Cook resolutely stuck to their task. Robson eventually attained his maiden test century just after the tea break, with England eventually closing the day on 320/6; a modest lead of 63.

Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC

What do you mean, you do not have a favourite radiator !!

This, I assume, is the press box.

The Carnegie Pavilion, Headingley.

The Old Pavilion

Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC

This was the first time I had been to Headingly and was intrigued to see what sort of monkey business the (once notorious) West Stand fancy-dress brigade would get up to. But everything appeared to be all rather good-humoured across there.

They entertained themselves by wolf-whistling the busty girls charged with the task of collection the empty plastic glasses, constructing the traditional snakes from those glasses they succeeded in hiding from the girls, initiated the dreaded Mexican Wave, and occasionally watched some cricket.

In what was a diverting rather than engrossing day’s sport, I noted other individuals took different approaches to dealing with the occasions where interest waned during Robson’s grinding Boycott-esque efficiency. Some filled in Sudoku grids whilst others simply nodded off.

When interest waned some had a nap.....

......and others turned to more cerebral pleasures.

No shortage of umpires at Headingley.

It's a BIG one !!

I assume you need a snake-builder at either end?

Gary Ballance - England v Sri Lanka June 2014

Rangana Herath bowls to Sam Robson.

I am fairly sure this was Gary Ballance as well.

This rather unorthodox-looking shot brought up Sam Robson's century.

Sam Robson accepts the applause after his 100.

England v Sri Lanka - Second Test June 2014

Behind one of the stands can be found The Headingley Carnegie Stadium -
home of Leeds Rhinos rugby league club.

Headingley, Leeds - Yorkshire CCC

Update: England posted a first innings total of 365, which was trumped by Sri Lanka's second innings 457 all out (which included 160 by Angelo Mathews). Chasing a total of 350 run to win, England fell short by exactly 100 runs.

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England v Australia

(One Day Match - third in series of five)

21st September 2024

Even though I am aware I do not follow the fortunes of England's cricket side too closely - I am Scots, after all - I was more than a little surprised at how many names in today's England line-up were new to me. Who were Will Jacks, Brydon Carse and Jacob Bethel? I knew Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali and retired/been retired, and that Ben Stokes was injured. But where were Zac Crawley, Sam Curran, Jos Buttler? Indeed, where was Joe Root? Or the two Leicestershire guys?

This impression of a side very much in a transitional rebuilding stage was reinforced when I heard someone state that the elder statesman of this XI, 36-year old spin-bowler Adil Rashid had actually made more One Day International appearances (137) than the rest of the team put together.

Mind you, few elite England players tend to play this format at all these days - an inevitable consequence of the national One-Day competition being played at the same time of the season as The Hundred. Which may have been the reason so many of the England batsmen appeared to be in T20 Blast mode here. At times going gung-ho for runs, at points during their innings when a modicum of restraint was probably required.

England's bowlers, by contrast, I felt did the needful for much of the Australian's innings, and by the end of the 37th over had restricted Australia to a modest 222/9. But they just could not get Alex Carey out. The Ozzie wicketkeeper, ably supported by Josh Hazlewood successfully negotiated a further seven and a bit overs, their partnership of 49 hauling their side's total to a more than respectable 270, before Carey was finally caught by Phil Salt for 74.

England, for their part, made an encouraging start to chasing down their opponents' total, but never really succeeded in building up any meaningful partnerships. The loss of Ben Duckett and Liam Livingston in successive balls in the 10th over left England on 65/5, and with the proverbial mountain to climb. It really did feel as if these guys were often recklessly endangering their wickets, as if they had just twenty overs to negotiate.

Jamie Smith (one of the few "newer" England players I had heard of) knuckled down to attempt to pull his side back into the match, but when he was caught just one run shy of his half-century, that was pretty much that. Brydon Carse (26 runs) and Adil Rashid (27 runs) posted entertaining but ultimately fruitless cameos towards the tail end of England's innings. But in reality, the match was long lost by this point.

Result: Australia (270) defeated England by 68 runs.