ayohcee

Walking back from Highgate last Friday I stumbled across this peculiar scene. It is, for those more used to photos taken with 12 megapixel cameras, a photo, taken on my phone, of a zebra crossing light looking worse for wear. If it was any other night of the week I would have presumed it to be a genuine accident, but, as it was Friday, one can only presume that the light had been out drinking.

Whenever I look at the Cricinfo website , or flick through the pages of the Wisden Almanack , I find myself wholeheartedly applauding the associate and affiliate structure for the small cricketing nations. You can cast your eyes down the pages and see names such as Jersey, Uganda, The Netherlands, and, of course, Ireland. Whilst the quality of cricket from the small island of Jersey and the fluorescent-kitted Uganda may seem a million miles away from ' Test ' standard, the standard emerging from Ireland is perhaps just the other side of  the test-match boundary rope. Over the past few years, Ireland have consistently  performed well, and won,  the   International Cricket Council's (ICC) leading competition for cricketing minnows in the longer form of the game - the ICC Intercontinental Cup . In addition to this, the team has now qualified for and progressed beyond the group stages of the last two major shorter form competitions - the World Cup in 2007 and the World Twent

Swinging Googlies (165 all out) beat The British Library (164 for 7) by 1 run. Victoria Recreation Ground, Surbiton. After a run of defeats and a tie, the Swinging Googlies have finally won their first game of the season.  Rob Punter (34) and Andy Fairburn (27) were the men sent out to open and started notching up the runs pretty sharpish. Fairburn is beginning to look more and more like a demon with bat and ball, both in the nets and on the field of play. This was, according to all records, the highest opening partnership in Googlies history. Lawrie Homan came in and put 72 on the board in no time at all. Mike Abel (5) was looking comfortable - that is before I gave him out LBW. Sean O'Connell (8), Steve Fenwick (0), Dave Le Vay (7), Myself (0) and Joe Abel (0). All in all, with 165 as the team's total, things looked comfortable - it is thought that 165 is the highest ever total set by the Googlies in their history. After the tea break, and in spite of some sharp fieldin