Well I don't declare

Diamond reports on a day, well when cricket was not of the most exciting, but he found ways of entertaining himself and livening up Middlesex room and those around him. He is well and truly forgiven for not taking copious notes when I was doing a routine inspection on his reporting preparation.

Saturday morning dawned a bit drizzly and windy , typical I thought , the first day of the season for me at Lord’s and it’s going to rain .
 
By the time I had made my way up to the ground the rains had stopped and the sun had put in a brief appearance. I met my good friend David (he’s Welsh but I don’t hold that against him)  and we proceeded to that Mecca that is the Middlesex Room, one to warm up a bit and two for that all important check on what the cellar had in it for the season. Pedigree in hand we started to watch the cricket. Glamorgan’s 94-4 at the start of play wound on and on to 278-8 when JD having reached the personal landmark of 112 decided that they had enough in the tank to make sure we could have no chance of winning as we required 370 in very short time.
 
Batting “sensation” Yozzer continued with the good work he had put in the first innings. This lad looks one heck of a prospect, next to no back lift on some of his shots in the afternoon but the ball thudded into the fence on each occasion, an absolute pleasure to watch him work. With Middlesex on 94-3 the game was declared drawn ,as many of us had been expecting it would before play even started on day four.
On the social side of things it was nice to meet up with folk I hadn’t seen for ages, David from Cardiff , my brother from Oxfordshire, Jez from MTWD and Barmy Kev from he only knows where. Various other “faces”, stewards I have known for years now, bar staff who seem to remain constant in the Middlesex Room, nice to see you all back. It is meeting these people that reminds me the summer has started again. It was also good in the afternoon to catch up with Skippers mum and dad who were charming as ever.
 
With the game over it was a wander down into Marylebone for a small glass of ale and a watch of the evenings football , not the kind of result I wanted at either event today, mind you I thought to go 2-0 up at Old Trafford was really asking for trouble but to get beat 5-2 really put a damper on the day, cheered up again however by the kebab shop at Ealing Broadway Station, you know summers here when your wandering home at 9pm with a warm soggy kebab in a bag for your dinner thinking just how many pints did I have today ?