Pensioner's Saturday night in

It is Saturday and early evening.
I have made myself a homemade pizza whilst enjoying a cool beer.
While I would love to be at the WBBL matches taking place in Tasmania and Perth, I am actually here in Melbourne.
So the best I can do is watch the scores tickover on my iPad.

I have been following the fortunes of the Hobart Hurricanes ably captained by the English vice captain Heather Knight. They are playing their third game having won the first two against the Melebourne Renegades. They are embarking on their second match of the day against tough opposition in the form of the Adelaide Strikers. I was in Adelaide back in January and I saw these ladies in action and was pretty impressed.

Crikey, Heather Knight has got her work cut out here with three ducks from her top order batsmen.

Meanwhile, what on earth is going on in the other match at Perth. I see that Grace Harris has scored 103 of just 55 balls with 4 sixes and 14 fours. The Sydney Sixers must be in shock. I reckon that I can predict the result of this match.

Heather Knight managed 50 runs and had good backup from Emma Thompson (I thought that she was an actress) who scored 41. A total of 117 runs looks very good considering the collapse of most of the top order.

Meanwhile, back in Perth, The Sydney Sixers did amazingly well to get 155 runs, especially the 61 achieved by Sara McGlashan but they were always going to fall short of the 190 clocked up by the Brisbane Heat.

Back in Launceston, The Adelaide Strikers could not quite get the required run total, and Heather Knight's Hobart Hurricanes made it an excellent 3 wins from 3 matches.

I am looking forward to seeing some of the remaining matches live in Melbourne.

Peewit

Warming up in Adelaide

When I arrived in Adelaide the hot spell was over and a period of wet, cool and windy weather had taken it's place.
This A380 took me from cold and dull Heathrow  to Singapore.

 

Then another smaller Airbus took me direct to Adelaide where it was still dull but with temperatures in the high 20's C it felt a lot different to the UK. Just over a day later I went to watch a women's T20 match between the SA Scorpions and the NSW Breakers. However the match never did start as it was raining nearly all the time.

I returned to the Adelaide oval (No 2) the next day for the WNCL 50 over match between the same teams.

  

The Breakers won the toss and decided to bat first.

 

The Breakers were all out for 236 runs off 48 overs.

Then it was the Scorpions turn to bat.

The Scorpions were batting well although there were some close calls behind the wicket.

 

Ellyse Perry was producing some 'effort' balls

However some great batting from Tegan McPharlin and her team mates saw the Scorpions overhaul the needed run total and win the match. There was no rain throughout the match.

The next day there was a double header with the SA v NSW women's T20 in the afternoon, to be followed by the Big Bash match between the Adelaide Strikers v the Sydney Thunder in the evening.

The weather was not looking great with rain expected. The Scorpions got off to a good start but rain intervened and the match was suddenly dramatically shortened. This meant that the Breakers had a chance to win with only six overs played. Leah Poulton hit some great shots to win the match for the NSW Breakers.

The crowd was not that good for the Women's match and that is a shame considering the skills on display.

 The NSW Breakers team come on to the field to celebrate their fortunate win.

 The old Adelaide scoreboard.

The Scorpions did however come round the ground to meet some of their fans.

There was a very long rain delay before the Big Bash match could get underway.

The Adelaide Strikers were batting first in a 10 over innings and were soon scoring sixes.

Yet again the heavy rain returned and eventually the match was abandoned.

So I had come to the driest capital of Australia's driest state to see four cricket matches. I only saw one of the four matches be properly completed.
The next day I hired a bike.

The Santos Tour DownUnder is due to start soon and I will be watching some of the stages.
The Tour Village and Bike Expo were under construction.

The following day the weather was starting to improve so I went for a cycle ride alongside the Torrens River to Henley Beach.
Henley Beach was looking good.

Here is my my cycle route. Along the way I saw some of the Wiggle DownUnder girls out for a training ride.

And these are my stats (according to Garmin).

Next day was back to proper Aussie weather (sunny and warm) so I decided to walk to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens.

After a coffee and a muffin I went on the free 1.5 hour guided tour. I saw the Sacred Lotus flowers in bloom.

Some of the trees in the gardens.

The Botanical Gardens are right on the edge of the city.

One of the greenhouses. It is nice to see the blue sky back.

After my trip to the gardens it was time to walk into the CBD for some lunch.

After lunch I caught the free bus back to North Adelaide and walked down Stanley St. to my apartment.

The fun at the Tour DownUnder starts tomorrow with the Team Presentation followed by a Concert. Stage 1 gets underway on Sunday.
I'll be there.

Peewit.

Can't complain about the British Summer

No, I can't complain, because having got back to the UK in mid May, it is true to say that the summer in England has been good with lots of sunshine.
I took a trip up to Lords to watch the Womens International match between the MCC Women and The Rest of the World Women.
It was a beautiful sunny day and Charlotte Edwards was interviewed on the field of play.

The ground was looking good

Suzie Bates won the toss and chose take her ROW team in to bat first.

There is nothing nicer than sitting in the sunshine and watching a quality game of cricket.

The ROW were batting well

At the end of 50 overs there was a healthy score on the board

MCC Women were scoring runs but not enough

Charlotte Edwards top scored as usual

However, the MCC Women could not reach the required total.

 The final scorecard shows a well earned win for the ROW women

Early in June I went on a steam train trip from Woking to Swanage.

At Swanage I made the mistake of having a largish pub lunch and then walking up the very steep climb to the Durlston County Park. The view from the castle made it worth it. I took the bus back down the hill to the station.

 Black 5 was ready to take us back up towards London

 One of the old semaphore signals at Swanage

Later in June there was cycle racing around the streets of Woking town centre.
Here are the pits.

Ride for the Elite Cycle Team and get a pink bike

A bit of a lead but still an hour of racing ahead

 

Hard work under sunny skies.

Eileen Roe won the ladies race and Tom Stewart won the men's.

 

In July I went to see my youngest daughter who lives in Malvern. We went for a walk across the Malvern Hills.

 

Malvern bloom

My eldest daughter has temporarily moved back to the UK from Sydney. Later in July I visited her new home near Much Hadham. We went for a walk through the local cornfields.

This Green Tye is a village and not a curry. It was a great place to stop for refreshment at the local pub.

 

In August I caught up with my daughter again and she works at a well known bank just across the road from the Royal Exchange.

  

I visited a museum and got to lift this gold bar weighing 28 lbs

 

 St Pauls was on my walk back towards Waterloo Station

 

I took this photo from the Wibbly Wobbly bridge.

 The South Bank featuring the recently opened Shard

Another trip to Malvern and here is the village of Powick in the distance. 

Ok, so the summer is over now and the weather in England is not so nice. The need to get back to sunshine has become overwhelming so in January I will be off to Adelaide for a month. It will probably be damn hot there, but I plan do some cycling, watch cricket and visit some of the Tour Down Under events. No doubt I will also be seeking out the source of most of the red wines that fill my local Woking supermarket shelves. ie McLaren Vale, Barossa, Adelaide Hills, etc.

Until the next time

Peewit