Back to winning ways..

England's records in test match cricket has not been too great since the Ashes victory last summer, not to put too fine a point on it. One test win in 8 matches compares very unfavourably with, say, eight wins on the bounce in 2004.

So it was a bit of a relief that England produced their first win of the summer this weekend, effectively within 3 days. I don't agree with people who say that England have lost their way since the Ashes, and English cricket will go downhill in the same way Rugby did after the World Cup triumph in 2003. I really don't, and this is why:

One of my favourite columnists wrote recently that while Australia have had all the wins since the Ashes, England have made greater strides forward in that they have developed a pool of talent from which the selectors can choose. I think this is spot-on. It's well known that fast bowlers win matches and England now have a number of more than adequate replacements should the first choice quartet of Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and Jones not be fit. I like to think this will have a bearing on the result of the re-match later this year.

The result today could have been very different had England been chasing 150 or 200 to win. But they weren't, and it was largely down to the efforts of one of those replacements - Liam Plunkett. He bowled fantastically on Saturday, and just missed out on a hat trick. Not bad for a second-string player, is it?

And as for the batsmen, KP is rapidly developing into a truly world-class player, maybe an all-time great. His innings at the Oval on the last day of the Ashes series was the best afternoon's entertainment I've ever had, and he did pretty much the same Friday - sadly when I was stuck in work. Alastair Cook looks better every time I see him and it will be interesting to see who makes way when Vaughan returns to the side. As big a fan as I am of Collingwood, I hope that the selectors stick with youth and promise and give Cook a run in the side. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what they'll do - Cook looks like he has the technique and the temperament to score big runs against the Aussies in their own back yard. And yes, I'm very confident we'll retain the Ashes.

Another reason I think England will prevail in the winter was the news - more exciting than England's victory - that Vaughan is back playing for Yorkshire. There have been rumours that he might not play for England again. I never believed that, and it certainly doesn't appear to be the case now.

As I write I understand that Harmison has not been included in the squad for the third test starting on Friday. I think this is good for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it proves the selectors are not rushing players back from injury. Far more important that they get match fit first, and, with all respect to Sri Lanka, save themselves for the greater challenges that lie ahead in the next 12 months. Secondly, it sends out the right message to players like Sajid Mahmood and Plunkett - they have done nothing wrong and get another chance to impress.

I think Australia may secretly be envious of England's present strength in depth, and I've no doubt that they fear they may be facing an even stronger England team when the re-match gets started in November. Personally, I can't wait.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006

Disappointed - but not by Hoggie

I remember a few years ago (well, several actually) a dear friend of mine, Mr Dave Leahy (or Mad Irishman as he was affectionately known to a few of us) told me that there was something he didn't like about test match cricket: the fact that for five days, one team can be clearly in the ascendancy but the match still ends in a draw.

It has to be said, he has a point. After 4 days of play, England are clearly vastly superior to their first opponents this summer (Sri Lanki), Murali or no Murali, but it seems the game will peter into a draw. Too much time today (Sunday) has been lost to bad light and the forecast for Monday is rain. Damn.

Sometimes, a draw can add to the excitement of a test series: notable examples include England v South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998 - England won the next two tests to win the series 2-1 - and, (from an Australian viewpoint at least), the old enemies' escape at the same ground last year.

But in this instance, no, I'm not chuffed.

But there is another thing I love about the game: positives. Even if England lose, there are invariably positives (the emergence of new talents in the injury-rife winter a shining example). In this case it was seeing Matthew Hoggard take his 200th test match wicket.

It was a lovely moment. He went into the match with a tally of 197, took the first two Sri Lankan wickets on a thrilling day on Friday, only to be upstaged by the extremely impressive Sajid Mahmood who took 3 for 9 off his first five overs in test cricket. But when Hoggie caught Maharoof off his own bowling to become only the 10th Englishman to join the 200 club he just lay on the ground and laughed. Beautiful.

I thought it fitting that Hoggie should become the first of this much vaunted England pace attack to join this exclusive club. He is often the forgotten man of England's first choice pace battery -he doesn't have the same express pace as Harmison or Flintoff, and Simon Jones kind of grabbed the limelight last year with his mastery of reverse swing and his new-found modelling career. Just a shame he can't stay match-fit.

But what Hoggie will do is swing the ball, outthink batsmen, and quite literally, run through a brick wall for his team and his captain. He is the workhorse of the attack, a bit of an unsung hero, but you need that in a team - just as you need a batsman who may not be as flamboyant as, say, Pietersen, but who can occupy the crease for long periods of time and wear the bowlers down a la Mike Atherton - one of my heroes. It seems England have Alistair Cook waiting in the wings to make that role his own.

And, obviously I'm biased - he's a Yorkshireman damnit!! I love hearing about how he stays fit by walking his dogs on the Yorkshire moors (I have such fond memories of walking across those moors as a child, when on holiday in Batley - where my dear mum came from). Apparently he also has a wine rack which he keeps filled with beer - fantastic. I remember saying to Suzie at a wedding yesterday: "I'm half yorkshire, not much will stand between me and my beer".

As I write, Hoggie now stands equal ninth with another Yorkshireman, John Snow. It remains to be seen whether he will catch up with Yorkshire's leading wicket taker for England, Fred Trueman (307), but only a brave man or a fool would bet against it. Trueman I hear is battling cancer - remind me to keep doing those charity runs.

Hoggie is not far behind another great man from a great county, the all-singing (not!), the all-dancing (definitely!) Mr Darren Gough, who claimed 229 scalps in a career that was ended too soon due to injury.

With another 5 tests to go after this one, I'll bet a handsome sum that Hoggie will overtake Gough's total before the summer is out. It'll be sad to see Goughie pushed down the list, but part of me will know it's just reward for the man from Pudsey.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006

Cricket shot

Ok, just a quickie before I head to the land of nod because I'm very tired after my 3 hour run after work tonight. (Yes, three hours).

What a wonderful start to England's summer of cricket today. I think any English supporter would have settled for 318-3 at stumps.

But it isn't actually a cricket shot I'm going to write about - it's an anagram of cricket shot: Trescothick. What a fabulous return to test match cricket for the man from Keynsham.

I guess we'll never know the real reason why he returned home from India so abruptly. The official line that he "picked up a virus" can't have cut much ice with anyone, certainly not yours truly. It is well reported that he left the field of a warm-up match in India in tears, and then caught the next flight home. Well I'm sorry but no one leaves the field crying because they feel a bit poorly (although I was in some distress tonight when the hunger pangs really set in).

The bottom line of that for me, is it's nobody else's business why he came home, and he's well within his rights to keep it hidden from the media. I also think that anyone who loves English cricket as much as I do won't care much anyway - having him back in the team is all that counts now.

So to see him score a hundred at Lords was fairytale stuff. Not quite on a par with Graham Thorpe's hundred at the Oval on his return in 2003, but still good.

I was lucky enough to see Tres play in a one-day match at Bath for Somerset against Sussex just before he made his debut for England in 2000. He was playing in the same match as Michael Bevan, at the time the world's number one limited-overs batsman. There really was nothing between them - such wonderful strikers of the ball. The one thing that stood out about Marcus was his size and power. I remember thinking how England would be a better team with him in it, and how right I was.

I hope his problems, whatever they were, are behind him now and he goes on to play for England for a few years yet. In fact it wouldn't surprise me one iota if he went on to break Graham Gooch's record of test runs for England and Alec Stewart's record of the most capped player.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006

Half Marathon Number 5.. (sung)

Half marathon time again yesterday, this time it was the Tewkesbury half marathon I was competing in.

As you will have read here, I have stepped up my training a notch or two since the Reading half marathon, and I seemed to be on pretty good form. Unfortunately I had a bit of a scare and nearly didn't run.

On Wednesday I had a session with Anthony and didn't run well at all. I suddenly had a stabbing pain in my left side, in the hip area. It wasn't excruciating, but it was quite painful and I had to give the last lap of the lake a miss. (We were meant to do three laps, just over a mile long, and increase the pace each time).

On Thursday I went for a run on my own - really I should have rested but it was such a beautiful day it seemed rude not to - I took it very steady and completed my route in 1hr 8 mins - normally it would be done and dusted within an hour. With hindsight, this was probably a good move - I was still inconvenienced by my sore hip but at least I had proven to myself that I could run through it. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if I had to run at that pace yesterday, and ended up with a (relatively) poor time, 2hrs 10 or 2hrs 20 even.

I rested and had a sports massage on Friday with Ali O'Hara. As always, he did a fantastic job, and was good enough to give my lower back a quick rub in the area I was having trouble. While I was being put through the agony that I would probably only wish on Osama Bin Laden, a paedophile or someone who says the England cricket team shouldn't have had their open bus tour after the Ashes victory, I reflected on how much I deserve to finish that marathon in September. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet too much, my commitment and dedication is second to none.

Saturday was a pretty cool day - obviously I rested completely, and in the afternoon went to see the superb "Mission Impossible 3" at the cinema. Suzie came with me, and while I struggle to get myself organised to keep to an agreed meeting time, it was great to have the pleasure of her company - and pretty glamorous company she is too. I don't mind going to the movies on my own, but it did make the occasion special.

As regards the film, as I say it was excellent and I shall most likely give it at least one more viewing - it's that good. My only cavil is that it was so fast-moving it was hard to follow at times - I badly needed the toilet but kept putting it off because there literally was not a dull moment. And as for the main star, any man who woos Katie Holmes deserves to be cheered and applauded.

I headed off to Tesco's afterwards to look at washing machines, and surprise, surprise, ended up chatting to a nice lady in the wine section about my running, as well as other things. So I came out with a rather expensive bottle of wine instead. Oh well. I shall save it for a special occasion - such as the evening after a race.

In the evening I watched a review of the Ashes series on Sky Sports. Needless to say I can't wait for the cricket to start on Thursday (no I won't be pulling a sickie). It was great to reminisce about a great summer and I'm hoping when England start thrashing all before them again I'll feel inspired to write my novel set in the summer of '05.

I slept quite well, considering it was an early start - the race started at 9.30am and I arranged to meet Grace in the gym car park at 7.30. She drove this time - probably a good idea to take it in turns and I'm hoping she won't mind me telling you that her sense of direction is worse than mine! Trust me, that's saying something!

It was a good run up to Tewkesbury - yes it is closer than I thought - and it was surprisingly easy to find the race. There were no directions in the race pack, which is one of my two only criticisms of the event. The other is that it closes at 11.50am, so anyone who takes longer than 2 hours 20 minutes to complete it doesn't get a chip time. This, I felt is harsh and unfair on the slower runners - 2 hours 45 might have been better. But running 13.1 miles in any time is a fantastic achievement and anyone who manages it deserves as much recognition as the guy (or guy-ette) who wins it.

A bit of sad news before the race - I met Kev and Gerry from the running club, and it transpired that Kev had attended his mother's funeral on Friday. Poor man. I must make a point of letting him know I feel for him and know only too well what he's going through.

I spent a lot of time before the race stretching - my side was better but still sore. It didn't seem to help - as soon as we set off it started hurting and for the first couple of miles I was convinced it would be a case of when, not if, my side was going to seize up completely and I would have to pull out. Nonetheless, I kept checking my watch at the mile markers to make sure I was running roughly 9-minute miles.

As it turned out, I was fine. After about 5 miles the pain in my side subsided. I was enjoying the run at last. The scenery was mixed - though some industrial estates and across the motorway at one point, but also through some lovely countryside and picturesque villages in Worcestershire. There were regular drinks stations and the miles were clearly marked. It was well marshalled, partly by police, and there were a lot of kids watching, cheering us on and giving high-fives, which was great. Just a pity I didn't have a chance to tell them how I used to come last in cross-country at school.

At one point I was running so well I seemed to be on course to beat my time at Reading. When I approached the finish line I looked at my watch and saw this wasn't to be. I did, however, with a final sprint, get under 2 hours with a few seconds to spare. Bearing in mind I was carrying an injury and nearly pulled out, this was a fantastic effort if I say so myself. From his text message later, Anthony seemed impressed.

The really, really great thing about this event however was that I ran a strong race all the way round and at no point felt in any trouble. After the race I felt I could have carried on - in fact, I would probably have gone running again yesterday afternoon had I not been resting my hip. This has definitely not been the case in the past - I'm usually shattered at the end of a half marathon. At Swindon I nearly passed out, after Bath walking to get my burger was torture and after Reading I was just exhausted. The training I have done recently is obviously having the right effect - I am stronger and have more stamina.

As I write I am feeling fine - apart from the hangover of course. Needless to say I had quite a lot of wine on Sunday evening. I could have run tonight but decided to rest my hip in the hope that the next four days will really count.

On the way home I felt optimistic about the marathon in September - probably for the first time. I've joked about how I'll be going to hospital afterwards and should probably not book my holiday (2 weeks in Crete) for that reason. Anthony paid me a nice compliment in the week, saying he thought at first that the New Forest marathon in September would be too much of a challenge for me, and too early. Now he thinks I am pretty much on course. At the time I wasn't sure I agreed with him, but I do now.

I've still got it all to do in the next few months but I think it's safe for me to book that holiday after all, and put the champagne on ice. Provided I stay injury-free I think I'm going to run that marathon - and quite a few people are going to be impressed.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006

Highworth 5 Mile Road Race

On Sunday, 30th April 2006 I competed in a new and interesting event for me - the Highworth 5 mile race.

It was new in as much as it was my first year at this excellent and well-attended event, but also my shortest event to date - intriguingly I have never run in a race shorter than a 10k.

For this reason I was quite apprehensive - at this point in time I am definitely built for endurance, not speed, and in a half marathon I sometimes don't feel warmed up until the 5-mile marker.

My training in the week before the race was not great either. Socially it was top drawer - I met Pete for a few beers and a curry in Bath on Monday and had a great time, apart from the train back being late. For the life of me I can't understand why more of my friends don't come with me on my nights out in Bath - hint hint!!

Tuesday I did a nice 4k on the treadmill and broke in my new trainers - all I had time for as I was meeting Suzie and Janna to see the excellent "American Dreamz" at the flicks. It had fairly mixed reviews in the press but we agreed it was great, a bit slow at first but very funny for the last half hour. Plus they got to drool over Hugh Grant (fine by me - keeping an end up for us oldies is Hughie!!) and I have to confess I wouldn't slam the door in Mandie Moore's face either..

Wednesday I did my only run of any real substance - a nice steady 10 miler. Should have gone out with the running club really, but wanted to do some distance.

Thursday I made a massive mistake - I spent a very tiring but enjoyable day at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, picking up lots of freebies to brighten up my desk at work and meeting some of my contacts in the flesh for the first time. When I got back I went for a run by myself round the lake at Sparcells and had to pull up with a stabbing pain in my ankle. It was so bad I had to walk back to the gym. Needless to say I iced it up as soon as I got home, and while it disrupted my final training session before the race it hasn't re-occurred since.

So what did I see at the cinema Saturday, you may be asking: "Slither", a very silly but enjoyable horror comedy. The adverts described it as "the best horror comedy since Shaun of The Dead". As it turned out it wasn't a patch on that classic (if you haven't seen it please do so as soon as humanly possible - listening to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen will never be the same again!!) but it did have its moments and a few quality one-liners.

For once I had a good night's sleep and arrived in Highworth with bags of time to spare - good job too: it meant I didn't have to drive around looking for somewhere to park like other people I saw later. I even had time to get my copy of The Sunday Times and read a couple of articles!

I had a good stretch before the race, making sure I was nice and loose. As it turned out I got a massive psychological lift on the start line: next to me were Jan and Sandra from the running club and Sandra put her arms around my upper body and commented that I had "hugely" lost weight. It was especially nice from her, as she has made a few choice comments about my weight in the past - I've lost count of the number of times she has said "Not being funny, Jon, but you're a big lad to be running". So it's nice that she can give compliments equally well, not something many people are adept at.

The scenery along the route was great - I was surprised at how quickly we were out in the countryside. One thing I like about races is the fact that if nothing else, at least you get a change of scene.

For the first three miles I was flying. By my watch I was averaging 8 minutes a mile, which for me is good - I usually struggle to maintain that pace for long. I couldn't maintain it for the last two miles, sadly, and the last mile consisted mainly of an exceptionally steep hill. So in the end I think I did very well to finish in 42 minutes. It means I can now realistically set my sights on a sub 50-minute 10k, which will be a huge landmark for me.

A gang of us from running club stopped at a local pub after the race for a quick drink, which made a nice change. We haven't done much socially outside the gym, which is something I would like to see changing. Maybe I will appoint myself club social events organiser!

Being the lunatic I am I headed to the gym for another 5 mile run on the treadmill. It was hard work and took a bit longer than 42 minutes! While I was there I got chatting to someone I had seen at the race, an athlete called Terry, who as it turned out had run the London marathon the week before. His time was 3 hours 20 minutes - doubt I'll ever be in his league.

As he left the gym he put on his medal from the marathon as well as the one he had acquired at Highworth. "I shall wear these with pride," he said. "As you should," I replied.

Hopefully this time next year I'll be wearing both those medals myself.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006