Deb and I got up and going early. We took the Hovercraft over to the Isle of Wight just for fun.
And then came back again.
We went to the Portsmount D-Day landing experience which was ordinary and visited SouthSea castle which was very interesting. The castle was Henry VIII’s vantage point to watch the Battle of The Solvent, famous for the sinking of the Mary Rose. The origins of the battle being Henry’s establishment of the Church of England (COE), and the Pope’s attempt to have Henry overthrown by the French and Spanish so that Catholicism could be re-established and the COE extinguished. The invasion was repulsed and the rest is history, but its wonderful to stand on the same ground as historical figures at a critical juncture in history.
St Olaves came into being through the merger of two schools dating back to 1571 and 1562. It is highly selective and is the 4th best performing school in the UK. It reminds me of Sydney boys. It courted some controversy in recent years due to the schools treatment of students who were not meeting the desired academic standards.
Yet again Deb and I ran foul of going to the school and not some random cricket ground in the area This time though we checked and did see cricket grounds at the school. But alas the game was at another location. Heading to local cricket clubs we encountered a young lad wheeling his kit and offered him a lift, at least he could provide us with directions. He had been watching India play New Zealand and was in a state of disbelief at the score and had watched too long hoping for an India revival and was now running very late.
Today is a 30 over game with Aaron batting at 4. Our openers and number 3 started cautiously and it wasn’t until the 17th over that the second wicket fell.
A one ball sighter and then he hit the second ball for 4. A good shot off his legs backward of square leg and only the 3rd boundary of the innings to date.
A couple of singles, and another good shot through mid wicket, for three and it was looking like Aron was in for a good day.
Not to be; the soft dismissal raised its head again hitting a waist high full toss to mid off to be out for 9.
To say he was cranky is an understatement but its good that he has raised his expectations on what he should be scoring.
As he wasn’t going to be bowling Deb and I headed off to London to check into our hotel. The trip and the hotel check-in being an adventure in itself and in doing so we missed Aarons mis-adventure.
Diving forward to take a catch to a hard hit ball, he managed to dig his finger into the ground and rip off the nail. It almost immediately started to spurt out blood so off he went to be bandaged up. While the bandaging was in process he had a little faint and woke up flat on his back with his legs held up and one of the mums asking ‘Aaron can you hear me’. ‘Yeah of course’ he replied, then he began to wonder why he was lying on his back with his legs held up in the air by one of his team mates. So another tour and another finger injury. At least this time nothing is broken and he left it until the last game.
The wash up: Newington defend their total of 168 to record the second win for the 1st 11 team.