By Evie Jones (Lakeside Primary School)
The wizards of Oz are coming to Wales,
The best team with a bat,
We’ve built a brand new stadium for them
With a view of the Taff – Howzat!
The Roos bring their Ashes,
With their pads and bats and caps,
But they’re playing in Wales, not England,
So they better pack some maps.
The strange thing about cricket
Is that they stop for tea and scones,
But we’ll serve them Welsh cakes and laver bread,
And large portions of the fast bowler Simon Jones.
The Aussies will pour over the border
To our land of song and hills,
But the Barmy Army will beat them
With weapons of golden daffodils.
All the players will dress in white,
And cover their faces in zinc war paint
Whereas the crowd will bring anoraks and sweaters,
And at the sight of the sun in Wales, they’ll faint!
The wizards of Oz are coming to Wales,
The best team with a bat,
We’ve built a brand new stadium for them
With a view of the Taff – Howzat!
The Roos bring their Ashes,
With their pads and bats and caps,
But they’re playing in Wales, not England,
So they better pack some maps.
The strange thing about cricket
Is that they stop for tea and scones,
But we’ll serve them Welsh cakes and laver bread,
And large portions of the fast bowler Simon Jones.
The Aussies will pour over the border
To our land of song and hills,
But the Barmy Army will beat them
With weapons of golden daffodils.
All the players will dress in white,
And cover their faces in zinc war paint
Whereas the crowd will bring anoraks and sweaters,
And at the sight of the sun in Wales, they’ll faint!
---
I don't have Sky - life's too short to spend hours watching my favourite sports on tv, especially as they are all endurance based: cricket (5 days), golf (4 days), marathon running etc. But it is so frustrating at times like this; the evening highlights are a waste of space as they can't encapsulate the chess match ebb & flow of a quality Test with all the nuances developing as the game goes on. I'll just have to rely on Aggers and the TMS team to bring the games alive in my ears and allow me to picture the view in my mind. This will be difficult for the first match in the unlikely surroundings of Cardiff (money talks more than tradition in modern sport unfortunately). It all reminds me of the 1970/71 winter when I used to listen to the radio commentary from Australia late at night as Ray Illingworth's team beat the Australians over there in a magnificent series.
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At the end of last week's heatwave I had a pleasant workout in the Aerospace '5' near Cheltenham on a tough course which climbed up towards Cleeve Hill. Felt I needed to wear a race number again despite struggling with an adductor strain and other problems that a family Blog like this wouldn't want to know about. Started very slowly as planned then picked up pace in second half as I like to treat these evening races (especially when as hot as its been) as good tempo runs. Splits were 6.07, 5.50, then avg 5.30 for the rest. Nearly caught Mike Smith on the line but as he got thrashed by a 50 year old in Bourton's half marathon the previous week, thought I'd spare him any more embarrassement. Claudie came along and there was some good social with some newer Ciren members as well as a good chat with Dennis & Lucy Walmsley ahead of Finland next month (it appears it's impossible to run anywhere in the world and not find a Bourton runner in the same race).
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Great news from Natalie. She got her 2:1 from Exeter; her next two years are now mapped out for her (and for dad's bank balance!) in two more of Europe's capital cities. What a great life she is having.
