The injuries today are different. When did we last lose a player with a broken leg ? It was a regular occurrence back in the day. You’d normally get one a season.

I was thinking how much faster the game is today as I watched the latest bout of walking football with the ball being passed between the keeper, centre backs, fullbacks, into midfield, back to the keeper etc etc. Zzzzzzzz.

The new Adam Armstrong. He’d be ok playing off a “target “ man but nobody plays like that anymore.

I remember going past one of the grounds - Haslingden ? And there was a big poster advertising Clive Lloyd as the pro. This was before he played for Lancashire. If you look back at history of the Central Lancashire League and the Lancashire League the only top player that didn’t come over as a pro was Don Bradman. He was coming over until the Aussie cricket authorities put a stop to it by buying him off. A old workmate of mine played for Milnrow in the CLL. The pro there was an Aussie all rounder called George Tribe who’d had a bust up with Bradman ( just like another great Aussie CLL player Cec Pepper ) and came over to England to try his luck. He later had a long career at Warwickshire. They were playing in the Wood Cup final and Tribe bowled out about 7 of the opposition to win the game. As was the custom he got a collection. Back then it was all three penny bits , sixpences, shillings etc. All in buckets. Instead of standing all the rest of the team to a round of drinks at the bar after the game Tribe tipped all the buckets into the boot of his car and drove off without a word ! Cec Pepper was a long time CLL stalwart before he became a first class umpire. Towards the end of his career his was driving up to the ground at Castleton Moor in his car through the fans. It was a hot day and he had the windows down. One guy shouted out to him - “ Bloody hell Cec, you’re not still playing are you ? You must be past it “. Cec replied - “ Past it ? , I’ll give you my address after the game, you can send your wife round . I’ll show you who’s past it ! “ Vinoo Mankad, the Indian all rounder , was the pro at Castleton Moor in the early 1950’s. He was on £50 a week when the average wage was about £10. He left the Moor to go to one of the Lancashire League clubs ( Haslingden ? ) for more money ! The Leagues were buzzing then with really large gates. All the pros were household names, top Test cricket internationals. You had to get down to Dane St in Rochdale early to get a good seat. Becoming a member was really difficult. Within 10 years all that had gone and crowds were quite sparse and becoming a member was easy.

Championship will be his level Chaddy. Like Armstrong. What exactly did he do against Spain apart from run around a bit and miss two good chances ? Don’t just listen to what the commentators are telling you. Use your own eyes. Last night he was invisible. Every ball played up to him was lost. Delap missing could be the difference between us winning and losing.

Yeah, newly promoted teams are a no/no first up. They’re still full of confidence, all their squad to pick from and an enthusiastic following cheering them on. Best time to play them is after a few months when they’ve had a few bangings, lost a few players to injury and suspension and their fans are getting restless.

Could be. Let’s hope he can play for more than 20 minutes a game though.

I watched most of the previous game against Germany and it could have gone either way. We were worth a draw. We badly need a centre forward who impacts the game though. The lad from Big Club is ineffectual leading the line. He looks like a poor man’s Adam Armstrong.

Yeah he was. I thought he was trying to play the ball with his left foot when it really needed a right foot touch. It gave the Dutch a chance to clear a ball they should have never had. Then our centre half ( Cresswell ? ) got in a tangle and gave their striker a chance of a run and shot at goal which he took really well. Just an example of how small mistakes in the opposition half can lead to a goal. That was the only mistake the centre half made though. He was outstanding. The Dutch defence parted like the Red Sea for our second goal.

Two good goals from Elliot. We need to find a striker though, the lad from Big Club never touched the ball.

I watched the Central Lancashire League a lot. I remember seeing Gary Sobers making 140 odd for Littleborough against Castleton Moor at Partington St. They ended up with 9 fielders all on the boundary ropes. Just the bowler and the wicket keeper near the bat. Sobers walked out to one ball, missed it, and just kept walking. The keeper ran up and stumped him. Garys knees were knackered. He was wearing the most elegant whites I’ve ever seen. He looked a million dollars. The Moor were financed by a local bookmaker, Tommy Heneghan. A typical bookmaker, a little tubby guy in a suit. He’d set up a table by the ground entrance to take all the entrance fees himself. With Sobers playing it was going to be a big gate. I’d arrived about 10 minutes late. Just in time to see Sobers hit the ball out of the ground right by where Tommy had set up his little table. The ball was in the gutter so I said to Tommy - “ Give me the ball Tommy, I’ll throw it back on “. Tommy said - “ No it’s OK I’ll throw it on”. So Tommy goes to throw the ball back on, only It stuck in his hand a bit, and went straight through the windscreen of some poor spectators parked car. This was just as the owner was getting out of the car ! The guy wasn’t pleased to say the least. He marched up to Tommy saying- “ What the f—k are doing you dozy little bastard ! “ Tommy shit his pants and said “ Look at that sign up there, you park at your own risk “ The guy said - “ I’ll take my chances with Soberx but not with a fool like you “

We need Wood and Archer really if we’re to have any chance.

Great win. We played and missed at a few but you make your own luck sometimes

I don’t follow cricket as much as I used to. I did see Underwood bowl out the Aussies. I had just got home from work about 4-50 pm and I immediately turned on the tv to watch the cricket. it was on the BBC live back then. One camera only at one end ! As I recall it the Aussies were about 50 for 2 with just over an hour to play. I thought that’s it - a draw. Then Underwood got going and we brought the field in around the bat. If my memory serves me well one of the Aussies openers dug in but Underwood kept bamboozling the incoming batsmen. Even when we had 6 down I thought we’d run out of time. However we got down to the last couple of wickets every England outfield player was in camera shot. They were all in an arc around the bat. They picked up the last wicket with minutes to go. Unforgettable. It’ll be on YouTube somewhere. So many memories. Colin Cowdrey coming in as last man see out the last couple of balls to get a draw with a broken arm. Only he was facing Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. Cowdrey , who was a really top slip fielder, taking a catch and then whipping the ball into his pocket so fast that nobody knew where the ball had gone. Brian Close and John Edrich facing the most hostile fast bowling I’ve ever seen. The only time I’ve thought “ Somebody could get killed here “ at a cricket match. Just batting in a cap ! The photo of Close the next day with ball marks , complete with seam mark p, all over his upper body. The Aussie Bob Massie swinging the ball like a banana to skittle out England and take about 17 wickets in the match. Just too many memories really.

It’s hard to tell going off “ highlights “. As far as we can see he likes to run with the ball from central midfield. That’s something we’ve been sadly lacking.

Yeah I read that. I’m not too impressed with the new “ Sunday Observer “ . That article was interesting but on the whole the sports bit is abysmal. No mention of the England v Spain U-21 game the previous night at all ! I’m of a mind to cancel it after about 40 years of being a reader.

Yeah, he always seems to be playing within himself.

Nothing comes close to a 5 day test for Cricket entertainment.

Yes that’s true. We have better players who weren’t there tonight.

We did it the hard way. How many chances did we miss . Whoever was playing left back for us had his boots on the wrong feet. 3 pens and not one was a real pen. I thought the big timers for us - Elliot, McAtee were poor.

Scott trying to run the ball out in heavy traffic loses possession on the edge of our box. There’s a time to stick and there’s a time to twist. Clear the fucking thing !

Van Halen - Why Can’t This Be Love

Somebody needed to. There were times last season when we had 7 ( six outfield players plus the keeper ) that never got into the last third of the pitch. That leaves 4 players to make and score goals. A big ask, especially with the level of players we have.

When you need one of those two to get up with and beyond the strikers occasionally- he’s right. Having said that Tronstad was getting more forward towards the end of last season.

I watched a bit of it in the pub. I don’t recall one ball beating the bat in the time I was watching.