Monday 4th June 2012 and the Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend continues with some cricketing action in the East Midlands. The County Ground, Derby was the stage as the Warwickshire Bears took on the Derbyshire Falcons in a Clydesdale Bank 40-over match...
I made my way to Wolverhampton Station for 10:30am where I met up with Stephen, Nick and Ken, all of us looking forward to the action ahead. Despite delays earlier in the morning, our trains ran very smoothly with a slight hold-up to the Nottingham service at New Street actually working in our favour. We therefore touched down at Derby just after mid-day with plenty of time to get to the ground.
So much time in fact that we decided to make use of one of Nick's pub recommendations. Barely a two minute walk from Derby Station brings us to The Brunswick, a celebrated homebrew pub that acts as a centrepiece to the surrounding railway cottages. The choice of real ales is excellent with several guest beers accompanying those that are brewed on the premises - I opt for the Brunswick Caramild whilst Nick and Ken sample the Railway Porter. Traditional fixtures and fittings mean you immediately feel at home here and it's interesting to see some of the brewhouse equipment at the end of the central corridor. The Brunswick has definitely whetted my appetite for exploring more of Derby's pubs in future, especially as the city considers itself the Real Ale Capital of Britain.
- Brunswick Bears -
Our route to the ground is completed by a riverside path, crossing the Derwent to pass newspaper offices and the Meadow Lane bus depot before we negotiate the busy Pentagon roundabout. The County Ground then appears before us, my anticipation building at the prospect of getting to know another cricketing venue. Ken and Stephen had both been here before and jointly confirmed that the ground had seen much redevelopment over the last few years, with the square notably having been rotated to avoid the batsmen being blinded by the setting sun. The Lund Pavilion and the Gateway Centre are the two primary buildings, the latter looking like it had been transplanted straight out of an IKEA catalogue given its propensity for dark wood cladding. Otherwise there is a mix and match of seating areas to give the whole place the feel of a traditional cricket ground rather than a uniform modern stadium.
- The Gateway Centre -
Derbyshire have won the toss and elected to bowl so at 1:45pm the match gets underway with Chopra and Porterfield opening for the Bears. I hadn't heard of too many of the Derbyshire players anyway but my task is made doubly difficult when it seems half the team has changed from that printed on the scorecard. A couple of early wickets has us fearing another collapse (the Bears having lost dismally at Kent last Friday), so the arrival of the miserably-out-of-form Captain Troughton to the crease did nothing for our nerves. Actually I have to say that Jim batted pretty well until his innings was sawn-off at 34 in a run out mix-up with Tim Ambrose, hopefully that little knock bodes well for future matches. Stephen was threatening to throw himself into the river at this stage so I took over scorecard duties whilst Nick nibbled politely on some walnut cake. Maddy and Ambrose made steady progress with Rikki Clarke adding some lusty hitting towards the end, giving us a total of 242 for 6 (Ambrose 77 not out by way of apology to Jim).
- Ready for the action -
The interval between innings allows the chance for a circuit of the ground, including a squeeze into the Gateway Centre where the club shop felt like an undersized broom cupboard. I did like the gallery showing Derbyshire's capped players since 1946 and I reckon Nick quite fancied having a go in the indoor nets. The players return to the field and I haven't even reclaimed my seat before Chris Woakes reduces the Falcons to 2 for 2. A couple more quick wickets meant the game was effectively over so we concentrate instead on trying to spot fellow Bears fan Edward in the crowd (it turned out he was about 4 rows in front of us!) whilst Stephen demonstrates his own patented method for eating chocolate bars. Stefan Piolet took regular wickets to dispose of the middle order, Jon Clare being the only Derbyshire batsman to make an impression in compiling 57 before being the last man out. In the end Warwickshire secured a comprehensive victory by 105 runs, so the Falcons were tamed without the Bears having to get too grizzly and Stephen was spared his dip in the Derwent. All that remained was to get to Derby Station and catch our train home and another successful Bears adventure was completed.
No comments:
Post a Comment