A Very English St George's Day

I can't think of too many better ways to celebrate the day of our national saint than to spend time in a typically English city watching a typically English sport. So it was that the 23rd April 2008 saw me at New Road in Worcester, enjoying the sunshine and the cricket as Worcestershire played Leicestershire.

It was an intriguing battle, Leicestershire bowled quite well and kept it tight with Worcestershire having to graft for their runs. After a slight delay at the start, both Worcestershire openers went fairly cheaply - Mitchell for 23 and Moore for 14, Garnett Kruger getting both wickets. Vikram Solanki and Ben Smith then put on a useful partnership, and although the ball beat the bat on a few occasions, I felt the batsmen looked quite comfortable, so it was a surprise when Smith was out lbw to Henderson for 49. Solanki got a useful half century and was starting to find fluency with some powerful attacking strokes before rather holing out for 65 with Henderson again the bowler. This left Moeen Ali and Steve Davies to carry on the fight, and I noted that Davies was still unbeaten on 50 when I arrived back home. At 258 for 7 at the end of day one, the game is intriguingly poised if the weather holds out.

Away from the action, I thoroughly enjoyed the general ambience of New Road, a really homely county ground and its great to see the place back in use after last year's floods. With the cathedral as a backdrop providing chimes on the hour, and armed with a packed lunch and a newspaper, it was a perfect spot to while away the hours. Me being me, I had a squeeze in a bit of exploring too, hence I got a handful of photos at Stourbridge on the way down, before adding to my Shrub Hill station archive. I even found time for a little stroll along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal from bridge 5, down past Blockhouse Lock to the Commandery, and had a quick look at Cripplegate Park's impressive floral displays before entering the ground.

I hope that yesterday's visit is only the first of several cricketing outings I'd like to do this summer - bad weather and floods rather scuppered similar plans last year. Failing that, at least I can look back on a fine day's entertainment and some useful photos. I think even St George himself might have approved!