Bears On Tour

There's been a real concentration of cricket over the last couple of weeks or so as an East Midlands trilogy has kept the 'Bears Brigade' fully occupied. As ever there was a bit of exploring to accompany the on-field action...

Sunday 8th May: The first leg of three sees us make our way to Wantage Road, Northampton where Warwickshire take on Northamptonshire in a Clydesdale Bank 40 over match. Nick, Stephen and myself are joined by Ken and Edward for this one, with Edward acting as our tour guide to lead us safely to the ground. Northants scored a few too many runs for our liking, and although Ian Bell and Mohammad Yousuf ('Mo-yo') put together a fine partnership, a kamikaze collapse meant the Bears went down to an 18-run defeat. On a brighter note, Wolves beat West Brom in the Black Country derby. On a shadier note, Northampton bus station is a depressing, dark dump - although I did quite enjoy walking through the town centre on a sunny Sunday evening for some bonus photos.

- The Long Room at Northants -

Sunday 15th May: Part two of the tour and this week we're in Leicester with the Bears back in CB40 action at Grace Road. The Sky cameras are also present for this one but despite our enthusiastic placard-waving antics whenever Warwickshire got a boundary I don't think we ever got onto the screen. Half centuries from Josh Cobb and Kadeer Ali steer Leics to 205 for 9 but the innings never really accelerated as we would have expected and the Bears closed out a comprehensive 8 wicket victory - it was just a shame that neither Porterfield or Chopra got a hundred. I quite liked Grace Road as a cricket venue, a proper county ground as opposed to a faceless stadium, and the cakes scored very highly too. We also got a considerable bit of exercise when the ground turned out to be much further out of the city than we'd anticipated; to borrow a Rog phrase, we were practically in Bromsgrove.

- Bears Brigade at Grace Road -

Thursday 19th and Friday 20th May: Dispensing with the limited overs stuff, our attentions turn back to County Championship matters at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. In the corresponding fixture last year Warwickshire got bowled out entirely twice in the same day, an achievement that still gives Stephen the shudders. Thankfully this year Notts seemed intent on returning the favour, certainly on the Thursday when they collapsed to 117 all out then 40 for 4 following on. Stephen and I returned on the Friday to see Warwickshire complete a most impressive victory despite a fightback from Franks and Voges and some lusty hitting from Andre Adams. Ian Bell looked majestic all match and soon saw off the 6o run target for a 9 wicket win.

- Trent Bridge Pavilion -

I have to say Trent Bridge is probably my favourite cricket venue out of those I've visited - the view from the Pavilion End was excellent whilst the Radcliffe Road stand should be an exemplar case study of what is possible when providing new ground developments that retain hints of tradition. Our Nottingham experiences are completed by a look at Nottingham Forest's City Ground home (with the pitch being dug up) and a celebratory drink courtesy of the Castle Rock Brewery's Vat & Fiddle tap house - excellent!

- Cheers to Victory! -