Bears on Tour: Guildford

The cricket season is well underway now with Warwickshire aiming to repeat last season's heroics when they won the County Championship. After an indifferent start to the campaign, the next stage in the Bears title defence quest took them to Surrey where Stephen and I tagged along lured by the prospect of the Guildford Cricket Festival...

- Waterloo Underground -

With the game set to commence on the Wednesday morning, we travelled down on the Tuesday afternoon courtesy of the Virgin service from Wolverhampton to London Euston. The transfer to Waterloo on the Underground was surprisingly painless, and we made our Guildford connection with ease.

- Guildford Guild Hall -

Having settled into our accommodation, we then set about getting our bearings around Guildford. As the county town of Surrey, there are some impressive features to admire, such as the Guild Hall with its ornate clock, the cobbled sloping High Street, the River Wey navigations and the historic Abbots Hospital. Spotting the local heritage wasn't a problem but we seemed to have more difficulty in trying to find a chip shop for some supper!

- Guildford Castle -

Wednesday morning and I'm up bright and early to make the most of the sunshine with some pre-match photography. My first target is London Road Station, which serves the north-eastern end of the town centre and was swarming with schoolkids in the morning peak. I also make the acquaintance of Guildford Castle, exploring the narrow streets around the castle grounds.

- The cricket gets underway -

Surrey normally play their home matches at The Oval but once a year they switch to Guildford as part of a weeklong festival of cricket. 2013 was the 75th year of the festival and the weather was set fair ready to mark such an anniversary. We took our place near the back of the Members Stand where we had the added bonus of hearing ball-by-ball radio commentary from Mark Church and Johnny Barran sitting just behind us.

- A Healthy Scoreboard -

Warwickshire made the most of a good batting wicket and the short boundaries by piling on the runs, eventually accumulating 631 for 9 declared with Varun Chopra making 192 and Keith Barker 125. The scoreboard over on the Dapdune Wharf hedge side of the ground was definitely kept busy!

- Guildford Cathedral -

The weather could not have been better for the first two days of the match, but Friday morning was a different matter. Stephen and I had decided to investigate Guildford Cathedral when the rainclouds set in, and by the time we reached the ground it was clear that play wouldn't start on time. We lost all of the morning session and some of the afternoon, although we were still treated to the sight of Ricky Ponting batting for Surrey and Boyd Rankin taking three wickets in a memorably hostile over.

- Ranmore Ale in the Robin Hood -

Our evening entertainment across the week involved sampling some of Guildford's finest pubs, plus finally tracking down the elusive chip shop! Among the inns we visited were the Three Pigeons, the Royal Oak (around the back of Holy Trinity Church), the Kings Head on Stoke Road and the Robin Hood.

- A pitchside perspective -

And so to the final day of the cricket match, with Warwickshire needing to winkle out an unlikely 13 wickets in order to secure victory. In the event they could only bag 7, meaning the game ended in a draw as a certain Mr Ponting ensured there wouldn't be any Surrey collapses second time around. Although we would have liked the win, there was no denying that we'd thoroughly enjoyed our outground experience with the festival having a wonderful atmosphere throughout.

- Guildford Station -

Sunday arrives all too quickly and its time to head home. The Woodbridge Cafe offers up a closing breakfast by way of goodbye, and we troop off to the station for my last few photos prior to boarding the Waterloo-bound train. A memorable week and a relaxing break was over, but we could console ourselves with the thought that we still have a game at Headingley to look forward to in August.