The Umpire Comes Back

One rather sanguine figure, I felt, that stood in the midst of the see-saw Second Test Match between England and New Zealand at Old Trafford (which England triumphantly won by 6 wickets) today was Australian-born umpire Darrell Hair, whose decision two years ago to penalise Pakistan 5 runs for alleged ball tampering led to a Test Match being forfeited - and awarded to England.

Pakistan were only cleared of ball tampering (because there was no definite evidence) after subsequent ICC enquiries and legal proceedings. Once having caved in on that score, the Pakistan Cricket Board even went to the further extent of wanting the match forfeiture to be overturned, when they had willfully refused to play. At the very least they wanted Darrell Hair to no longer umpire international matches. Now however, and perhaps thankfully, he is back again, officiating with the rather more convivial English and New Zealand teams to deal with.

I noticed however a definite caution in most of Mr. Hair's decisions during this latest Test - a fear of sticking his neck out and causing trouble, I would think. That, coupled with his significantly older appearance only 2 years after the furore at The Oval in 2006.
Anyway, at least a little bit of sanity has prevailed once again with his reinstatement, rather than the blithe disregard of officials just because teams or players are upset with them, especially when the umpires are only following the letter of the law.

(See also The Times Online)

There's Something About...

The Start of the Cricket Season

I'm shocked to realise that a considerable number of sport-related blogs on this page are about football - well, it is the climax to the season I suppose (the winter one that is) - but I'm going to correct that with some talk about a much more beautiful game.

I popped down to Chelmsford the other day to watch Essex play the New Zealand tourists. It was the first cricket match I'd been to see for nine months. The start of the season is like the dawning of summer itself, when you've been through the grim, damp, depressing winter, and the first warm light of optimism begins to appear at the end of the tunnel.

Standing at the River End at Chelmsford that morning, and getting a first magical view of the cricket, I was instantly taken back to 1981, when the Australians were the touring side at Chelmsford - that memorable year of Ian Botham's triumphant return to form in The Ashes after he was sacked as England captain.

As for the cricket today, the New Zealanders are a persistently underrated side, less celebrated than their illustrious Australian neighbours, but no less determined. They beat Essex in this match, by 92 runs, in their warm-up for the current Test series against England. The pundits say that England "should beat" New Zealand, but from what I saw of them, they're a no-nonsense, pragmatic side who should give Michael Vaughan's men a pretty good run for their money.

Good weather permitting!

For Whom the Brown Tolls

In 1987, after a third successive General Election victory, Margaret Thatcher introduced her most controversial policy of the Poll Tax, which was seen to be robbing from the poor and allowing the rich to live in relative comfort. Within 2-3 years she was out of office.

Now Gordon Brown may well have met his Poll Tax - it's known as the 10p tax rate: which as far as I can tell, is the removal of lower taxation for anyone whose tax band income is only 10p in the Pound - and raising it to 20p along with other more affluent taxpayers. In other words, the poor have to pay more out of their pockets, and the rich don't have to pay quite so much.

I can sympathise with the objective; everyone should be allowed to pay their fair share. A minimum rate can only remain that way for so long; and so many "minimum" charges are being raised nowadays - what's the big deal with this one?

The public clamour of disapproval, however - overturning a 7,000 Labour majority into an 8,000 Conservative majority at the Crewe & Nantwich by-election - is surely a sign. And thus far, Gordon isn't backing down. An extra injection of cash for the less well-off seemed a desperate last throw of the dice.

In 2-3 years time will be the next General Election, which may well prove to be good news for the enterprising but rather superficial and ineffectual David Cameron. By that time it may well prove the old maxim that parties don't win general elections - Governments lose them.

Soccer stuff

Last Saturday the FA Cup Final was a pulsating, well-played match between two football teams, Portsmouth and Cardiff - a considerable improvement on the tedium personified that was last year's Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, a match in which two rather lucrative sets of chess pieces barely moved across the board for 90 minutes.

By chance those two teams were playing tonight in the European Cup Final (in Moscow of all places). I walked down the main road this evening, which is usually fairly busy, but on this occasion was deadly silent during the match, with barely a car or a sane human being to be seen. It brought back memories of Euro 1996, when England were playing Germany (again) in a fateful penalty shootout. The atmosphere in Colchester then was equally tense, and I knew the result of both matches without having to look at any coverage.

Good Things

8. Benches

Such seemingly mundane things, easy to walk past, but so helpful and relaxing when you've been on your feet outdoors all day - provided the tramps haven't left too much of a mark behind!

9. Sitting under the shade of a tree

It's resftul from the sun, and allows you to "come closer to nature" as the BBC programme trailer keeps saying.

And hence every summer:


10. Park Meets

2004


2006


2007

More lookalikes

Minnie Driver


Claire Warden














Matthew Perry








Matthew Fish











Paul Reed


Robert Sean Leonard







Laura Wheeler



Karen Allen











Field Marshal Haig








Field Marshal Haig






Spooky, huh?

Has London gone mad?

Boris Johnson for Mayor?! Whatever next - Basil Fawlty as manager of the Savoy Hotel? And we nearly had Jeffrey Archer for Mayor before. Luckily Londoners saw through that ruse.

I suppose dear old Ken Livingston ("Red Ken" as he was known in the more extreme days of the 1980s) had it coming in the end. Interesting that he seemed less of a maverick figure once Tony Blair was out of office. It all sounds like a tremendous reaction against the current Labour Government, mostly by people feeling it in their pockets.

I fear dark times looming ahead, possibly even a regression to the days of Thatcherism or the worst of Blairism. Or maybe Boris will prove me wrong and show that he's actually quite a sincere chap who doesn't indulge in Tory sleaze and cares more about London being, well, London.

But I seriously doubt it.