Author Archives: David Straw

Twitter Update

Twitter-32
Paul P (@BeeRummie): Trent Bridge look awesome love that ground.

Henry Spencer (@forestredHenry): Loving watching England and NZ- can’t beat Trent Bridge

Jonno Edwards (@jonnoedwards): Sat at Trent Bridge watching England with my dad and bro’s and Emily England fielding I am happing now.

The Dedicated Fan

Jamie Dickinson has been a dedicated member of Trent Bridge for most of his life. The 26 year old first came to the ground when he was 6, and has been a committed fan ever since.

“I played Kwik Cricket here as a junior member of Ellerslie Cricket Club. I now play for Clifton Village, and coach the younger players in the team”.

He has seen Trent Bridge develop over the years, but always enjoys the atmosphere.  “I work part-time here at the International matches. I’ll be working here for the Ashes test, in hospitality, operations and anything else the club need me to do”.

He is very much part of the Trent Bridge family, who he describes as being very welcoming and committed. “The members here are really good cricket people. Many volunteer to help out at Internationals, and they work hard to make Trent Bridge a successful venue.”

While he wants England to win the Ashes, he would like to see some good competitive cricket.

“Like many Outlaws fans, I’d like to see Ed Cowan do well, and will be cheering him on as well as supporting England”.

Brian Fairchild

The Joe Root Fan Club

Steph, Mercedes, and Siobhan, students from Worksop College are here today to cheer on one England player in particular.

One of the Nottinghamshire colleges most successful students in recent years is young England star Joe Root.

The girls were keen to praise his innings as well as Jos Butler’s exciting knock at the end of the innings.

Having been to a few matches before the girls are really excited to be seeing England although Siobhan said she has been feeling mixed emotions being half English and half Kiwi, though she claims it’s a no-lose situation for her.

Oh, and the girls also claim that Notts mascot Nuts also went to their school although this is still to be confirmed.

The Youngest Spectator

Elyana Murray wasn’t born when her parents brought tickets for today’s match.  The five month old was born on Christmas day ,and proud dad, Richard, says “We couldn’t not bring her to today’s match. My brother lives in Loughborough, and we come two or three times a year to Trent Bridge to watch the internationals. We love coming here, it is very family friendly.”   Cricket runs in her family. Her grandfather, Somi Anand, played for India in the 1950s.  Her father is rooting for England to win today.

 

Brian Fairchild

Armed Forces at Trent Bridge

Here at Trent Bridge we are proud to welcome members of the British Army for today’s game. Around 12 members of 62 Works Group, The Royal Engineers came to see England v New Zealand, some seeing their first live game today, and during the interval we had the chance to find out more about them.

Having returned from their latest tour of Afghanistan only last week, 62 Group were based in Helmand Province where they had been stationed since 11 November and working on Infrastructure Development and Capacity Building Projects in support of the local population and provincial ministries. In additional the Group have also been heavily involved in long term construction projects in support of the Afghan National Army  in Kabul.

It hasn’t been the warmest of summer days and, being used to temperatures in excess of 35 degrees the lads said that whilst it was great to be home it was still taking them some time to get accustomed to the conditions.

We were able to ask a few more questions about being in Afghanistan and, critically, whether or not those based out there had much time to play cricket?

“Unfortunately not. We were too busy to play,” was the response, however there was a degree of comfort in the fact that the servicemen were able to watch England on satellite TV.

Quite The Hat Trick for Newell.

Hat-trick

Chris Newell looks very much at ease. Relaxed and about to enjoy a wonderful meal in box 17 at Trent Bridge his demeanour belies the fact that he is going home today £50,000 richer thanks to a fantastic piece of bowling during the half time interval.

Set the challenge of bowling and hitting three stumps, then two stumps, and then finally one single stump in successive balls Newell mastered his nerves and skill to dislodge the bail(s) with each delivery.

Whilst some competitions like this during the interval can result in spectators heading for the bar the crowd in the William Clarke and Fox Road Stands were captivated, cheering each successful attempt and, with the third the ground erupted.

Meeting Chris, 50, afterwards we had a few burning questions we wanted answers to.

Firstly, does your wife know?

“She does now. Actually she was in the car when I called with my two sons. They were all cheering and screaming when I told them.”

Your bowling was pretty sharp- who do you play for?

“(laughs) Well I’m originally from Yorkshire so I guess there’s a bit of the old Fred Truman in there somewhere. My boys both play for Herefordshire and I’ve been watching them to pick up some pointers. But I’ve not played properly for 20 years.”

Any plans for the money?

“A family holiday. If we can get tickets we’ll go to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG later this year, but if then the Caribbean.”

After your achievement Michael Vaughan said on Twitter that that Australia have fast tracked (him) into their squad. Any comments?

“Well being from Sheffield like Michael I don’t mind what he has to say.”

Lastly, what was going through your head when you were out there?

“With the first ball all I wanted to do was try and hit the stumps, then I just wanted to repeat that with the second.”

“When it came to the third I don’t know, I was in a dream. The crowd were really helpful and with that third ball I wanted to do it more for them than for me.”

Chips Served At The Bridge

Root

BBC Radio Nottingham sports reporter Robin Chipperfield is sat alone at the very highest point of the Trent Bridge Media Centre.

Sat in line with the pitch directly above the Sky Sports cameras the man with very possibly the best view of the 15,000 plus in attendance shared his thoughts on the game as England hit the 34th over of their innings.

“(Trent Bridge) is the best sporting organisation I have ever worked with,” he says.

With his 14 years at Radio Nottingham covering football, cricket and boxing including the recent Carl Froch world title fight at London’s 02 Arena.

And what of the action he’s seen today? “Well. I was a bit perturbed at the start but (Bell & Root) have played well together. It’s the first time I’ve seen Joe Root live. He has an ability to hit where there are no fielders.”

Perhaps talk of the young Root being lined up as a future successor to Alistair Cook is a bit premature but the comparisons in many ways are quite clear.

“He’s calm and doesn’t have a big ego. He seems be being brought along well.”

So what does Chippers think of spending his days at Trent Bridge covering international matches like this? It makes you think… why do anything else?”

Robin Chipperfield presents a variety of sports programmes for BBC Radio Nottingham.

ODI Podcast: The Musings Of Trent Bridge’s Retail Guru

Retail guru, cricketing captain, car parking attendant. Is there anything Paul Harrison can’t do? Today he’s seen more Adidas stripes than the English National side’s kitman and more wide-brimmed hats than an Australian Umpire while restocking the shop.

He visited Ashesblog HQ to give his thoughts on the day’s proceedings, simply click on the image to listen:

boon