NEW ZEALAND February - March 2008
TOURING THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE SHEEP
New Plymouth from my maiden helicopter flight
St. Andrews wooden church at Cambridge
Open gold mine at Waihi
Christchurch from the Cashmere Hills
French settlement of Akaroa (top right)
Llama and Alpaca farm
Marlborough Sound near Picton
Kuaotunu on the Coromandel Peninsula
Sam Outtrim receives his 2007-08 award for the most senior team wickets (48) Johnsonville CC, watched by Club President, Alan Isaac
Market Reserve Building - the first to be completed after the 1931 Napier earthquake
The Six Sisters Cottages - survivors of Napier's earthquake
New Zealand Christmas Tress (Pohutukawa) at Akaroa
EDEN PARK, AUCKLAND
My over-elevated view of play
The official scorers' view near ground level
The original Eden Park Pavilion
A replacement drop-in rugby pitch heads for the middle
LANCASTER PARK, CHRISTCHURCH
Pitch view from outside the TMS box
My view!
Triffids guard the mid-wicket boundary
A water cart halts a dust storm heading towards the players
SEDDON PARK, HAMILTON
THE TOWER OF DOOM
Stuntmen below our TMS box (second from top with open patio door)
Stuntmen below our TMS box (second from top with open patio door)
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
View through the door passed by health and safety
View through the door passed by health and safety
VIEW OF THE PAVILION END
Teams warm up before the start of play
Teams warm up before the start of play
MY VIEW
Through two layers of tinted glass as Chris Martin runs in
Through two layers of tinted glass as Chris Martin runs in
McLEAN PARK, NAPIER
CENTENNIAL STAND
The TMS box is the left half of the overheated potting shed on the extreme left
The TMS box is the left half of the overheated potting shed on the extreme left
McKENZIE STAND
With such a tiny capacity, it will soon make way for a Rugby World Cup revamp
With such a tiny capacity, it will soon make way for a Rugby World Cup revamp
FRANCIS PAYNE
Doyen of New Zealand statisticians and scorers
Doyen of New Zealand statisticians and scorers
MY VIEW
England about to clinch their first overseas win since 2004-05
England about to clinch their first overseas win since 2004-05
NEW PLYMOUTH
Designed by an Irish turf expert, John (Darby) Claffey in the late 1870s, Pukekura Park, with its terraced banking, is one of the world's most picturesque grounds. Sandwiched between botanical gardens and the Tasman Sea, it stages many of Central Districts' first-class matches and, in 1992, saw Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka amass 625 runs in a World Cup game.
WELLINGTON
WESTPAC STADIUM
aka The Cake Tin, the limited overs venue
aka The Cake Tin, the limited overs venue
THE BASIN RESERVE
My view from the Gondola
My view from the Gondola
CRICKET MUSEUM and
R. A. VANCE STAND
NZ's finest cricket museum and the stand housing the TMS box in its eaves
R. A. VANCE STAND
NZ's finest cricket museum and the stand housing the TMS box in its eaves
CAPACITY CROWD AT THE BASIN
The Hill on Saturday when the gates were shut for the first at a Test
The Hill on Saturday when the gates were shut for the first at a Test
GUEST BROADCASTERS
SIR RICHARD HADLEE
New Zealand's greatest bowler with 431 Test wickets
New Zealand's greatest bowler with 431 Test wickets
GLENN TURNER
New Zealand's greatest batsman with 103 first-class hundreds
New Zealand's greatest batsman with 103 first-class hundreds
DERMOT REEVE
Sussex, Warwickshire and England. Now domiciled in New Zealand.
Sussex, Warwickshire and England. Now domiciled in New Zealand.
ARNIE SIDEBOTTOM
Yorkshire and England, who saw his son take a hat-trick at Hamilton
Yorkshire and England, who saw his son take a hat-trick at Hamilton
NATHAN ASTLE
Scorer of the fastest 200 in Tests (153 balls)
Scorer of the fastest 200 in Tests (153 balls)
ISA GUHA and
CHARLOTTE EDWARDS
With the Women's Ashes Trophy they had just retained at Bowral
CHARLOTTE EDWARDS
With the Women's Ashes Trophy they had just retained at Bowral
GILES CLARK
Chairman of the ECB
Chairman of the ECB
JOHN SHEPHERD
Kent, Gloucestershire and West Indies all-rounder
Kent, Gloucestershire and West Indies all-rounder
LORD'S TAVERNERS v FLY EMIRATES XI IN DUBAI
18 and 20 January 2008
18 and 20 January 2008
Batman's view of the clay pitches and
Dubai Aluminium Company pavilion
Dubai Aluminium Company pavilion
The Fly Emirates and Lord's Taverners teams.
View from my commentary position. Bowler - James Kirtley. Umpire - Andrew Caddick
Dubai Aluminium Ground unde lights
View from Floor 21 of the Fairmont Hotel
Wind towers in Old Dubai
Dubai Creek
Desert camel sanctuary
2007 SEASON
PORTMAN BS UNDER-15 NATIONAL CLUB CRICKET CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
Bournemouth Sports Club
Rachael Scholes, the competition's first female semi-finalist, fielding for Mansfield Hosiery Mills
Portman's presentation podium
Tunbridge Wells CC - 2007 winners from 1704 entrants
FRIENDS PROVIDENT TROPHY FINAL
'Ote the Goat' Gibson, veteran Man of the Match
Simon Brown, Durham's first home-grown Test cricketer
An injured Steve Harmison is grilled by 'Aggers'
An empty Lord's witnessed Durham's reserve day victory
ENGLAND v INDIA
THIRD TEST - THE OVAL
John Lithgow, American RSC actor learning cricket
Shashi Tharoor, Indian UN official and writer
Farokh Engineer, Lancashire and India
India's vultures surround Sidebottom and Prior during the last rites
SECOND TEST - TRENT BRIDGE
Fans celebrate India's fifth victory in England
McFly drummer Harry Judd chats to Aggers
Michael Vaughan celebrates his 17th Test hundred
Sunil Gavaskar's wristy command of a choc ice
FIRST TEST - LORD'S
Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) grilled by Aggers on his 18th birthday
With Ranu Bose, India's reserve swing bowler and former Corsham player
A rare sunny interval at Headquarters
Nicholas Parsons, our View from the Boundary Guest
KWIK CRICKET
Alice, The Beardless Wonder, in action at the Devizes Kwik Cricket Tournament
Kwik Cricket takes centre stage at Old Trafford
WILTSHIRE CRICKET
WILTSHIRE v CORNWALL
MINOR COUNTIES TROPHY
WILTSHIRE v CAMBRIDGESHIRE
WILTSHIRE v CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Devizes Sports Club Pavilion
The hosts batting in a forlorn run chase
ENGLAND v WEST INDIES
FOURTH TEST - CHESTER-LE-STREET
My view of the rained-off first day
Somerset's cricketing knights - Sir Viv Richards and Sir Beefy
'Billy' Bowden shows Vic Marks his crooked dismissal finger
The Riverside Ground from the roof of Lumley Castle
THIRD TEST - OLD TRAFFORD
My view of Monty Panesar's ten-wicket haul
Lancashire CCC celebrates the TMS Golden Jubilee
David Lloyd fails to fool Viv Richards with his Simon Dee wig
Corey Collymore's belated dismissal confirms England's retention of the Wisden Trophy
SECOND TEST - HEADINGLEY
Peter Moores introduces his one-man slip-catching practice
Rare sunny view form the TMS box
Sir Viv Richards and Tony Cozier describe West Indies' heaviest defeat ever
Snake charmers in the Western wastes
FIRST TEST - LORD'S
My view from the Media spaceship
Patron of the German Cricket Board with (left) its president, Brian Fell, and (right) Werner Grosse, Lord Mayor of Werder, who has provided a new ground and was watching cricket for the first time
'Blowers' helps Shilpa Patel overcome a chair shortage
Trevor Bailey returns to the microphone
