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13/04/2007
Who's got Rod?
It's thursday night and once again I find myself standing on a semi-deserted astroturf pitch at Bullsmoor lane - another cry of "who's got Rod!" echoes in my ears and a schoolboy grin fills my face. "Not at the moment" I predictably reply for the third time to a muted ripple of polite chuckles. It's another poor turnout of 4 versus 3 but once again it's great fun and I have to admit I still love it over there - in fact I'd turn up for Wembley doubles!
My thoughts then turn to cricket as earlier that evening I had wandered over to my now local park in Hertford to steal some bowling practice in the tennis courts. I just can't get enough of cricket at the moment and even a solo session at dusk helped to provide a much needed fix. Then the obvious question arose - which do I like best - football or cricket?
The recent poor football turn outs suggest that this may be a question that a few of us have been pondering over recently - it's a tricky one . Cricket is like a new girl in the office - intriguing, mysterious and exciting, unchartered territory that brings new challenges. But then football is your old friend - you've known it from the day you could first walk. Kick abouts in the park, jumpers for goalposts, 3 and in, a 3hr game of wembley, those nights at Hatfield, summer kick abouts on the school field, the hurst twins, under the lights at bullsmoor and this is before we even get to the thrills and spills of sunday mornings and the success of the Rosaneri as the club rolls towards a decade in the Waltham Mercury.
We don't like cricket - we love it - but lets not forget we still love football too - thursday night footy is in danger of becoming extinct so lets get the numbers back up (especially now the Spurs are out) and enjoy the last half a dozen astroturf sessions before the football goes into hibernation and the summer festival of cricket gets into full swing. (By the way Marcus - great news! Your UEFA Cup Final tickets arrived this morning - you owe me £200).
As for the cricket - bring it on! The pre-season meeting will be held at 8pm this monday (16th) at the King and Tinker in Whitewebbs Lane and that will give us an opportunity to thrash out a few final points before we get our inaugural season underway. All club members are welcome to attend.
The fixture list is really taking shape now and it's going to be a fantastic summer of cricket with trips to Tendring, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds on the itinerary. We have not yet had much response regarding your 20/20 theme songs so take Pitbull's lead and get thinking as we need time to prepare the tracks. If you don't choose a tune then one will be picked for you so it's strongly recommended that you come up with one!
The first fixture is just a few weeks away now but that feels like an eternity - no doubt a thousand imaginary cover drives will have been performed in Mr Bell's front room between now and then but soon we will be basking in the hot sun with the sound of leather on willow echoing against a ripple of applause from the pavilion where a sumptuous tea awaits.
Have you got Rod?
By
Nick Shewring
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