Rear Guard Action

I thought I'd walk down to the cricket this afternoon, hoping to spend an hour in the sunshine.  Well that was the plan, but as I arrived the 8th wicket had just fallen and the sun was hidden behind clouds.  The home team were struggling at 126 for 8 and it soon became apparent that the pitch was still very soft, causing the ball to come off slow and low.  I saw about 20 minutes while the final couple of wickets were taken, the tail end putting on another 20 runs before they succumbed to the bowling.

I went and had a look at the pitch and it was immediately apparent that it was still very soft, with marks where the ball had literally scraped of the top surface on pitching.  Chatting to the groundsman you could only sympathise with his difficulties in producing good batting tracks with the current weather.  I complimented him on the outfield, and commiserated with the difficulties he was experiencing.