Making Hay

I often find that after taking a day to chill and catch up on sleep I feel really groggy next day. I still expect - as a logical conclusion - to wake up refreshed but the rest always seems to have the opposite effect. I guess it means that I need more than just the one day!

The plan was to get off early for a bike ride and be back to see the conclusion of the Test Match and also to be down at the club for Roam's third team game, where he was captaining for the first time. That didn't quite work out - although not in a bad way really. I set off some time after nine o'clock, feeling lethargic, but after half an hour the cycling and the sun and the breeze had energised me. At Pateley Bridge I was intending to turn left and climb up over Greenhow, but something inside me clicked and I found myself carrying straight on towards Lofthouse, commiting me to an 80 mile ride instead of the planned 35 miles. Once I'd done that there was no going back. There are no short-cuts on this circuit. I was also now against the clock to get back for the start of Roam's game at 2.30pm.

I really relished that challenge and I've never before enjoyed the very stiff climb out of Lofthouse so much. The legs felt good all the way around, into Wensleydale and up Coverdale, to plunge into Kettlewell over Park Rash and a brisk ride back down Wharfedale, just tiring a little at the end because I hadn't thought to pack any food! Just as I neared home I got a call from Roam to say he'd won the toss and was batting, which took the pressure off racing straight down to the club. Instead, having had my cycling head on rather than my photography one for five hours, I took the opportunity to take this shot, which captures pretty well a feeling for the landscape today. You have to make hay while the sun shines and that's exactly what I did!

Having had a score flash courtesy of a farmer in deepest West Grafton I got home expecting to be see a comfortable English victory in the Test Match only to find out that I'd missed some incredible excitement. I was kind of glad that I didn't have to sit through such tension. It was so very much a reprise of Egbaston 2005 and perhaps an omen that the whole series is going to be as riveting as that epic battle. These underdog Australians have a lot of fight. I could only have seen about half an hour of live cricket in total but I've been in touch with the score for most of what has been a compelling contest, the ascendency swapping hands with almost every session. In different circumstances, I could easily have squandered five days of my life stuck in front of the television. That's exactly what I used to do as a kid. Like many of my generation I used to watch the television with the sound turned down and have the Radio 3 commentary on the transistor, my mother despairing that my skin stayed white all summer long.

It was then down the club to see Roam, and I was greeted with the awful sight of him trudging back to the pavilion. I'd narrowly missed seeing him dismissed for a third ball duck. He is full of confidence with his batting at the moment and was absolutely devastated. As captain, though, he couldn't indulge himself in too much self-absorption and I was proud to see him soon put it behind him and rallying his team. They posted a score of 137, which was certainly possible to defend, and they did a grand job of that. I thought Roam did a great job as captain. In cricket, perhaps like no other sport, there is a lot for the captain to think about. There are decisions to be made all the time, moving the field in response to the state of the game and managing the bowlers. He bowled really well himself but despite looking like they were going to win the game for most of the innings they just couldn't take the final few wickets. He ran out of bowling options. I don't think I've ever wanted to see him win a game more, nor seen him more disappointed at the end of a game. I guess that shows how much he cares. This weekend he's bowled as well as I've ever seen him bowl, and he's finished up on the losing side twice. He really does care more about the team than his own individual performance. I'm proud of that. Now the dust has settled I hope he can take pride in that himself. It's so tough as a parent to see him being so hard on himself.