Stormy Weather

[Nick Armstrong]

It's like Harold Larwood and Willemina Voce!!

[marthe]

Well I don't know Harold and Willemina but I do know about Hoveringham gravel lorries. Hoveringham Gravels provided work for all sorts of people including young archaeologists! Friends lived in the village of Hoveringham itself. I believe the company had a woolly mammoth as a mascot or emblem because the remains of one were found in the local gravels. Before living near Nottingham, I worked at a site in Essex overlooking the Thames Estuary. We were, again, working in advance of gravel quarrying with the Hoveringham Gravels dragline always present in the background.

[amateur51]

It's like Harold Larwood and Willemina Voce!!

[Nick Armstrong]

Well I don't know Harold and Willemina

Cricketing gag - side-splitting for the aficionados, no doubt! ... Harold Larwood and Bill Voce were famous Nottinghamshire cricketers of yesteryear, but I have no idea about Willemina - did Harold bowl fast and loose with Bill's sister?

[antongould]

A feeble attempt to change the gender of Bill to fit the Rumpole / Marthe exchange - sorry. Should Bodyline be mentioned at this time of great national pride not perhaps our finest hour?

[marthe]

Sorry, that one went way over my head. Cricket wasn't on my radar during my Nottingham days, though I probably went past Trent Bridge many times on my way home from the uni without realising that it was sacred ground. Twenty years later (1990s) we became involved with a local cricket club started up by a motley bunch of ex-pats. The "we" means that my daughter and I made platters full of sandwiches for the tea interval at home matches. My husband was the club secretary and our son had both cricket and baseball bats for a while. I had barely begun to understand the meaning of LBW when my other half decide that cricket was taking up too much of his weekend time. The club is playing a 20th anniversary match this Sunday! Time flies.

[marthe]

I meant to post about today's weather to keep on topic: dreary with bright intervals. There was no chance to see the tranist of Venus. Well that's it for my lifetime.

[Nick Armstrong]

Flaming June...

The Guardian says An unseasonable Atlantic storm is set to batter the UK, with gale-force winds and heavy rain expected in many parts of the country on Thursday, continuing and spreading into Friday.

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for south-west England from early Thursday afternoon, with an amber warning issued for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Gusts of up to 70mph are expected to hit coastal areas by mid afternoon, risking damaging trees and dislodging roof tiles. Travel may also be disrupted and with many children on half term this week, family plans and holidays are likely to be dampened.

The forecaster Mark Seltzer said: "Strong winds, possibly up to gale force, are expected from the afternoon onwards in south-west England, particularly Devon and Cornwall."

The bad weather will spread across the country with Wales also expected to be whipped by strong winds. "On Friday the warning is extended to include south Wales and many parts of southern England as well as the south-west, again with a risk of gales. The public should be careful when they are outside, and there is a danger of damage to trees," he said.

[Nick Armstrong]

Sorry, that one went way over my head.

Known as a "bouncer" marthe, or a "bumper"... Very germane to the issue (did you know that when writing that phrase? A cunning cricketing pun? ): Larwood was a protagonist in the "Bodyline" saga - see below.

"During the 1970s to 1980s, bouncers were used as part of a team's intimidatory tactics, especially by the West Indies team. In 1991, the International Cricket Council introduced a "one bouncer per batsman per over" rule in an attempt to discourage use of intimidation. However, the ruling was not well-received by players and umpires alike, with English umpire Dickie Bird describing it as "farcical" as he felt that calling intimidatory tactics should be left to the umpire. The ICC changed it to two bouncers per over in 1994 before changing it again to one bouncer per over in 2001.

Fast leg theory, the deliberate and sustained bowling of bouncers aimed at the body, was a tactic used by England against Australia in 1932/33, dubbed the Bodyline series by the Australians. This controversial tactic caused the Laws of Cricket to be reformed to prevent any recurrence.

In 1954-55 at Sydney the England fast bowler Frank Tyson bowled bouncers at the Australian Ray Lindwall, who returned the favour by hospitalising Tyson with one of his own. An angry Tyson returned with a large lump on his head and took 6/85 in the second innings to give England a 38-run victory. More recently in 1994 at the Oval Devon Malcolm was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Fanie de Villiers. The incensed Malcolm told the South Africans "You guys are history" and took apart their second innings with 9/57.

There have been several occurrences of injurious bouncers in recent times. In 2006, Australian opener Justin Langer, was struck on the head in his 100th Test from a bouncer from Makhaya Ntini and hospitalised. In 2008 West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was knocked out for several minutes after being hit by a bouncer from Australian fast bowler Brett Lee during a test match.

[aeolium]

Fast leg theory, the deliberate and sustained bowling of bouncers aimed at the body, was a tactic used by England against Australia in 1932/33, dubbed the Bodyline series by the Australians.

That description of leg theory was disputed by Jardine and others as a tactic used in that series - it was an aggressive tactic whereby fast bowlers bowled at or outside leg stump, both full and short, with a packed leg side field to catch the ball as the batsman fended it off. Larwood bowled quite a number of his victims, including Ponsford and Bradman, as they stepped away to the leg side. Bradman, who was supposed to be the main target of leg theory, was only hit once during the series.

Of course, the Aussies got their own back with Lillee and Thomson in the 1970s. Thomson: "I enjoy hitting a batsman more than getting him out. I like to see blood on the pitch. Stiff upper lip? Let's see how stiff it is when it's been split".

Not great cricket weather in Edgbaston today

[Anna]

Flaming June...

The Guardian says [[I]An unseasonable Atlantic storm is set to batter the UK, with gale-force winds and heavy rain expected in many parts of the country on Thursday, continuing and spreading into Friday.

Flaming Nora!! I think we've had a dress rehearsal today, so far 13.5mm of rain, wind gusting at 35mph, cloud obscuring the hills. Still, look on the bright side, only 14 days to go till the Longest Day and then it's downhill from there on .... One thing that crossed my mind, in view of S_A's prediction that we will have no Summer. The Olympics, do all the stadiums have roofs or will some events be in the open air?

[Serial_Apologist]

Flaming Nora!! I think we've had a dress rehearsal today, so far 13.5mm of rain, wind gusting at 35mph, cloud obscuring the hills. Still, look on the bright side, only 14 days to go till the Longest Day and then it's downhill from there on .... One thing that crossed my mind, in view of S_A's prediction that we will have no Summer. The Olympics, do all the stadiums have roofs or will some events be in the open air?

Can someone else answer that one?

[salymap]

Oh Anna, I've tried not to think about the longest day being nearly here. My back trouble and really bad pain has stopped me posting much, and a neighbour said that I will probably feel better when the summer comes.

Perhaps this is all there is this year. Help!

[EdgeleyRob]

Getting p****d off with getting p****d on !

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh Anna, I've tried not to think about the longest day being nearly here. My back trouble and really bad pain has stopped me posting much, and a neighbour said that I will probably feel better when the summer comes.

Perhaps this is all there is this year. Help!

My heart goes out to you, saly. I know what severe back pain can feel like. Fortunately for me, mine is pretty much under control for most of the time these days, as long as I don't overdo it.