Sitting here in my
university room, 2018 cricket season’s an absolute lifetime ago, but 2019
season also seems a lifetime away as I eagerly await the start of the season again,
so I thought this would a good time to reflect on my own 2018 season.
This season started
with the inevitable, me lugging around revision guides and flashcards to
Edgbaston to witness Warwickshire’s start to their promotion hopes. However, come
July, textbooks were out the window, exams sat for the second time round and my
summer was devoted to cricket, just for a change, and it was a full on season…
As always, a large
part of my summer is spent cheering on, in my opinion, the best county in the country,
Warwickshire, and this season was no different. Warwickshire are always my priority,
whether they are home or away, we always make the effort to show our support. After
a slightly disappointing previous season, I went into this year with hope that Warwickshire
could return to Division 1 and secure promotion connivingly, and they just did
that! In terms of red ball for Warwickshire, all season they displayed excellent
performances to give them the deserved Division two title, and put them in the
top tier, back where we belong! The team this year looked revitalised, with
signings such as Will Rhodes & Dom Sibley making good first impressions and
settling into the team very well. Veterans Trott and Bell showed that class truly
is permanent as time and time again their incredible form was on display for
everyone to see. Although, it wasn’t all cheerful, as Trott announced that this
would be his last season for Warwickshire which was a sad day for us all, but watching
him flourish in his farewell season was a pleasure. Its undoubtable that he
will leave a huge hole at Edgbaston, both on and off the field but he has been
an outstanding player for both England & Warwickshire and he deserves the
upcoming rest I think!
Over to limited overs
cricket for Warwickshire, which was less successful than the County Championship,
as in the RLODC and T20 Blast, they failed to progress past group stage
unfortunately. White ball cricket has always been a strength for Warwickshire,
however this season it wasn’t to be, but next year we will come back stronger!
This wasn’t to say there was some amazing performances, such as Ian Bell
scoring a magnificent century in the Blast, against Northants where he scored
131 off 62 balls in front of an energetic (slightly inebriated) Hollies stand. Another
stand out performance is the crowd at Edgbaston that Warwickshire fans immerse
themselves in. The Hollies stand boasts one of the best atmosphere’s in cricket
and this is no different for a T20 game at Edgbaston under the lights. The
support for the lads is incredible, the chants are non – stop (We all love you
Jeetan…oooohhh) and provides ample entertainment on a Friday night!
Watching Warwickshire
for the majority of my cricket season is something which I love doing and one
thing I miss more than anything during the off-season is the people that I am
used seeing every week in the stands. I maintain the opinion that one of the
best things about cricket is the people you meet through it, and these people continue
to show me why. Edgbaston is one incredible cricket ground, and not a bad
meeting spot either. These have been the making for some great cricket trips
this year, from the beauty of Tunbridge Wells, the rivalry at Worcester and some
midland trips to Nottingham and Derby.
My season isn’t complete
either without the usual antics of travelling around the country to see England
play, with this summer taking me of course to Edgbaston, as well as Trent
Bridge and Southampton. Firstly, it was
the start of the ODI series against the strong India side at Trent Bridge, and
for this game India proved to be too strong for England as they dominated the
whole game and England slumped. However this game did prove to be an anomaly in
the series as eventually England won 2-1 after some incredible white ball cricket
from them after the slight slip at Trent Bridge.
Then came the first
day of Edgbaston test match against India, where the brilliance of Sam Curran
put us in strong position against India, although I was gutted that I couldn’t see
the England victory in the final days of the test!
To conclude the India
series, I took the trip down to Southampton with Lettie, which is always one of
my favourite cricket weekends, and thanks to England winning the test series
here, that isn’t changing soon! Nothing beats sitting in scorching hot weather,
watching England on top in the test match and listening to the grumbles of the
India fans whilst England fans are in full voice as we headed to another test
series win. However, that weekend came with a bittersweet feeling, as when we
departed Southampton it was announced that the next and final test of the
summer would also be Cook’s last test for England, fair to say I got a few
looks on the train having a little cry to myself…
This season was different
for me though, as for the first time some of the time watching games was spent
sat in the press box, reporting on the game. The opportunity to experience
journalism in cricket was one that I welcomed with open arms and has been absolutely
amazing this season. Therefore, special mention to everyone at Deep Extra Cover
who have been so welcoming this season, put up with all of my rookie questions
and gave me this chance! The opportunity from this has been something I could
have only previously dreamt of, such as reporting on the prospect and trail
days of the proposed ‘The Hundred’ format and getting to interview some of
Warwickshire’s top performers. I always wondered what it would be like to be a
journalist in cricket and this season I got a glimpse of it and realised its something
I would love to continue. Plus, its quite funny to watch the shock on people’s
faces when you tell them you write about cricket in your spare time and the
reply is, ‘’but you’re a girl?’’, sorry is it really that hard to believe a
girl can be into cricket these days!? It’s a good little bonus as well that
when its freezing outside, I have the warm press box to sit and watch cricket
from!
Now I’m at University
Of Birmingham, and even closer to Edgbaston, bring on April when cricket will
be back down the road and my summer devoted to cricket will continue…
2018 season, you were
incredible…
Until 2019…
