It's summer. In England that means one thing - the start of the cricket season! (Most North Americans wouldn't care, though)
There's nothing better than going to your local cricket stadium, on a boiling hot summer's day, drinking gallons of cider and watching your county's team play.
This year's County Championship has just started and my team - Lancashire - are already top of Division 1. The Champions, Nottinghamshire, have lost two of the three games they have played so far and are second bottom.
But there's a long way to go.
Forget baseball. Cricket is the game to play.
Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division 1
Team.......... P ....W... L ...D.. Bat.. Bowl ..Deduct... Points
Lancashire ...3 .....2 ....0 ...1 ..10 .....9 ........0.0........51.0
Warwickshire .3.... 2.... 0.... 1.. 9......9........ 0.0 .......50.0
Sussex .........3 ....2..... 0....1... 7.. ...8 ........0.0....... 47.0
Hampshire ....3 ....1 ....1..... 1... 5.... 9 .........0.0....... 32.0
Kent ...........3 ....1 ....2 ......0.. 9.... 8 .........0.0 ........31.0
Durham ........2.... 1 ...1...... 0 ...7... 6 .........0.0......... 27.0
Yorkshire ......3 ....0 ...2 ......1 ...3... 8......... 0.0 .........15.0
Notts......... .2..... 0 ...1 ......1... 5 ...3......... 0.0 .........12.0
Middlesex ....2 ......0 ...2 ......0 ...3 ...6 ........0.0 ..........9.0
(Notts = Nottinghamshire)
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Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division 2
Team.............. P ....W... L ...D ...Bat... Bowl ..Deduct ..Points
Surrey .............3 .....2.... 0... 1.... 12..... 8....... 0.0 ......52.0
Essex ..............3 .....1 ....1 ...1 ....10..... 9........ 0.0 ......37.0
Northants......... 2..... 1.... 0 ...1.....9...... 6 .......0.0 ......33.0
Derbyshire........ 2..... 1 ....0 ...1.... 8...... 6 .......0.0 ......32.0
Somerset .........3 ......1.... 2 ...0 ....7...... 9....... 0.5 ......29.5
Leicestershire ...2 ......1 ....1 ...0.... 6 ......6....... 0.0 ......26.0
Gloucestershire. 2 .......1 ...1.... 0 ...6 ......4 .......0.0 ......24.0
Glamorgan ........2 .......0... 2 ....0... 6 ......4 .......0.5....... 9.5
Worcestershire .1 ........0... 1 ...0..... 0..... 3 .......0.0 .......3.0
(Northants = Northamptonshire)
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And in the first of the summer's International Test Matches, England are 318-3 overnight against Sri Lanka -
England's batters make Sri Lanka toil
11:14am 11th May 2006
England 318-3 - close of today's play
England made smooth progress against Sri Lanka at Lord's on the first day of the opening Test match of the summer.
Openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss batted through the first session until Strauss was caught off the bowling of spin king Muttiah Muralitharan for 48 just before lunch.
Opener Marcus Trescothick in action for England.
Trescothick, who put on 127 with Essex youngster Alistair Cook for the second wicket, recorded a stylish 106 before he also fell to Muralitharan, caught by Jayawardene.
Cook then fell late in the day for a polished 89 off the bowling of Maharoof, bringing nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard to the crease who safely saw off the final overs of the day. Kevin Pieterson is 54 not out overnight.
Alastair Cook impressed again with a superb innings of 89
© Getty Images
Andrew Flintoff won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat on a beautifully sunny and hot day at the headquarters of cricket.
The selectors handed a Test debut to Lancashire seamer Sajid Mahmood, opting to leave out Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis, who is also uncapped, and Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell from the 13-man squad announced on Sunday.
Mahmood will line up for England in an attack featuring captain Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard and Liam Plunkett while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar provided the slow bowling option.
The side includes four players - Mahmood, Panesar, Plunkett and Alastair Cook - making their first home Test appearances for the start of the three-Test series.
Yorkshire seamer Hoggard is also hoping to mark the start of the international summer by claiming the three wickets he requires to become only the 10th England bowler in history to claim 200 Test victims.
Scorecard (shortened version)
Trescothick - 106 runs
Strauss - 48 runs
Cook - 89 runs
Pietersen - 54 runs
Hoggard 2 runs
Extras - 19 (b 0, lb 3, nb 13, w 3)
To bat:
PD Collingwood, *A Flintoff, +GO Jones, LE Plunkett, SI Mahmood, MS Panesar
Fall of Wickets:
1-86 (86 AJ Strauss, 119 mins), 2-213 (127 ME Trescothick, 133 mins), 3-312 (99 AN Cook, 99 mins)
England M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, A N Cook, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, A Flintoff, G O Jones, L E Plunkett, M J Hoggard, S I Mahmood, M S Panesar
Sri Lanka W U Tharanga, J Mubarak, K C Sangakkara, D P M D Jayawardene, T T Samaraweera, T M Dilshan, C K Kapugedera, M F Maharoof, W P U J C Vaas, K M D N Kulasekara, M Muralitharan
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