If you are in London and keen to dust off the pads for the 2010 season then get in touch with the chaps from The London NZ Cricket Club (Any Kiwi’s based in London are welcome to bend the back and erupt through cow corner).
It’s a cracking wee club that get invited to play at some sensational grounds in and around London. Click HERE to view the website and get in touch to register your interest.
They also have a fairly healthy social calender including the famous club ‘Drinks Party’ at NZ House in April time…an ideal start to the 2010 season.
From the attic in Newtown comes the long-awaited next episode from the BYC crew, including the Exchange4Free.com Sell-Outs of the Week and al the other usual shenanigans…listen in to the streaming version just below…nail the RSS feed for your Pod catcher…or visit The BYC page on iTunes. The BYC archive of every episode is here.
Mike Lane has to wear more appropriate attire these days. More often than not, he was found at the cricket decked out in brown and beige, often a tight-fitting number in honour of Mark Richardson’s infamous one-piece racing suit, with a beer in one hand and binoculars in the other. As co-founder of the Beige Brigade, Lane was a bit of a rogue.
Now, however, he has more serious matters on his mind. As operations manager for the Local Organising Committee of next month’s Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, he and a staff of 25 have the important job of making sure things such as security, traffic management, transport, broadcasting, stadium renovations and media are up to Fifa standards when the tournament kicks off on December 9.
The Club World Cup will be headed by European heavyweights Barcelona, along with South American champions Estudiantes and, of course, O-League winners Auckland City.
It wasn’t just his experience with the Beige Brigade that qualified Lane for the job, although it has turned into a highly successful brand. It started in 1998 after a friend asked him where he got his retro 1980s New Zealand cricket shirt from, so he and co-founder Paul Ford employed “little old ladies” to sew more.
…it is time for this while it is still the best song about a spin bowler. (Thanks to Hywel, in a comment on that post, for the inspiration.) And here it is, live from Frome. Half Man, Half Biscuit are a band from Birkenhead, known for their humorous lyrics (and humorous titles in particular) and concern with the minutiae of provincial life.
A 2001 Guardian article by Kevin Sampson gives a good portrait of the band, even if he does think that Fred Titmus is a “fiery Yorkshire pace legend”.
As readers of this blog will know, Fred Titmus is a former Middlesex and England off spinner who was evacuated to Rutland as a child during World War II and the subject of a famous anecdote about amateurism and professionalism in cricket.
From Campbell Burnes and the crew who pulled together the NZC season guide comes a dreadful photo and a clinical start to predicting this summer’s results - 2-1 to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi.
PS/ How good are DJ Cameron’s eyebrows? Outstanding.
Episode 104 (8 November 2009) is “The Plunket Episode” in which the BYC comes to you in association with Plunket, Sachin Tendulkar, the PowePlay, the Woman Slayer, and a Mystery is the Exchange4Free.com Sellout of the Week ..listen in to the streaming version just below…nail the RSS feed for your Pod catcher…or visit The BYC page on iTunes. The BYC archive of every episode is here.
The New Zealand v Bahrain game will be on Live in London at The Southerner Speight’s Ale House on the 14th November – 7am start… Speight’s… breakfast of champions.
The Southerner is near the Temple tube station (see on a map here) and is on Facebook here
Dylan Cleaver’s piece in the Herald on Sunday today is common-sense, and even includes some polite comments about the Beige Brigade’s Sideline Slogger blog…see the full story over here at the nzherald.co.nz website.
