We have had another fabulous year of sport. Our Lionesses, somehow winning the UEFA Women’s Euros and our Red Roses played exceptionally to win the Women’s World Cup. Fabulous achievements for both teams.

 

In amongst our outings this year, we have spent a bit too much time on the sofa, not only watching and cheering these ladies on, but also watching cricket, both mens and ladies in all formats. It has seemed no sooner one tour finished than another began.

Life hasn’t centered, entirely, around the sofa. we have also managed to visit several grounds to watch a variety of matches in person.

May 2025 – We took ourselves off to Canterbury to see the England Ladies squad in a T20 against West Indies. 🏏.

It was our first visit to the Spitfire Ground, quite close to the City Centre. A lovely, relaxed atmosphere, with cheerful, friendly staff, from security, to ticket checkers to the youngsters behind the bar. Apart from the hospitality area, there was no reserved seating, so we could choose the view we wanted and move position at any point should we so wish. Others had brought their own seats and took their vantage points on the grassed areas around the ground. Kids were playing their own matches in the background, whilst their parents watched the main match. The best view of all, though was from the apartment block, with balconies that overlooked the ground. There were several match parties happening as they looked down on the pitch. Perfect 👌

This was the first game under their newly appointed captain and newly appointed head coach, so it would be an interesting evening. With the West Indies first in to bat, they put up a respectable score of 146 in the 20 overs. However it was pretty much a one woman show as one of their opening batters scored 100 of those runs. But they’d given the English girls a target.

Our ladies were on good form and with a glorious sunset, turning the skies above the ground golden, they knocked the ball across the boundary and ran between the wickets, slowly knocking off the runs required. The West Indies didn’t make it easy, but with just 3 of our batters scoring 150 runs between them in 16 1/2 overs, it was a comfortable win for the squad.

July 2025 – My brother managed to pick up some discounted tickets to the 1st Central Ground in Hove for a Vitality Blast double header. Sussex Sharks Women vs Middlesex followed by Sussex Sharks Men vs Hampshire Hawks. With a few spits of rain as we arrived, we hoped it wouldn’t be a rerun of our washed out visit last year. Along with my Brother and Niece, we opted for a drink and a bite to eat at the pub just outside the gate, so should the rain persist, we could stay in the dry until it passed.

Fortunately the weather was on our side this time and after a short delay the Women’s game got under way. With the away side batting 1st they put up a reasonable score of 167 for the fall of 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. The home side put up a good fight and were unlucky to finish just 15 runs behind at the close of play.

During the break before the Men’s game, we acquired some of the home supporters distinctive head gear, wearing it in the hope it might spur them on to victory. They were also quite good at keeping the ears warm as the evening temperature dropped. My Sister in Law and another Niece joined us to watch the 2nd match also donning the supporters headgear.

Once again it was the away side to bat 1st. They sadly for us, knocked the ball all around the pitch, over Sussex Sharks heads to run between the wickets and over the boundary line scoring fours and sixes. although their wickets tumbled, they managed a score of 196 for the fall of 8 wickets in the 20 overs.

Our boys put up a brave fight, but couldn’t quite connect with the ball to keep up with the run rate. Their wickets also started to tumble, but at a faster rate than the away side. They were sadly all out for 134, without completing all their overs.

Oh well, we hadn’t got the results we would have liked, but we had enjoyed a great afternoon and evening of cricket, with lovely company and the rain had held off too.

A great way to spend a Summer Saturday.

August 2025 – The month of August lends itself to The Hundred competition. a slightly different and relatively new family friendly format. Our nearest ground that hosts the competition is the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. Not a million miles away, but with it also being a double header, it requires an overnight stay. Fortunately there is a hotel just across the road from the ground, which has become our cricket stopover.

This time we travelled down with a couple of like minded, cricket loving friends. We acquired some complimentary tickets to a match at the Oval last year and as we were unable to attend, our friends were able to enjoy them and said they’d like to join us on our next visit the Utilita.

The home teams, Southern Brave, both playing today against Welsh Fire. Our ladies team had won all of their previous matches and a win today would put them straight into the final. They didn’t hit a massive score, and at 106 for 8 wickets winning wasn’t a certainty, but in the end they didn’t let us down and kept the Welsh Fire to 77 for 9 wickets from their 100 balls.

So it was straight to the final the crowd, erupting into loud cheers.

The men’s game, wasn’t quite so significant as even winning wouldn’t secure them a place in the top three, and the play offs. However our boys, batting 1st, added a fair score of 167 for the fall of 7 wickets in their 100 balls. The win was by no means a certainty and Welsh Fire fought hard to keep on target. Fortunately our boys, kept them at bay, but only by 4 runs, with them closing at 163.

A good day all round for Southern Brave, and for us as we’d seen two excellent matches.

September 2025 – Although this had been the first match tickets we’d purchased this year, it was to be our last live match and we were once again at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. A One Day International, playing 50 overs, England Men’s team verses South Africa.

Slight rain delayed the start of the match, but fortunately it didnt last very long. We had fabulous seats, with a great view of the pitch and we were soon settled and looking forward to what we hoped would be an exciting match. With the England boys, first into bat, they weren’t hanging around and the ball was being knocked all around the ground.

They were flying and we not only saw one of the new comers score his first century in ODI for England, at 414 it was the teams 5th highest International ODI score. Brilliant batting, now all their bowlers had to do was prevent South Africa from doing the same.

We decided to grab a couple of drinks during the break, and as we were heading back to our seats the game restarted and a massive cheer rang our. We’d missed the first wicket of the innings on just the second ball. Sadly for South Africa the wickets just kept tumbling. After just 9 overs half of the team had had the walk back to the pavilion. The remaining half didn’t fair much better and after just 21 of the allotted 50 overs the entire team had fallen for just 72 runs.

The England boys had played a fabulous match and we had witnessed no only some great batting, and some brilliant bowling, England had sealed the biggest winning margin in ODI history.

We were just glad that England had batted first, otherwise it might have all been over in the blink of an eye.

How lucky have we been to have secured tickets to four different formats of the game this season, including watching both our international teams enjoy significant wins.

Very much looking forward to seeing what 2026 has to offer.