One of my favorite things to do when I have a bit of spare time is Google Streetview the neighborhoods around cricket grounds. And since this morning we are in Nottingham, and the pitch is an absolute road and Strauss and KP look to bat all…day…long…I thought I would take a little tour of the streets around Trent Bridge – and since it is Saturday, I thought I would take my readers along with me.
And, hey, that’s Trent Bridge’s neighborhood. Not overly attractive, but nicer looking than the neighborhoods that surround American sport stadia.
I enjoyed this post, expect more like it in the future.
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In my post from a few days ago, about England’s short lived reign as the number one test team, a reader gave me a bit of a hiding in the comments for making overly presumptive statements without a point of reference. Maybe his points were justified, or maybe not, hard to tell.
Now, I don’t mind being put in my place, and I freely admit that most of my readers have more cricket knowledge in their pinky toe than I do in my whole body, but that isn’t going to stop me from having opinions, or making bold statements. Otherwise this blog will just be: hey, cricket’s great, right!?
That said, I do hope my readers take my statements with a grain of salt. This is a cricket blog, but it is not meant to be taken too seriously. It is more of a “lifestyle” blog, rather than a serious nuts and bolts site. I write about grounds and history and fashion. When I do actually get into the guts of a day’s play, I realize that I am out of depth every time – and I openly invite all readers to comment and correct me or argue with me when they feel like it. Please don’t shy away from doing so because I am so obviously ignorant of the sport or because this blog normally enjoys the “lighter” side of the game. I enjoy being challenged, and I enjoy being corrected. It’s how we all learn.
(I put lighter in quotes because I do write a lot about war, and nuclear weapons, as well.)
And I stand by my statement from a few days ago: despite what is happening today in Nottingham, this England team has yet to prove to me that they are one of the greats. But Strauss getting back in the runs is a good sign, and they still very much have the potential to be one of the greatest teams in the history of test cricket. Fact.
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Working on another longer post for later in the weekend. Keep an eye out. And cheers to all my new readers, it has been a busy couple of days, traffic-wise, here on the blog. Thanks again to those that retweet and reblog. This blog is a real joy, even when I take a hiding in the comments.
Limited Overs 
sorry if you took my replies as a hiding on your last blog – maybe i used a hammer when nutcrackers would have done the job!
englands demolition of australia in the last ashes series has already cemented their place in the history books. records fell regularly and whilst it can justifiably be argued that it was one of the weakest australia sides we have seen for a long time, the fact remains that a series win there is never easy to accomplish. to do so with three innings defeats is unheard of. merely good sides don’t do that. not many teams trounce india 4-0 either. you can say that they were understrength, demoralised, badly prepared and all the rest – it is irrelevant. you can only beat the team you are up against, and that one contained a couple of the greatest batsmen the sport has ever seen.
your point that this side is not yet a great one is obviously subject to opinion, and in comparison to say the windies of the 70s/80s or australia of the 90s/00s, they have a long, long way to go. in terms of the best side england have ever had, well, its going to be ‘up there’.
another point worth noting is that great sides are rarely labelled as such until they are no longer playing and hindsight allows us to judge their achievements better. there is definitely more to come from this side – how much more – is the big question. as you rightly say, there are a couple of big challenges on the horizon, however, were they to lose the series out in india, it should not devalue what they have already achieved.
it’s great that people such as yourself from further afield are watching and commenting even if we wont always share the same opinion on it all!
Hey, I enjoyed this post. I, too, like to take these virtual tours around cricket ground neighborhoods–lots of fun! I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who occasionally passes the time in this way!
Also glad to hear I am not alone! Hopefully, Google will get their camera cars to SE Asian cities sooner rather than later. Cheers and thanks for reading.