A match to remember
Well it was which will be remembered for many years to come mainly because of England's incredible fightback, but partly because of the conditions in which it was played.
If you were listening to our coverage you will have gathered that our commentary box was buffeted by strong winds for all four days of the game.
I am reluctant to complain too much because we were at least protected from the elements unlike the crowd in Manchester, the players and our intrepid reporter Alison Mitchell.
And of course , a resident of windy , was
on-hand to let us know all we were really experiencing at was a gentle breeze!
But the loud noise the wind made became a feature of our commentary as it was impossible to stop it being heard. The conditions also led to some fantastic texts and e-mails from you.
Mike in Kent contacted us to suggest we strengthen our windows."The effects microphone makes it sound like you're in a really old and creaky commentary box. I fully expect to hear extolling the virtues of a well-known brand of double glazing at any moment," he said.
Derek Manchee emailed: "All you need now is the theme music from the , I can just see the sailing ship coming over the horizon. I hope you all have your sea legs." Andrew Rankin contacted us to say "it sounds more like the with struggling to survive."
Meanwhile many of you had your own stories of how the elements were affecting you.
Huw emailed us to ask "gents, could you turn down the effects mikes, please? I'm dripping wet, on top of a tall wobbling ladder, trying to trim a 12-foot-high hedge each time it lurches at me... and your gale-force sound effects are giving me vertigo."
However, Neil in London did ask "if the guy trimming the hedge is getting vertigo listening to your commentary why on earth is he sending emails from up the ladder?"
Kelvin in mid-Wales had a tale of good fortune. "After hearing about your man up a ladder I thought you'd like to know about my lucky escape. I was supposed to be clearing the barn next to my house but decided to listen to England's great escape instead. The barn blew down," he said.
Some listeners told us to put the wind into some sort of context. Jason in Cambridge e-mailed us with a story about his dad playing football for the Navy when he was in Malaysia. "He used to play in goal. He was playing one game when suddenly both sets of outfield players stopped at once and ran off the field in the opposite direction," he said. "My dad was initially bemused, but then he turned around and saw the tornado coming across the field behind the goal towards him. Has a tornado ever stopped play in a cricket match?"
We didn't quite find that out - although the exceptionally knowledgeable Steve Pittard did offer that "high winds stopped play in the first class match, Tasmania Combined XI v South Africa at Hobart 1963."
He never lets us down. Others had a humorous take on the conditions. Nick Hewitt from suggested this should be known forever as the "Winds on the Willow" Test match.
And finally it wasn't just the wind which got you going in the Test match. was no laughing matter but it did lead to a discussion from Vic Marks about whether if Flynn's dislodged tooth had fallen on his stumps and disturbed the bails would he have been given out.
Mat in Somerset had the solution. He emailed "in answer to Vic's question - surely that would be "out, bit wicket."
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UPDATE: 17:34 Wednesday 28th May
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To our emailer Willie Montgomery Stack - well done Willie, you got us. (Willie sent TMS a rather risqué email that we, in our innocence, didn't realise was rather rude and ended up posting to this entry. Some of the commenters below noted this, and we've now taken it out. Sorry - we hold our hands up - we were well and truly done!)
Comment number 1.
At 27th May 2008, davidhatcher wrote:I'm not trying to be crude but... Felching C.C.? Come on guys, that doesn't really exist.
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Comment number 2.
At 27th May 2008, i_am_from_switzerlan wrote:some might say new zealand were blown away by the power of monty.
others would ask, did they bottle it or what!? inexperienced players saw victory in their sights and the rest is history. taking nothing away from the 2nd innings performances from england though. lets hope they can keep it like that.
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Comment number 3.
At 27th May 2008, *Syds_Sports wrote:Felching?? Hmmm, suspect you've been had there, Adam, probably as the result of a bet - try Googling, but do it in private because you WILL be red faced! You might want to edit your article...................
Great match, great commentary, as always - looking forward to 5th June, thanks for all the TMS team's hard work.
Pam Nash
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Comment number 4.
At 27th May 2008, cecimasters wrote:Goodness Adam - it's quite surprising what you can learn from a cricket blog...crikey...
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Comment number 5.
At 28th May 2008, Sarah wrote:Filth on TMS? Well I never.
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Comment number 6.
At 28th May 2008, -Xas- wrote:Oy vey, what an education this blog has turned out to be! ;o)
Still chuckling about the Onedin Line, btw. Well done Mr Manchee. :o)
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Comment number 7.
At 28th May 2008, -Xas- wrote:Oh, and also, !?!? at the numbers of TMS listeners who knew what felching meant! Clearly you don't spend your non-TMS time listening to Today in Parliament or Gardeners' Question Time. You scurrilous lot! ;o)
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