Greetings from 42000 feet in the Emirates A380 en route from Dubai to London. Its been a very busy month since the last news file and this is really the first chance I’ve had to sit down with some quiet time to pen a few thoughts and events for you.
The last part of the IPL tournament involved lots of travel between Pune and Mumbai, umpiring on field, a few more games in the commentary box and the Play Offs in Kolkata.
The travel was especially challenging at times, given the journeys between Pune and Mumbai (6 trips in all) were by car as it’s only about 150km. The first one though saw us in the car for 6 hours due to a traffic accident where a gas tanker had run off the freeway and was leaking…
This was the scene and they shut the freeway for a few hours while the area was made safe. I suppose I was better off than most in the hot and humid conditions in an air-conditioned car with my laptop while others …
It was certainly nice to finally get to our destination, unpack and get on with the job. Who said they wanted a life in professional sport jet setting around the globe?
The cricket has been exciting and I’m sure that you have probably heard that the Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings in the final. However, one notable performance that needs to be mentioned here was the innings of Chris Gayle who scored an incredible 175 not out for Bangalore. Fastest 50, fastest 100 and highest score in T20 cricket.
The Play Offs were exciting with some close matches but I suppose it was a fitting way for Tendulkar to end his T20 career with an IPL title. Doing the game with Kumar Dharmasena, Shamshuddin, Srinath and Ranjan Madugalle was a lot of fun. We had some rain just before the second last match which delayed the start causing a late finish and an arrival back to the hotel at around 2.30am. Everyone was praying for an uninterrupted Final so that the reserve day was not needed and pre booked travel arrangements could go ahead as planned.
I’ve just spent 3 days in Dubai with some work in the office attending an orientation course for our new ICC Coaching Team and we are now on our way to London for the Champions Trophy tournament and related workshop. Busy times! I’ll be staying for a week, working with the new team and seeing the tournament get under way and then looking forward to seeing the family after 10 weeks on the road. Where has the time gone?
Can’t wait to have a break and experience some of the simple things in life – a home cooked meal, my own bed and pillow and being a husband / parent.
Best wishes, Simon.
