Champing at the Bit

Sunday 1 April

Posted by Peter Davies

Trent Bridge

At last! The new season. This year I have been champing at the bit for the new season to start. I was getting very impatient indeed. Nottingham on a sunny spring day was a fine place to start - my first visit to Trent Bridge in quite a while.

In fact, the place has come on leaps and bounds and many PCWs now rate it as one of the foremost grounds in the country - behind only Lord's and The Oval. And it is easy to see why: good facilities, gleaming stands, and a modern general feel.

I arrived just after 11, with the Loughborough MCCU in the field. Notts made good progress and, staggeringly, had 200+ on the board by lunch. Lots of nice strokeplay in evidence but it could be a long, hard summer for the students.

I have invested in a Notts season ticket this summer (country member) and this enabled me to sit in the pavilion on a generally quiet day.

I visited the club shop and bought some books, then had a cup of tea in the (quite empty) pavilion. Then a wander round the pavilion and a cool drink. Also went upstairs in the pavilion and ended up in a very nice bar area overlooking the pitch which seemed to be out of bounds to me, even though I was a member. Weird.

Notts kept on piling on the runs and then I had to go for my train.

Got a taxi to the train station. A pleasant afternoon. The season has started!