Storm Clouds

The Full Brew (worth the effort ... I kid you not!)

I'm an emotional wreck. I feel like I've been through the wringer today. I've had butterflies in the stomach like I haven't experienced since I was a teenager. It's the last day of the cricket season, but it wasn't really about the cricket. It was about wanting the best for your kid, wanting them to feel good about their self, wanting them to feel proud of their achievements.

The day started well with both lads departing for their matches in good spirits. I wasn't worried about No.1 son. The firsts had already secured promotion. They were setting out to enjoy themselves, with the possible bonus of being champions if they managed to win and the league leaders slipped up. Not too likely, but a possibility. I was little nervous for No.2 son. With a great performance with the ball last week he put the seconds in a position where they just needed a single point to secure promotion. They simply had to avoid losing. Unfortunately, cricket is a great leveler. It has a horrible habit of biting you back.

It soon started to go wrong. No.2 son phoned at lunchtime to tell me that while practicing before the game someone had got into the changing rooms, rifled his bag and stolen his video camera, his blackberry and £20 cash - plus his house keys. I was about to head out on the bike to grab a photo or two before the cricket started but that got scuppered by phone calls to the police to report the crime, and to the mobile network to get the phone cancelled. All were very efficiently handled I have to admit. And I even got a personal visit from a police officer. He immediately got the joke, however, when I casually asked (with a suitably straight face) if they were going to dust the changing room for fingerprints!

Back to the cricket. We lost an important toss and batted first, scoring 204 runs. If we had bowled first it would have been easier to secure the single point that we needed to get promotion, but it looked like we had enough runs. No.2 son opened the bowling but just could not get into the zone that he was in last week. He never found his rhythm, and I suspect that was down to being too wound up after the events before the game. He was striving too much, pushing too hard for what he so dearly wanted. It was so hard for me to watch him. He didn't bowl too many overs before he was taken off. For me, that replaced one agony with another. The batsmen were scoring runs too easily and it became just too hard to watch ... so I went for a spin on the bike to relax a bit. My stomach was churning.

All day the sky had been putting on a quite amazing virtuoso display, and it was just getting better and better. I took quite a few photographs dominated by these huge skies and chose the one here mainly because of the incredible light around the edges of the clouds, and that shaft of sun that was illuminating Addingham to the west. That storm cloud was heading our way and I was secretly hoping that it might drop a ton of water on us. An abandoned game would bring the single point we needed. Isn't that terrible attitude to take?

I returned to find that we had claimed 4 wickets while I was away and we were now firmly on top. It was a great moment to see that scoreboard. But just as I began to relax a little, one of the opposition batsmen started flailing the ball to all parts of the ground. Within twenty minutes the tables had turned and it was our opponents that were now on top. The butterflies returned to my stomach. You could see that heads were dropping. I was very anxious. If we were to blow it from here then my lad was going to feel responsible. Anyone who is a parent will know how I was feeling at that moment. You want something so much for them but you are powerless to do anything about it.

As the drama was unfolding the storm clouds were approaching, seemingly from all directions. To the east it was as black as the proverbial ace of spades. To the west, the sun was streaming through some more heavily laden storm clouds. We then found out that the firsts had won their game, getting the last wicket just seconds before the heavens opened. Rain was not far away to the east. We also heard that it was raining very heavily to the west. We were sitting under the one patch of blue sky for miles around! Just to complete the dramatic scene a rainbow appeared, and then a double rainbow. It was like a portent!

Well ... in the end we didn't need any divine weather intervention. We finally broke through with a wicket, and then another ... and before too long the pressure came off, we bowled much better and won the game with some comfort. No.2 son hadn't contributed today, but he did his bit last week. He came off the field very happy. We then found out that the league leaders had conspired to slip up in their game and the firsts were champions. No.1 son had contributed a peerless little cameo with 3 glorious cover drives, so he was able to finish the season on a personal high as well as a team high. They will be partying hard tonight. As for me ... I just need to sleep. I'm exhausted!

Here is a team picture taken immediately after the game. They look pretty happy. Who is prepared to pick out the one that belongs to me? If anyone says the guy bottom right then they will never get another comment from me again!