Home of cricket

With the cricket (England v NZ) finely poised, a day off work and cheap tickets to be had, today was the perfect opportunity to go to Lord's - one of only 3 test match venues we haven't been to.

With a picnic packed last night, and train tickets collected from the station, we caught the 7.15 train to London (no bank holiday lie in!) to be sure of getting tickets. It was clear other people had the same idea - the other 3 people on the platform also had their cool bags, umbrellas and sunhats (all the cricket essentials).
Our plans paid off - we only queued for 10 minutes to get tickets, and were in our seats by 9.30 (for an 11am start). Given that the queue soon stretched for half a mile, we made the right decision.

It was an amazing day's cricket - 4 England wickets to start things off, and then the best possible start to the NZ innings - 2 wickets in the first 2 overs and another shortly afterwards. By tea, we started to wonder if England would be able to take the 5 wickets they needed to win, bit with just 9 overs to go, they did it. Hopefully the win they need to give them confidence before facing Australia later in the summer.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures until the light was less than ideal, so the shot doesn't really do the day justice. Must remember the proper camera next time!