Disaster

Having not played cricket at the weekend I was all the more eager to put in a good performance in last nights cup match. Sadly I was unable to score a single run in the fourteen balls I faced. On the plus side, the opposition didn't despatch me having hogged the crease all that time.

Nine of my team were clean bowled and the last man in played a good positive shot that was cought by a good positive fielder.

The opposition bowling was near faultless, if it wasn't on line with the stumps it was going down the leg side (Not my best side). I knew that once I'd hit a good shot off the bat, I'd settle in but without anything wide of the off stump (my striking zone) I didn't want to take a chance only to hear the stumps tumble behind me. Sadly the loose ball never came so despite not giving my wicket away, I still let the side down. Every ball I got the bat on went straight to a fielder, there wasn't even the chance of a quick single.

With a low total to chase, the opposition had us beaten with overs and wickets to spare... Not as many as I thought though, our bowlers did well considering.

That wasn't the worst of it though, when I was at the crease one of the deliveries hit me on my left foot between my second and third smallest toes. The pain at the time wasn't too bad but the swelling and bruising that followed left me unable to walk to work today (and Friday) as planned. I'm even a doubt for the game this Saturday but hopefully the swelling will have reduced by then... Apparently you can get cricket shoes with toecaps - I'll be off to Tony Pryce on pay day then.

I'm a bit gutted that I'm in only my third week and I'm having to suspend training already (I was supposed to go for a jog on sunday but that's doubtful too). But at least it was due to physical injury rather than a lack of will.

I'll have to see how quickly I heal before I set any targets for next week, I refuse to let this be anything more than a minor setback. It might just mean that I don't start running to work until next month.

I've been thinking about doing the mile for Sports Relief. On the plus side it's a bit of distance running but on the down side, it's only a short sprint compared with the marathon and Sports Relief isn't really a charity I believe in - several of its overseas projects are for India which as I said before isn't short of money itself, unlike many African countries where many people live in extreme poverty and there isn't wealthier middle and upper classes to help support them.