Day 76: Day tripping cricket fan

 While cricket isn't as tribalistic as some other sports where you literally have your team's crest tattooed to your skin as well as a place in your heart, cricket can be different. Of course, we have a team that we would spend the rest of our lives following around the country. It is also quite feasible that being in the right place at the right team, a cricket fan will watch two random county sides do battle.

 You may have guessed my allegiances, but I have travelled the country watching teams I don't know a great deal about in places I have never been. I don't think I would have visited Gloucester otherwise, well, maybe to visit the cathedral, but I would have no other reason to be there.

When I tell people, I have been to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the primary purpose wasn't to visit Shakespeare's birthplace but to see Warwickshire play Lancashire.

On my last trip to Cambridge, there wasn't much cricket, but I did get to see Nottinghamshire's cricketers play an impromptu game of football in a park just down the road from the cricket ground.

 I love the fact that I have a decent grasp of 18 of the countries counties through cricket. I wouldn't be adverse to explore the national counties, exploring the different rivalries that don't get as much attention as Devon v Cornwall or Norfolk v Suffolk.

 These counties, of course, got some exposure when there was a knock-out cup competition in the domestic calendar. That doesn't seem achievable with the cramped fixture list, but it would add a bit of colour. Everyone knows that Nottinghamshire's real rivalry would be with Lincolnshire.

 It is a shame that there are fewer games at outgrounds these days, with some counties not venturing away from their county headquarters.

 I had a look at some of the grounds I have been lucky enough to play at. While the game I played at Chesterfield's Queens Park was over far too quickly, it was a fantastic experience knowing that some of the game's greats have trodden the same path as myself, even if they didn't get hit into the stream.

 

I genuinely want to complete the set of the main first-class grounds in England and Wales, and I'm only two away from that. Taunton and Cardiff, I am hopefully making my way to you soon.