Meeting A Legend

Before I start .. a 3rd apology. The song 'The Universal' by Blur is not in the Lloyds TSB advert either! It is in fact in the British Gas advert and I have triple checked to make sure it is.. I don't want to be humiliated again...

Yesterday was a good day. I was incredibly tired even before we set off but to hell with it, I enjoy driving and the sun was blazing so I went on my way with that packet of Pro Plus. It had kicked in a bit by that stage but I needed 7 more tablets throughout the day to keep me awake. It took us a fair while to get to Lord's aswell with a fair bit of expected traffic in London and then parking in completely the wrong place.. so another 40 minute walk on top of that! We were an hour and a half late and missed Bedford School's winning fielding performance in their semi-final. They won their semi-final fairly comfortably but were then slaughtered in the final by a team from a place I had never heard of.. It was a good day and the weather was just glorious. So much so I even got the guns out for a part of it. Then put them away again as I realised I was blocking the cricket with them. Apologies guys.

Still, the cricket on show outside was quality, but nothing could match the cricket on show inside.. A short way into the 2nd semi-final, played out by teams I had never heard of, I overheard someone say Monty Panesar was having a net inside with the one and only, Sachin Tendulkar. Now for those of you who don't follow cricket, Sachin Tendulkar is definitely the best batsman playing the game at the moment and quite possibly the best batsman to have ever lived. A huge celebrity, especially in his home country of India, watching Tendulkar batting was something I would never get the chance to see close-up again. I went inside with the others and we were greeted by a fair few people, in complete silence, watching Monty Panesar bowl at Sachin's son, (who was an amazing batsman, just like his Father), and then watched as Sachin pulled on his pads, pulled out a beast of a bat, and started batting against the bowling machine. Everything was perfect. I was standing on the other side of the net, in absolute awe. He's only a small man but he was very strong. Not that he needed to be because every shot was coming out of the middle. Everyone in awe, in complete silence, watching the Little Master at work.

When they had finished, everyone clambered around the entrance to the nets wanting to get an autograph. Somewhat strangely, no one was bothered about Monty Panesar, the Sussex and England 'A' bowler, as everyone made a circle around the entrance. TB wanted to get a photo with him but I was thinking our chances were very limited. He signed a few autographs and I thought, "lets just ask him.." ... "Any chance of a photo Sachin?" Before I knew it, I was standing next to the legend himself. Absolutely amazing. I've had a few photographs with celebrities and met a few, but this is my best. Definitely. 28th June 2010. The day I met Sachin Tendulkar.

We went back out, shaking from the buzz of it all, and went to watch the final. Bedford School were obliterated and I started to feel overly tired. Phil Tufnell and Nasser Hussain, two ex-England players walked past and I said "Alright Tuffers!" before being greeted with a strange look.. I don't blame him.. He's not as kind as Sachin clearly.. When we eventually got back to the car, found it, then paid the ridiculous price of £17 to some attendant, we started to drive home. My eyes were incredibly weary but I felt OK, until we got to the motorway. The 32 miles of monotonous road. Throughout those 32 miles, I think I fell asleep twice and the invention of the rumble strips saved us. I had had my limit of Pro Plus and seeing as I'd never taken it before, I didn't really want more.. We did make it though. We didn't die, obviously, and when I got home I went straight up the stairs and collapsed on my bed.

Before I went to sleep though, for what ended up being 17 hours, I smiled to myself. I've just met Sachin Tendulkar today. Today has been a good day.

Laters x