England beaten by the rain as Harman wins The Open
“The sun and the rain. Walk with me fill my heart again”
This all singing all dancing chapter from my second book on Test Match cricket “The Spirit of Cricket” is brought to you by a man in a Beatles t-shirt singing a song by Madness as he laments the end of the 2023 Ashes Summer whilst getting his suntan from standing in the English rain.
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Sunday 23rd July 2023
Your timeline of sporting madness
8am: Aussie Rules Football accompanies my first cup of tea on a dull, rainy Sunday morning. I enter part way through the third quarter as the home team “Demons” of Melbourne extend their lead over the visiting “Crows” from Adelaide. I cheered for the visitors and underdogs who repeatedly clawed their way to near parity on the score line before the Demons eventually ran out winners 97–93.
Always seems strange watching football being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground!
9.30am: Full English breakfast. A second cup of tea for the day. Prayers given to the weather gods to avoid Manchester with their rain. Jokes made on Twitter that no-one in their right mind would laugh at. Remark on my childish delight when watching “Oppenheimer” yesterday and the notions posited by quantum physicists that the real world we all see, hear, touch, smell, taste and experience can’t possibly be real. Yes, even that book you’re holding or the plastic device you’re reading these scrambled sporting notes on.
It’s started raining.
10.15am: Hopeful signs at Old Trafford as the opening live coverage comes from the outfield, a wet and sodden outfield, but it’s not raining and an umpire’s inspection is due for 11am. Prospects for play starting around Noon are whispered amid tales from ex England captain Michael Atherton describing last night’s rain in Manchester as “biblical” with over 18 inches falling overnight. Amid much mirth and laughter from fellow ex England cricketer Mark Butcher, Atherton confirms he meant millimetres rather than inches, but soon enough the rain begins to fall in earnest once more and Ian Ward, the third of our trio of ex England internationals confirms the now heavy falling rain to be “horrid” and my attention turns to The Open championship golf from nearby Liverpool with a heavy, doom laden sigh.
11am: 40 or so miles away from an Old Trafford beneath an umbrella of rain, Liverpool is clear with play underway and major favourites such as Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler already coming to the end of their respectively poor tilts at lifting the famous “Claret Jug”. Fellow American Brian Harman may lead by 5 strokes overnight but he has over 3 hours to wait to even tee-off in pursuit of victory and it’s still anyone’s tournament to win in the dreadful weather conditions expected this afternoon.
11.45am: It’s now raining as heavily in Liverpool as it is in Manchester.
Deep sigh.
12.15pm: Listening to “Test Match Special” (TMS) brings the good news of covers being removed at Old Trafford, an early lunch, an umpire’s inspection, and play now scheduled to start at 1pm.
12.25pm: Covers removed. Wicket prepared. Players forgoing lunch for extra practice. But it’s started raining again.
12.30pm: Brooks Koepka, resplendent in a rather fetching pink jumper, is having a “terrible day” according to Dame Laura Davies on Sky TV’s coverage of The Open golf.
You want to be a fan of the England cricket team Brooks!
12.35pm: “There’s a touch of the Lee Van Cleef in Max Homa” chirped Sky TV’s veteran golf commentator Ewen Murray. It’s raining in Manchester, the lack of cricket is getting to me, and I’ve resorted to quoting majestic sports broadcasters riffing on actors from seven decades ago.
12.40pm: Raining again in Manchester. Start officially delayed again.
The walls are beginning to bend.
1pm: Persistent drizzle at Old Trafford ensures the covers remain in place for a continuing delayed start which clearly hasn’t translated to the gaggle of England cricketers playing football on the outfield. Oh those perfect juxtapositions of life!
1.10pm: TMS confirms the drizzle has turned to rain in Manchester and yet the England players continue playing football. 40 or so miles away in Liverpool the rain is now “horizontal” according to golf commentator Andrew Colthart, ably demonstrated by the television pictures obscured by the rain teeming down the camera lens.
England’s Ashes dreams are washing away in the rain of a north western English Summer.
1.45pm: I’ve opened a packet of chocolate eclairs. It feels like a chocolate eclairs kind of afternoon. It’s still raining in Manchester as Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy drills a ginormous putt for a birdie through the driving rain of Liverpool.
2pm: As Rory McIlroy adds a further birdie to his total to stand 7 shots from the still yet to tee-off leader Brian Harman, the rain is teeming down in both of these storied north western cities with Ian Ward describing the current weather position in Manchester as “appalling” and “rancid”.
2.15pm: 36 year old Brian Harman from Savannah, Georgia tees off his final round in this year Open Championship on 12 under-par (-12) and a 5 shot lead over the field. The multi, multi, multi waggling pre-shot style of the lefty may take some getting used to for newer viewers today, but Harman impressed me in the final two stateside tournaments prior to travelling to England and it’s been no great surprise to see him dominate the field since the end of day two.
2.40pm: A quick change of television channel and with rain pouring off the stands and seated areas of Old Trafford, clearly play is nigh on impossible and the day is heading for a complete washout. I’m loving watching the golf in such horrendous conditions as it makes for incredible sporting entertainment, but I write this with an ache in my heavy cricketing heart.
2.45pm: I’ve eaten all the chocolate eclairs.
2.55pm: Wayne “Radar” Riley, Sky TV’s on course commentator, now describes the rain falling in Liverpool as “sideways” and through these dreadful conditions overnight leader Harman has dropped a shot but still holds a 5 shot advantage over Rory McIlroy and 4 other players currently tied on -6.
3.20pm: All change in Liverpool. Spaniard Jon Rahm birdies the 5th hole, Rory McIlroy bogeys the 9th hole and Harman, a “rabbit in the headlights” according to Wayne Riley, drops a shot on the 5th hole to drop to -10 and a lead now reduced to just 3 shots.
3.35pm: Vienna born Sepp Straka birdies the 9th hole to join Jon Rahm on -7, with both players holding second place to Harman who birdies the 6th hole to stretch his lead back to 4 shots.
3.50pm: Harman birdies the 7th hole as I tentatively check in with TMS once more. The position in Manchester is described as “grim” with the rain falling as heavy as on any previous occasion today with puddles forming all around the outfield.
The last rites are on this Ashes series are playing out to a rain sodden and largely empty Old Trafford.
4.15pm: Rory McIlroy promises one final charge for the title with a birdie on the 14th hole to return to -6 and a further 6 shots behind leader Harman who has safely parred the 9th hole and turned for home. With the weather as bad as at any time today in Liverpool, there could yet be late drama in the coming 2 hours of rain drenched play.
4.35pm: I have a soft spot for American golfer Rickie Fowler and here he is soaked to the bone, just his trademark orange coloured cap barely visible through the heavily rain streaked cameras overlooking the 18th green, and he finishes with a rather pleasing birdie. 4 days. All 4 seasons of an English Summer’s day today. And he finishes his golfing week on even par for the tournament. Not over. Not under.
Just exactly as square with the course as he was when he arrived on Thursday.
4.45pm: A “horse-shoe” putt for par on the 16th means that Rory McIlroy’s race is run for another year as South Korean Tom Kim joins Sepp Straka in second place on -7, a still distant 5 shots from tournament leader Brian Harman on -12.
4.55pm: Academic now, but McIlroy sinks a birdie on the 17th to move back to -6 but more importantly, giving the rain soaked gallery of spectators something to cheer about.
5pm: Another return to TMS on the radio as I listened in for the expected news of the match being abandoned for the day and a draw announced. Jonathan “Aggers” Agnew described the rain as “belting down” on the ever widening puddles all around the outfield whilst ex England captain Michael Vaughan described Old Trafford looking like it was in “mid-November or December”.
No official announcement but the end is nigh for England.
5.15pm: Rory McIlroy is the first clubhouse leader as he finishes on -6 but it won’t be anywhere near enough as Brian Harman still holds a mighty 6 shot lead.
5.25pm: Veteran Australian broadcaster Jim Maxwell has been a favourite cricketing voice for many an Ashes series and I couldn’t help but snort with laughter as he described needing a “submarine” to play cricket this evening. Mere seconds later the official announcement was intoned to all, play for the day was abandoned, the match drawn, and Australia have retained The Ashes.
Damn.
5.35pm: 21 year old South Korean Tom Kim is the new clubhouse leader on -7, but Harman still holds a comfortable 5 shot lead.
5.40pm: Make that a 6 shot lead as Brian Harman birdies the 15th hole to stretch his overall score to -13. Sir Nick Faldo opined “it’s horrible out there” as the rain continued to teem down, but the championship leader is 3 holes from home and cruising in the Liverpool rain.
6.05pm: Australian Jason Day joins the Austrian Sepp Straka and South Korean Tom Kim in second place on -7. Later, Spaniard Jon Rahm would make it a 4 way tie for second place.
6.18pm: “Brian in perfect harmony at Hoylake”, Ewen Murray.
Brian Harman, 13 under-par, Champion Golfer of the Year.
Postscript
Alas the England dream has died a soggy death in the Manchester rain.
At 2–1 in favour of Australia, the holders at least retain The Ashes and the pretenders to their crown(s) must do so all over again in the Winter of 2024/2025. But first next week’s final Test Match at The Oval sees Australia, strangely, with more to play for than an England team that even if they win (and I believe they will), can only draw a series they were desperately looking to win. A 2–2 series draw will still see Australia retaining The Ashes and still ensuring that the visitors haven’t won a series outright on English soil in over two decades. Huge motivating factors for an England team I see with an enforced change due to the injury of Chris Woakes as well as tactical team changes in their bowling attack that will see the return of Josh Tongue at the very least.
For a soon to be jubilant Australian team I see even higher motivational factors for what is in essence a “dead rubber” game. A draw or win sees them win the series outright and a series victory in England for the old guard of David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, their captain Pat Cummins, the middle order batting stars of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith and their generational all-rounder for the decade to come, Cameron Green. Aside from Green, this is very possibly the final time many of the seven team-mates previously named can win The Ashes outright, in England.
A further motivational factor and just for a little devilry to finish: A 2–1 or 3–1 Australian win will be a huge poke in the eye to their detractors for sure but make no mistake, it’ll also be a painful one in the eye for those cricketing revolutionaries from England and a statement that however successful they’ve been in their reinvention of this grandest of all games, they’ve still been beaten on their home turf by the World Champions.
One final Test Match remains, but this Ashes Summer is now over.
Alas.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering and the right way up in an upside down world.