I learnt two things immediately after I started living in London. The first is that you have to support a football team. The second is that you have to be aware and talk about the weather. As the years went by I noticed that rain always heralded the start of the English domestic and international cricket season as well as Glastonbury. Now I guess we can add Ireland to that list. There has been scorching hot weather (at least by British standards) until this morning. I have always believed that the cricket gods have a funny sense of humour.

I feel sorry for Ireland. There has been such a big build up to this day. It will be a big pity if there is not enough cricket. Currently, it looks like Sunday afternoon maybe washed out as well. A new dawn has turned out to be a damp squib. Hopefully, that does not continue. Three and a half days of good proper cricket should be more than enough to see the mettle of the Irish. I still have not had my dream of the Jameson special reserve as yet. I hopefully will tomorrow.