Swingball

We all went over to Chief's place to celebrate j's birthday this afternoon. He turned 8 today but he is a boy beyond his years. After we got there he started to open a mountain of presents from friends and family and looked genuinely delighted with each and every gift. The atmosphere was great and we spent our time drifting in and out of the house and the back garden enjoying the sun and birthday cake.
We all took it in turns playing the swingball that had been installed, I was soundly beaten by j on a number of occasions. Watching J and his brother Chief, both 6' 4", smashing the ball round the pole to each other had us all in stitches. Each and every strike seemed to be harder; the ball was just a blur. Next up was Babe and P producing some long rallies and as many laughs.
Happy Birthday j !!!

This morning had been a happy time too. It was our youth team's first cricket match ever, pitting a very young side against a strong local team 2 to 3 years their senior. Our boys aquitted themselves very well and making me and their club very proud. Our seamers were making the ball swing and caused some of the opposition's good batsmen a bit of trouble at times. All the kids were buzzing after the game, thrilled to have been a part of it no matter how heavily they had got beaten.