Headed down to the Oval today to see how the last minute preparations were going, take in the Sir Donald Bradman museum, catch the final England net session and brave the autograph scrum to get some photos with the players. Managed Prior, Anderson, Broad and man-of-the-moment Alastair Cook.
Beautiful ground, lots of green areas, especially with the park surrounding it. Far more chatacter than the Gabba. "A proper cricket ground," as I overheard one Pom say today. Now to find out what it looks like when full.
The museum was small but plenty of interesting memorabilia - Bradman's bats, kit and trophies plus photos and paintings of the great man. Some great footage from his career, a potted history and video of the Don honing his technique at home with only a stick and a golf ball for company. Maybe today's players could do without Merlin and all those other state of the art bowling machines.
The Don's test batting average is legendary of course: 99.94 and only 4 runs in his last innings away from the perfect 100. He made 12 double centuries in only 80 test innings. Lara, the next best, managed 9 in 232 innings. Some way for Alistair Cook and the rest to go yet.
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