Tight

With a coffee and porridge bought from the Macclesfield station café, I took an express train into Manchester Piccadilly, heading for Old Trafford. The direct tram was going to get packed, so I took one that went most of the way, and Turfed the rest of the journey.

I was glad that I'd arrived a bit earlier than planned, as I had to queue for half an hour to reach the bag check and enter the ground. After going last year, I got better tickets this year - on the front row of a higher stand, looking NE. I hadn't expected any sun, but there were a couple of spells when I was glad I wasn't looking into it.

The day's play was very tight, with neither England nor India establishing a meaningful advantage for long. I know some readers don't appreciate cricket, but today we experience a facet of the game where it transcends other sports. A key Indian player was injured, and had to go off. In other sports that would be it for the rest of the game. Since this match is scheduled to take five days, there is the doubt over whether he'll be able to play when the game continues tomorrow - and there are no substitutes in cricket...

Afterwards, I beat the crowds by walking over to Salford Quays to get a team back into the city centre.

Now back in Macclesfield, watching the Germany Vs Spain game