At a ludicrously early hour of the morning our time, and a fairly early hour of the morning local time, England completed an emphatic victory in the third test match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Although India captured three early wickets including the previously impregnable Cook (who had spent the first innings giving the record books a thorough rewrite) they only had 40 to defend, which is less than half the previous record low target to be succesfully defended in a test match (85 at the Oval in the match which led to the creation of the ashes), so there was never any question as to the result. The milestones that Cook established in the course of his first innings 190 were: when his score reached 88 he became the youngest person to reach 7000 test runs, beating Sachin Tendulkar; his century was his 23rd, putting him on his own at the top of the England list of test century makers; it was also his 5th in five matches as captain and his seventh on the subcontinent (both of these being extensions of records he already held). A draw or better in the final match at Nagpur will see this squad become the first England side to win a series in India since David Gower’s side in 1984-85. The hours of play at Nagpur are slightly less unfriendly for those of us listening in England than those at Kolkata (but only to the extent of ‘Ridiculous o’clock’ start as opposed to a ‘Ludicrous o’clock start’.
The big personal development concerns Learning Works, where having recently increased my voluntary work from one to two days per week there is a possibility of a 16 hour per week job. All that remains is for to check with my Seetec advisor (who I will be seeing tomorrow morning) as to whether I can keep my housing benefit since the salary is not enough to pay my rent out of. Of course, if I am able to accept the job I will keep searching, looking for a second part time job which would then mean I would not have to worry about housing benefit. I am not that bothered about the extent to which I am financially better off having a job, or whether I qualify for Working Tax Credits, but I am not prepared to lose my flat.
The photos for this post were taken before a concert at Great Massingham church, which proved to be very enjoyable…
aspiblog 