F'tang f'tang twang

I was at Lord's yesterday for the first international archery competition to be held at the home of cricket. Great Britain's men won the inagural MCC Cup, while India won the women's version. You can read my report of the competition by clicking here.

It felt a very natural place for an archery competition, which is just as well as Lord's will be the venue for the archery event at the 2012 Olympics. A hundred or so people were there to watch yesterday, but I would expect the Tavern and Allen Stands to be full by the time the Oympics comes, especially if archers such as Larry Godfrey, who I am claiming to have been the first to dub "the Kevin Pietersen of archery", catch the imagination.

I got to have a go after the serious business was finished and having adjusted my sights when the first two arrows went in the blue circle, I got two golds in a row. Having played archery for six years as a teenager, and represented Cambridge (rather badly, I must admit) in the Varsity Match, I hadn't picked up a bow for about 12 years, but am defintely tempted to take it up properly again.

Our photographer, the esteemed Graham Morris, then decided to get in on the action, removed his jacket, let fly with an arrow and it settled cleanly in the gold first go. The jammy so-and-so decided that would be a good moment to declare his innings closed and preserve his average.