Another football season in Europe draws to a close taking with it a large chunk of weekend duties for Reuters photographers, certainly in the UK.

So (I hear you cry!!) what do we do with all this free time?

The answer is we swap the soccer field for the Cricket pitch and, to the bemusement of most of our colleagues based outside of the UK, we spend FIVE DAYS photographing a single match!! For many the idea of a game that lasts so long that it includes regular meal breaks, stops for bad weather and can still end in a draw leaves them scratching their heads, but I love it.

At its best there is no other game like it. It’s like a five day long game of chess with the captains using all their tactical expertise to wrestle momentum from each other whilst also battling the elements which can have a huge say in how the game pans out.

In terms of daily coverage it also presents many challenges. Condensing 8 hours of play into a concise set of pictures that sums up the day’s story would be difficult enough if you could sit down at the end of the day with a cold beer and edit everything, but to do this as the game unfolds around you is even more difficult.

Add to this the concentration factor of watching 8 hrs of action, never knowing what each ball will bring, and you get some idea of how challenging it can be.

For those of you who think that maybe a sport that lasts so long is totally mad, fear not, there’s always the option of watching that totally sane English past time of CHEESE ROLLING!!!

 You decide.