I originally produced this post OTD last year, and now reproduce it. I add an honourable mention that I missed first time round. Ken Farnes does not quite displace Jack Ferris or George Freeman from the XI, but I should have mentioned his brief career, terminated by WWII, in which conflict he lost his life.
I continue my exploration of the all time XI theme with a look at players whose surnames begin with the letter F.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Roy Fredericks (West Indies). Somewhat overshadowed by the later deeds of the greatest opening combo WI have ever produced, Greenidge and Haynes, Fredericks was nevertheless a player of the highest class. His most famous test knock was an innings of 169 against Australia at the WACA in Perth, not generally a happy hunting ground for visiting players. He was also only the second player to score a century in a men’s ODI after Dennis Amiss.
Charles Burgess Fry (Sussex, England). His mastery of the art of batting is all the more astonishing given that cricket was just one area in which he excelled. He once scored a six successive first class centuries, a feat equalled by Bradman and Procter but unsurpassed to this…
An alliterative all time XI and a large photo gallery.
This variation on a favourite theme of mine features an XI all of whom have alliterative names. I have applied all my usual criteria for selecting a side of class and balance, and the biggest omissions will be explained after I have presented the XI.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
William Woodfull (right handed opening batter). An accumulator whose speciality was batting for long periods of time. He will combine well with the other opener.
Gordon Greenidge (right handed opening batter). The Barbadian was a stroke maker by inclination but was also capable of batting for long periods when needed.
Richie Richardson (right handed batter). A test average of 45 maintained over a long career gets him in.
Steven Smith (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). The best test batter of the modern era.
Saud Shakeel (left handed batter, occasional leg spinner). Currently establishing himself at the highest level, having very recently scored a test double century.
Mulvantrai ‘Vinoo’ Mankad (right handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). A very fine all rounder, he reached the test double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in 23 matches, a record beaten only by Ian Botham (21 matches).
*Frank Foster (right handed batter, left arm fast medium bowler, captain). His test averages were the right way round – 23 with the bat, 20 with the ball, and if the former figure looks on the low side for a number seven, he was also the first Warwickshire player ever to score a triple century. I have named him as captain because he also skippered Warwickshire to their maiden county championship title in 1911. The vice-captaincy would be a toss up between Woodfull and Richardson, with Smith ruled out of any sort of leadership position given how his tenure as Aussie skipper ended.
+Ben Barnett (wicket keeper, left handed batter). In the era in which he played precisely one regular keeper had a test average better than his 27 – Leslie Ames of Kent and England who averaged 40 with the bat in test cricket.
Malcolm Marshall (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One of the greatest fast bowlers ever to play the game and a useful lower order batter to boot.
George Geary (right arm medium-fast bowler, right handed batter). Two Ashes winning moments on his CV and the second cheapest all-ten in FC history (10-18 for Leciestershire v Glamorgan) as well.
Muthiah Muralidaran (off spinner, right handed tail end batter). 800 test wickets, and for those who point to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh among his victims, 624 of his 800 wickets came against teams other than these, and he paid 24 a piece for those wickets – his average against all teams other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe was better than Warne’s against all comers.
This side has a powerful top five, great all rounders at six and seven, a keeper who could bat, and three great bowlers, two of whom could contribute with the bat to round out the order. Malcolm Marshall and Frank Foster with the new ball, Geary as third seamer and Muralidaran and Mankad as front line spin options is an attack that should take 20 wickets on almost any surface.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Colin Cowdrey is the biggest name among qualifiers that I have left out, but I wanted at least one of my front line batters to be left handed, and Shakeel was the obvious solution. Gautam Gambhir might have had an opening slot in place of Woodfull. William Mervyn Wallace of New Zealand did well in the few tests that he got to play, but he always went by ‘Merv’, a shortening of his second given name. Deandra Dottin of West Indies Women could not be accommodated in the XI, but merits an honourable mention. Ben Brown and Chris Cooke both have good county records as keeper batters, but have never been picked at the highest level, while Richie Robinson of Australia was not the keeper that his compatriot Barnett had been, though he was a finer batter – as regular readers know I prioritise keeping, and a side with Geary due to come in at 10 cannot be described as short of batting. George Giffen was a great all rounder, but given his bowling style had I picked him instead of Mankad I would have had to pick Bishan Bedi instead of Muralidaran and my contention is that Murali and Mankad would be a better spin pairing than Bedi and Giffen. George Garton, a left arm fast bowler, might have his advocates, but Foster was proven at the highest level which Garton isn’t, and also I wanted Foster as captain. Picking legendary 19th century speedster John ‘Foghorn’ Jackson over Geary would have increased the pace of the attack, but he benefitted from bowling on pitches that were often so rough that he didn’t have to do more than bowl fast and straight (he played in the era immediately before WG). Two county fast mediums deserve a mention but not a place in the XI: Brian Brain and Tim Tremlett (father of Chris, son of Maurice). Paul Parker’s batting does not justify picking him, but he would be this XIs designated fielding sub.
DISQUALIFICATIONS
Two players who would otherwise have merited consideration were disqualified for going on rebel tours of apartheid South Africa: Graham Gooch and Colin Croft.
A look back at yesterdays Early Music Day concerts at the Lynn Festival, a link from this day last year and lots of photographs.
Yesterday was Early Music Day at the Lynn Festival. This featured three concerts, all held at St Nicholas Chapel. This post looks at all three concerts.
CONCERT ONE: AN ORGAN RECITAL
The Organ at St Nicholas Chapel is a truly magnificent instrument, designed and constructed by the London firm of Henry Willis & Son, and completed in 1900. David Flood proved to be a magnificent performer as well, and he chose pieces all of which could have been played on this organ when it was first completed in 1900.
CONCERT TWO: THE ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
This concert did not feature a full orchestra, it was a smaller ensemble, all of whom belong to this orchestra. This means that rather than a conductor being present they took their lead from the First Violinist. The concert was excellent, featuring some splendid music.
CONCERT THREE: HARPSICHORD AND VIOLA DA GAMBA
Masumi Yamamoto was on the harpsichord and Ibrahim Aziz on the viola da gamba, an instrument much closer in shape and size to a modern cello than it is to a viola, in spite of the name. The concert both started and ended with them playing together, but each also played solos in the middle. Here are some photographs (quick reminder, all photos can be viewed at full size by lcikcing on them) specifically relating to these concerts…
St Nicholas ChapelThe organ.An information board about the organ.This picture and the the next show controls for the organ.The wooden angels in the inside roof of the chapel presented and interesting challenge.
FROM THE ARCHIVE AND GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY
A year ago today I published my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with the letter E. Since then a new name has appeared on the scene: Abhimanyu Easwaran produced a succession of big scores in Indian domestic cricket. I am not yet prepared to break up my opening pair of J Edrich and Elgar just yet, but the latter is under threat, especially if Easwaran gets his opportunity to perform at a higher level and delivers. Now for my usual sign off…
A look at development’s in the men’s Ashes as we wait for play to get underway on day four at Old Trafford.
Today is Early Music Day at the Lynn Festival (will be blogging about this in due time), and I am making use of the long break between the first and second concerts (the second and third are basically back to back, with insufficient time between the end of one and the start of the other to come home) to keep an eye on the cricket should there be any developments at all today and to post this.
THE MEN’S ASHES – THE STORY SO FAR
Australia won the first two matches, though England had good chances in both, and could blame poor catching, especially by Bairstow behind the stumps, for the fact that they were not at least 1-1. England won a thriller at Headingley, with Harry Brook scoring a vital 75 in the final innings. That brings us to…
THE FOURTH MATCH – OLD TRAFFORD
Penultimate matches of Ashes series at Old Trafford include 1896 (2nd match of a 3 match series, Australia won by three wickets after England staged a remarkable but unavailing fightback – Ranjitsinhji on test debut conjured 154* after England were made to follow on, which meant Australia needed 125 to win, and fast bowler Tom Richardson narrowly failed to pre-empt Bob Willis’s Headingley heroics by 85 years, taking 6-76 as Australia limped over the line), 1902, when an Australian win by three runs gave them the Ashes, “Laker’s Match” of 1956, when the off spinner’s 19-90 in the match gave England victory by an innings and 170 runs and guaranteed retention of the Ashes for them, 1981, when a blazing Botham century set up victory by 103 runs which guaranteed England a series win and retention of the Ashes, and on the debit side of the ledger the bore draw of 1964 when Aussie skipper Simpson, knowing that a draw was enough for his side, literally ensured this off his own bat, occupying the crease until the third morning as Australia scored 656-8 declared (Simpson 311), England then scoring 611 to utterly kill the game.
Australia blatantly selected their side for this match with a draw in mind – they picked no specialist spinner and had two seam bowling all rounders and keeper Carey batting at number eight. England, rather than bringing in any new played had Moeen Ali officially at number three, Bairstow continuing as keeper and an 8-11 of Woakes, Wood, Broad and Anderson. England won the toss and put Australia in. The pitch proved better for batting than either side had reckoned on, and Australia’s 317, lasting just into the second day, was a definite underachievement by them. Woakes was the bowling star with five wickets. England took the bull by the horns, and it was that rarity, Crawley’s day. The Kent opener rode his luck to score a very rapid 189, backed by good performances from Ali and Root. Bairstow became the second Yorkshireman with a surname beginning with B to score 99* in a test match, as Anderson was pinned LBW before he could reach the landmark. Bairstow’s knock took a mere 81 balls, rather a contrast to the other 99* by a Yorkshire ‘B’, Boycott’s knock at Perth in the 1979-80 mini-series. England had tallied 592, a first innings advantage of 275. Wood came to the party in Australia’s second innings, claiming three wickets as Australia closed the third day on 113-4, still 162 adrift of making England bat again. There has been no play so far today, as Old Trafford’s tutelary deity, Jupiter Pluvius, has put in an appearance. There is a pitch inspection happening as I type this. The last two covers have just come off, much to the disgruntlement of the Aussies, who were hoping for today to be entirely washed out (they are looking and playing like a side who are mentally shot, and their attitude to the covers coming off is further indication of that). If the rain holds off, play will commence at 2:45PM.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before my usual sign off, here one year on from its creation is a link to my all-time Ds XI.
I will be at work today, and am unlikely to put up a new blog post today, so exactly one year to the day after I created it here is my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with the letter C. In that year a new name has emerged as meriting consideration – Tagenarine Chanderpaul has made a very impressive start for WI. He has more to do to earn his place yet, but he is definitely one to watch.
The temperature here is back to what would be expected of England in July after two days of serious heat. Peterborough, just over an hour to the west of me by bus was one of various UK places to top 40 degrees yesterday, while the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, south of me, clocked 39.9. Holbeach and Marham, either side of King’s Lynn and closer still, both also had temperatures between 39 and 40. I am continuing my series of all-time XI posts with a look at the letter C.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Lancashire, West Indies). The Guyanese super stacker was not a regular opener, but with due respect to his achievements this season I could hardly pick Ben Compton, and nor did any other regular openers beginning with C jump out at me. I reckon he can handle the job, and as you will see going…
An apology, a look at the last two matches of the Women’s Ashes, a team of that series and lots of photographs.
This post focuses mainly on the women’s Ashes series which concluded yesterday evening. However, before I get into the main meat of the post there is one necessary item to attend to…
A CORRECTION
On Monday I reblogged my All Time G’s XI to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the skipper’s birth. I was guilty of inattention – the anniversary day, and the date of the original post was of course July 18th, not July 17th. I should have done a proper post on Monday and reblogged the Gs on Tuesday. Here are some of a bountiful recent harvest of photos…
THE LAST TWO MATCHES OF THE WOMENS ASHES
Australia secured retention of the Ashes by winning the penultimate ODI on Sunday by three runs. Australia posted 282, 26 of them off the final over of the innings, bowled by Lauren Bell. England fought hard in response, with Natalie Sciver-Brunt scoring a superb century. She was on strike for the final ball of the innings, off which England needed six to win or four to tie. Unfortunately she could only manage a single.
While England could no longer win the Ashes they could draw the series by winning the last match, which took place at Taunton yesterday. England batted first, and with Sciver-Brunt hammering another century, her seventh in ODIs, four of which have come against Australia they reached 285 from their 50 overs. Rain intervened after 19.2 overs of the Australian innings, and the DLS adjustment left them needing 171 of24.4 overs. They never really looked like getting them, and England eventually won by 69 runs, to level the multi-format Ashes series at 8-8. They also became the first team win an ODI series against Australia in a decade, and had won four of the seven matches overall, the 8-8 score line being caused by the test match carrying double points. Although Australia keep the Ashes it is England who are the happier side – they have a lot of very talented cricketers who now know that they can go toe to toe with Australia.
Time for a second photo gallery…
A COMPOSITE WOMENS ASHES XI
This is my team of the series:
Tammy Beaumont (England, right handed opener). A double century in the test match, a major contribution in the first ODI.
Beth Mooney (Australia, left handed opener). Made a lot of significant contributions in all formats.
*Heather Knight (England, right handed batter, occasional off spinner, captain). Had a fine series, and given the respective resources at their disposal I would reckon that tying the series is a greater achievement for her as captain than it is for Healy.
Ellyse Perry (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler).
Natalie Sciver-Brunt (England, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Even if she had done nothing else in the series (which is far from the case), those back to back centuries in the last two matches would be enough to justify her inclusion.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). The 137* in the test match was the highlight of her series, but she contributed with both bat and ball all the way through the series.
+Amy Jones (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). Her opposite number didn’t have a great series (perhaps the triple role of captain, keeper and opener is simply too much – Alec Stewart struggled when he had the triple role), while she did. The greatest moment of her series came last night when she pulled off a miraculous stumping off the bowling of Sciver-Brunt.
Ash Gardner (Australia, off spinner, right handed batter). Her eight-for to win the test match would qualify her all on its own, but she had other moments in the limited overs matches as well.
Alana King (Australia, leg spinner, right handed lower orderbatter). This one was a tough call, with Georgia Wareham the challenger. However, I refuse to fill a bowling position based on lower order runs, so King gets the nod.
Sophie Ecclestone (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed lower order batter). A heroic effort in the test match, a good T20 series, and her bowling was crucial to England’s success in the final ODI.
Kate Cross (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower order batter). With Katherine Sciver-Brunt retiring she became the de facto leader of England’s seam attack, and she did her job superbly in this series.
This side has a superb batting line up, four genuinely front line seamers (Cross, Sutherland, Perry, Sciver-Brunt), three great and contrasting spinners, a fine captain and a superb keeper.
Today is the 175th anniversary of the birth of the captain of this team (I took this letter out of order OTD last year as part of this series, the longest I have ever run on this blog) precisely so it would coincide with the skipper’s birth anniversary. It is also for that reason that I am doing a full reblog, rather than as with others merely including a link in a regular blog post.
WG Grace can be regarded as the most important single player in the game’s history, and the 175th anniversary of his birth certainly deserves to be acknowledged…
Outside it is ferociously hot, as per weather forecast. I have curtains drawn at the front of my bungalow, blinds down at the back and windows open everywhere, and so far that is keeping indoors bearable. I have skipped forward a few letters in my selection of teams with surnames beginning with the same letter because today is the 174th anniversary of the birth of the skipper of the team for whom that letter is G. Coverage of the second women’s ODI between England and South Africa is just underway. Ben Stokes has announced that tomorrow’s ODI in Durham will be his last game in that format – he is still available for selection in T20Is, but his main focus is the team of which he is captain, the test team.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Sunil Gavaskar (Somerset and India). The first to reach the career milestone of 10,000…
A look at the second and third matches of Blast Finals Day, links to yesterday’s post and the post I put up OTD last year, and a photo gallery.
I covered the first match on T20 Blast Finals day, between Essex and Hampshire in yesterday’s post. Today I look briefly at the other two matches.
SOMERSET v SURREY
Things didn’t look especially great for Somerset when they they finished their 20 overs with a mere 142 on the board. However, Surrey, with all their strength in depth, soon found themselves in trouble, a position that they never managed to get out of. A number of batters made promising starts, but none were able to go on and make a major contribution, and nearly all the dismissals were self-inflicted – going for big shots and holing out to deep fielders. In the end Surrey were all out for a paltry 118, losing by 24 runs, giving Somerset a place in the final.
THE FINAL – ESSEX v SOMERSET
Somerset’s recent record in finals did not make pretty reading, and neither did their recent record in matches against Essex. Somerset found themselves batting first, and again they were not hugely impressive in that department, being all out to the last scheduled ball of their innings, with 145 on the board. However, they bowled very well, and although Essex had moments when things were going decently for them they never looked in command, and in the end they mustered 131, falling short by 14 runs. Most toss winning captains in T20 elect to chase, and Somerset twice found themselves setting the target, the less liked option in this format, and twice they produced a moderate batting performance and rescued themselves with the ball and in the field. While Surrey certainly donated plenty of wickets, bad batting played much less of a role in the Essex match. Ben Green of Somerset achieved a notable feat by taking his 30th wicket of the tournament, a rare landmark for single edition of this competition. Many would have expected Surrey and Hampshire to be the ones to make the final, and Surrey to run out winners, so credit to both finalists, and especial credit to Somerset for finally ending a bad run in finals by winning this one.
LINK AND PHOTOGRAPHS
A year ago today I published the second post in what went on to become the longest series on this blog, an all time XI with surnames beginning with B. Although I remain happy with the selection I add one caveat – if the pitch looks very spin friendly (think Ahmedabad!) I would bring Len Braund (leg spinning all rounder) in for Ian Botham, and replace leg spinner who could bat Benaud with Bishan Singh Bedi (left arm orthodox spinner) to balance the attack, with the new ball pair of Barnes and Bumrah now being backed by a spin trio of Bedi, Bates and Braund, the XI in this specific case reading: C Bannerman, SG Barnes, *DG Bradman, KF Barrington, AR Border, LC Braund, +Wasim Bari, *W Bates, SF Barnes, BS Bedi, JJ Bumrah.
Now for my usual sign off…
The weather yesterday was not the best for butterflies, but the red admirals have been out in force here in Norfolk.
A brief look at the first semi-final of the T20 Blast, a reminder of ;ast year’s big blogging project, which started OTD in 2022, and a photo gallery.
Today is T20 Blast Finals Day – two semi-finals and a final all in one day. There has been some rain about but the first match has just ended in a victory for Essex. The second semi-final features Somerset and bookies favourites Surrey.
THE HAMPSHIRE INNINGS
Hampshire did some good things, but were never in compete control. They eventually mustered 170-7 from their 20n overs, a respectable but not necessarily winning total.
THE ESSEX INNINGS
The rain came after 2.5 overs of the Essex innings, and took enough time out of proceedings that Essex’s target was reduced to 115 off 12 overs. Both sides had periods when they looked in control, but ultimately it was Essex who prevailed, a six off the third last possible delivery getting them over the line. This win for Essex preserves a remarkable record – in the 20 year history of this competition no side has ever successfully defended the trophy.
LINK AND PHOTOGRAPHS
One year ago today I launched the most ambitious blogging project I have undertaken to date, a project that ended up spanning 92 posts. It all started with this selected all time XI of players whose surname begins with the letter A, a selection that still holds one year on: All Time XIs: The Letter A.
A quirky all time XI – an England XI picked to play in the style of the current one.
It is ‘all time XI’ time again. The brief for this one is to pick an all-attacking all time England XI which is as perfectly balance as I can make it. This is a team that would score its runs quickly and have no problem taking 20 wickets in a test match. Also, no two successive batters in the envisaged order bat with the same hand.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Ben Duckett (left handed opening batter, occasional wicket keeper). He has been doing splendidly since his recall under Stokes’ captaincy.
*WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles, captain). The only conceivable choice as right handed opener for this XI, someone who was always looking to score runs.
Frank Woolley (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). A stroke making batter, a fine bowler and the only non-keeper to have taken over 1,000 first class catches.
Denis Compton (right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spinner). A natural born entertainer if ever there was one, holder of the fastest ever first class triple century (got to that mark in 181 minutes in a tour match at Benoni, South Africa).
David Gower (left handed batter). Ideally suited to a side of this nature.
+Les Ames (right handed batter, wicket keeper). Averaged 40 with the bat at test level, scored over 100 FC hundreds, twice won the Lawrence trophy for the fastest first class hundred of the season. Over 1,100 first class dismissals including an all time record 418 stumpings.
Ben Stokes (left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler, vice captain and talisman). Had to be included in this side, and a nod had to be given to his leadership, hence the award of the vice captaincy.
Billy Bates (off spinner, right handed batter). A great all rounder whose career was ended prematurely by the loss of an eye in a freak accident. His test career was brief, but his first class career averages of 21.57 with the bat and 17.13 with the ball – both figures would be higher today (probably 32 with the bat and 25 with the ball) – illustrate his credentials.
Tom Emmett (left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). A great fast bowler and a good enough batter to have scored a first class hundred at a time when that was not particularly easy to do.
Syd Barnes (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 189 test wickets at 16.43 a piece in just 27 test matches.
James Anderson (right arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter). England’s all time leading test wicket taker, and though his position in this batting order is unarguable, he would probably get off the mark with a reverse sweep.
This side has great batting depth, and with Stokes, Woolley, Grace and at a push Compton all capable of backing up the front four there is a wealth of bowling as well. This side would win a lot of matches, lose a few and probably not draw any unless epic quantities of rain fell.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will go through these in batting order. Bob Barber was a contender for the left handed opener’s slot I gave to Duckett, but his top level career was much briefer. Had I not wanted Grace as captain Charlie Barnett and Colin Milburn would both have merited attention for the right handed openers slot. Woolley’s role as second spinner meant that the number three slot was nailed down. I might have named several at number four: Hammond, Dexter, May, Cowdrey, Pietersen and Root were all in the mix. Gower at number five had few challengers – the two left handed middle order players with really substantial test records, Phil Mead and Graham Thorpe were both more sedate in approach, while Percy Chapman, undoubtedly aggressive in nature, was never really worth his England place as a player. Ames at six and with the gloves had few challengers – Jonny Bairstow is not good enough with the gloves for the dual role, though I might have considered Matt Prior. Stokes really had to get the number seven slot. I regretted not being to accommodate Gilbert Jessop, though he can be designated fielding sub. There were two challengers for the number eight slot: Graeme Swann and Greville Stevens (with Woolley inked in I wanted a second spinner who was not an SLA). With Barnes indispensable I had no way to accommodate Trueman.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A couple of links before my usual sign off:
A Guardian article about a site that is due to be used as the marker for the dawn of the anthropocene.
aspiblog 