The Six Nations 2026

A look at the state of the Six Nations as the tournament nears its end.

The 2026 Six Nations rugby tournament is approaching its conclusion. This post looks at the remaining possibilities.

IRELAND v SCOTLAND

Three teams came into today with a chance of winning the trophy – Scotland, Ireland and France. Scotland needed to beat Ireland and hope for a favour from England, who face France in the last match of the tournament tonight. In the event Ireland were in control virtually the whole way through the match, although Scotland reduced the deficit to five points midway through the second half. Ireland finished strongly, and the final score was Ireland 43 Scotland 21. Ireland sit top of the table at present.

WALES v ITALY

Wales are guaranteed the wooden spoon having lost all four of their matches so far and managed only one bonus point. Even if they win they will be behind current second last place side England. A win for Italy on the other hand would ensure them fourth spot ahead of England (they cannot catch Scotland, now in third place, whatever happens.

FRANCE v ENGLAND

Any win will be enough for France to lift the trophy since they have a much better ‘points difference’ than Ireland, and this is used as the tie-splitter. A bonus point win (scoring four tries or more) would avoid the need for tie-splitting. They are level on points with Scotland as things stand, so only the vanishingly (almost worthy of using Dan Dennett’s “Vanishingly” with the V capitalized, from “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”!) small chance of England winning by 80 points or more, which would put Scotland ahead of France on ‘points difference’ could see them below Scotland. England have had an awful tournament by their standards, losing to Scotland, Ireland and Italy and beating Wales, but if Italy lose against Wales and they record a bonus point win over France they will slide into fourth out of six. It has been a splendid Six Nations overall, and either France or Ireland would be worthy winners.

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My usual sign off…

Aoteroa Axed by Ahmedabad Ace

A look back at today’s World T20 Final between India and New Zealand and a photo gallery.

The final of the 2026 World T20 Cup took place in Ahmedabad this afternoon UK time. The contending sides were the home side India, who had beaten England by seven runs in a semi-final that yielded almost 500 in 40 overs, and New Zealand who had spectacularly downed South Africa in the other semi-final. This post looks back at today’s match.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

New Zealand had won the toss and opted to bowl, hoping to do what they had in the semi-final. That was soon looking very unlikely, as Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson tucked into a Kiwi bowling attack never looked remotely threatening. Sharma, who had had a miserable tournament prior to today, made spectacular amends by hitting 52 off 21 balls, while Samson scored 89 off 46 balls, and Ishan Kishan weighed in with 54 off 25 balls. A final blitz of 26* (8) from Shivam Dube took India north of 250 – 255-5 from 20 overs. Mitchell Santner had figures of 4-0-33-0, and Glenn Phillips bowled one over for five runs, and seems bizarre given what happened to his colleagues that he was not called on again – outwith the two bowlers I have just mentioned New Zealand leaked 217 runs from 15 overs, an ER of 14.47 per over. James Neesham managed 3-46 from his full four overs. At the other end of the scale fast bowler Lockie Ferguson was left nursing figures of 2-0-48-0.

THE NEW ZEALAND CHASE

There proved to be one bowler who was not emasculated by the pitch. Jasprit Bumrah, who calls Ahmedabad home, produced an incredible display. He finished with 4-0-15-4, which would have been outstanding figures in any situation, but in a major final on a pitch that gave every indication of being a batters paradise it strained credulity that anyone should achieve such figures. Wickets 2,3 and 4 were all clean bowled, all with deliveries that were in effect quick off breaks. The fourth victim, New Zealand skipper Santner who had made 43, knew exactly what was coming but was unable to prevent the delivery from doing its work anyway. India won by 96 runs to retain the world cup, and Bumrah quite correctly was named Player of the Match (on this surface his bowling far outweighed any batting performance), while Sanju Samson was named Player of the Series, having contributed 321 runs across the tournament, while also keeping wicket.

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This gallery comes from Friday, when I travelled to Norwich to make use of the big library there, since King’s Lynn library is closed at present…

Past, Present, Future Combine as Australia Women Crush India Women

A look at happenings in the test match between Australia Women and India Women at the WACA that concluded earlier today, focussing on a reminder of past glories from Ellyse Perry, a command performance from star of the moment Annabel Sutherland and a hint of future greatness from teenager Lucy Hamilton. Also a photo gallery.

Early this morning UK time Australia Women completed an emphatic ten wicket win in their test match against India Women at the WACA in Perth. This post looks at the three principal contributors to that result (with apologies to 35 year old Ellyse Perry, who I hope has a few more years left in her, for classing her for the purposes of this post as ‘past’).

ELLYSE PERRY

The veteran (who started as a bowler batting at number eight) was not called upon with the ball in this match, but she contributed a splendid 76 with the bat, an innings that saw her move to the top of the Australian Women’s all time test career run scoring list with 1,006 runs in the format.

ANNABEL SUTHERLAND

At the age of 24 Annabel Sutherland is well established as one of the game’s great all rounders. Even by her standards her performance in this match was incredible. In the first Indian innings she took 4-46, a test career best with the ball. Then she dominated the Australian reply, scoring 129, her fourth test century (a new Australian record, putting her behind only Jan Brittin of England who amassed five such scores in a career spanning almost two decades), which ensured that Australia had a big first innings lead. Remarkably she has now converted four 50+ scores in test cricket out of four into centuries. Three of those centuries have come in Perth. She added a further 2-15 in the Indian second innings to her earlier contributions, and was not required to bat in the second Australian innings.

LUCY HAMILTON

19 year old Lucy Hamilton was on debut, having shown herself to be a fine left arm pace bowler who can bat. She bowled superbly, taking 3-31 in the first Indian innings and 3-32 in the second, and in between times played a very useful little innings of 23, which helped move Australia from 79 ahead at the fall of the eighth wicket to their final advantage of 125. Her emergence onto the international scene has confirmed that Australia have unearthed yet another star. Hamilton hails from Bundaberg, a small sugar growing, rum making town which long ago produced Don Tallon, named by Don Bradman as the best keeper he ever saw in action. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

South Africa Finnished as Allen Power Proves Key for New Zealand

An account of an extraordinary semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and a photo gallery.

The first semi-final of the 2026 T20 World Cup took place today at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. New Zealand faced South Africa, who had looked the most impressive team at the tournament prior to today. This post looks back at the match.

THE SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS

South Africa lost two early wickets before staging a bit of a revival. They reached 77-3 before Dewald Brevis and David Miller were both out at that score. Marco Jansen, the very tall left handed seam bowling all rounder, breathed some life into South Africa by hitting an undefeated 55 from 30 balls. He received support from Tristan Stubbs (29), but was starved of strike in the final over of the innings. South Africa in the end had a score of 169-8, much better than had looked on when they were 77-5, but probably not good enough.

THE NEW ZEALAND CHASE

Finn Allen and Tim Seifert opened the batting for New Zealand, and right from the word go they made the Proteas score look downright risible. By the time Kagiso Rabada bowled Seifert for 58 (33) the score was 117-1 from 9.1 overs, and the match was a good as settled. Remarkably it took a mere 3.4 overs more for New Zealand to seal the victory, with nine wickets and 7.1 overs to spare. The architect was Allen. At the start of the 13th over New Zealand were 149-1 with Allen 76 not out from 28 balls. The next five deliveries, bowled by Jansen, were dispatched for 4,4,6,6,4 to take Allen to 100* (33 balls, 10 fours, 8 sixes). Jansen only just escaped conceding as many with the ball as he had scored with the bat – his figures were 2.5-0-53-0. Kagiso Rabada, 3-0-28-1 for an ER of 9.33, was the only Protea bowler to go for under 11 an over. New Zealand have served due notice that they will pose a serious threat to whoever wins tomorrows match between co-hosts India and England. England are the likelier of the two sides in action tomorrow to be really dangerous – they have got to the semi-finals without ever finding peak form but somehow doing enough. For the Proteas this will be a sickeningly familiar feeling – they have a long history of being very impressive in the early stages of tournaments and then coming unstuck on a big ‘winner takes all’ day.

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The weather continues to be pleasant here in Norfolk, and I have big photo gallery to end with…

On Radagast The Brown

A brief look at Radagast the Brown and his role in events at the end of the third age of Middle Earth. Also a photo gallery.

Here in Norfolk spring seems to have arrived. Certainly the photo gallery at the end of this post, which other than the first four pictures all comes from today suggests as much. In this post I look at a minor character in “The Lord of the Rings”, the wizard Radagast.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTARI

The Istari were five of the Maiar, beings who rank above elves but not quite as divinities, sent into Middle Earth by the Valar (gods) to combat Sauron. They were Olorin (known in various parts of Middle Earth as Gandalf, Mithrandir, Tharkun and Incanus), Curumo (Curunir/ Saruman), Aiwendil (Radagast) and the two blue wizards Alatar and Pallando who seem never to have acquired names in Middle Earth. Of the five Olorin clearly fulfilled his brief to the letter, Curumo equally clearly failed badly (to the extent that the Valar allowed him to die in Middle Earth), while there is nothing to go on regarding Alatar and Pallando though the likelihood is that any part they played in the events at the end of the Third Age of Middle Earth was on the side of Sauron, since all we are told of them is that they went straight into the uttermost East. That leaves only…

AIWENDIL/ RADAGAST

Radagast played no direct part in the War of the Ring, and it is often considered that his fondness for the birds and the beasts was such as to amount to an abrogation of his duties in Middle Earth. However, it is quite clear that Radagast’s heart was always in the right place – although he inadvertently sent Gandalf into Saruman’s trap by causing him to head to Isengard to visit Saruman he also heeded and acted on Gandalf’s request that he ask those of the birds and beasts that were friends of his to help by reporting on events, which brought Gwaihir, lord of the eagles, to Isengard to rescue Gandalf from his confinement at the top of the tower of Orthanc. There is no hint of a suggestion that Radagast ever intentionally aided evil or that he ever sought any position of power in Middle Earth (as Saruman, the several times over traitor, certainly did). One final aspect of Radagast’s role needs to be presented: he was the choice of Yavanna, whose personal area of responsibility was precisely the birds and the beasts. Thus it was right that he should be fond of those birds and beasts.

In an English or Welsh court where the only verdicts that can be rendered are ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ I would, though unhappily, find even the blue wizards ‘not guilty’, since there is no actual proof of guilt. A Scottish court, with the additional verdict of ‘not proven’ would offer a way out in their case. Even in a Scottish court I would happily acquit Radagast.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first butterfly of 2026 – a tortoiseshell.
a bee (three pics)

Sri Lanka Slump Ushers England into Semifinals

A look at today’s events at the T20 world cup and a photo gallery in two parts, including the first bumblebee of 2026.

The second stage of the men’s T20 world cup of 2026 is well underway. Today saw Sri Lanka facing New Zealand.

A NEW ZEALAND INNINGS IN THREE PARTS

New Zealand started well, and were 76-3 at one stage, before then slumping to 84-6. With 7.5 overs to to go at that point New Zealand looked out for the count. However Mitchell Santner and Cole McConchie, helped by some poor Sri Lankan bowling came back strongly, and by the time Santner was caught off the final ball of the innings he had scored 47 from 31 balls, while McConchie had 31 not out from 23 balls, and with the assistance of extras the pair had doubled the score, giving New Zealand a final total of 168-7.

PHOTOGRAPHS 1

A NON-CHALLENGE

Sri Lanka never looked remotely like challenging the total they had allowed New Zealand to get away with. At low water mark they were 29-4 after 8.2 overs. 140 off 11.4 overs is doable if you have plenty of wickets in hand, but that was not the case here. In the event it was only a mini-revival of their own that even got the Sri Lankans to three figures. The final margin was 61 runs. Mitchell Santner had taken 1-19 from his four overs, but missed out on Player of the Match because Rachin Ravindra, scorer of 32 off 22 balls in the New Zealand innings, had produced figures of 4-0-27-4. This result officially eliminates Sri Lanka from the tournament of which they are co-hosts and confirms that England are in the semi-finals. England have not been super impressive so far, but there is an old saying that “you can only beat what is put in front of you” – and by and large England have managed to do that.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I sign off with the second half of today’s photo gallery…

The first bumblebee of 2026, getting nectar from a little purple flower – this was on Monday (two pics).

Stories From the T20 World Cup

A look at developments in the men’s T20 world cup, including a major elimination and a great individual effort by a Canadian.

The first stage of the 2026 men’s T20 world cup is now well advanced. This post looks at a couple of major stories.

ADIOS AUSTRALIA

Australia having already been beaten by Zimbabwe faced Sri Lanka on Monday. When the folks from down under passed the hundred mark in eight overs they looked unstoppable. However Sri Lanka fought back, and as wickets fell Australia’s scoring faltered. In the end Australia managed 181, and were all out just before the end of the 20th over. That total was on the face of it still defensible, but now Pathum Nissanka, well supported by Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake proceeded to play an absolute blinder of an innings, racking up 100 not out from 52 balls with 10 fours and five sixes. Sri Lanka won by eight wickets with two whole overs to spare, and the mighty Aussies were looking straight at the exit door from the tournament. This was officially confirmed yesterday when the match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was washed out without a ball being bowled. The truth is that after the two defeats they had sustained, both of which were strictly merited Australia would have needed a massive helping of good fortune to qualify and they deserved not to receive such good fortune. I also reckon that a really big name falling at the first hurdle is good news for the tournament.

A GREAT INNINGS

When the first match yesterday, between Canada and New Zealand got under way, no one playing for an associate nation had ever score a century at a T20 world cup. Yuvraj Samra, named in honour of former India international Yuvraj Singh, and like him a left handed batter, scored 110 off 65 balls with 11 fours and six sixes for Canada to become the first such player. Unfortunately for him he did not receive enough support from his team mates – Canada still only managed 173 from their 20 overs, and they then bowled so appallingly that New Zealand reached the target with 4.5 overs and eight wickets to spare.

TODAY SO FAR

Pakistan battered Namibia by 102 runs in the first game of the day to secure their qualification, and South Africa beat the UAE by six wickets with almost seven overs to spare to finish this stage of the tournament with a 100% record – played four, won four. India and the Netherlands are currently doing battle, and an upset does not currently look terribly likely.

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My usual sign off…

One Classic and Two Upsets

A look back at three matches at the T20 world cup that were each in their way remarkable, and a photo gallery.

The 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup is continuing – as I type the USA are facing off against the Netherlands. This post looks back briefly at three very different fixtures.

WHEN ONE SUPER OVER DOES NOT SUFFICE

The match between Afghanistan and South Africa had more twists and turns than a mountain road. At various stages each side looked like winning but at the end of regular play the scores were tied- 187 each. Afghanistan looked in control of the first Super Over but a spectacular finish by South Africa saw that one tied. South Africa batted first in the second Super Over and score 23 from their over. When the first two balls of the reply were a dot and wicket it looked all over, but then Ramanullah Gurbaz hit three successive sixes to bring Afghanistan back into contention. A wide then reduced the ask to five, but off the final ball Gurbaz’s luck finally ran out as he was caught in the deep, and South Africa took the points.

TWO UPSETS

Italy do not have any great reputation as a cricketing nation, while Nepal had given England an almighty scare in their previous outing and are generally considered only just outside the elite. Yet when these sides met Italy won by ten wickets with an absurd amount of time to spare.

This morning Zimbabwe faced Australia. Zimbabwe have a good record against Australia in World Cup matches, stretching back to 1983 when Zimbabwe won the first match they ever played at a world cup by beating Australia. Therefore an upset was always a live possibility. A Zimbabwe total of 169-2 meant that they were certainly in the game going into the second half of the contest. Brian Bennett, a hugely impressive young opener, had anchored the Zimbabwe innings with 64 not out, while Tadiwanashe Marumani and Ryan Burl each scored 35, and Sikandar Raza hit 25 not off 13 balls at the end. Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans bowled superbly and soon had Australia right on the ropes at 29-4. Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw launched a fightback, but then Maxwell was out, and Stoinis lasted only four balls before being well caught. Zimbabwe looked in control for most of this innings, but the moment that effectively killed any chance of a miraculous recovery came with a mere eight further balls to come – Renshaw was caught by Burl of Muzurabani to make it 139-8, 31 needed off eight and only tail enders left. Adam Zampa scored two off the fifth ball of the 19th over, but then Muzurabani bowled him to make 141-9 after 19 overs, 29 needed off the last over with numbers 9 and 11 together. Muzurabani had the extraordinary figures of 4-0-17-4. Three balls and five runs later it was all over, Matthew Kuhnemann being run out to end proceedings. Zimbabwe had won by 23 runs, and had looked in charge for most of the match. This result has created the intriguing possibility of the cricketing superpower that is Australia failing to make the final eight.

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My usual sign off…

World T20 Cup Underway

A brief mention of the opening stages of the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup which is underway in Sri Lanka and a photo gallery.

This will be a brief post. The 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup is underway in Sri Lanka.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR

The first match of the tournament saw the Netherlands and Pakistan in opposition. The Netherlands gave a good account of themselves but Pakistan emerged victorious by three wickets with three balls to spare. The second match was between Scotland and The West Indies. There were moments when Scotland seemed to be in this one, but two contributions were effectively decisive between them. First Shimron Hetmyer scored 64 from 36 balls, which lifted West Indies to 182-5. Then, with Scotland not entirely out of the running, Romario Shepherd took four wickets in five balls, including performing the hat trick, which turned 133-5 into 133-9. Shepherd’s final innings figures were 5-20. India had a major scare in the third match against the United States but it now looks like they will win comfortably, as would have been expected. I am not following this match because England are facing Wales in the Six Nations rugby tournament, and that has first claim on my attention.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A goldeneye duck in the pond nearest my home.
Five lapwings just on the eastern (King’s Lynn) side of the Great Ouse.

London Underground to King’s Lynn?!

A whimsical exercise inspired by a fairly newly constructed path in King’s Lynn, assessing how the real roundel might be brought here.

This is an exercise in purest whimsy, provoked by a recently constructed set of paths in Hardings Pits near King’s Lynn that I have dubbed ‘Roundel Path’ for their collective resemblance to London Underground’s classic symbol. Here is a photograph:

Roundel Path – I hope this photo, taken this morning illustrates the reason I have so named it.

Before moving in to the main body of this post I re-emphasise that this a purely whimsical exercise, and not even I would actually recommend the adoption of these schemes.

TWO POSSIBLE METHODS

These suggestions are listed from most to least fanciful with even the least fanciful still fairly so.

  1. Over a decade ago I did a personal survey of the Piccadilly line, which among other things recommended a northwards extension from Cockfosters to Welwyn Garden City. Welwyn Garden City is a station that trains from London to King’s Lynn pass but do not stop at en route. Extending all the way to Lynn would require a lot of adjustments at every station that the line would stop at – ideal platform heights are very different for surface and tube stocks which is why I consider this possibility even more unrealistic than the other.
  2. The slightly less ridiculous possibility makes use of the fact that the older subsurface London Underground lines are built to standard railway specifications and would at least not require any platform adaptations. It would require one completely new section of track, from King’s Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith&City and Metropolitan line shared platforms) to Finsbury Park or some point further north, with an intermediate station at Highbury& Islington, giving some useful connections, joining the existing tracks as soon as it is practical for it to come to the surface. That leaves one further question…

WHICH OF LINE SHOULD RUN THE NEW ROUTE?

There are three possibilities:

  1. The Metropolitan line once extended over 50 miles out into the countryside, and is still much more like a mainline railway than other lines. The disadvantage of the Metropolitan getting this route is that from Baker Street onward trains would heading northwest, having come from basically due north (with a tiny fraction of east).
  2. The Hammersmith and City line, which could abandon the Farringdon to Barking part of its route, all of which is served by other lines.
  3. The Wimbledon-Edgware Road section of the District line could add the stations as far as King’s Cross to its existing route and take over the new route.

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I state once again that the foregoing has been a piece of whimsy, not anything serious, before applying my usual sign off…

A new bird sighting for me, tentatively identified as a grey wagtail.
This cormorant has evidently developed a taste for this particular tree canopy – I have seen it up there before.
Roundel Path