Maiden County Ton for Mousley

A look at goings on on day two of Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.

Today is the second day of the county championship season. This post looks at events at Edgbaston where Warwickshire and Surrey are playing.

YESTERDAY EVENING

Surrey continued the fightback I reported on yesterday, eventually reaching 328, of which 128 came from the bat of Ben Foakes. The last wicket fell right on the stroke of time, meaning that Warwickshire did not have to bat in the evening session. They would have been disappointed to let Surrey off the hook from 65-6, but would also have noted that the pitch was definitely easier to bat on than it had been at the start.

TODAY

Today has belonged to Warwickshire. They have moved into a first innings lead for the loss of a mere two wickets. All four batters to have gone to the crease for them so far (Alex Davies, Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain) have topped 50. Mousley reached his first ever county century (he has scored an FC hundred for The Lions, England’s ‘understudy’ squad) just before the light got bad enough for the umpires to take the players off. With Sam Hain unbeaten on 80 at the other end Warwickshire were 330-2, two runs ahead of Surrey’s 328. With the pitch now playing very easily Warwickshire can and should leave Surrey with only a draw to play for – it would be advisable for Warwickshire to give themselves a bowl at Surrey tomorrow evening if they are not already all out by then, but they can certainly afford to bat for two whole sessions tomorrow, and possibly for another hour after tea just to render their lead insuperable.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The WNAG 4th birthday cake.
Pictures of my new trophy and medal (six in total).
Today’s pictures start here.

Cricket Season Underway

A look at events in Warwickshire v Surrey on the opening day of a new cricket season and a photo gallery from work.

The 2026 first class cricket season got underway at 11am UK time this morning, making use of the fact that today and Monday are both bank holidays to play a round of four-day fixtures on which no day will be a regular working day. This post looks at goings on at Edgbaston where Warwickshire are facing Surrey. One piece of big general championship news is that the powers that be have seen sense and abandoned the experiment of using the Kookaburra ball in English matches as the failure it was.

EARLY STRUGGLES

Warwickshire won the toss and put Surrey in to bat. Surrey survived a tough morning largely through Dominic Sibley who batted through at one end. They should have made it through the session for the loss of three wickets, but a loose shot from Dan Lawrence right on the stroke of the interval handed Ethan Bamber his third scalp of the morning and sent Surrey in for lunch at 61-4. Almost as soon as the afternoon session started there was more trouble for Surrey, as Sibley was caught by Rob Yates off Chris Woakes and then Woakes clean bowled teenager Ralphie Albert to make it 65-6…

THE REVIVAL

At that point Ben Foakes, a world class wicket keeping all rounder who should be a regular in the England test side, was joined by Tom Lawes, a talented young seam bowler who can bat. This pair batted through the afternoon session, Lawes reaching a new career best 78 not out by the interval, while Foakes was on 55 not out, and the score had risen to 198-6. Foakes is a very experienced campaigner, and is likely to pass the career landmark of 10,000 first class runs before the end of the season. Play is just resuming for the evening as I type this.

PHOTOGRAPHS

First, a standalone from last night, the fourth birthday of the West Norfolk Autism Group (WNAG):

Me at the fourth birthday celebrations of WNAG, which took place at Strikes in Gaywood yesterday evening. The trophy I am holding aloft is for a win at ten pin bowling, while the gold medal around my neck is for a triumph at scrabble. The WNAG T shirt is on over my jumper because it was not warm enough to be in just a T shirt and I felt that on this occasion that T shirt had to be on display.

My remaining pictures come from work…

We start with some items of militaria which will be going under the hammer at the end of April.
This lot made almost double the high estimate in our March auction…
…partly because of this image of the reverse and the accompanying confirmation that I was able to offer that the blob of gum is original.
This is one of 70 postcard lots in the April sale – I have not images the others yet.

A Family Wedding

An account of a long day yesterday, with a cousin’s wedding at its heart.

Yesterday a cousin of mine got married in Southend (where the couple live). Given the amount of travel involved in attending the wedding, my parents and I also decided to visit Wallasea Island, a wetland area/ bird reserve that has been created using spoil from the Elizabeth line, and which is more or less on the way.

OUTWARD BOUND

My father arrived to pick me up just before 9AM, and we then went into the centre of town to pick up my mother who had opted not to walk from their accommodation to my place, where the car was parked. Then we headed by various roads towards Wallasea Island. My parents car is not well suited to photography, but I managed to capture a few views of Ely Cathedral…

WALLASEA ISLAND

We saw hardly any of Wallasea Island in the end, and saw no exotic species during our time there, but I saw enough to be impressed.

ROCHFORD

We made a stop for refreshments at Rochford, just on the outskirts of Southend. The cafe we visited was excellent, and Rochford has a couple of interesting features.

The Rochford town map.

THE MAIN EVENT

There was one final problem before the main event. My sister and my nephew both also needed lifts from the centre of Southend to the actual venue, The Red Brick Barn, Sutton Hall, Rochford, and my parents car seats only four. In the end my sister and I were dropped at the venue first and then my parents went on to meet my nephew and bring him to the venue. The ceremony was followed by official photographs and then a meal. We left not long after six, with my parents having an early start the next day, and me not being a huge fan of big social occasions (it was still 9:30PM by the time we got to my place!).

These last pictures were taken during the official photograph session.
Amand and Ed, the happy couple.

A MINIATURE RAILWAY

My sister reported seeing a railway carriage in the grounds, so I went to investigate, and while there was no actual rolling stock there was a station on a miniature railway.

Pictures from Norfolk

A gallery of recent photos.

The weather has been fine in my part of the world of late, apart from Friday which was dull and grey. I thus have lots of pictures to share, and not being inspired to think of things to write about I offer up this gallery:

One of the villains of the natural world – an ichneumon wasp (this variety lays its eggs in a caterpillar, which then gets eaten from the inside by the larvae).

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.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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).