INTRODUCTION
Most of my readers will be aware of what happened in Yokohama yesterday morning, but that was not the only fixture involving an England team this weekend, and before sharing some photographs I mention both matches.
ENGLAND RUGBY TEAM HAMMERED
England went into the men’s Rugby World Cup final as favourites, having downed the mighty All Blacks in the semi-final. I was listening to commentary on the Women’s Bag Bash League game while keeping an eye on developments in the Rugby. The best it got for England was when they were briefly level at 6-6. Thereafter South Africa were utterly dominant, the two tries they ran in near the end merely making the scoreline a realistic reflection of that dominance. The WBBL game was excellent. The victorious Melbourne Stars had spinners bowl 12 of their 20 overs, and those 12 overs went for a mere 51 between them. Lizelle Lee scored an astonishing century for the Stars to give them a very respectable total, which their bowlers as described above defended.
NEW ZEALAND LEVEL T20 SERIES
England won the first match of the five game T20 series in New Zealand, but the hosts struck back in the small hours of the morning GB time. Worcestershire’s Pat Brown got slapped for 32 off just two overs, while Lewis Gregory who mysteriously also only got two overs started his international bowling career by knocking a stump back with his very first delivery and finished with 1-10. England were not up with the rate at any point of the chase, and when their final wicket fell to the penultimate ball of the game the margin was 21 runs (substantial in this form of the game). Chris Jordan had a fine match for England, with 3-25 and then 36 off 19 balls (second top England score behind Dawid Malan with 39). Saqib Mahmood, picked without the domestic figures to suggest international quality, had 1-46 from his four overs, a very poor showing.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (features a couple of spider pics near the end)…





Love the hedgehog! One for 2001’s calendar, perhaps!
Yes, quite possibly.
Excellent pics of spiders. A-M liked the hedgehogs
The spider, which I snapped twice to make sure of it, was evidently suspended by a thread connected to the light control button at the crossing of Littleport Street.
You are so lucky to have seen a hedgehog!
Yes, they normally keep themselves hidden, so seeing a live hedgehog in plain view is very unusual.
Well done on the Impossible Puzzle! I’m also a puzzle lover. The train track border must have been an afterthought by someone who didn’t think it through. Heh. 💜
Thank you for your comment. You are probably right about the train border on the regular puzzle – and yes it was pleasing to complete the “Impossipuzzle”.