Month: July 2022

Two Great Performances in Losing Causes

A look at two remarkable performances that came in losing causes, a brief mention of an innings victory for Sri Lanka and some photographs.

Yesterday saw two remarkable games of cricket, each featuring a notable performance for a member of a badly beaten team.

INTERNATIONAL: SURYAKUMAR YADAV

In the final match of the T20I series England batted first against India. With Dawid Malan leading the way (77 off 39), England posted a massive total. For a time it looked like India might chase them down, and had Suryakumar Yadav had proper support they probably would have done. As it was, the only person to stay with him for any length of time, Shreyas Iyer, did not score quick enough on his own account. Yadav scored 117 off 55 balls, and India went down by 17 runs. Although I understand why Reece Topley got Player of the Match for his three crucial wickets I personally would have given it to Yadav.

DOMESTIC: GEORGE SCRIMSHAW

In the evening the last of the four Vitality Blast quarter finals took place. Somerset were at home to Derbyshire. Somerset were scoring at ten an over at the end of the 11th over, but then went on a spectacular charge which saw the last nine overs yield over 150 runs. This meant a final total of 265-5, an all time tournament record, for Somerset. Leg spinner Matthew McKiernan earned a place in the record books for the wrong reason – his 4-0-82-0 was the most expensive four overs in T20 history. Yet in amongst the dung heap that was the Derbyshire bowling figures one jewel shone out: George Scrimshaw 4-0-16-2. Given that his team mates collectively had 3-249 from 16 overs, for an ER of 15.56 per over his performance prevented a Somerset tally of over 300. The runs his bowling saved unsurprisingly counted for little in the end – a dispirited Derbyshire sank to 74 all out and defeat by 191 runs, yet another record.

SOME NEWS FROM ABROAD

Sri Lanka is a country in turmoil at the moment. Their male cricketers gave them something to enjoy though – around noon UK time they completed a victory over Australia by an innings and 39 runs. Australia managed 364 batting first, Sri Lanka took 190 run lead, piling up 554 with Dinesh Chandimal scoring an unbeaten double hundred. Australia then mustered a meagre 151 all out in their second innings. Chandimal’s innings notwithstanding, the star of this victory was debutant Prabath Jayasuriya, a left arm orthodox spinner who had taken 6-118 in the first dig when conditions were all in the batters favour. Second time around on a surface now offering assistance to spinners he claimed 6-59. Only three players have ever had better match figures on debut than his – Narendra Hirwani took 16-136 for India v West Indies, Bob Massie took 16-137 for Australia v England, and Fred ‘Nutty’ Martin took 12-102 for England against Australia in 1890. None of those three went on to have long or illustrious careers, but Jayasuriya can look at two who took 11 on debut: Clarrie Grimmett went on to claim 216 test wickets, an all comers record at the time, and Alec Bedser took 236 in his career. At 30 years of age Jayasuriya is three years older than Bedser was and three years younger than Grimmett was when he made his debut.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Southern Vipers Great Recovery

A look at Southern Vipers batting performance against South Eastern Stars in their Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy clash today.

There are four games happening in the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy today. At Hove in the one I decided to focus on Southern Vipers are taking on the South Eastern Stars. I look back on the Vipers innings.

EARLY WICKETS FOR THE STARS

The Stars won the toss and put the Vipers in. The top three in the Vipers top order were back in the pavilion early, and a promising stand between Georgia Elwiss and Paige Scholfield came to an end when Danielle Gregory struck with her first ball of the match to make it 74-4. At this point, with even a total of 200 looking a long way off, Emily Windsor, with a highest score in the competition of 47* joined Elwiss at the crease.

A GREAT PARTNERSHIP

Initially in the Elwiss/ Windsor partnership Elwiss, the set batter and also much the more experienced of the pair (although Windsor played her first county game in 2013, so for all that she is only 25, she can hardly be described as a novice) was doing most of the scoring, while Windsor played a more watchful role. Then came an over of Alice Capsey’s off spin, from which Windsor took 15 to really get her innings going. At one stage it looked like both Windsor and Elwiss were booked for centuries, but it was not to be – Windsor was bowled for a magnificent 90 off 79 balls. That brought Freya Kemp in join Elwiss, and she proceeded to finish the job that Windsor had started so superbly. Elwiss completed a ton off 108 balls, and celebrated with the first six of the day, while Kemp scored a blistering rate. Both fell in the closing overs, Kemp for 40 off jus 23 balls, but even that didn’t completely stop the scoring – wicket keeper Carla Rudd contributed a perky 8* off four balls. The final total at the end of Vipers’ 50 overs was 306-9. We wait to see how Stars respond to a daunting task.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England’s Record Run Chase

An account of England’s victory over India which they completed earlier today, and some of my recent photographs.

This post looks back at the match just concluded between England and India, officially the fifth of the 2021 series.

A LONG DELAYED FINALE

India won the the fourth test of the 2021 series comfortably, and then in the run up to the fifth test there was a Covid scare in the Indian camp. By the letter of the law the match should have been forfeited since England were able to play and India were refusing to put a team out, but because the BCCI pulls the ICCs strings a compromise was arranged, whereby the match would be played in 2022 instead. England after a miserable winter in Australia and then the West Indies had started 2022 in a blaze of glory, recording three successive spectacular victories over World Test Champions New Zealand (who won’t get to defend their title in consequence of this). India made some curious selecorial decisions (Pujara as makeshift opener when Mayank Agarwal was available, Thakur preferred to Ashwin, Vihari at three and Shreyas Iyer in the middle order all definitely questionable and the persistence with an aging, chronically out of form Kohli didn’t look right either), England had two obvious question marks, Crawley at the top of the order and the decision to drop Jamie Overton for the returning Anderson (Anderson’s return had to happen, but I would have had Broad make way for him).

INDIA IN CHARGE FOR THREE DAYS…

India had the better of all of the first three days, with only a century by Jonny Bairstow restricting England’s deficit on first innings to 132. India were then 126-3 in their second innings by the end of day three, leading by 258. James Anderson had underlined his enduring class in the Indian first innings by taking 5-60 while everyone else was was being thrashed. Rishabh Pant played a great innings for India, and was the centrepiece of their total of 416. At the end of day three (just under four playing sessions ago) you would have got generous odds on an England win, though probably not quite the 500-1 famously offered at Headingley in 1981.

…AND THEN

In the first part of day four India failed to make the most of their advantage, rather frittering away their last seven wickets for the addition of a further 120. Pujara scored a gritty 66, Pant a more flamboyant 57, but overall India would have been disappointed with a total of 245 all out, and would have been aware that they had not completely killed the game when they might have done. Ben Stokes claimed four wickets for England.

Just for once England did not lose their first wicket ridiculously early. Crawley and Lees both batted well, but just before tea Crawley was out for 46, leaving one that bowled him. This meant that Pope had to begin his innings twice over, either side of the interval. He managed the first, but not the second. Then Root made a horrible misjudgement which caused Lees to be run out. That was 109-3, 269 more still needed for victory, and Bairstow joined Root. Not only were this pair still together at the close, they had done a lot to break the back of the chase, taking England to 259-3, 119 short of victory with the final day to come. The final morning began with India surely needing to break the stand quickly, and probably needing to have both players out within the first half hour to keep their hopes alive. India showed themselves mentally already beaten when they set fields that effectively said “help yourselves to singles but please don’t bash us”. Root and Bairstow accepted the singles but did not comply with the second part of India’s implied request – anything loose (and India provided a fair quantity of this) was ruthlessly punished. After just an hour and a half of the fifth day, including two ball replacements (a huge number of balls have needed to be replaced in this season’s tests) the job was completed, with a single off the fourth ball of the 77th over of the innings. England won by seven wickets, Root 142*, Bairstow 114*. Root’s hundred was his 28th in test cricket, obliterating the so-called ‘curse of 27’, a piece of nonsense that had arisen due to Steven Smith and Virat Kohli both being stuck on 27 test tons for some considerable time. The truth is that a total of 20 players have scored as many as 27 test centuries, and 16, including Root, have gone on to at least 28, while only four (Allan Border, Graeme Smith, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli) failing to do so. It was also Root’s fifth test hundred of 2022, to follow the six he scored in 2021. Bairstow’s century was his fourth in five test innings, his sixth of 2022 and his second of this match. The Root/ Bairstow stand of 269* was the fourth biggest ever in a fourth innings behind 301 by Arthur Morris and Don Bradman at Headingley in 1948 (Aus won by seven wickets), 287* by Gordon Greenidge and Larry Gomes at Lord’s in 1984 (WI won by nine wickets) and 280 by Bill Edrich and Paul Gibb at Durban in 1939 (a preposterous draw, with England 654-5 chasing 696 for victory when play had to be abandoned). This was also the fourth successive time England had chased 275 or over to win a test match, and England’s record successful run chase, beating the 362-9 at Headingley in 2019.

Bairstow was named Player of the Match for his twin tons, and Root Player of the Series for his 737 runs across the five matches. Virat Kohli’s only noteworthy contributions to this match were sledging Bairstow when that worthy was struggling in the first innings, since which moment Bairstow scored a further 207 runs for once out and a disgraceful display of aggression at the fall of an English wicket yesterday which involved charging straight across the pitch and earned him a ticking off from the umpires and may yet have further repercussions in the form of a fine or even a ban.

For England, as well as the two batting guns Root and Bairstow, Anderson maintained his high standing, Potts looked the real deal, Leach came back well from a hammering in the first innings (1-28 from 12 overs in the second). Broad, two second innings scalps not withstanding, looks to be a fading force at test level. Lees and Pope both deserve extended runs in the side (Pope has just been assigned a new role at number three and has done quite well there, and Lees has shown a lot of promise). Zak Crawley’s second innings 46 should not be enough to save him from the axe, and I fully expect Lees to have a new opening partner against South Africa in six weeks time. India’s carelessness with the bat on the fourth morning probably cost them 100 runs, but the way this England handle fourth innings run chases even that might not have been enough. A full scorecard of the match can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Classic Match That Was One Day Too Short

An account of the test match between the England and South African women’s teams which took place on Monday to Thursday of this week.

I was delighted when it was announced that England and South Africa women’s teams would be playing a test match this summer. I was less delighted that it was scheduled for only four days rather than the five that men’s test cricket gets, and this little distinction was to prove of considerable importance to the result.

ALL CHANGE FOR ENGLAND

At the start of this season Anya Shrubsole announced her international retirement after an illustrious career, highlighted by 6-46 in the 2017 World Cup final. In the run up to the match Katherine Brunt announced that she was retiring from test cricket but would still play white ball internationals. Then Emily Arlott was injured in the run up to the match, which meant that Issy Wong was promoted from travelling reserve to full squad member. Eventually, England decided that one spinner (the incomparable Sophie Ecclestone) was sufficient and opted to strengthen the batting by giving the number seven slot in the order to Alice Davidson-Richards. The new look seam attack was led by veteran Kate Cross, supported by Wong and Lauren Bell plus the all round skills of Natalie Sciver. Batting wise there were not a huge number of surprises: Emma Lamb, in magnificent form in domestic cricket, was chosen to open alongside the experienced Tammy Beaumont, with skipper Knight at three, Sciver four, Sophia Dunkley at five and keeper Amy Jones at six. Thus the full XI in batting order read: Beaumont, Lamb, *Knight, Sciver, Dunkley, +Jones, Davidson-Richards, Ecclestone, Cross, Wong, Bell.

INEXPERIENCED SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa had not played a test since 2014, so scandalously small is the amount of women’s test cricket. Dane Van Niekerk was still recovering from a broken ankle, and in the run up to the match Shabnim Ismail, star bowler, went down injured, as did big hitting middle order batter Chloe Tryon. For some unknown reason in form pacer Ayabonga Khaka was not considered for selection. All of this meant that SA took the field with only two players out of 11 having prior test experience.

DAY ONE: KAPP’S HORATIAN PERFORMANCE SAVES SA

On Monday June 27th South Africa batted first. With Cross, Bell and Wong all highly impressive in the early stages SA were soon in trouble at 45-4. Wong claimed her first test wicket with an absolute peach of a ball to clean bowl Laura Wolvaardt (no mean feat this – the young SA opener had scored a ton in the warm up match against England A, and a repeat of that in this match would have been no great surprise. At this point Marizanne Kapp came to the crease for South Africa. She proceeded to play an innings of utter brilliance, enabling South Africa to reach the respectability of 284 all out, of which her share was precisely 150. Kate Cross had the best figures for England, with 4-63, with Bell 2-54, Wong 1-54, Ecclestone 1-33, Sciver 1-29 and Davidson-Richards 1-39 all also taking wickets.

DAY TWO: SCIVER AND DAVIDSON-RICHARDS

Beaumont and Lamb put on 65 for the first England wicket, but thereafter a collapse set in, with Knight experiencing a rare failure at test level. The score when debutant Davidson-Richards walked out join Sciver was 121-5. By the close of play this pair were still in occupation, Davidson-Richards having become the first England debutant of either sex to take at least one wicket and score a century on test debut since WG Grace did so in the first test ever played on English soil in 1880, and Sciver having also passed three figures. England, having looked deep in trouble when the pair came together were now 39 runs to the good, and it was fairly clear that only one side now had a chance of winning the match.

DAYS THREE AND FOUR: A TALE OF WEATHER WOES

Davidson-Richards was out early on the third morning, but Ecclestone now provided excellent support for the unstoppable Sciver, scoring a perky 35 and helping the seventh wicket to raise a further 86. Cross was next in, and her run out heralded the England declaration at 417-8, a lead of 133. Sciver with 169* had beaten her captain’s test best by a single run, was eight short of Claire Taylor’s 177, 10 short of Rachael Heyhoe-Flint’s 179 and 20 short of the all time England women’s test record of 189 held since 1935 by Betty Snowball. Also possibly relived by the declaration were Aussies Michelle Gozsko (204) and Ellyse Perry (213*).

The weather from this point on was hugely uncooperative and allowed only 68.1 further overs in the course of a day and a half (and the women get through their overs at a good rate – on day two 100 overs took six hours 12 minutes of playing time to bowl – rather less long than it takes the men to bowl the 90 that is their minimum requirement for a day). In those overs South Africa amassed 181-5 in their second innings. Cross and Wong each took two wickets, the latter’s haul including Wolvaardt for the second time in the match, and Ecclestone one. The combination of the allocation of only four days and bad weather on each of the last two of those days made this the sixth successive women’s test to end in a draw. A full scorecard can be viewed here.

LOOKING FORWARD

Women’s cricket is in excellent health, and both sides deserve a lot of credit, England for coming out firing with a new look bowling attack, and for ultimately dominating the contest, and South Africa for showing considerable resolve with depleted ranks. There need to be more women’s test matches, and those matches NEED TO BE SCHEDULED FOR FIVE DAYS.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This adapted traditional phone box is located in Snettisham
This morning’s walk which was long enough for me to miss Shubman Gill’s entire innings took in Hardwick Cemetery
A goods train passing Tennyson Road