Month: October 2024

The England Tour Party to New Zealand and Other Stuff

A look at the England Men’s touring party for New Zealand, an auction lots related photo gallery, an account of Heat v Renegades in the WBBL and a regular photo gallery.

In addition to the selection of the tour party to New Zealand I will be mentioning today’s WBBL match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades. There will be two photo galleries, a small one separating the two cricket segments and the main one at the end.

THE ENGLAND TOUR PARTY TO NEW ZEALAND

The England men’s squad for their tour of New Zealand was announced yesterday:

Jamie Smith was known to be missing this tour as he is taking paternity leave. Jordan Cox is an odd choice as keeper, as he hardly ever does this job in domestic cricket. Oliver George Robinson, a superb keeper who has just had a season in which he scored 900 FC runs at an average of 48 is entitled to feel aggrieved. I have talked about Woakes overseas before, and I still consider him a waste of a spot. Jacob Bethell is a talented young player, but surely if England were looking to usher a youngster on to the international stage James Rew of Somerset would have been a better choice. I also feel, especially given that current number three Ollie Pope is coming off a shocking series in Pakistan (55 runs in five innings), that Josh Bohannon could have been considered. Finally, no one who has seen the selections of my all time XIs could suggest that I of all people do not appreciate spin bowling, but I find it hard to imagine a New Zealand strip on which the selection of even two out of Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir is justified. At best I would say that the selectors deserve 5/10 for this effort, and that is probably erring on the side of generosity.

AUCTION PURCHASES

I mentioned lot 731 in my post about the coin/ banknote/ cheque element of James and Sons’ most recent sale (see here) but that was one of three lots (all very cheap) that I secured over the two days. Lots 369 and 374, railway postcards, went under the hammer while I was at work, but I had put in bids in advance. This gallery shows those lots, and my subsequent treatment of them.

Lot 369 – an outside view of St Pancras station
I also imaged the stamp on the back for the auction
The next few pictures were taken once the item was in my possesion.
My solution to mounting the postcard and keeping the stamp visible – I cut a hole in the paper on which I was mounting it.
Lot 374 Marylebone Station, for auction.
Some pictures taken at home.
I envisgaed combining this item with the Great Central Railway advert already in my possession.
Ultimately I mounted them side by side.
lot 731
Paired up with another cheque issued to the South Eastern Railway Company.

BRISBANE HEAT v MELBOURNE RENEGADES

Renegades won the toss at Allan Border Field, Brisbane and put the home side in to bat. Grace Harris made a brief but dramatic contribution: her first ball was the fifth of the opening over and she smacked it out of the park. She top edged the next delivery and the bowler, Sophie Molineux exacted revenge for the previous ball by taking a return catch. That was 7-1 after one over. Georgia Redmayne was now joined by Lauren Winfield-Hill and they had a good partnership for the second wicket. Molineux was involved in Winfield-Hill’s dismissal for 26, catching the number three’s clip off the bowling of Georgia Wareham to make it 73-2. Charli Knott managed a single before Emma de Broughe took a catch off Hayley Matthews first ball of the match to make it 78-3 after 9.1 overs. At that point drinks were taken, rather than wait for the end of the 10th over. New batter Jess Jonassen and Redmayne took six off the remaining five balls of the tenth over and Heat were 84-3 at the halfway stage of their innings. Off the last ball of the 11th over Dottin had Redmayne caught by her opposite number, Nicole Faltum, for 44, which made it 86-4. Laura Harris now played a brilliant innings, making full use of the Power Surge. Her 31 off 16 balls, along with a few other contributions, notably 11 not out off seven balls from Grace Parsons at the end of the innings got Heat to 169-8 from their 20 overs.

Renegades made a blazing start to the chase, largely through Hayley Matthews. However Grace Parsons now took centre stage with the ball. First she had Matthews caught by Laura Harris for 35 which made it 51-1, then three balls later she had Alice Capsey stumped for a duck to make it 52-2. Then in the eighth over, her second, she had Deandra Dottin given LBW which made 59-3. Courtney Webb was run out after a fine return from Grace Harris and some quick work from bowler Shikha Pandey caught her out of her ground. Thereafter Renegades were never in the hunt. Some late hitting by Naomi Stalenberg (38 off 23 balls) lessened the damage that Renegades’ net run rate took but did not affect the final result. Renegades ended on 141-9, giving Heat the win by 28 runs. Parsons, who even with her final over costing 13 had 3-22 from her four overs as well as that 11 not out in the Heat innings was a shoo-in for Player of the Match. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Walking back from the bus stop once the clocks have gone back (it was still absolutely full daylight last week).

Thunder Blown Away by Hurricanes

An account of today’s WBBL match (Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Thunder) and a photo gallery.

Today’s match in the WBBL was between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder.

THE HURRICANES INNINGS

Sydney Thunder won the bat flip and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee was out cheaply, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nicola Carey had a good partnership for the second wicket, and then Elyse Villani offered Carey further support. At the halfway stage of their innings the Hurricanes were 64-2 and looking set for a big score. They took the Power Surge (in this competition sides get four overs of standard Power Play at the start of the innings and a two over Power Surge which must be taken in the second half of the innings) immediately, and scored 28 runs from the two overs. At 92-2 after 12 overs 170 looked to be possible and 160 to be no mare than par. Then came a horrendous collapse which started with the dismissal of Carey for a fine 52 and saw four wickets tumble for just 12 runs. Tabatha Saville batted well at number seven, and found some useful late support from Molly Strano, who scored 9 not out off just five balls. The spinners had fared far better than the seamers. Shabnim Ismail’s pace was ineffective, leaving her with 0-30 from four overs, while Hannah Darlington, thad a disastrous 2-0-28-0, although veteran Sammy-Jo Johnson went for just 19 from her four overs and took a wicket. Pick of the Thunder bowlers was left arm spinner Samantha Bates who had 3-20. Hurricanes had amassed 141-7 by the end of their innings, 92-2 off the first 12 overs and 49-5 off the last eight overs.

THE THUNDER REPLY

There are few better options when spin is going to be key than Molly Strano, and the Hurricanes entrusted her with the first over of the innings. The very first ball of the Thunder innings pinned Sri Lankan ace Chamari Athatpaththu who had earlier claimed 2-26 from four overs of off spin plumb LBW. Athapaththu was somewhat slow to leave the crease, but it was one of the plumbest LBWs you could ever see. Phoebe Litchfield survived the remaining five balls of the over, but was not able to score off any of them, thus giving Strano the first maiden of this year’s tournament. Kathryn Bryce, the Scottish all rounder who bowls medium pace, was given the second over and conceded 14, which ended her participation as a bowler. The third over was Strano’s second, and six runs accrued from it. Lauren Smith, another off spinner, bowled the fourth over, and Georgia Voll was dismissed, holing out to Chloe Tryon in the deep to make it 24-2. Tahlia Wilson and Georgia Adams fell for 3 a piece, off four and six balls respectively and it was 38-4 in the seventh over. Anika Learoyd now offered Litchfield, who was playing beautifully after her slow start, the only serious support she would enjoy all innings. Litchfield reached a magnificent 50 off 36 balls, but then suffered a remarkable dismissal – Heather Graham, a medium pacer, fired one wide of the stumps and Lizelle Lee executed a smart stumping. The delivery was signalled wide, but one can be stumped off a wide, and Litchfield had to go, making the score 91-5. Sammy-Jo Johnson, a big hitter on her day, fell cheaply to make it 96-6. Two runs later Nicola Carey effectively ended the contest by bowling Learoyd for 29 to make it 98-7. 44 runs of 5.4 overs is not difficult if you have front line batters available to score them, but when you down to numbers 8,9,10 and 11 it is a major ask. Ella Briscoe and Hannah Darlington added 10 runs together for the eighth wicket before Heather Graham ended what had been a horror day for Darlington by bowling her for four. That was 108-8, which immediately became 108-9 when a mix-up between Ismail and Briscoe saw Ismail suffer that rarity, a zero ball duck (run out 0, having not faced a ball). By this stage were Thunder were a long way behind the required run rate as well. Samantha Bates who had earlier bowled so well got a single, and Briscoe also added a single to her score before the last ball of the 18th over, bowled by Tryon with her left arm spin, clean bowled Bates to make 110 all out and victory to the Hurricanes by 31 runs. Other than Bryce’s single expensive over the most expensive Hurricanes bowler was Tryon with 2-19 from three overs for an ER of 6.33. Heather Graham had 3-19 from her full four overs. Nicola Carey, one of the two half centurions in the match and also the possessor of figures of 3-0-18-1, was named Player of the Match.

After the first 12 overs of this match had yielded 92-2 the last 26 produced a combined 159-15. Bryce in that one over apart the Hurricanes seamers had realized that pace on the ball on this pitch just asked to be hit and deliberately slowed themselves down.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

WBBL10 Under Way

A look at the two WBBL10 games on which there were radio commentaries today, and a large photo gallery.

The 10th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League is underway. I got most of two commentaries today, first Melbourne Renegades against Sydney Sixers, which was happening on neutral territory, at Adelaide, and then Perth Scorchers against Melbourne Stars which took place at the historic WACA stadium in Perth.

RENEGADES v SIXERS – A BATTLE WITHIN A BATTLE

This match, a battle between representatives of Australia’s two biggest cities was dominated by titanic individual performances from two of Australian cricket’s biggest stars.

Renegades batted well, with the highlight a spectacular 61 (31) from Georgia Wareham. For the Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry was easily the best of the bowlers, recording 4-0-25-2. Caoimhe Bray (that first name is apparently pronounced ‘Keeva’), all of 15 years and 34 days old, meaning that Perry is quite genuinely old enough to be her mother, was given a single over of right arm medium fast. She conceded 15 runs, but ended the over by extracting an ample measure of vengeance, rearranging Deandra Dottin’s stumps.

Perry launched a spectacular onslaught at the start of the Sixers reply. Yorkshire batting all rounder Hollie Armitage opened the innings with Perry and provided splendid support, contributing 30 (23) to an opening stand of 79 in 7.2 overs. Ashleigh Gardner fell cheaply, but Scottish batter/ keeper Sarah Bryce provided Perry further support. It took an excellent catch by Linsey Smith off Wareham to end Perry’s innings, for 81 off 38 balls. Wareham, backed by fellow spinners Smith and Capsey now seemed to have swung the match in her and the Renegades’ favour, with Courtney Sippel’s dismissal making the score 147-7. At that point the youngster, Bray, joined Bryce, and Bryce finally found her best form. It was Bray, on her debut in professional cricket, who made the winning hit, a four off the final ball of the 19th over that took her score to 12* (5), while Bryce had 36* (25). Wareham had 3-0-26-3. With the Sixers winning Perry was named Player of the Match – had Renegades won it would almost certainly have been given to Wareham. Scorecard here.

SCORCHERS v STARS – BOWLERS DOMINANT

Scorchers batted first, and run getting was never easy, though Mooney (skipper and keeper as well as opening batter) and Amy Jones (playing as specialist batter) each reached 30, and Chloe Piparo managed 23. A total of 122-8 looked modest. Left arm spinner Sophie Day had 3-21 from her four overs.

Ines McKeon, a 17 year old batter/keeper, and Meg Lanning opened the batting for the Stars. McKeon was impressive right from the start, but Lanning never got going. The first turning point of the innings was a sensational over from Chloe Ainsworth, a 19 year old fast bowling all rounder, the first ball of which cleaned up Lanning, and the fifth did the same to Annabel Sutherland. McKeon was playing a gem of an innings, all the more extraordinary given how young she is, but could find no one to stay with her. Marizanne Kapp briefly looked like doing so, but was run out when leg spinner Alana King deflected a fiercely struck drive from McKeon into the bowler’s end stumps with the South African out of her ground. Thereafter it became a procession, and when Sophie Reid was sixth out only 78 were on the board. Kim Garth finally provided McKeon with some support, and the youngster brought up a superb 50 off 43 balls. The next delivery was a wide, off which Beth Mooney executed a smart stumping. That was 95-7, and it was down to Garth and numbers 9,10 and 11 to conjure 28 runs between them. Bizarrely cricinfo’s Win Predictor still had the Stars as favourites at that point, a reminder that AI is far from all powerful – to anyone who knew anything whatsoever about cricket the Stars after McKeon’s dismissal were rank outsiders. Five runs later Carly Leeson, whose first over had been disfigured by a number of wides, but whose second was a lot better, took a wonderful return catch to account for Garth, and now even Win Predictor recognized the writing on the wall for the Stars. The last two wickets scraped a further nine runs, the majority extras. Ninth out was Sasha Moloney, bowled by Lilly Mills for 1. Number 11 Maisy Gibson survived one ball, but off her second the Mooney/ King combo were in business for the second time of the innings, and the match was over with Scorchers winning by 13 runs. Although King with 3-20 had the best figures of the innings it was quite correctly Ainsworth, who had broken things open for the Scorchers with those two monster scalps of Lanning and Sutherland who was named Player of the Match. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Rawalpindi Rout

A look at England’s capitulation in Rawalpindi and a photo gallery in two parts.

England went into day three of the third and final test of the Pakistan v England series with three second innings wickets gone and a deficit of 53 to overcome just to get on terms (see here for the first two days). This post looks at the events of today.

A COLLAPSE

Root and Brook began well for England, but England were still in deficit when Brook was fourth out, caught behind off Noman Ali for 26. The deficit had still not been cleared when Stokes had a brain fade and allowed a ball from Noman Ali to hit his pads when he was right in front of the stumps. Root at the non-strikers end, recognizing a hopeless case when he saw it, told Stokes not to waste a review. Jamie Smith essayed a big hit against Sajid Khan, missed and was bowled, which made England effectively minus 2-6. England were in credit, but only just, when Root edged Noman Ali to the keeper to be out for 33. Gus Atkinson and Rehan Ahmed added 12 runs to the score before Atkinson, who has probably never batted on a genuine turner before, was bowled by Sajid Khan for 10. Rehan Ahmed also got a good one from Sajid Khan, with the same result as in the Atkinson case. Leach had an LBW verdict overturned on review, but shortly afterwards had a huge heave, missed and was stumped. England were 112 all out, leaving Pakistan needing a mere 36 to win.

PAKISTAN FINISH IN STYLE

Leach and Bashir opened the bowling, but this target was never going to pose a threat, and Pakistan treated the situation as it deserved, taking a mere 3.1 overs to knock the runs off. Skipper Shan Masood, coming in after the loss of Saim Ayub, hammered 23 not out of six balls, hitting four fours, a single, and then off the first ball of the fourth over the six that officially confirmed Pakistan as winners of both match and series. Saud Shakeel’s 134 earned him Player of the Match, while Sajid Khan’s wickets, lower order runs and general aggression netted him Player of the Series. Noman Ali had claimed 21 wickets in two matches with his left arm spin, as a 38 year old who was making just his 16th and 17th test appearances. Sajid Khan had 18 wickets in those two games, with the one that got away being Jamie Smith in England’s first innings of this match, leg spinner Zahid Mahmood’s sole strike.

AN ENGLAND REVIEW

Though the England second innings capitulation looks obvious as a cause of the disaster it was not the most significant element of the match. England underperformed in the first innings after winning a valuable looking toss – the only seriously misbehaving ball of that innings was the one that kept low on Ben Duckett, so 267 was definitely a poor score.

Worse still was the failure of both bowling and leadership when England had Pakistan 177-7 in reply. Saud Shakeel, a formidable batter, was allowed to accumulate without let or hindrance, while Sajid Khan and Noman Ali showed their batting skills, which are better than usual for numbers nine and 10 in an order at the other end.

The England spinners were not up to the task. Leach, by far the most experienced, performed worst of the trio, with the other two both having their moments. However, all were guilty of failing to vary their pace, whereas Noman Ali and Sajid Khan both did vary the pace of their deliveries over a fairly wide range.

England have only one batter who actually knows how to handle the turning ball, and Root did not find his best form in either of the matches that were played on turners. The rest of the order for the most part are deeply unimpressive against spin.

Incidentally, across the border in India, New Zealand, who England will be visiting shortly, took an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three match series. Before this India had last lost a home series in 2012, and New Zealand had never won a series in India.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photo gallery comes in two parts…

Part two…

An unlikely sighting for an English October!
Eco vandalism – the plants that were growing alongside this path were home to various kinds of wildlife including caterpillars.

England in Trouble in Rawalpindi

A look at the the action during the first two days of the third test of the Pakistan v England series in Rawalpindi and a large photo gallery.

The third and final test match of the series between Pakistan and England got underway in Rawalpindi yesterday morning. This post looks at the events of the first two days.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England had called up Rehan Ahmed and with Carse having problems with a foot injury Atkinson replaced him in the XI. This meant three front line spinners (Leach, Bashir and Ahmed) and only Atkinson as a specialist pacer, with skipper Stokes second option in that department. Pakistan were unchanged. The pitch had had giant fans blowing on it to dry it out more for the spinners. England won the toss and chose to bat.

THE FIRST DAY

Duckett batted well and reached a fine 50 before getting out. The rest of the top six did little worthy of mention, and at 118-6 England looked in deep trouble. However, Atkinson batted well in support of Smith who batted very impressively, and by the time I left to catch the bus to work the score had risen to 158-6. I was to find out later that the England recovery continued, and they got to 267 all out, before reducing Pakistan to 73-3 by the close of day one.

DAY TWO

England had a good morning, and at one stage Pakistan were 177-7. That score had increased by 10 when lunch came at 8:30 UK time (session times on Fridays in Pakistan are different from on other days – the morning session is extended, then the lunch break lasts an hour to incorporate time for Friday prayers, and the afternoon and evening sessions are a little shorter). The afternoon session was the first of two where the match appeared to swing decisively. England captured only wicket in that session, and Pakistan, withNoman Ali attacking, and Saud Shakeel accumulating sensibly and without fuss against field settings that were designed to prevent boundaries but as a consequence allowed him to score ones and twos more or less at will, scored 90 runs, levelling the scores. The evening session began with a period of absolute carnage, as Sajid Khan, the number 10, laid about him in spectacular fashion. The lead raced past 50 in the sixth over after the interval. The scoring reined in after that, but runs continued to accrue. Finally, with the lead standing at 70, Atkinson induced a miscue from Shakeel whose magnificent innings of 134 (223 balls, just five fours and thus a lot of running) came to an end with a tame catch to sub fielder Matt Potts. Seven further runs accrued before Sajid Khan exposed number 11 Zahid Mahmood to the wiles of Rehan Ahmed. One ball from leg spinner to leg spinner was sufficient to end the innings, Zahid failing to pick the googly and being bowled. Rehan Ahmed had 4-66 for the innings, Shoaib Bashir, chief victim of the post tea onslaught, had 3-129, but the real disappointment among the England spinners was Leach, more experienced than the other two combined, who on a surface that was offering assistance had 1-105 from 31 overs. Atkinson, on a surface on which he should have been a non-factor, had 2-22 from 12 overs.

England lost both openers to LBWs , one to Noman Ali and one to Sajid Khan. With the score 20, Pope who had amassed a single, gave a catch to Salman Agha off Noman Ali. Root and Brook joined forces, and had added four runs when the umpires decided that the floodlights were now dominating the natural light and took the players off, ending play for the day, with England 53 runs behind Pakistan and having seven second innings wickets standing. Failure to finish off opposition innings is becoming a recurrent problem for this England side, and the batting of the top three in the second innings was disastrous. They should have learned by this stage that playing back foot strokes against spinners on this surface is a recipe for disaster, but both openers perished essaying exactly such shots.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Massive Auction Success

Some highlights from a remarkable auction that took place today, and a photo gallery.

Today saw the second day of James and Sons’ October auction. Under the hammer were mainly coins, but also some banknotes and cheques. This post looks back at a sale that was the stuff of dreams.

A FAST START

Some bidders were actually present at James and Sons HQ in Fakenham, there was at least one telephone bidder, and the both the online platforms used for our auctions, the-saleroom.com and easyliveauction.com were well patronized (I was following the action by way of the latter). Lot 501, with an estimate of 1,500-2000 soared to 3,800.

A UK 1980 gold proof set showing the heads side.
The tails side of the same set.
A close up of the tails side of the biggest coin.

LOT 502 – THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH

Lot 502, a rare (so rare that my employer, who has been in the business almost 60 years and one of whose specialities is coins has never previously auctioned one) 1911 specimen coin set carried an estimate of 3,000 – 5,000. By the time the auctioneer’s verbal description of the item was complete the bidding was already close to the £10,000 mark, and by the time the bidding finally stopped the hammer price was £11,800! I have been involved with James and Sons for 11 and a half years and this is comfortably the highest price I have seen for a single lot of any type in all that time…

The set in its display box, heads side uup
The same, tails side up.
The heads side of a single coin
The tails side of a single coin
The top of the box
An image focussing only on the coins, to accompany a press release I hope to be sending out tomorrow.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

After a start like that the rest of the auction was bound to be somewhat ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’, but a few items succeeded spectaculalrly.

Lot 639, a Queen Victoria penny with an estimate of 50-60 was in relative times the success of the whole auction, going for an eye-popping £1,100

Lot 647, a gold coin from the reign of George III not in the best condition, went for £340.

Lot 670, a Canadian five cent coin from 1885 fared even better, fetching £380.

Lot 673, a Canadian gold coin of recent vintage expected to fetch 15-20 ended up going for £80.

Lot 705 was the last big success of the auction (the auction ended at lot 756), going for £160.

I bring this section to an end with an item that did not fare especially well. Lot 731 was knocked down to me.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A reminder that all pictures can be viewed at a larger size by clicking on them. Now for my regular photo gallery.

The Final of The Women’s T20 World Cup

An account of yesterday’s final of the Women’s T20 World Cup and a large photo gallery.

Yesterday the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup took place, with the contending sides being New Zealand and South Africa. This post looks back at the match.

THE PRELIMINARIES

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first. New Zealand would undoubtedly have chosen to bat first anyway – they had done well doing so in this tournament – so both sides were happy with things at this stage. Neither side made any changes to their sides that had won the semi-finals, which meant that Suzannah Wilson Bates, aka Suzie Bates, became the most capped female international cricketer ever, winning her 334th cap across formats (sadly, due to NZ unwillingness to play test cricket, a format they last appeared in in 2004, across formats in her case means ODIs and T20s).

THE NEW ZEALAND INNINGS

New Zealand have been notable (as indeed have South Africa) for bucking the usual trend in this tournament of batting cautiously. They had South Africa’s splendid chase against Australia in that semi-final as a reminder of what might happen if they failed to put up a decent total. The started excellently, enjoying the best Power Play that any side had had against South Africa all tournament long. Bates set the tone for New Zealand, scoring off most of the deliveries she received. Once the Bates/ Plimmer opening stand was broken with the score at 16, Amelia Kerr joined the fray, and made good use of her speed between the wickets. At 53 in the eighth over Bates was dismissed, and when skipper Devine was out for 6 to make it 70-3 just past the halfway mark. Brooke Halliday now joined Kerr, and they, helped by some South African indiscipline with the ball (the Proteas sent down too many wides and no-balls) upped the tempo very effectively. Halliday was the chief scorer in a fourth wicket stand that raised 57 runs in seven overs, scoring a T20I best of 38 from 28 balls (how’s that for rising to a big occasion?). The tempo increased further in the last 16 balls of the innings. Kerr was dismissed for 43 off 38 balls with the score at 141. Maddy Green and Isabella Gaze, the Kiwi keeper, scored 17 together off the last seven balls of the innings, helped by some less than stellar South African fielding (the two they scored off the last ball of the innings for example were more or less a gift). New Zealand’s total of 158-5 looked useful. For the record South Africa bowled three no balls and ten wides or to put it another way, 2.1 overs worth of extra deliveries.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPLY

Wolvaardt and Brits started extremely brightly, ending the Power Play still together and with 47 runs on the board, putting them just up with the required rate. There had been a brief worry for New Zealand when Kerr did not take the field at the start of the innings, but she was on by the second over. Left arm spinner Fran Jonas got Brits with the penultimate ball of the seventh over to make it 51-1. It was the tenth over, bowled by Kerr with her leg spin, that first swung things New Zealand’s way. With the first ball thereof Kerr had Wolvaardt caught by Bates, to become the leading wicket taker of the tournament outright (she had been tied with South African left arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba on 12 wickets until that point). With the sixth ball of that same over, she found the edge of Anneke Bosch’s bat and Gaze took the catch behind the stumps. This was initially given not out, but sent upstairs, and Ultra Edge fairly speedily revealed a tell tale spike. This wicket made Kerr the all time leading wicket taker at any single edition of this tournament. That was 64-3, and a huge psychological blow given that Bosch had been the star of South Africa’s semi-final triumph. Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk cobbled together a stand of 13, but then both fell in rapid succession. First Kapp was caught by Plimmer off Eden Carson, the off spinner whose delighted laughter in post match interviews had become a feature of the tournament. Then Rosemary Mair, the tall seamer who had taken four-for in New Zealand’s first game of the tournament, had de Klerk caught by Kerr. In the the space of two balls, the last of the 12th over and the first of the 13th, 77-3 had become 77-5. Chloe Tryon (a noted six hitter but not in great form) and Sune Luus were now together. They added 20, but South Africa were by then falling alarmingly far behind the required rate. For the 16th over Devine played a wild card – she tossed the ball to the rarely used Halliday. Halliday’s first delivery was a ghastly wide, the second was also not a great ball, but Halliday and Devine’s luck was in – Luus succeeded only in sending it into the hands of Bates at cover and that was 97-6, and 62 needed off 29 balls. Annerie Dercksen, like Tryon a noted big hitter, and with some recent form behind her, came to the crease with miracles required. Dercksen made it into double figures, though not terribly spectacularly. The 18th over was the last of Kerr’s four overs, and off the third ball of it Dercksen hit a catch to Bates, and the third time of the innings the veteran’s hands proved safe to make it 111-7. Kerr’s last three balls were uneventful, and she finished with 4-0-24-3 to set alongside her 43 with the bat and a catch. No one had ever previously combined 40+ runs and 3+ wickets in a knockout match at women’s T20 world cup. The 19th over was given to Rosemary Mair, her fourth and last. Chloe Tryon went for a big hit off the first ball of it, as dictated by circumstances, but was well caught by Maddy Green. That was 117-8, 42 needed off 11 balls. Sinalo Jafta and Nonkululeko Mlaba added three runs together before the fifth ball of the same over, a beauty, got through Jafta’s defences and hit her stumps to make it 120-9. Mair finished with 4-0-25-3, and 38 were needed off the final over. With all pressure now removed it was Carson to bowl. South Africa avoided being all out, but only six runs accrued from that final over, giving New Zealand a win by 32 runs. Player of the Match was straightforward, since Kerr had both the highest individual score of the game and the best bowling figures of the game. With 135 runs and 15 wickets across the tournament Kerr was also the proverbial shoo-in for Player of the Tournament. South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt, who had impressed leading her side in the field and was the tournament’s leading run scorer was probably the least distant challenger to Kerr. For New Zealand skipper Devine this was a laying of an old ghost – on the last ball of the 2010 final Ellyse Perry’s boot stopped a fiercely struck shot from Devine that had it reached the boundary would have taken the match to a super over. It was also a remarkable turn around for New Zealand from a few months ago, when they toured England, and if anyone then had predicted that they would be lifting a world cup a few months later most followers of the game would have had a good laugh at the would-be Nostradamus’ expense. South Africa’s wait to lift the ultimate prize goes on, but they too deserve immense credit for the way they played this tournament. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Autism Acceptance ‘just a cuppa’ group now has its own lego marked for its exclusive use.
These snail pictures come from Saturday evening when there was some brief sunshine after most of a day of rain.
These last two pictures are from today…
…with this one, of a spider that has just nabbed its next meal being the feature image.

Setting Up A Historic Final

A look at the matches that combined to set up a final of the Women’s World T20 Cup (which takes place tomorrow) that is definitely historic and probably so in more than one way. Also a photo gallery.

The final of the Women’s World T20 Cup will take place tomorrow. This post looks at how a final that will be historic, possibly in multiple ways, came to be. The last post I wrote about this tournament saw New Zealand move into the semi-finals by beating Pakistan. I now pick up the story from there.

AN EPIDEMIC THAT WAS NOT CATCHING

In the last remaining group match of the tournament England faced West Indies in a match that was effectively ‘winner takes all’. England batted first and scored 141-7 from their 20 overs, a tally that looked possible to defend and may have been so had England held their catches. Unfortunately for them they dropped a cartload. Chief culprit was opener Maia Bouchier who shelled no fewer than four, but she was not alone in being at fault. Qiana Joseph took advantage of England’s generosity in the field to record a very quick 50, and West Indies had two whole overs and six wickets in hand when they secured the win. Their margin of victory was enough to see them top the group over South Africa, meaning that they would face New Zealand in the semi-final. Scorecard here.

THE FIRST SEMI-FINAL

I only got to follow about the last 15 overs of this one due to being at work when it started. Australia batted first and scored 134-5, a total that suggests over caution – while this has been a low scoring tournament, Australia have immense batting depth, and the loss of only half their wickets gives the appearance of not making maximum use of their resources. South Africa made full use of the Power Play – they were past 60 in the sixth over by the time I joined the coverage. The destroyer in chief with the bat was Anneke Bosch who had had a quiet tournament up to that point. She was well supported by Laura Wolvaardt, who goes into the final as the tournament’s leading run scorer. When Wolvaardt was out just before the end Chloe Tryon joined Bosch who continued in irrepressible vein. Appropriately it was Bosch who sealed the victory, hitting the second ball of the 18th over for a four that took her score to 74* (48). This victory by South Africa, well and truly laying the ‘chokers’ tag to rest (no side who beat the Aussies in a knock out match can be so described), also meant that in this, the 20th women’s world cup across formats, the final would, for the first time in the history of both competitions feature neither England nor Australia. I am English, but I can absolutely see that this tangible lessening of the dominance of these two sides is good news for the women’s game as a whole and as such I welcome, and indeed celebrate the fact that this has become a tournament for the underdogs. Scorecard here.

THE SECOND SEMI-FINAL

New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. West Indies would have chosen to bowl first had they won the toss, so both sides had things the way they wanted them in that regard. Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer opened with a stand of 48 in 8.2 overs. Plimmer went on to top score with 33. Other than the openers only Izzy Gaze, 20* off 14 balls, reached as far as 20. New Zealand ended with 128-9 from their 20 overs, and it looked like game on. Chinelle Henry suffered an injury when she misjudged a catch and the ball hit her forehead. She was replaced under concussion protocols with Chedean Nation.

New Zealand soon took control of proceedings. With five overs to go West Indies were 72-5, still 57 short of the target. At that point Deandra Dottin got stuck into Lea Tahuhu. In that 16th over Dottin hit three sixes, and in total West Indies scored 23, reducing the ask to an achievable looking 34 in four overs. The next three overs were the last of the match for each of the three young New Zealand spinners (Eden Carson, off spin, 23 years old, 4-0-29-3; Fran Jones, left arm orthodox spin, 20 years old, 4-0-21-1; and the veteran of the trio, Amelia Kerr, leg spin, 24 years old and with seven years international experience already, 4-0-14-2), and they held West Indies to 19 runs of those three overs, leaving 15 required off the final over. At this point, with Tahuhu having that horror over against Dottin and all the other front liners bowled through New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine made a massive call – she entrusted the final over of the match to Suzie Bates who had not bowled a ball in either this match or any of her previous 14 international matches. When the first ball was hit for four by Zaida James to take her to 14 off six balls it looked like it might be backfiring, but the next ball was a dot, and then the third ball of the over rattled James’ stumps to make it 118-8, 11 needed off three balls. Ashmini Munisar got a single off the first of these deliveries, which got the experienced Afy Fletcher back on strike, but also left her needing to score 10 off two balls. When the first of those deliveries escaped unscathed Bates merely needed to bowl a legal delivery to put New Zealand into the final. She did so, an irrelevant single accrued, and New Zealand were home by eight runs. This victory means that the Womens’ World T20 cup 2024 will definitely be won by a team who have never won it before (West Indies had done so), and also creates the possibility of another piece of history – if Bates is fit to play in the final (NZ will pick her unless she is ill or injured) she will make her 334th international appearance across formats in that match, which will make her the most capped female international cricketer ever, moving ahead of Mithali Raj of India. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Pakistan Level Test Series Against England

An account of the second test of the Pakistan v England series in Multan, which ended this morning UK time, and a photo gallery.

The second test of the three test series between Pakistan and England has just ended with the home side winning by 152 runs. The pitch was reused from the first match, and it was always likely that the side winning the toss would also win the match. This post looks back at a compelling match.

THE TOSS AND PRELIMINARIES

Pakistan, with a selection committee so large it almost outnumbered their playing staff, had named a completely revamped XI. They had picked only one front line seamer, Aamer Jamal, with their second ranked operator in that department being skipper Shan Masood with eight wickets in over 150 FC matches. The side was packed with spinners. The other big news was that Babar Azam was replaced by Kamran Ghulam. For England a fit again Stokes replaced Woakes, and of course captained the side, and Potts replaced Atkinson, meaning that England’s three front line seamers in the match all played for Durham, the first time an England seam attack containing at least three players were all from one county since the 1894-5 Ashes when Tom Richardson, Bill Lockwood and Bill Brockwell all of Surrey played all five test matches. The two front line spinners, Leach and Bashir, both play for Somerset, whereas in the 1894-5 Ashes the spin was in the hands of Peel (Yorkshire) and Briggs (Lancashire). Pakistan won the toss, and as was mandatory on what was already a day six pitch chose to bat first.

THE FIRST INNINGS

The debutant Kamran Ghulam scored a century, Saim Ayub managed 77, and with a few contributions from further down the order Pakistan tallied 366. Carse was impressive, taking 3-50, Potts had 2-66, Leach took 4-114, and Bashir’s inexperience was exposed as he finished with 1-85.

England lost Crawley early, but Ben Duckett played a magnificent innings, and at 211-2 England might have hoped for a first innings lead. However Root and Duckett fell in fairly quick succession, and a collapse ser in. Jamie Smith’s dismissal made it 262-9. Leach and Bashir added 29 to that tally before Bashir fell for 9, leaving Leach unbeaten on 25. Aamer Jamal was innocuous, and Zahid Mahmood, the leg spinner, also went wicketless, the damage being done by off spinner Sajid Khan, 7-111 and left arm spinner Noman Ali, 3-101.

THE SECOND INNINGS

England bowled well second time round, and Pakistan at one stage were 156-8, 231 ahead overall. However Salman Agha and Sajid Khan shared a ninth wicket stand of 65, which meant that England ultimately needed 297 to win. Bashir took 4-66, though he also went at 3.5 an over. Leach had 3-67, and was even more expensive. Carse took two wickets and Potts one. Salman Agha scored 63.

By the end of day three England were 36-2, with both openers gone. The fourth and final day, such as there was of it, belong to Noman Ali. The 38 year old left arm spinner whose appearances at the highest level have been sporadic tore through England. The only wicket to go anywhere else in this session was that of Pope, caught and bowled by Sajid Khan for 22. Ali had Root and Brook LBW, Stokes stumped (a particularly embarrassing dismissal for the skipper since he lost his grip on his bat while essaying the shot and had to have said implement returned to him by a fielder), and Smith, Carse, Leach and Bashir all caught, the last two in successive balls, both by Abdullah Shafique. This left England 144 all out, Stokes top scoring with 37, Carse second best with 27, which included three sixes. Noman Ali had innings figures of 8-46, giving him 11 in the match, and Sajid Khan had the other two giving him nine wickets for the match. This was only the seventh time in history that two bowlers had accounted for all 20 wickets for their side in a test match, and only the second occasion for two spinners to do so after Laker (19) and Lock (1) at Old Trafford in 1956. Sajid Khan, who had done the damage in the first innings when the pitch wasn’t offering so much, and shared in two significant ninth wicket stands (49 in the first innings as well as that 65 in the second) was named Player of the Match. Incidentally while a spectacular reversal of fortunes going from winning by an innings and 47 runs to losing 152 is not an England record for such – in the 1965-6 Ashes they won one match by an innings and lost the next by an innings to even things up. I have no issues with this pitch – I prefer matches where the bowlers are properly in the game, as they were in this one. Of course it was a challenge for England in the later stages – not since Durban in 1939 has anyone faced a day nine surface! The challenge for the Rawalpindi ground staff is to produce a surface that has something to offer without already having had five days played on it – they have only one match there.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Thrills, Spills and Net Run Rate Calculations

A look back at the final match in Group A at the Women’s T20 World Cup, a 20 second video of a hedgehog and a large photo gallery.

Today saw the final match in group A at the Women’s T20 World Cup. New Zealand faced Pakistan. New Zealand had an easily described task: win and the would be in the semi-finals. Pakistan faced a much more complex situation – they would need to win and win big – a narrow win for them would see India second on Net Run Rate. This post looks at back at the match.

TO CHASE OR TO SET

New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first, hoping that the need to score ultra quickly in response would lead to a Pakistan collapse. Pakistan claimed that they would have chosen to bowl anyway. I reckon that the easiest way to achieve a big NRR swing is to bat first, put a big total up, and then dismiss the opponents. New Zealand in this case would have to keep going no matter how ridiculous the target. With New Zealand batting first Pakistan had to restrict them as much as possible – their task would be a tough one almost whatever New Zealand did.

THE NEW ZEALAND INNINGS

Pakistan bowled excellently, but their fielding was not great. There were times when a New Zealand tally of below 100 looked likely, and if Pakistan had caught even reasonably well this would have happened. However by the time the 20th over came round four catches had been grassed. Remarkably another three chances went begging in the course of the 20th over. In the end New Zealand had scored 110-6. If Pakistan had merely had to win to progress things would have looked excellent for them…

THE PAKISTAN REPLY

The calculations revealed that barring levelling the scores and then hitting a boundary Pakistan needed to chase down the target of 111 in 10.4 overs or less. The three basic scenarios, ignoring boundary finishes were:

1: Pakistan chase down the target in 10.4 overs or less: Pakistan go into the semi-finals, India and New Zealand take the next flight home.

2: Pakistan chase down the target in 10.5 or more overs: India progress to the semi-finals and it is home time for New Zealand and Pakistan

3: Pakistan fail to reach the target, presumably because they get bowled out: New Zealand progress and both subcontinental sides are homeward bound.

Pakistan were thus obliged to take an extremely aggressive approach while any sort of hope of the quick win remained. Such an approach means an increased chance of opposition wickets, and that is what eventuated. New Zealand did better catching wise than their opponents had, but even they were not flawless in the field. However, Pakistan were 28-5 after 5.3 overs, as their aggressive approach did not work out. The sixth wicket pair now settled in for a stand that gave India hope, if they could somehow keep it going, but amounted to Pakistan’s acknowledgement that their own challenge had ended. The second last ball of the tenth over saw the partnership broken when Nida Dar was deceived by a beauty from Kerr and Gaze made no mistake with the stumping. That was 52-6. Omaima Sohail gave Carson a return catch in the 11th over to make it 55-7. Syeda Aroob Shah was run out off the first ball of the 12th over, a fine return from Green to Kerr doing the job. Fatima Sana back on strike, and now her sides last remaining hope, was caught by Bates off the next ball to make it 56-9. Sadia Iqbal, the number two ranked WT20I bowler in the world, behind another left arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, survived one ball, before she too was caught by Bates off Kerr, for a duck in her case. Pakistan were all out for 56, their lowest ever WT20I total (previously 60), though the nature of the challenge facing them provided mitigating circumstances. Bates’ final catch was her 400th in professional cricket. Incidentally if Bates manages to keep going until 2028 she could join a very small club of people who have competed in The Olympics in two different sports – at Beijing in 2008 a young Bates was part New Zealand’s basketball team, and cricket will feature at Los Angeles 2028.

PHOTOGRAPHS

This section was my main reason for wanting to put up another post today – my thanks to the New Zealand and Pakistan Women’s cricket teams for providing the material for the body of the post. I start with a video, taken on the bank of Bawsey Drain, King’s Lynn during my afternoon walk:

Now for the photos…