Month: April 2025

Championship Update

A look at developments on days two and three of this round of County Championship fixtures and a two part photo gallery.

Today is day three in the current round of championship fixtures. None of the matches have ended as yet. This post looks mainly at Surrey v Hampshire.

SIBLEY THE STAYER

Surrey are in pretty much total against Hampshire. Hampshire won the toss on Friday and opted to bowl first. Surrey reached 253, just enough for a batting bonus point. Dominic Sibley carried his bat for Surrey, scoring exactly 100 not out. Brad Wheal had 4-65, while overseas signing Brett Hampton was somewhat flattered by a return of 1-46 from 14 overs. Hampshire in reply reached 219, giving Surrey a lead of 34. It took a bit of a tail wag for them to even limit the lead to 34. Daniel Worrall and Jordan Clark took three wickets a piece for Surrey, and Lawrence, the part time spinner, nipped in at the end with 2-7 from 4.2 overs. Surrey have taken total control of proceedings in their second innings. They are currently 255-2. Sibley, still unbudgeable, is 102 not out, with Jamie Smith is 62 not out, and Ollie Pope contributed a fluent 65 to proceedings. It sums up the value of overseas signing Hampton that in an innings that is now into its 78th over he has been called upon to bowl a mere six of those overs, from which he has conceded 28 runs. Incidentally in the process of reaching his second ton of this match Sibley has ensured that his career FC average will be above 40 at the end of it. Sibley has finally gone for 105, caught by Baker off Dawson. In total across the two innings it has taken Hampshire 440 balls to find a way through him (217 without dismissal in the first jnnings, 223 in the second). Smith is really motoring now, and Hampton continues to demonstrate his inadequacy as an overseas player. Surrey are 274-3 in the 81st over, and Hampton, in his eighth over of the innings, has 0-41.

ELSEWHERE

Somerset are struggling against Sussex, though as against Warwickshire last week Sussex are showing a distinct lack of enterprise, which may yet save S0merset.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today the gallery comes in two parts. Yesterday morning I travelled to Norwich, intending to take part in a Take Down Tesla activity at the Tesla dealership on Mile Cross Lane and then visit the Millennium Library on my way home. Unfortunately I failed to locate Mile Cross Lane, and eventually have up in despair (I have subsequently been in email contact with the organizer to explain what happened, and we have had a very civilized exchange). I did get to the library, and having carefully ensured that I had no books out on loan I was able to take out a large number – the Millennium library is of course far better stocked than any other in Norfolk. The first part of the gallery shows the pictures I took during the Norwich part of the day…

The second part of the gallery is one of my regular type galleries…

The Guildhall of St George, now into its seventh century.

County Championship Round Two

A look at goings on on day one of the latest round of county championship victories.

The second round of county championship fixtures got underway at 11AM today. I had a commitment which disrupted the morning session for me. This post looks at developments so far.

SURREY v HAMPSHIRE

Surrey drew at Chelmsford in the first round of matches, while Hampshire won their match, Hampshire have lost two old faces from previous years, Mohammad Abbas, who they decided was a spent force, and James Vince who has decided to go full-on cricket mercenary and to base himself in Dubai, while a third veteran, seam bowling all rounder Keith Barker is out for at least the first half of the season. Tom Prest is being given first shot at the vacated middle order slot, while Sonny Baker and Brad Wheal are both featuring as pace bowlers. Hampshire intended to have Jack Edwards as overseas player, but that has fallen through, and they have signed Brett Hampton, a 33 year old New Zealander with no international experience, instead. Hampshire won the toss and bowled, and started excellently with Brad Wheal and former Protea Kyle Abbott each taking an early wicket with the new ball. Hampton came on first change and has not been all that impressive, though he was gifted the wicket of Ryan Patel late in the afternoon session. Baker, the youngster, has been economical but has yet to take a wicket, Wheal is leading the way three wickets and Abbott has two. Dom Sibley has been batting right from the start and is currently on 82 not out in a Surrey score of 218-6. Hampshire have fared well, but they need Surrey all out before the close if they are to claim that their decision to bowl first has worked. As I type Jordan Clark has fallen to the left arm spin of Liam Dawson, edging an attempted cut through to Ben Brown behind the stumps to make it 218-7. Matthew Fisher has just given Baker has first wicket, by way of a return catch, and it is 227-8, with Sibley 83 not out. Roach has just joined the clatter of wickets, bowled by Dawson to make it 233-9. Sibley is 84 not out.

SUSSEX v SOMERSET

I also have an eye via cricinfo on the match at Hove, where Sussex, whose delayed second innings declaration against Warwickshire last time out condemned that match to be a tame draw (see this post) are taking on Somerset. Sussex chose to bat, and are currently 263-9.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This is the first of this type of butterfly I ahve seen this year. It is a woodland species, never far from the nearest tree.
There is at least one orange tip in this picture – there was pair of them flying around and I got this picture.

The Final Day of Round One of the County Championship

A look back at the final day of the opening round of County Championship 2025 fixtures, my pictures of the WNAG third birthday cake and my regular photo gallery.

Monday was day four of the opening round of County Championship matches, and I was too taken up with following the action to write about it at the time. This post looks back at the events of that final day.

TO THE WIRE

At just before 7PM on Monday the penultimate ball of the only match still in action by then, Middlesex v Lancashire, was a dot ball, leaving Lancashire eight down, but with only ball left, and therefore the draw secured. It was the fourth draw in the opening round of fixtures, but of those draws only one could be accused of dullness. Sussex unaccountably batted on in their second innings until not long before tea on the final day by when they were over 380 ahead of Warwickshire. Sussex’s refusal to declare earlier when the fourth innings would have been meaningful condemned that game to a stalemate. The next match to end in a draw was the one I listened to for most of its duration, Essex v Surrey. There was almost half an hour left when the players shook hands, but Surrey had just moved into the lead for the first time of the match, meaning that Essex needed not just to complete the bowl out of Surrey, which was far from done in any case, but also would have had to do at least some batting, Sibley had batted well for Surrey in that third innings, and Foakes followed his first innings 92 with another half century second time round. When this match ended I turned my attention to Somerset v Worcestershire where Worcestershire were mounting a determined rearguard action, while spinners Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan tried to get through their defences. By the time I joined the coverage Matthew Waite was batting with number 11 Tom Hinley. With Waite being right handed and Hinley left handed they followed a policy of Waite facing Vaughan and Hinley facing Leach so that each batter faced a bowler who was turning the ball into them. Leach had a couple of vociferous LBW appeals against Hinley turned down. Somerset did well to get into position for one final over with the clock showing 17:59 (with spinners doing the bulk of the bowling they were a country mile ahead of the required over rate so the close of play was being settled by the clock, not the over count). Leach, wheeling down his 65th over of the innings (and precisely the 200th over of the innings in total), could find no way through and Worcestershire, nine second innings wickets gone and still in deficit, had escaped with a draw. Other than Leach, whose five wickets in this marathon second innings took his tally in first class cricket to exactly 500 and to a lesser extent Vaughan, who topped 50 overs for the innings, the other person who would have been especially disappointed that Somerset could not get that final wicket was Tom Banton whose new county record 371 was not rewarded with a win. Waite had faced over 300 balls in total, and finished unbeaten on 87, while Hinley, the Worcestershire number 11, had held out for 45 balls in support of him. By now, between the definite results and the accepted draws the only game still in action was Middlesex v Lancashire, so I listened to the closing stages of that game, and for the third time in a day witnessed the ending of drawn match which was nevertheless without a hint of dullness.

CAKE PICTURES

As listeners to TMS can confirm cake and cricket have something of an association. On Sunday I mentioned the cake for the West Norfolk Autism Group’s third birthday and promised pictures of it to come. Here they are…

A first glimpse of the inside of the cake.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

County Championship Day Three

A look at developments on day three of the county championship and a large photo gallery.

This post looks at developments on day three of the county championship. I missed the evening session as there was a bowling session at Strikes which served both as the West Norfolk Autism Group’s third birthday event and as our official World Autism Week event. The birthday cake was spectacular – the pictures will be in tomorrow’s post.

A COUNTY RECORD SCORE

Tom Banton of Somerset had already beaten the individual record for Somerset (342 by Justin Langer) by the close of play yesterday, and today he went on to a final score of 371, the third highest at Taunton (behind Archie MacLaren’s 424 in 1895 and Graeme Hick’s 405 not out in 1988. Other than these two only Brian Lara’s all time FC record 501 not out for Warwickshire v Durham and Sam Northeast’s 410 for Glamorgan against Lancashire are ahead of him in English FC cricket. Somerset declared when he was dismissed, their score being 670-7, a first innings lead of 516 over Worcestershire (nowhere near the record – Victoria led NSW by 886 on first innings in 1926 – 1,107 plays 221, and Railways led Dera Ismail Khan by 878 in 1964 – 910-6 declared plays 878). Worcestershire have batted better second time round, but at 280-5 they are still 236 short of avoiding the innings defeat.

TWO RESULTS

Although today is only day three of four two matches are already done – Kent beat Northamptonshire by 145 run early this morning, and Hampshire completed a five-wicket win over Hampshire this evening.

ESSEX v SURREY

Some brilliant bowling by Essex, especially Simon Harmer, had Surrey in deep trouble at 180-6, 402 in arrears. However a lower order fightback led by Ben Foakes (92), with significant contributions from Jordan Clark, Matthew Fisher and James Taylor got Surrey to 365, still 217 short of Essex’s score. Essex enforced the follow-on, as they pretty much had to, but Burns and Sibley survived the six overs that remained in the day unscathed. Surrey will resume tomorrow on 9-0 in their second innings, 208 adrift. Simon Harmer, on a surface that was offering little to any bowler toiled away to record first innings figures of 47-12-83-4, outstanding in the circumstances. Essex’s three top class seamers Porter, Cook and Snater all had respectable figures as well. Sam Cook should be an England bowler before the season is out, while Snater has played many matches for the Netherlands. Porter is unlikely to get the call up this late in his career, and the reason he has missed out for all his effectiveness over many years is that he lacks pace (even Sam Cook, probably the quickest od the trio, is not by any means an express bowler).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today is apparently Dandelion Day, which is why i chose the feature image I did. There is more about these plants here. Now for the gallery…

Essex in the Ascendant

A look at developments in the county championship, focussing principally on Essex v Surrey at Chelmsford. Also a photo gallery.

The weather continues to be ideal for cricket, although Nottinghamshire provided us with the first delay of the season, a late start due to the automated sprinkler system switching itself on in error and wetting the outfield. I have been listening, as I did yesterday, to Essex v Surrey at Chelmsford and using cricinfo to keep on eye on developments elsewhere,

CHELMSFORD

Essex have had another excellent day. Both Matt Critchley and Michael Pepper completed centuries. Noah Thain, a young all rounder who bats right handed and bowls right arm medium pace and was only playing because the plug had been pulled on an arrangement for Shardul Thakur to play for Essex scored an aggressive 26 to take Essex to a declaration at 582-6. Dan Lawrence took three of the wickets with his off spin but also went for 169 runs. Surrey lost Sibley early, and Pope was dropped early in his innings, but at the moment they are 75-1 in the 31st over. Essex are probably safe from defeat, although at Chesterfield in 1904 they lost after scoring 597 in the first innings (Percy ‘Pete’ Perrin 343 not out, the highest ever individual innings in ultimately losing cause) – Derbyshire hit back with 548 (Ollivierre 229), Essex scored exactly 500 runs fewer in their second innings than they had in the first and Derbyshire knocked off the required runs with nine wickets and a bit of time to spare, Ollivierre adding 92 not out to his first innings double century.

A DEFINITIVE ANSWER

Tom Banton of Somerset is known as great white ball batter, but there were questions about his place in red ball cricket. Events at Taunton where Somerset are playing Worcestershire suggest that Mr Banton can handle batting in red ball cricket – Worcestershire were all out for 154, and Somerset are currently 580-6 with Banton 316 not out, third on the all time Somerset individual scores list behind Justin Langer (342) and Viv Richards (322), having moved ahead of the previous leading English born Somerset scorer, Harold Gimblett with 310. He has a way to go to reach the Taunton ground record, the 424 scored by Archie MacLaren of Lancashire in 1895.

The match that is most advanced is Northamptonshire v Kent, already into its final innings. Kent have scored 231 and 171, Northamptonshire 143 and 46-2, needing 214 more to win with eight second innings wickets standing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

New Season Underway

A look at developments on day one of the new County Championship season, with particular reference to Essex v Surrey since that is the match I am following. Also a photo gallery which includes a Butterfly Special.

Today is the first day of the English cricket season. Just for once the weather is playing ball (although I am in Norfolk, where there is no FC cricket, the information from Chelmsford where the match I am following is taking place is that they have the same weather that we do, while no game anywhere has been disrupted), with the sun shining down from clear blue skies, and the temperature sufficiently warm that jumpers are not required.

ESSEX v SURREY

Essex won the toss against the winners of the last three championships and did what was obvious on a bright, warm, sunny day – chose to bat first. They had a makeshift opening pair, with former South Africa test opener Dean Elgar not available until later in the season. Charlie Allison, making his first class debut, was accompanied out to the middle by ‘tall Paul’ Walter (6’7″), not a regular opener but possessed of a good technique. Walter averaged 40 with the bat last season from the middle of the order. Walter batted fluently more or less from the get go, while Allison on his debut supported him well. It was Dan Lawrence who broke the stand, trapping Allison LBW for 25 with the score on 78. Tom Westley, now 36 years old, joined Walter, and immediately looked in command. He had reached 40, seemingly untroubled, when a combination of tight bowling , smart tactics and a poor choice of shot accounted for him. He attempted to whip a ball from Roach through the leg side and succeeded only in picking out Jamie Smith, stationed at short midwicket in anticipation of just such a shot being played. Jordan Cox came it at number four, and has looked pretty good so far, although he has just been beaten by a ball from Jordan Clark. Essex look well placed at 185-2, on a pitch that has blatantly been prepared with the intention of drawing the sting of Surrey’s powerful bowling unit – it is slow and flat.

ELSEWHERE

Yorkshire have received a tough welcome back to division one action, having been bowled out for 121 by Hampshire, who are currently 53-0 in reply. Worcestershire started reasonably well against Somerset, but fell away badly to be all out for 154 in the first innings. Kasey Aldridge, right arm fast medium and a useful lower order batter as well, took 5-36 for Somerset. Somerset have lost a wicket in reply but will be pleased with how things are going overall. The other matches are also going pretty well for the bowlers – the Chelmsford game is an anomaly.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before presenting the full gallery I have a brief subsection for you.

BUTTERFLY SPECIAL

Today being so warm has been good for butterfly sightings (see the feature image at the top of this post). I have four in total to report. In chronological order there is a European Peacock from the carpark of the King’s Lynn branch of Morrisons:

Next is an Orange Tip from the greenery between Kettlewell Lane and the Gaywood River, a good location for sightings.

Third from the same location is one I am slightly unsure of – it is either a Green Veined White or a Large White.

Finally, from my lunchtime walk, we have a Large White near Bawsey Drain.

THE FULL GALLERY

My usual sign off…

The first ducklings of 2025 (at least in King’s Lynn).

Random Jottings

A piece of bizarreness from the IPL and a win for the good guys in Wisconsin, plus a large photo gallery.

My main reason for posting is that I have a large photo gallery to share. However I have a couple of small things to share as well.

AN UNBEATABLE RECORD

I was at work yesterday and by the time I was in a position to tune in to the commentary on the IPL match (Lucknow Super Giants v Punjab Kings) there was no real point doing so as it was obvious which way the match was going and there could be no big finish. However, I did keep a cricinfo tab open. Thus I was able to see with my own eyes the calling of officially the most pointless ‘strategic time out’ ever, and while it might be equalled and I can be certain that will not be surpassed: LSG had scored 171-6 from their 20 overs, and at the end of the 16th over of the reply PBKS were 171-2 – scores level, the chasers with eight wickets standing and four whole overs available in which to get that run! It actually took until the second ball on the resumption for PBKS to complete the job.

WINNING IN WISCONSIN

Ordinarily I probably would not even have been aware of an election of a new judge in Wisconsin, but Elon Musk had been putting huge amounts of money behind one particular candidate in the hope of altering the political balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. As far as I am concerned a defeat for Elon the Execrable counts as a win, so I am pleased to be able to say that Musk’s candidate has been defeated.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…