Month: August 2026

A Succession of Blunders

A look back at today’s early game between the Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire women’s sides, a contest that was very intriguing because both sides played badly. Also a photo gallery.

Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. The early women’s match featured Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire in action at Old Trafford. This post looks back at that match.

MANCHESTER SUPER GIANTS INNINGS

Manchester Super Giants started badly and got worse. With one ball of her allocation to go Irish medium pacer Orla Prendergast was on for the best figures in this year’s Hundred (women’s), with 4-14 against her name at that point. Had that last delivery been a wicket, a dot or a single she would have displaced Ashleigh Gardner’s 4-16. As it was the delivery was edged for four, somewhat unjustly depriving her of this landmark, leaving her with 4-18 overall. The innings ended with number 11 Bex Tyson showing up her more renowned colleagues by hitting a four over cover and then scoring a single. Manchester Super Giants had limped to 85-9, which should never have come close to being a defensible total…

MAKING A BANQUET OF AN EASY TASK

Welsh Fire were barely any more impressive than their opponents had been with the bat. At 64-4 from 68 balls and with Ecclestone, Super Giants’ most dangerous bowler having only two balls left Fire looked in control, unimpressive as their efforts had been. Then, off Ecclestone’s penultimate ball Georgia Wareham let fly and was caught by Meg Lanning for 17 (12). Had she played Ecclestone out the match would have been effectively settled. Ecclestone ended with a dot ball and figures of 3-14 from her 20 balls. Scoring was now painfully slow, and when Grace Thompson was run out in bizarre fashion, setting off for a run only for bowler Kathryn Bryce to pick the ball up and return it to the keeper for her to be run out, and then two balls later Niamh Holland was out bowled by the Scot for a duck it was 76-7 from 83 balls and there was just a hint that Fire could somehow contrive to lose this one. Rhianna Southby, the Fire keeper, who had been impeccable in her main role, including a very smart stumping to account for Ecclestone, now came in and hit a four to ease the pressure. After two dots balls she added another, and though the match had limped into its final 10 balls only two runs were now needed for the win. Heather Graham now struck a boundary off Mady Villiers to finish things with nine balls and three wickets to spare, but Fire had done it the hard way. Prendergast’s 4-18 got her the ‘Match Hero’ award, though personally I would have honoured Southby for a blemish-free keeping performance and her sensible batting when it looked her side were making a Horlicks of the chase. Few if any of the other 21 players involved could point to an unblemished performance. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This insect, which I believe to be a ‘leaf miner’ was on the topside of the leaf when I spotted it and moved to the underside while I was preparing to photograph it.
This either a very large wasp or a small hornet.

MI London Eliminated

A look back at this afternoon’s match between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s teams, which confirmed the elimination of the former. Also a photo gallery.

Today has been a double double header in The Hundred. This post looks back at the game between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s sides earlier this afternoon.

AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT STARTED

Sometimes when looking back at an ultimately losing batting performance one can point to a slow start, sometimes to a falling away at the finish. On this occasion everything about the MI London innings was wrong. The dominant figure was Sophie Ecclestone, the tall left arm spin bowler. Ecclestone bowled the first ten balls of the match straight through, and in that period dismissed both openers for the total cost of a single. When a catch by Grace Ballinger off Ryana MacDonald-Gay accounted for MI London skipper Hollie Armitage for 18 the score was 37-4 from 48 balls. Kira Chathli actually did score at above a run a ball, but she was fifth out with the score at 60, caught by Ecclestone off Kathryn Bryce. Nicola Carey got to third top score of 17, but her dismissal, to another catch by Ecclestone, this time off Macdonald-Gay made 78-6 from 82 balls. Chinelle Henry briefly offered hope of a late revival but her dismissal to a catch by Lanning off Brown ended even those modest hopes, and in the end MI London were all out for 92 from the 99th ball of their innings. Only a two off the last ball of her allocation denied Ecclestone the cheapest figures for a full 20 ball allocation in the history of The Hundred (women’s) – those two runs were the sixth and seventh she conceded in the innings, leaving Lauren Bell’s 4-6 still in possession of the palm. As well as two wickets and the two catches already detailed it was Ecclestone’s throw that ran out Tara Norris for a duck.

A FORMALITY OF A CHASE

The Manchester Super Giants opening pair of Meg Lanning and Smriti Mandhana kicked off with a rapid opening stand of 73 that exposed just how utterly abject the MI London innings had been. Although there was a mini-clatter of wickets once this stand was ended, the back of the chase had long since been broken. It fell to Mady Villiers to make the winning hit, a boundary of the 72nd ball of the innings that gave MSG the win with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. MI London came into this match ensconced in the last chance saloon, with last orders having been called, and the barmaid being busy wiping down those tables not yet in use, and their horror-show performance confirmed the end of a challenge that had never really begun. It is ironic given how the involvement of IPL people and money has been hyped up that the first side officially eliminated is one that has been IPL-rebranded. There was only one candidate for Player of the Match/ ‘Match Hero’, Sophie Ecclestone, who was duly so named. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A small green beetle in a very pale pink flower not far from the train station.
I have never previously seen starlings on what I call ‘Cormorant Platform’, but yesterday a vast number of them took a mid-flight pause there, and this picture and the next two are a result of that.
A female house sparrow ensconced in the branches of a buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge.
A pied wagtail prospecting for insects at Loke Road Rec – the state of the grass tells you how little rain we have had here recently.
Five insects here – four, the three on the right as you look and the one on the left are some species of yellow and black beetle. The small one in the centre I cannot work out at all.
I am not sure of the species but this is a butterfly of the ‘leaf mimic’ type, looking passably similar to a withered brown leaf.
A comma butterfly visiting my garden (two pics) at just the right time to become part of this gallery!