Author: Thomas

I am a founder member and currently secretary of the West Norfolk Autism Group and am autistic myself. I am a very keen photographer and almost every blog post I produce will feature some of my own photographs. I am an avidly keen cricket fan and often post about that sport.

It is Never Over Until the Fat Lady Sings

A look back at an extraordinary match that took place today at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore between England and Pakistan, a mention of a quiz night on Thursday and a photo gallery.

Today saw England and Pakistan face off at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore in the latest instalment of an ODI tri-series involving these two sides and Sri Lanka. England were badly in need of a win after losing each of their first two matches, and after failing to defend a score of 429 in their previous outing against Sri Lanka (a match I missed since I a combination of commitments kept me out and about for 14 hours that day) they had opted to strengthen their bowling, meaning that Sam Curran was scheduled to bat at number six. The stage was set for a crucial contest…

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England started atrociously, losing three wickets in five overs. Just as they seemed to be mounting a recovery Jordan Cox suffered a truly horrendous dismissal, walking straight into a glaringly obvious trap set by Haris Rauf to present Babar Azam with a catch and make it 52-4. Sam Curran joined Ben Duckett in a fifth wicket stand that raised 90, and Duckett went on to a fine century. However, he and Liam Dawson were both out with the score at 187. When Overton was ninth out at 201, bringing debutant Henry Crocombe in to join Gus Atkinson it looked poor for England. The last wicket pair scored a further 40 between them, Atkinson ending unbeaten on 36. The task facing Pakistan did not look overly daunting….

THE PAKISTAN RESPONSE

The required run rate was not a problem for Pakistan, but wickets soon did become one, and when Babar Azam was bowled by Atkinson to make it 31-3 things looked interesting. A combination of good England bowling and Pakistan freezing under the pressure being applied saw more than 15 overs pass without a single boundary at one stage of the innings. Some of the Pakistanis got themselves out through being unable to cope with the fact that they weren’t hitting boundaries. At 103-6 Pakistan looked in deep trouble, and 154-9, with Haris Rauf joining Shadab Khan and 88 still needed it appeared that the fat lady was having a last gargle before taking to the stage.

Then things took a dramatic turn, as Shadab Khan started to bat very well indeed, Haris Rauf, who Shadab was doing a good job of shielding, did all that was asked of him and England found that last wicket hard to come by. As the target came down and down impossible moved to improbable. With Pakistan 20 adrift it looked like the fat lady was finally getting her moment, as Atkinson had Shadab Khan given LBW for 97 (already 11 more than his previous ODI career best), but a review taken simply because it was there to be taken (hands were being shaken and Shadab was walking past the umpire when he made the T sign) led to a tiny edge on to the pad being detected on the replay and the action resumed. Then came a near run out during which Rauf suffered a groin strain, which fortunately cleared up very quickly. Shadab Khan moved from 99 to 103 with a four off the second ball of the 47th over. He celebrated by hitting the next ball for four more, and the ask was down to nine. The next two balls were tight and accurate and dots went into the scorebook. The sixth ball of the over was full and straight, and foregoing any attempt to secure the strike, Shadab Khan launched it down the ground for the fifth six of his innings to reduce the target to a mere three. At this point, even though the far more experienced Curran was still available to bowl, Brook decided to hand the ball to the debutant Crocombe for the 48th over of the innings. Haris Rauf, at that point on 3 not out in a partnership worth 85, drilled the first ball of the over straight down the ground for four and Pakistan’s great escape was complete. There is almost certainly some bizarre mathematical scenario by which England can still qualify for Saturday’s final, but in practice, especially given what a massive body blow losing from the position they were in when the ninth Pakistan wicket fell is, their tournament is over and they have only themselves to blame. For the record Shadab Khan scored 113 not out from 96 balls with 13 fours and five sixes. As damaging a result as it was for England, it was an unforgettable finish, and one I am very glad to have followed live, albeit from afar, and a classic proof of the appositeness of the title line “It is Never Over Until the Fat Lady Sings” to cricket in particular – the many spectators who left the Gaddafi when the ninth Pakistan wicket fell must be feeling right Charlies at seeing what they missed by doing so. Scorecard here.

A QUIZ NIGHT AT THE TOWN HALL

Fraser Dawbarns hosted a charity quiz night at King’s Lynn Town Hall on Thursday, and since WNAG were one of the charities benefitting from this I was there as part of the WNAG team (the categories were not very suitable for me, which is one reason why we had a midtable finish).

The frontage of King’s Lynn town hall, taken in daylight the morning after the quiz night

Here is my quiz night gallery…

The big front window of the Town Hall from inside.
Many individual panes of the big window have writing cut into them, and I photographed a good few.
The latest development in the campaign against the attempt to despoil the West Norfolk countryside with a monster data centre. https://www.change.org/p/stop-longmarsh-energy-protect-rural-west-norfolk-from-6-000-acre-ai-data-centre-project?
The outside view of the big window from the following morning.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I also have one of my regular photo galleries (reminder, to view pictures at larger size click on one)…

Two gulls were fighting over this crab, and dropped it, and then flew their separate ways. It was still alive, and deeming it the best chance of keeping it so, I picked it up and deposited it into the Great Ouse – I did not think it climb the concrete unaided or that it would survive in the road.

An Important Petition and an Image Gallery

A link to a petition against the building of a monster data centre in rural west Norfolk and a photo gallery.

Just a brief post today…

PETITION AGAINST THE BUILDING OF A GIANT DATA CENTRE IN NORFOLK

Longmarsh Green Energy are planning to build a behemoth of a data centre in rural west Norfolk. To give you an idea of just how vast this data centre will be if its allowed to be built, it would occupy an area not just larger than entire village of Watlington which it would adjoin, but a larger area than the nearest town to Watlington, Downham Market. I cannot imagine anywhere that would actually be improved by the construction of something like this, but rural west Norfolk would suffer even more from this than many locations. A petition is running against this, which you can sign and share by clicking here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As always I include a photo gallery…

The first 13 images of this gallery are an entire gallery for one lot, featuring ads and general content.
On the left side of this composite is an advert that was a vertical half page, while on the right was a square advert that occupied about two-thirds of the page on which it appeared. This is a standalone selection from another lot.

Describing and Imaging Ephemera

A brief look at some of my recent work at James and Sons, including photos, and a regular photo gallery.

One of the things I have been doing recently at James and Sons is describing an imaging a large collection of old newspapers and magazines. This post looks at that process.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The condition has to be assessed – even if the item is very old one cannot expect imperfections to be overlooked. In the oldest stuff (1850s-1870s in this context) there are rarely any adverts, so it is purely about general content. From the tail-end of the Victorian era onwards ads play a much bigger role, and while genuinely interesting content should be noted it is often the ads that are the main selling point. Once the descriptions have been typed in the image gallery then has to back them up. I have some sample images to show to end this section.

We start with three full page ads from different lots.
With this one there were few ads because it was wartime, but there was an abundance of very interesting general content, themed on looking to the future.
A full page ad from another lot.
This item had some incredible advertisements.
The 1962 Chevrolet got not just an advert, but a multipage advertising feature – one full page and two double page spreads.
There were three double page spreads advertising Ford products in various parts of the magazine.
This was a double page plus a mini booklet.
The feature article was beautifully presented.
This was just the start of a superb historical feature.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I end with one of my regular galleries…

Not a perfect V – the two birds on the bottom left are out of true – but not that far off.
This was hovering high overhead as I headed on to the footpath along the east bank of the Great Ouse on my way home from today’s WNAG committee meeting.

Autumnal Photos

A photo gallery featuring many birds and insects, including three species of butterfly.

Here is my latest gallery (late yesterday and today) featuring among other things three different species of Butterfly…

A painted lady on a buddleia head overlooking the upper Purfleet.
A woodland brown on a leaf that still has its green colour
A red admiral on a leaf that has gone red
A red admiral with a background of greenery.
A curious looking bug on the exposed underside of a green leaf.

A New Find

A look at a series of books I have just discovered, by Steve Higgs. Also an autumnal photo gallery featuring animals, plants and fungi.

I have recently found a highly readable series of detective novels by Steve Higgs (I have read a number of them, and will be on the lookout for more). This post looks at this series.

THE BASIC STORY

A long retired detective superintendent, Albert Smith, sets out on a round Britain trip with the intention of learning how to cook all his favourite foods. His constant companion is a former police dog, who has allegedly been disposed of because of his bad attitude, but another hypothesis emerges as the series progresses: he has been got rid of because he makes his handlers look bad.

Smith’s visits are invariably interrupted by crimes which he and his dog then help to investigate. As the series progresses it becomes clear that the crimes are all linked, and in the some of the later volumes we see things from the side of the perpetrator, moving the books on from simple whodunnits to questions of will he get away with it? Smith’s three children are all themselves serving police officers, and they reluctantly come to see that he is on to something, and discreetly provide him with assistance.

I highly recommend these books.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A riot of autumn colour in Kettlewell Lane Park this morning.
An unusual sight this late in the year – a red admiral.

An Autumnal Photo Gallery

An autumnal photo gallery for you to enjoy.

I am a little short on inspiration right now, so just to keep the blog active I am producing a gallery of my latest hobby photos. To view photos at large size just click on one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here we are…

The grey colouring says that this is technically still a cygnet, but it is pretty much the same size as its parents.
One smallish leaf, three larvae. The larvae on the left and right probably belong to the same species, but the one in the middle is clearly different.
This looks quite similar to a squirrel, but its movements were bouncier than any squirrel I have ever seen, and where a squirrel would have a bushy tail pretty much as long as the rest of its body this creature just has a tiny tuft of tail.
One fully developed insect (the reverse video ladybird – black with red spots rather than the usual way round) and one larva sharing a leaf.

England Finish Season in Style

A look back at the last day of the 2026 English cricket season, headlined by an ODI series decider between England and Sri Lanka. Also a large photo gallery.

Yesterday saw the last knockings of the 2026 English cricket season, including the third and final ODI of a series between the England and Sri Lankan men’s sides, which this post looks back at.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Sri Lanka had levelled the series by winning the second match back on Thursday. Also in that match Jos Buttler had picked up an injury while batting and retired hurt, and he was absent from this match, his place as keeper being taken by Jordan Cox. England had a slightly less deep batting order than sometimes, but the presence of Gus Atkinson, with an international century to his name, at number nine is hardly indicative of a long tail. England won the toss and although the pitch was fairly green they opted to bat first, having realized that the layer of grass had been left in place because it was a fundamentally very dry surface and needed the presence of the grass to keep it together…

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Ben Duckett floundered to a five ball duck, finally being beaten all ends up and bowled by a superb ball from Madushanka (it was also a poor shot by Duckett but that should not detract from a fine piece of bowling). Joe Root was never in great form either, but he hung around for a time in support of Tom Banton who was batting magnificently. Harry Brook came in at number four, and now England had in form batters together at the crease. Banton reached his first international hundred. Brook fell at 218, having scored a fluent 77, which brought Jordan Cox to the crease. Banton was fourth out at 242, having scored 126 from 105 balls. Will Jacks and Jamie Overton each provided useful support to Cox who batted brilliantly. Asitha Fernando ended the innings on a personal high, bowling Cox for 76 (52) and then Dawson for a first ball duck with the last two balls of the innings, but the damage was well and truly done by then, with England posting 355-7 from their 50 overs.

THE SRI LANKA INNINGS

Sri Lanka never looked like getting anywhere near the huge total they had been set. Kusal Mendis, century maker in the second match of the series, produced a fluent 35, but once he was out to the last ball of the ninth over to make it 53-3 no one did a great deal. The run out of Rathnayake by Archer, which caused a deal of confusion because Cox had actually dislodged a bail before the ball arrived, stood because Archer’s throw actually removed a stump from the ground. That was 77-4, and with Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage following in short order it was soon 82-6. Sachindu Colombage and Janith Liyanage also one after the other, 104-6 becoming 106-8. None of Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando or Dilshan Madushanka, the three remaining Sri Lankan batters, have any batting pedigree whatsoever, and imagining that they might some score 250 between the three of them would have been fanciful to say the least. Malinga actually did reach double figures, a feat beyond the other two, who managed 8 between them. The match ended when Eshan Malinga swept at Will Jacks and Joe Root, soon to be named as England’s ODI player of the season, pouched a sharp catch at leg slip. The margin was 232 runs. Scorecard here.

Shortly before that Somerset and Surrey had shaken hands on a draw at Taunton, with Surrey five down in their second innings and almost 200 adrift. Somerset had built a first innings of 309 – 731 against 422, and had hoped that Leach and Vaughan could spin through Surrey’s second innings, but a couple of interruptions put paid to that. Tom Abell had scored 307 for Somerset, beaten among Somerset natives only by a 310 from Harold Gimblett many decades ago, although overseas stars Justin Langer and Viv Richards have also recorded higher scores for the county.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Warwickshire Champions

A look at how Warwickshire became county champions for the ninth time in their history and a large photo gallery.

The last round of county championship fixtures for the 2o26 season is going on. Although some matches will be going in to tomorrow we know where the county championship is going, and this post looks back at how that happened.

WARWICKSHIRE WITH THE STRONGEST FINISH

Going into the penultimate round of fixtures there were three teams seemingly duking it out for the title, Warwiwckshire, Nottinghamshire and Somerset. Both Nottinghamshire and Somerset slipped up in that round while Warwickshire won to take a 12 point lead into the final round.

In the final round Nottinghamshire faced Yorkshire, Somerset entertained Surrey and Warwickshire were at home to Leicestershire. It was obvious by the afternoon of day one (Thursday) that Warwickshire were faring better than the other two, and by the time day two ended Nottinghamshire’s challenge was also officially over, but Somerset were still theoretically in contention, though they would need to win and for Warwickshire to lose, and Warwickshire were in almost complete control of their match, having built a first innings advantage of 247 and already claimed three Leicestershire second innings wickets before the end of day two.

This morning belonged to Warwickshire, and by lunch time Leicestershire were eight down, a long way in arrears, and the title was as good as secure. Tom Scriven, the Leicestershire number nine, fought his way to 49, comfortably their highest individual score of the match, but then Ethan Bamber bowled him to claim his fifth scalp of the innings and ninth of the match and give Warwickshire the match by an innings and 79 runs and with it the county championship for the ninth time in their history. It was an appropriate way for the championship to be officially settled since Bamber, released by Middlesex in a ‘Decca Records’ like move by someone who questioned his temperament, has been superb as the spearhead of a very impressive Warwickshire bowling unit this season.

Just moments ago Yorkshire completed a one wicket win over Nottinghamshire. At Taunton the match is still ongoing, and Tom Abell for Somerset has reached a new career best of 228 not out, with Somerset now 174 ahead on first innings, which brings a win for them in to the picture should Surrey collapse in their second innings.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (reminder – click on an image to view it at larger size)…

A Tale of Two Centuries

A look back at yesterday’s Metro Bank One Day Cup final between Middlesex and Leicestershire and a photo gallery.

Yesterday saw the final of the Metro Bank One Day Cup at Trent Bridge. The two sides contesting the trophy were Middlesex and Leicestershire. This post looks back at a splendid match.

THE MIDDLESEX INNINGS

Leicestershire began well, reducing Middlesex to 71-5, with all five batters falling to catches by wicket keeper Ben Cox. At that juncture Harry Duke, once of Yorkshire, joined Ryan Higgins, in his second spell at Middlesex after a few years at Gloucestershire in the middle. The pair added 135 together before Duke fell to a catch by Stevie Eskinazi off Ian Holland. Tom Helm managed seven before being pinned LBW by Rehan Ahmed, the first and as it turned out only batter to be out other than caught in the entire innings. This was Ahmed’s second scalp, the first coming when Luke Hollman edged a googly through to Cox, one of the five early dismissals referred to above. Higgins completed an excellent century, and was then immediately out, caught by Nick Kelly off Holland to make it 224-8. That was Holland’s fourth scalp, and not long later he made it a five-for when he had Toby Roland-Jones caught by Ben Green. Holland incidentally is one of the few USians to be involved in high level professional cricket (Tara Norris in the women’s game is another). GThe innings ended at 231 when number 11 Naavya Sharma, unlikely to be moving up the order any time soon, gave Eskinazi a catch off Ahmed for the leg spinner’s third scalp of the innings. Ian Holland had 10-1-36-5, Rehan Ahmed 9.5.-1-55-3 and Tom Scriven 9-0-39-2. While not a huge total 231 was lot better than had seemed likely at 71-5, and it was clear that Leicestershire would need their wits about them to succeed in the chase.

THE LEICESTERSHIRE INNINGS

Leicestershire needed 232 to win, Middlesex needed 10 wickets, since there was no way Leicestershire would be short of the target if they batted for 50 overs. This innings soon boiled down to a contest between the Middlesex bowlers and Nick Kelly, who played a superb innings but did not get anything like sufficient support from the rest of the order. Veteran medium pacer Toby Roland-Jones bowled his full 10 over allocation early in the innings and captured 3-27. At 175-6 with Ben Green, who has a List A 150 to his name providing Kelly with staunch support Leicestershire were still in contention. It was at that point that Tom Helm, who would surely have played for England but for a miserable history of injuries, made his considerable presence felt. First he had Green caught by Josh de Caires to make it 175-7, and then after Nick Kelly and Tom Scriven had advanced the score by a further 13 he virtually settled the issue by having Nick Kelly caught by fellow centurion Higgins for 103. That left Leicestershire needing 44 to win and only bowlers to get them (Scriven is a capable lower order batter when he has someone to support but it would have been asking a lot for him to mastermind this chase on a tough pitch). Ajaz Patel got to 7, including one four, before he became the third victim of an immaculate display of death bowling by Helm, going to a catch by Zafar Gohar. Three balls later, with the score at 200, Scriven was last out, caught by Surrey reject and now Middlesex skipper Ben Geddes off Sharma for 10. Middlesex had won by 31 runs, and the difference had been that Higgins (whose 100, 0-41 from eight overs of medium pace and two catches got him Player of the Match) had real support from Harry Duke, whereas Leicestershire’s centurion, Kelly, was playing a lone hand – the next highest score of the innings was 16 by Rishi Patel, while the most balls negotiated by anyone save Kelly (107) was the 25 faced by Ben Green. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England v Sri Lanka T20I Series

A look at the T20I series that has been going on between the England and Sri Lanka men’s teams and a photo gallery.

The England and Sri Lanka men’s sides have been playing a T20I series. The third and final match is in progress as I type, and it is an indication of the way things are going that I am already calling it a 3-0 series sweep for England, even with 14 overs left in the match.

MATCH ONE ON TUESDAY

Sri Lanka won the toss and inserted England. That was the only thing that went right for them all evening. England piled up 254 from their 20 overs, Harry Brook helping himself to a century. Faced with a total like that Sri Lanka were unlikely to get anywhere close, and in the end the margin was 119 runs. Sonny Baker distinguished himself by taking 3-12 from his four overs.

MATCH TWO ON THURSDAY

England won the toss and put Sri Lanka in. There were moments when Sri Lanka looked capable of posting a respectable total, but the second half of their innings was a sad tale, going from a relative high of 84-1 at half distance to an inadequate 145-9 at the end of the 20th over. England knocked off this target with almost eight overs to spare to settle the series with a match to spare.

MATCH THREE TODAY

England won the toss and again chose to bat, and it was deja vu. Sri Lanka reached 83-3 at the high water mark of their innings, but once again floundered badly in the closing stages. On this occasion they were all out for 124 with seven balls left unused. Wanindu Hasaranga suffered a bizarre dismissal, dislodging a bail with the toe end of his bat while facing Jofra Archer. Kamindu Mendis played the best innings for Sri Lanka, but it ended horribly when he ignored the fact that Old Trafford is wider than it is long and took on a pull against Archer, succeeding only in sending the ball directly to Jacks, carefully positioned a good few yards in from the boundary for this precise eventuality. Harry Brook and Jos Buttler are enjoying themselves at the moment, and already, with over 12 overs still available, England need less than 30 more to win. The hapless Madushanka has just given away five wides to move England past 100. It was his fourth separate infraction of the over to boot. With 23 now needed I suspect that the usual mid-innings drinks break will be superfluous. The previous sentence was prophetic – England reached the target in just 9.4 overs to seal the 3-0 sweep.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…