Category: Cricket

Brilliant Bray Bosses Sydney Smash

A look back at today’s ‘Sydney Smash’ – Thunder v Sixers – in the WBBL, including a historic performance from Caoimhe Bray and a photo gallery featuring pictures taken with three cameras.

Today in the Women’s Big Bash League saw the Sydney Smash – Thunder hosting Sixers at Drummoyne, just west of Sydney. This post looks back at a bizarre game that ended up being dominated by the youngest player involved.

SIXERS SLUMP AFTER STRONG START

Sydney Thunder skipper Phoebe Litchfield won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision that her cross-city counterpart Ashleigh Gardner would also have made had she been the one to win the toss. Each side had a youngster in the ranks, Thunder giving a debut to 18 year old all rounder Lucy Finn, while Sixers had 16 year old bowling all rounder Caiomhe Bray (that given name is pronounced like ‘Keeva’ just for the record).

Ellyse Perry was out fairly early, pinned LBW by Georgia Voll with just 16 on the board. Thereafter, with Sophia Dunkley in prime form, and Alyssa Healy taking full toll of a few loose balls things initially looked bright for the Sixers. Their innings took a dramatic turn when Healy tried to go after one from Shabnim Ismail and succeeded only in picking out Samantha Bates who made no mistake with the catch. That was 76-2, and off the last ball of the tenth over Dunkley fell for 43, pinned LBW by Sri Lankan veteran Chamari Athapaththu to make it 80-3 at the halfway stage of the innings. In the second half of the Sixers innings wickets tumbled regularly, with the shining exception of English spin bowling all rounder Mady Villiers who emerged as third top scorer of the innings, with an unbeaten 24. A final total of 142-9 looked on the meagre side, especially from that high water mark of 76-1 after 8.4 overs…

THUNDER TUMBLE

…Sixers needed to start well, and veteran seamer Lauren Cheatle struck with the fourth ball of the Thunder innings, having Voll caught by Villiers to make it 2-1. Then the other new ball bowler, Maitlan Brown, struck twice more, first accepting a soft return chance to dismiss the other opener Tahlia Wilson for 7, and then having the vastly experienced Heather Knight feather one through to Healy for 6 to make it 19-3 in the fourth over. Neither Phoebe Litchfield nor Anika Learoyd played fluently, but they held the fort together until the last ball of the seventh over, bowled by the youngster Bray. Litchfield, who had reached 8 from 14 balls tried to attack against Bray and succeeded in being caught by Gardner to make it 33-4. The next over yielded nine runs, before it was back to Bray, and the biggest events of the night. The first ball of the ninth over did for Learoyd, bowling her for 11 to make it 42-5. That brought the explosive Laura Harris to the crease. Harris tried to do her thing off her first ball and was brilliantly caught by a diving Erin Burns for 0 to give the 16 year old Bray a hat trick comprising three front line batters, some 175 years after All-England skipper Heathfield Harman Stephenson caused the term to be coined by dismissing three batters with successive balls in a match in Sheffield, which led to the crowd, impressed by the performance, to pass round a hat for a collection and present both hat and contents to Stephenson. Incidentally, though this match was flawless in this regard this edition of the WBBL had not overall been notable for catches being held. That was 42-6, and Lucy Finn came to the crease. Four balls into the second half of the innings Athapaththu holed out to Gardner to give Bray her fourth scalp of the innings and make it 49-3, the Sri Lankan managing only 3 (6). Bray had two balls of her allocation left to make it a five-for, but was not able to do so. However, her final 4-0-15-4 including the hat trick had settled who would be named Player of the Match. Thunder’s own youngster, Finn, now took centre stage, as she, with good support from tail enders Taneale Peschel and Shabnim Ismail (number 11 Samantha Bates not being required in the end) proceeded to produce an innings that exposed just how badly her supposed betters had handled their duties. She just missed on reaching 50, but her 49 not out, in the course of which she never looked in any trouble was the highest score of the match on either side – quite something for a debutant who came into the match considered more of a bowler than a batter (and though, like all else, it was overshadowed by Bray’s performance 3-0-27-1 on professional T20 debut is no one’s idea of a failure). Thunder with this late revival reached 118-8, beaten by 24 runs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

This gallery features images taken with three cameras – the Nikon Coolpix B500 that was my first choice camera until it died on Tuesday morning, the Canon EOS 4000D that is my reserve camera, and the Panasonic DC-FZ82D which I ordered on Wednesday and arrived yesterday and is now my new first choice camera…

This gallery consists of the last pictures with the Nikon.
The pictures in this gallery were taken with the Canon…
…and starting with this one, the Panasonic.
I used this Canadian train coin to test the Panasonic’s ability to handle detail.
The Red Mount Chapel.

Sixers Smash Scorchers

A look at Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers in WBBL11 and a photo gallery.

The 11th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) is now under way. Today there was live commentary on game three, between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers at the WACA. This post looks back at the match.

THE SCORCHERS INNINGS

Perth Scorchers won the toss and chose to bat. They started reasonably well, being 27-1 after four overs, and 37-1 after 4.3 overs. The fourth ball of that over saw the end of Beth Mooney just as she was starting to look really dangerous. From that point the game changed, as Sixers applied considerable pressure. First there was a period of 2.3 overs immediately after the dismissal in which a mere seven runs were scored, and then came catastrophe for the Scorchers. First Sophie Devine suffered a barely credible dismissal, officially stumped by Emma Manix-Geeves off Ash Gardner, when a) the ball hit the stumps by way of the keeper rather than due to any good work on her part and b) the wicket keeper gloved the stumps herself without possession of the ball, but the ball had hit the stumps before her gloves did. That eventually brought Paige Scholfield to the crease, she immediately hit her first ball straight back to Gardner to make it 44-4. Freya Kemp now came in, and in company with Mikayala Hinkley seemed to be steadying the ship. Then Hinkley, who had made her to 31, was well caught by Coimhe Bray off Ellyse Perry (a transgenerational dismissal, Perry being 35 and Bray 16) to make it 83-5, which became 83-6 when DRS confirmed that Chloe Ainsworth’s pad was indeed in front of the stumps when her first ball thumped into it. Five balls later Freya Kemp became the third player dismissed with the score on 83 when Gardner bowled her for 16 with a peach of a yorker. That left Lilly Mills and Alana King together at the crease. Mills batted busily and effectively for a time, until Gardner struck yet again. First Mills was caught behind for 13, and then after Amy Edgar had scored a single off the next ball Alana King fell to a return catch for 5 to make it 102-9 and give Gardner her fifth wicket of the innings. The over ended without further incident, but Gardner, captaining the Sixers for the first tine, had recorded figures of 4-0-15-5, the best ever for the Sydney Sixers. Edgar and number 11 Ebony Hoskin did manage to take the Scorchers innings into the final over, before a second fine catch of the innings by Bray accounted for Edgar to make it 109 all out. On this occasion Bray’s seamers were surplus to requirement, but she had been worth her place purely as a fielder.

THE SIXERS INNINGS

A total of 109 was miles short of anything remotely defensible on a good surface (which this was), and an upset never looked likely. Sixers opening pair of Ellyse Perry and Sophia Dunkley made an easy task look quite ridiculously so. It took the pair a mere 12.5 overs to take their side to a ten wicket victory. Dunkley scored 61 not out from 40 balls with five sixes and four fours and Perry had 57 not out from 37 balls with nine fours. It remained only for Gardner, skipper and record breaking bowler for the Sixers, to be named Player of the Match as she duly was.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A ‘waning gibbous’ moon in the morning sky.
A squirrel tackles a large tree.
looking down from in the branches.
the lookout squirrel

All Time XIs: England in Australia

An all time XI of England players whose finest hours came in Australia, and a photo gallery,

With an away Ashes series approaching I offer a variation on the all-time theme – an England side picked specifically with achievements IN Australia in mind (yes, sceptical Aussie readers, I can find 11, and that without too much difficulty).

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *Len Hutton (right handed opening batter, captain). England’s successful skipper both at home in 1953, when he was the first professional to lead England in a home Ashes series, and away in 1954-5, also recorded a series batting average of 88.83 on the unsuccessful 1950-1 tour.
  2. Alastair Cook (left handed opening batter). 766 runs at 127.67 in the 2010-11 triumph, including 235 not out at Brisbane, 148 at Adelaide and 189 at Sydney. He also scored an unbeaten at 244 at Melbourne eight years later.
  3. Ken Barrington (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). The Surrey stalwart had racked up nine test centuries on various overseas tours, including 1962-3 in Australia, when he fared magnificently, before scoring one in a home test match (256 versus Australia at Old Trafford in 1964).
  4. Wally Hammond (right handed batter, occasional right arm medium fast bowler). Almost a century after he set it his 905 runs at 113.125 in the 1928-9 Ashes remains a record for a series in Australia, and second on the all time list behind Don Bradman’s 974 at 139.14 in England in 1930. He was also joint leading run scorer four years later with 440 at 55.00, an aggregate an average exactly duplicated by Herbert Sutcliffe, and his scores in 1936-7 included an undefeated double century.
  5. David Gower (left handed batter). Four Ashes tours in all (1978-9, 1982-3, 1986-7 and 1990-1), with two of them in winning cause. In 1978-9 at Perth he came in on the first day with England in trouble at 41-3 and proceeded to score his maiden Ashes ton, with Boycott blocking at the other end. England won that match, still the only time they have ever won a test match in western Australia, and took the series 5-1. He scored centuries on all four of his Ashes tours, including an innings on the last of them that Bradman rated among the top five he ever saw in Australia.
  6. +Matthew Prior (right handed batter, wicket keeper). England’s keeper in the successful 2010-11 tour, and he was a big part of the reason for that success.
  7. Ian Botham (right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). Crucial to England’s 1978-9 triumph, and the 1986-7 trip saw the last of his 14 test centuries, and a five-for later in the series.
  8. Frank Foster (left arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). A splendid all rounder until a motorcycle accident ended his career early, he was one of two bowling stars (the other is also in this XI) of the 1911-12 tour, when England lost the opener but won all four of the other test matches, with 32 wickets in the series.
  9. Hedley Verity (left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). One of the greatest masters of his craft ever to play the game. and a useful lower order batter. His role in the 1932-3 triumph was acknowledged by his skipper Douglas Jardine. He was the only bowler Donald Bradman admitted to facing as an equal, and I had very little hesitation in selecting him for the spinners slot.
  10. Frank Tyson (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One of two choices for this slot, it was pretty much a coin toss as to who should get the nod. I went for his 1954-5 heroics over those of Larwood two decades previously.
  11. Sydney Barnes (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 77 test wickets in Australia, in 12 matches in that country. At Melbourne in the 1911-12 series on a good track he had the top four Aussie batters back in the pavilion for a single between them in his new ball burst. England won that series 4-1, with Barnes claiming 34 wickets in the series.

This side has a very powerful top five, a keeper/ batter who succeeded down under, a legendary all rounder and four great and well varied bowlers. A bowling unit of Barnes, Foster, Tyson, Verity and Botham, with Hammond and Barrington available as back up options should be capable of functioning well on any surface.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

There were three main rivals to my chosen openers: Andrew Strauss, who opened and captained on the 2010-11 tour and the old firm of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. I wanted a right hander to go with Cook, which ruled out Strauss, and the need for a captain gave Hutton an additional advantage over the other contenders. Archie MacLaren had a great series in 1897-8, but that was a bit of a flash in the pan given his overall record, and England lost that series.

Eddie Paynter had a superb record against Australia and could have had David Gower’s slot. Among right handed players who might have featured in the middle order were KS Ranjitsinhji, Kevin Pietersen (whose test best of 227 was scored at Adelaide) and Ted Dexter, who electrified crowds in 1962-3. Colin Cowdrey made six tours of Australia, an England record, including answering an SOS call at the age of 42, 20 years after first travelling down under. I regretted not being able to include the left hander Frank Woolley. Denis Compton was never the player in Australia that he was elsewhere and had to be excluded. If Joe Root rights the one wrong on his stellar CV, the lack of a ton in Australia, he will merit consideration.

Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s only visit to Australia in 2006-7 was a personal nightmare for him and ruled him out of consideration, while Ben Stokes has not yet fully delivered down under.

Among the keepers who could have been considered were LEG Ames (1932-3), Alan Knott (1970-1, and in defeat in 1974-5) and Bob Taylor (1978-9).

Derek Underwood performed a similar role in 1970-1 to that of Verity in 1932-3, and Johnny Wardle and Bob Appleyard both fared well in 1954-5. Graeme Swann fulfilled his brief of bowling economically in 2010-11, but flying home halfway through the 2013-14 tour tells against him.

Among the faster bowlers there are three honourable mentions: Harold Larwood in 1932-3 did what Frank Tyson did a couple of decades later and might well have had that slot. John Snow had a phenomenal tour in 1970-1. In 2010-11 James Anderson had a wonderful series, and had his moments on other tours as well.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I suspected that this series of cormorant/ heron pictures would provide today’s feature image…
A jay using a piece of scaffolding as a perch.
…until this Red Admiral appeared this afternoon.

D(eepti) Day for India in Navi Mumbai

An account of events in Navi Mumbai today where India won the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, beating South Africa by 52 runs in the final. Also a photo gallery.

Today was the final of the Women’s ODI world cup, between India, who had chased down an Australian total of 338 to win their semi-final, and South Africa who had thrashed England by 125 runs in their semi-final. This post looks back at an amazing day.

RAIN DELAYS THE START

It started rainy in Navi Mumbai, but the delay was not long enough for any overs to be lost. It was long enough for the BBC’s Team of The Tournament to be publicly named. The selection methodology used by those who set up this poll was questionable, and some of the voters (it was the final result of an online poll) must have had little idea of what they were actually voting for. The single most shocking detail of this team was that collectively the users of the BBC website’s cricket section did not find a place for Deepti Sharma, who came into this final as the leading wicket taker of the tournament and scorer of two half centuries with the bat as well. I named my team in this post and modified it after the first semi-final in this one, and it is my contention that I did a better job than the collective efforts of the voters on the BBC website. TMS commentator Daniel Norcross was every bit as unimpressed with the omission of Deepti Sharma as I was by the way. When the toss finally happened South Africa won it, and unsurprisingly opted to bowl first.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

India started superbly, but did not quite keep the blistering momentum going. Still, in a final a score of 298-7 looked formidable. Shafali Verma made a career best ODI score of 87, and Deepti Sharma weighed in with 58, becoming the first player ever to score three half centuries and claim 10 or more wickets at a single edition of the world cup. Richa Ghosh produced a powerful 34 near the end to give an innings that had been faltering a late lift. Ayabonga Khaka took 3-58 from nine overs, while left arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba had the most economical figures, 1-47 from 10 overs.

TWO DIFFERENT CONTESTS

At one end India were working their way steadily through the South African batting order, while at the other Laura Wolvaardt batted with absolute authority. A big moment came when Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur called up part time spinner Shafali Verma as seventh bowler, and was quickly rewarded with the wickets of Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp to make it 123-4. Sinalo Jafta yet again demonstrated the she is NOT, repeat NOT, an international number six, making 16 off 29 balls, which caused the RRR to climb to 7.5 an over. Annerie Dercksen came next and made a spirited 35 before Sharma, whose day this was becoming, bowled her with an absolute jaffa to make it 209-6. The decisive moment came 1.4 overs and 11 runs later, when Laura Wolvaardt, who had just followed her magnificent 169 in the semi-final by also clocking up three figures in the final, went big against Sharma and was well caught by Amanjot Kaur for 101 to make it 220-7. Twice in the group stages Nadine de Klerk had won South Africa games that looked lost when they were chasing, so some hope remained for South Africa. Three balls and one run later Tryon was given LBW, and a review did not save her. That left de Klerk to attempt to knock off 78 more runs with two rank tail enders for company. On the last ball of the 44th over Ayabonga Khaka, who should have known the de Klerk was desperate to retain the strike and would run almost no matter what failed to back up properly, and Deepti Sharma’s throw beat her to the wicket keeper’s end to make it 246-9. The first two balls of the 46th over, Sharma’s 10th and last were dots, but off the third Nadine de Klerk went aerial and picked out Indian skipper who accepted the chance, giving Deepti Sharma her fifth wicket of the innings and 22nd of the tournament, easily the most of anyone. In the end Verma, with 87 off 78balls and 2-36 from seven overs was named Player of the Match, while Sharma with 215 runs and 22 wickets across the tournament was a shoo-in for Player of the Tournament, making the failure of users of the cricket section of the BBC website to select her for Team of the Tournament look even more egregious than it had before the start of play. Full scorecard and other details here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

India Men Flop in Melbourne

A look back at today’s T20I between Australia and India men’s teams at Melbourne and a large photo gallery.

There is no women’s world cup cricket on at the moment – yesterday saw the second semi-final of which I was unable to catch a single ball due to being at work. It must have been a classic game, with India chasing down 339 with nine balls to spare. This morning UK time there was a T20I between the Australia and India men’s teams and this post looks back at that match.

INDIA FAIL IN MULTIPLE WAYS

India were in trouble early, crashing to 32-4, and never really recovered. India also showed a chronic lack of game awareness and tactical nous. The only Indian batter to play with real fluency was Abhishek Sharma, who produced a gem of an innings, but also only had the strike for one-third of the deliveries bowled during his innings (37 balls faced out of 111 bowled). As an indication of how much this cost India he scored 68 off those 37 balls, while the rest of the batters managed 57 from the other 74. The innings lasted one ball after his dismissal – Bumrah wanted a run off the ball in question, Varun Chakravarthy failed to respond, and that kind of mix-up leads to only one result, which duly happened here – J Bumrah run out 0 (1). Thus India had a beggarly 125 to defend, which was never going to be enough on a pitch that offered bounce but could not be described as difficult to bat on.

Although Bumrah took two late wickets to lend the match a veneer of closeness, reducing that side of the margin to a mere four wickets the truth of the scale of the home side’s win is better illustrated by the fact that they took a mere 13.2 overs to chase down the runs, thus doing the job with exactly one-third of their innings to spare. Being English I have to note that if the test pitches in a little while offer a bit of bounce then England, with the phalanx of express bowlers they have named in their party, will be delighted.

PHOTOGRAPHS

This is a large gallery, and reflective of weather that cannot quite seem to make its mind up. Today, though mainly cloudy and with odd spots of rain has been almost absurdly warm for the end of October in England – the outside temperature is still officially 15 Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) at 5PM…

Before today I had only ever seen gulls making use of this discarded tyre, but this old Grey Heron clearly found it a useful vantage point.

Role Reversal in Guwahati

A look back at the world cup semi-final between England and South Africa at Guwahati today, and especially at an astonishing display from Laura Wolvaardt. Also lots of photos.

Today saw the first semi-final of the 2025 women’s cricket world cup, between England and South Africa. These two sides played their first match of the tournament at this same venue, and on that occasion South Africa were bowled out for 69 and England won by 10 wickets. In South Africa’s last group match, after a superb middle phase of the competition they fell victim to Alana King’s amazing one-woman show and were again all out for under 100. Thus England probably thought they had little to fear.

THE EARLY STAGES

Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits led off with a century stand, but then England took three wickets in next to no time. Marizanne Kapp then provided fine support for Wolvaardt, scoring 42 from 33 balls before being caught by Charlie Dean off Sophie Ecclestone, who was looking something close to her best with the ball after sustaining a shoulder injury last time out. Many have suggested that Sinalo Jafta, the Proteas keeper, is too high in their order at number six, and 1 off four balls before Lauren Bell bowled her did nothing to alter that impression. Ms Jafta has now played 46 ODIs, with an average of 12.59 and a best score of 29, not the stuff of which top six batters are made. With the first ball of the 41st over Ecclestone claimed her fourth scalp of the day, her 16th of the tournament, making her leading wicket taker thereof, and her 37th world cup wicket in all, by bowling Annerie Dercksen for 1 to make it 202-6…

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

THE MATCH TURNS

…Laura Wolvaardt had survived all the carnage, and reached three figures off 115 balls. Now, starting from that 202-6 after 40.1 overs, and with Chloe Tryon her main remaining supporter she turned a high class ton into the sort of innings that settles matches and possibly even tournaments. Wolvaardt’s acceleration in the final phase of the innings was so dramatic that her third 50 took a mere 21 balls, including four sixes when she had none in her first 100 runs. In the end a catch by Capsey off Bell got her for a magnificent 169 off 143 balls, including 20 fours and five sixes, with 62 off her last 69 runs being in boundaries – eight fours and five sixes in that period. The innings catapulted her to the top of the scoring charts for the tournament, moved her past 5,000 ODI runs in all and moved her ODI batting average north of 50. Her dismissal made it 291-7 after 48 overs. Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk completed a remarkable last 10 overs for the Proteas by scoring 28 off the last two overs between them for a final total of 319-7, 117 of them in the last ten overs. Off the 40 overs not bowled by Ecclestone (10-1-44-4) South Africa scored 275-3. This innings has caused a backdated change to my team of the tournament – on Monday I had Alyssa Healy as Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner and Wolvaardt as reserve opener, but after today I have changed my mind, Wolvaardt opens with Mandhana and Healy is reserve opener and keeper, with Beth Mooney taking the gloves: S Mandhana, L Wolvaardt, +B Mooney, S Devine, A Sutherland, D Sharma, A Gardner, Shorna Akter, A King, S Ecclestone, Marufa Akter, with the reserves now N Sciver-Brunt, A Healy, L Smith and K Gaud.

The England innings began in spectacular fashion, of the wrong sort for them, with the top three of Amy Jones, Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight all departing for ducks, with the only run accrued in the seven balls of mayhem in which this happened being a wide. After that beginning it was miracles required territory, and although Sciver-Brunt batted very well and Alice Capsey scored her maiden ODI 50 England never looked like getting on terms. When Linsey Smith was last out, caught by Luus off de Klerk for 27, England were all out for 194, beaten by 125 runs, a remarkable turnaround from that opening group fixture at this same venue. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Women’s World Cup 2025 Team of the Tournament

I pick my team of the 2025 Women’s World Cup. Also two photo galleries.

There is no cricket today – the group games are done and the semi-finals happen on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. Therefore, as the first of two posts I am doing today (the third to last image you will see in this one provides a hint as to the subject matter of the second post) I shall be naming my team of the tournament.

SELECTION CRITERIA

I am picking chiefly based on what has happened at this tournament, and as usual I am considering overall balance as well as player quality. Also, although I could probably have safely done the lazy thing and just named Australia en bloc I have not done so.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Smriti Mandhana (India, left handed opening batter). The stylish left hander has had an excellent tournament, including a magnificent century against new Zealand that helped India to seal their spot in the semi-finals.
  2. +Alyssa Healy (Australia, right handed opening batter, wicket keeper). Before injuring her calf she had been in superb form, twice making run chases, one large and one not so large, look absurdly easy by scoring commanding and rapid centuries at the top of the order.
  3. Beth Mooney (Australia, left handed batter). Australia were deep in trouble against Pakistan, and it was Mooney, helped first by some defiance from Kim Garth and then a sparky 50 from Alana King, who dug them out of it with a century.
  4. *Sophie Devine (New Zealand, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer, captain). Although bowing out of ODI cricket in a blaze of glory has not happened for the Kiwi legend it is not any fault of hers, she has personally had a very good tournament.
  5. Annabel Sutherland (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). The leading wicket taker of the tournament, and although she has done less with the bat a 98 not out when her side had been reduced to 68-4 chasing 245 against England was a crucial effort in that department.
  6. Deepti Sharma (India, left handed batter, right arm off spinner). She has had a superb tournament, being second on the wicket taking list and having scored some useful runs.
  7. Ashleigh Gardner (Australia, right handed batter, off spinner). Two centuries (one from number six, one from number seven), both made with her team initially in a bit of trouble, and has bowled well.
  8. Shorna Akter (Bangladesh, leg spinner, right handed batter). Two cheap three-fors with the ball and a maiden ODI 50 with the bat. I have placed her lower in the order than she has been batting for Bangladesh because they are a weak batting side and my view, that 50 notwithstanding, is that at the moment she is actually a bowling all rounder, rather than the batting all rounder that her position in the Bangladesh order suggests.
  9. Alana King (Australia, leg spinner, right handed batter). Even if she had done nothing else all tournament, which is far from the case, her destruction of South Africa when she rewrote the record books with her figures of 7-2-18-7 would have earned her a place in this XI.
  10. Sophie Ecclestone (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). The fact that she is England’s joint leading wicket taker, with 12 scalps, in spite of missing one match due to illness and bowling only four balls in another due to a shoulder injury speaks for itself.
  11. Marufa Akter (Bangladesh, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). Has shown herself to be an extremely skilful operator in conditions in which most teams, including her own Bangladesh, have gone in spin heavy.

This side has great batting depth and a wealth of bowling options – only the top three in the order won’t be used as bowlers, and everyone down to Ecclestone, scheduled to bat at ten (who might be promoted and sent in to swing for hills if it was close to the end of the innings) could offer something with the bat.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

RESERVES/ HONOURABLE MENTIONS

My first reserve, on the grounds that she can replace anyone other than one of the openers without weakening the XI is England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer and shrewd captain. I also want a reserve opening batter, and my choice there is Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa, a right hander. My third choice of reserve is Linsey Smith of England, left arm spinner and brilliant fielder. Her ability to take the new ball, which she has shone doing this tournament counts in her favour. To round out the squad I name a reserve seamer, Indian right arm medium fast bowler Kranti Gaud, who with the one exception of taking a pounding at Australia hands has had a very fine tournament.

The only rival to Mandhana for the left handed opener’s slot was Phoebe Litchfield, but she has not been quite as good as the Indian at this tournament. As well as Wolvaardt who I actually named as a reserve, the other South African opener Tazmin Brits deserves a mention. Marizanne Kapp has shown no signs of fading powers at this tournament, but I could not name her ahead of either Sutherland or Devine.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This Ghost Ship was part of Sunday lunch, at the Bank House immediately prior to setting off the activity that forms my next post.
This Great Bustard provides the clue to the subject of my next post.
Three egrets together by the Nar Outfall, this morning.

A One Woman Show at Indore

A look back at today’s Women’s World Cup Match between Australia and South Africa, and in particular its defining performance, an incredible display of leg spin bowling by Alana King. Also a photo gallery.

This post is devoted to today’s match at the Women’s Cricket World Cup, between Australia and South Africa to decide who would finish top of the league stage, setting up a semi-final against fourth placed India, while the losers would face England in the other semi-final. Yesterday, which should have been Sri Lanka versus Pakistan, saw only 4.2 overs of play before the rain finally and decisively settled things, underlining yet again the folly of using Colombo as a venue in that city’s wettest month and the further folly of making all matches there day-nighters when the rain is generally at its worst in late afternoon/ early evening.

7-2-18-7

The heading for this section is simply the figures in standard Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets form recorded by Alana King for the nearest thing to an absolutely perfect display of leg spin bowling that you could ever hope to see.

King came on to bowl with South Africa looking a bit rocky at 43-2 after 11 overs, and by the time she rattled Nadine de Klerk’s stumps with the last ball of 24th over (her seven overs being numbers 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 of the innings) the Proteas had subsided to a miserable 97 all out. The one wicket not to go to King in this period, that of Ayabonga Khaka was arguably the leggie’s by proxy as well – in the previous over bowled by King there had been five dots and then a single off the sixth ball as de Klerk, who was batting competently, demonstrated her opinion of Khaka’s chances against King. Khaka was on strike to the fourth ball of the following over, bowled by Ash Gardner, and was comprehensively bowled by the off spinner. King took four of her wickets before conceding a run, and her final figures of 7-18 were an all time record for a World Cup match and an all time ODI record for an Australian woman, relegating Ellyse Perry’s 7-22 to second place and current bowling coach Shelley Nitshke’s 7-24 to third.

After what had happened in South Africa’s innings there was very little chance of an upset. South Africa did take two early wickets, but a 75 run stand between Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney did most of the work for them, and some good blows by Annabel Sutherland after the stand was broken did the rest. Sutherland hit each of her first two balls to the boundary, and after one dot ball she then got her fourth ball away for the two runs Australia still needed. The margin was seven wickets, and Australia had taken only 16.5 overs to knock off the runs. There was of course only one candidate for Player of the Match.

South Africa have overall been very convincing in this phase of the tournament, but in both their first and last matches they came a cropper against quality spin – in their first match England’s spinners shared the wickets as the Proteas slumped to 69 all out, while in this one Alana King almost single-handedly destroyed them. They now have to face England in the semi-final. In view of what has happened today England must be looking at ways to include leg spinner Sarah Glenn. One possibility if they feel like going all in on ‘spin to win’ would be to rest Lauren Bell for the semi-final and rely purely on Natalie Sciver-Brunt’s medium pace for any seam they might need.

PHOTOGRAPHY

My usual sign off…

I was pleased to get a few pictures of this massed group of birds flying overhead.
These fungi were growing in The Walks, close to St James’ Leisure Centre
Decorative ironwork in King’s Lynn town centre

The Annabel and Ashleigh Show

An account of today’s match at the cricket world cup between the Australia and England women’s teams and two photo galleries.

Today’s match at the women’s cricket world cup saw a revisit to international sport’s oldest continuously maintained rivalry, that between Australia and England. This post looks back at the match.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Both sides were already qualified for the semi-finals but:

  1. This match could easily be a dress rehearsal for bigger match later in the tournament.
  2. Whoever emerged victorious from the encounter would temporarily displace South Africa from top spot in the table and
  3. No game between this particular pair of opponents can ever be described as meaningless.

Australia were missing Alyssa Healy with a calf strain, and her place at the top of the order went to Georgia Voll, while Beth Mooney took over the wicket keeping gauntlets and Tahlia McGrath assumed the captaincy (Mooney and McGrath are absolute regulars in the XI, so Voll for Healy was only the change in personnel). England were unchanged from the side that just prevailed over India at this same venue last time out. Australia won the toss and chose to put England in to bat.

England started fast, with Tammy Beaumont in particular playing impressively. However Australia soon adapted to the conditions, realizing that pace off was the way to go. Annabel Sutherland, the fastest of Australia’s bowlers was expensive early on, but once she worked the surface out and focussed on slower balls she bowled very well, and emerged with 3-60 from her 10 overs, her 13th, 14th and 15th wickets of the tournament, putting her two clear of Deepti Sharma at the top of the wicket takers list. Ashleigh Gardner fared well with her off spin as well, claiming 2-39 for the innings. Beaumont’s 78, which fizzled out after a blazing start, was the only innings of real substance for England, though a spirited partnership between Capsey and Dean, numbers seven and eight in the order, somewhat revived England in the closing stages. England ended their innings on 244-9.

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

Fungi at Fakenham Church
Fungi near QEH (13 pics total)

THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE

With a modest total on the board England needed a good start, and they got it. Lauren Bell bowled Phoebe Litchfield with the third ball of the inning, Linsey Smith accounted for the other opener Voll in the fourth over and for Ellyse Perry in the sixth over at which point the score was 24-3. When Nat Sciver-Brunt took a catch off Ecclestone to dismiss Mooney for 20 it was 68-4, and Ashleigh Gardner was joining Annabel Sutherland. Their partnership turned the game, slowly at first, and then very rapidly. By the closing stages the only questions where whether both batters would reach three figures, and if so who would get there first. Gardner did reach three figures, off the 70th ball of her innings, and in the end Sutherland just missed out, though Gardner had tried to create the opportunity for her team mate to get there. In the end after the 41st over had start with a two and a single that took Sutherland to 98 not out but left her off strike, Gardner, who had blocked the last three balls of the 40th over to give Sutherland a shot at the landmark, straight drove the third ball of the 41st over for the winning runs, ending with 104 not out from 73 balls, including 16 fours, while Sutherland’s 98 not out took 123 balls and included nine fours and a six. Their stand was worth an unbroken 180 from 24.4 overs. England had their moments during the match, but against this Australian combination having one’s moments from time to time is simply not good enough. Sutherland’s 3-60 and 98 not out earned her Player of the Match, by a short head from Gardner (2-39 and 104 not out).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This morning was a sunny one, and I spent a lot of it walking. This Egret was directly across the Great Ouse from Harding’s Pits
This pair of Egrets were near the Nar outfall.
This heron with two cormorants for company was on a concrete block just off the west bank of the Great Ouse, more or less opposite Purfleet Quay
A freight locomotive in the siding near my house this morning.
A particularly elegant little fungus, with a long thin stem and a parasol like cap.
I revisited the site of that fungus later and it was still there.

England Women Book Semi-Final Slot

A look back at yesterday’s thriller at the women’s cricket world cup between India and England, with links to the scorecard and to a post by Hypocaust about the the numbers, plus a photo gallery.

Yesterday’s match at the women’s cricket world cup saw England facing hosts India at Indore. This post looks back at a remarkable match.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone were recovered from the sickness that kept them out of England’s previous match, so England were back at full strength. India had opted to bolster their bowling. Natalie Sciver-Brunt won the toss and decided, to some surprise, that England would bat first.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont gave England a solid start, and then the rest of the England innings was dominated by a command performance from former skipper Heather Knight. Knight, well supported by current skipper Sciver-Brunt who helped the third wicket to put on 115 at better than a run a ball, took a mere 86 balls to reach her third career ODI hundred and first against India. After Sciver-Brunt was out we saw a familiar scene as Sophia Dunkley, Emma Lamb and Alice Capsey all fell cheaply – the England numbers 5,6 and 7 have a combined aggregate of 111 runs between them for the tournament so far, and then a second familiar scene as Charlie Dean ensured that the good early phase of the innings was entirely wasted by scoring a rapid undefeated 19 to boost the final total to 288, not massive on a good pitch but surely defensible.

THE INDIAN CHASE

For much this innings it looked like the hosts were heading to a comfortable win. In particular when the two left handers, Smriti Mandhana and all rounder Deepti Sharma were both going well England looked beaten for all money. Then Mandhana had a rush of blood to the head against Linsey Smith and holed out to Alice Capsey for 88 off 94 balls to make it 234-4 in the 42nd over and open up a possible way back in to things for England. Richa Ghosh never got going and managed a mere 8, caught by former skipper Knight off the bowling of current incumbent Sciver-Brunt to make it 256-5 in the 46th over. It was in the following over that England got the breakthrough that put them ahead on points for the first time in a long while, when Deepti Sharma, who had batted very well for her 50, got over aggressive against Ecclestone, who by her own lofty standards had had a poor time with the ball, and was caught by Dunkley to make it 265-6. With two overs to go India needed 23, and England were definitely favourites. The first ball of the 49th over, bowled by Lauren Bell, went for four, but the tall seamer came back well in the rest of the over, and India needed 14 off the final over, with Linsey Smith, England’s most economical bowler on the day, to bowl it. Smith bowled a superb over, and by the time the fifth ball had gone for a mere two runs India needed eight to tie off the last ball of the match, meaning that in effect Smith only had to bowl a legal delivery for England to get the win that would secure their semi-final berth. She did so, and it was hit for four irrelevant runs, meaning that England had won by four runs and became the third side to book a semi-final slot. India meanwhile are now in serious jeopardy of suffering the fate of the England men in 1999 – being ejected early from their own party. Even with that final irrelevant four Linsey Smith’s figures were 10-0-40-1, absolutely crucial to England’s success, though unsurprisingly Knight was named Player of the Match for her century. Scorecard here, and a for the numbers people here is Hypocaust’s post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…