Category: Cricket

Bin-gland

A look at the state of the England Men’s ODI team. Also a large photo gallery.

England’s participation in the Champions Trophy is at an end, and they have been the worst team at the tournament, being the only side in either group not to record a single point. This post looks briefly at yesterday’s match and then at the problems with this England Men’s ODI side.

EXITING WITH A WHIMPER

England’s elimination was already confirmed before yesterday’s match began, but the question was whether they would depart with a bang or a whimper. Afghanistan were hoping for it to be an almighty bang, since a victory by 207 or more runs would push South Africa’s net run rate below Afghanistan and mean that the latter made the semi-finals. In the event England exited with the tamest of whimpers. The match started in familiar fashion, with Phil Salt (no 1 in the England batting order) and Jamie Smith (no 3) both departing cheaply, both to terrible shots. That once again brought Duckett and Root together with a rebuilding operation to perform. This time round we got an illustration of the fact that if you keep on needing rescue operations you don’t always get them – Duckett made 24 and Root 37, which would remain England’s top score. Brook, officially next in line for the captaincy vacated by Buttler, managed 19. Buttler, attempting to provide some stability, a role for which he is not well suited, managed 21 off 43 balls, while Jofra Archer ended up second top scorer with 25 off 31 balls, and the comparative ease with which he was able to bat was a damning indictment of his alleged betters in that department. All of this added up to 179 all out from 38.2 overs – a scoring rate of below five an over and 11.4 overs left unused. Marco Jansen took 3-39, and was outdone figures wise by Wiaan Mulder who had 3-25. No South African bowled badly, with Kagiso Rabada’s 1-42 from seven overs being the worst figures of any of their five bowlers. Rassie van der Dussen, 72 not out off 87 balls, and Henrich Klaasen, 64 off 56 balls before perishing in the moment of victory were the chief performers responsible for making England’s total look as pathetic as it was, South Africa winning by seven wickets with 20.5 overs to spare – in other words they had more than the length of a T20 innings to spare.

ENGLAND’S PROBLEMS

England personnel wise (for the moment we will ignore questions of the domestic schedule) have four main issues, of which only the first is definitely being dealt with:

  1. They have the wrong captain. Buttler has stepped down, which starts to address this, but my own feeling is that they need to do something more radical than merely turn to ‘next cab in the rank’ Brook. Perhaps Liam Dawson, who playing skills would help to address other problems could be brought straight in as captain.
  2. Numbers one and three in the order need replacing. You cannot expect to win matches when losing two early wickets on an absolutely regular basis, and the dismissals of Salt and Smith against South Africa suggest that neither learned anything from their failures in the first two matches.
  3. Lack of all rounders. This, with five bowlers required to be used in every innings, creates issues of balance – you either pick five proper bowlers, relying on the top six to do the bulk of the scoring, or you pick four front line bowlers only and rely on part timers to bowl the fifth allocation of ten overs. England have opted for the latter approach, and their lack of either depth or variety in the bowling department has cost them at this tournament, which leads to…
  4. Too much similarity in bowling. England have not a left armer of any type at this tournament (look up the bowling half of the package offered by Dawson the player), the fast bowlers used have all been very similar, making it easy for opposing batters to take them on. The one trustworthy component of the England bowling attack at this tournament, Adil Rashid, is now 37 years old, and the endurance of James Anderson notwithstanding probably has a fairly limited remaining shelf life at the top level.

England have not been struggling in ODIs for nearly as long as they had been when they crashed out of the 2015 World Cup, but a reset of a similar type to the one that took place then is required.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (with a reminder as we start a new month that images can be viewed at a larger size by clicking on them)…

Rain Reduces Afghanistan Qualification Hopes

A look at developments in the Champions Trophy, and at the battle for qualification between Afghanistan and South Africa (Australia are through after today, and England were confirmed as out two days ago). Also a photo gallery.

Yesterday’s match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Champions Trophy was washed out without a ball bowled, meaning the only team in the tournament without a point are now England. Today saw Afghanistan and Australia face off in Lahore in a match that would see the winners progress and the losers eliminated, unless rain struck again…

THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS

Afghanistan were saved from disaster by two contrasting innings. Sediqullah Atal held the early part of the innings together with a solid 85 (95), before Azmatullah Omarzai produced another impressive performance, scoring 67 off 63 balls. Afghanistan were all out off the last ball of their innings, for 273. Ben Dwarshuis with 3-47 from nine overs was Australia’s top wicket taker, while Spencer Johnson with 2-49 from his full 10 was the economical. Rashid Khan would have noted rival leg spinner Adam Zampa finishing with 2-48 from eight overs.

THE AUSTRALIAN REPLY

Australia started like a bullet from a gun, helped by some poor bowling and worse fielding from Afghanistan (three ‘dolly’ catches went begging). However, with Australia 109-1 after just 12.5 overs, Head 59* (40), Smith 19* (22), the heavens opened in almost Noachian fashion. The field at the Qaddafi Stadium soon resembled a lake, and although the rain eventually stopped, the ground remained sodden. There was an inspection at 8:45PM local time (3:45PM UK time), but that was merely to officially confirm that there was no way the game could resume on time even for the 7.1 overs that Afghanistan would have had to bowl for there to be an official result to happen. This means that Australia have four points and are qualified, Afghanistan have three points and need England to absolutely thrash South Africa in the sole remaining fixture in this group for the Proteas net run rate to drop below theirs (if England bat first and the game is a full 50 over per side affair England would need to win by 207 runs or more for Afghanistan to qualify, while if South Africa bat first then effectively Afghanistan’s fate is sealed, since the least unrealistic scenario involving an England chase is if South Africa are all out for 125, when England would then need to knock the runs off in 12 overs or less to get Afghanistan through. This match has been confirmed in the course of today as Buttler’s last as England white ball skipper (officially he has resigned the role, which I suspect means he just beat England management to the punch – there was no way after a third straight elimination at the first stage of a tournament that has captaincy remained tenable). The likely semi-finalists at this tournament are, in alphabetical order: Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa. As to who England’s new white ball captain will be (or if that will remain the split – India have Rohit Sharma captaining the test and ODI teams and Suryakumar Yadav captaining the T20 side, reflective of the fact that actually for all that the latter two are played with the same colour ball the difference between ODIs and T20s is much greater than that between tests and ODIs) I am unsure. The conventional choice would be Harry Brook, but it has been known for sides in real trouble, as England are now, to opt to really draw a line under the past by bringing in a brand new captain from outside the squad.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This picture and the next show the remains of the bus stop sign at the stop from which i catch the bus to work…
…I am not quite sure how it got totalled, but whatever caused it must have been quite a sight.
This is a remotely operated machine for cutting down undergrowth.
Beyond that fencing is the railway line. I am not quite sure what induced a cormorant to make this particular small stretch of the Gaywood its home, but I have seen it there several times now.

England’s Champions Trophy Hopes Hang by a Thread

England are currently playing Afghanistan in a match in which the defeated side definitely goes out of the tournament. Each side will have one match left. If England win they will then need to beat South Africa to qualify, while if Afghanistan emerge victorious they will need to beat Australia to qualify. In the event of the winner of today’s match losing their final game Australia and South Africa (whose match yesterday was rained out without a ball being bowled) would both qualify. This post looks at developments in today’s match so far.

AFGHANISTAN’S INNINGS

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first. The injured Brydon Carse was replaced in the England line up by Jamie Overton. The match started well for England, with Afghanistan being 39-3 at one point. However, a combination of an injury to Mark Wood, Jos Buttler’s stubborn refusal to recognize until far too late that Wood couldn’t bowl his full allocation, the questionable balance of the England line up, reliant as it is on Livingstone and Root to bowl the fifth allocation of ten overs, and a magnificent innings by Ibrahim Zadran created a dramatic turnaround in events. Zadran had three principal assistants from his own side in addition to Wood’s injury and Buttler’s bad captaincy. The revival began with Zadran and Hashmatullah Shahidi putting on 103 for the fourth wicket in 19.4 overs, the latter contributing a solid 40. Revival began to become genuine counter attack with the next partnership, with Azmatullah Omarzai which yielded 72 in 10.3 overs, Omarzai scoring 41 off 31 balls. Then came the truly explosive partnership, 40 year old Mohammad Nabi exactly matching his age years in runs off his own bat, from just 24 balls, while Zadran now utterly dominant turned what was already a very high class innings into one of unquestioned greatness. His previous best ODI score was 162, and he passed both that and Ben Duckett’s Champions Trophy record set just a few days ago of 165 with a single blow that took him from 160 to 166. By the time he fell, in the final over of the innings, bowled due to a combination of the injury and Buttler’s mismanagement of his bowlers by Liam Livingstone, he had scored 177 off 146 balls with 12 fours and six sixes the score had reached 323, the sixth wicket stand worth 111 in 9.1 overs, which included 20 off one Archer over and 23 in the 47th over of the innings, bowled by Root, who when Wood’s departure from the field finally forced Buttler to extend the allocation he gave his fifth bowler duo. During the middle overs Livingstone and Root had bowled a combined 10-0-50-0, but neither are remotely suited to bowling at the death, and the danger of Wood not being able to bowl his full ten overs was blatantly apparent from quite early in the innings. A couple of balls after Zadran’s dismissal Nabi was also out to make to 324-7. A further single accrued to end the innings at 325-7. Livingstone, given the 50th over of the innings in desperation had final figures of 5-0-28-2, the sole England bowled to go at under a run a ball.

THE ENGLAND RESPONSE

Salt went for 12 early on in the reply, bowled by Omarzai’s medium pace. Jamie Smith charged at Nabi’s first ball of the innings and was caught by Omarzai for 9 to make it 30-2. Duckett and Root put on 68 together before Rashid Khan trapped Duckett LBW for 38 to make it 98-3. Brook looked reasonable impressive, but got himself out with the job barely started, hitting one straight back to Omarzai for 25 off 21 balls. That was 133-4 (these last two wickets have fallen while I have been working on this post, making the thread of the title more than a little frayed) with Buttler coming in to join Root. The advocates of immense batting firepower will point out that England still have Livingstone to come, and that Jamie Overton is not the worst number eight. To this I respond that if England had a better bowling line up Afghanistan may well not have been able to fight back from the depths of 37-3. For my money this match is as good as over already. If this proves correct I hope that the first decision England make in the aftermath of this tournament is to axe Buttler as captain. They also need to realize sharpish that four proper bowlers backed up by Livingstone and Root is not good enough. England with the Livingstone/ Root combination have statistically the worst fifth bowling option of any of the eight sides at this tournament.

TWO FINGERS TO ELON THE EXECRABLE

There is a Tesla dealership practically next door to Park Royal station (Piccadilly line), and on March the 8th at 11AM there will a protest there directed at Elon Musk. Click here to sign up.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The rainbow that features in this shot and the next seven appeared at about 4:30PM on Monday.
Yesterday was bright and sunny, and the first insects of 2025 were in evidence.
A combination of the weather and the fact that the bus was obviously going to be taking a fair while to get clear of the hospital grounds led me to a decision to alight early on my way home from work.

Australia v England

A look at yesterday’s Champions Trophy match between Australia and England. Also a photo gallery.

Yesterday the Champions Trophy saw Australia take on England. This post looks at what has been thus far the match of the tournament (and today’s match, between another pair of fierce rivals, India and Pakistan is not looking like rivalling it right now).

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Phil Salt and Jamie Smith were both out fairly early for England, but then Ben Duckett and Joe Root had a splendid partnership for the third wicket. There were stages when a total not far short of 400 looked possible. Duckett, often fairly criticized for not being willing to give himself time to get settled in, played an absolute blinder of an innings. Even in ‘restrained’ ODI mode he scored rapidly, eventually falling late on in the innings for 165 off 143 balls. Buttler got himself out in the 43rd over, and in the end England amassed 351-8. Even on a good pitch and a fast outfield that looked fairly impressive…

THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE

At one stage Australia were 136-4, and it looked like England were in control, though they had gone batting heavy – the fifth bowling allocation was in the hands of Livingstone and Root. In the event it was the three specialist pacers, Archer, Carse and Wood who proved shockingly expensive. Buttler demonstrated again what a poor captain he is, giving Root and Livingstone just one over more than the minimum he needed from them, though they were faring less badly than the quicks. The sole England bowler to fare really well was 37 year old Adil Rashid who recorded 10-1-47-1. The Australian comeback began with Inglis and Carey putting on 146 for the fifth wicket in 19.2 overs. The last ball of the 38th over was the moment the match swung decisively – Archer dropped a very easy chance offered by Carey, which would have had Australia 248-5, needing 104 off the last 12 overs with only five wickets left. By the time Carey was dismissed, the ask was down to 70 off 8.2 overs, not normally considered difficult these days, and Australia made it look very easy in the end. There were 2.3 overs to go when Inglis finished it in style with a six, the sixth of his innings. Inglis had 120* from 86 balls. The three fast bowlers had combined figures of 26.3-0-226-3, an average of 75.33, a strike rate of a wicket every 53 balls and an economy rate of 8.53. Livingstone and Root had 11-0-73-1, an average of 73.00, a striker rate of a wicket every 66 balls and an economy rate of 6.64 per over – below the required rate, and 1.89 runs per over less than the quicks went at. England now need to win both their remaining games, the first of which is against Afghanistan.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

There are rarely as many as four trains visible at King’s Lynn station.

The ICC Champions Trophy So Far

A look at the early stages of the Champions Trophy, currently taking place in Pakistan. Also a large and varied photo gallery.

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy got underway on Wednesday. This tournament features the top eight sides in the ICC world rankings, which at present means there are several countries missing who might be expected to be there – none of Sri Lanka, West Indies or Zimbabwe made the cut for example. The format of the tournament (round one seeing the eight split into two groups of four, with the top two from each group moving into the semi-finals) means that even early on teams can find themselves in serious jeopardy.

THE MATCHES SO FAR

Today’s match, between Afghanistan and South Africa, was the third of the tournament, with the only two teams yet to see action being Australia and England who play each other tomorrow. The tournament is officially being staged in Pakistan, but India’s matches are taking place in the UAE as they refuse to travel to Pakistan, and their power in the cricket world is such that they get away with this sort of behaviour whenever they choose to indulge in it.

The tournament opened with Pakistan hosting New Zealand in Karachi. New Zealand batted first and compiled 320, which looked substantial, and was soon made to look even more so by a combination of good New Zealand bowling and some poor batting from Pakistan. Babar Azam scored 60, but took 93 balls to get there, which when your side has been set to score at 6.4 per over is simply not acceptable. Of the first 141 balls of the Pakistan innings exactly 100 were dot balls.

I did not catch any of the game between Bangladesh and India yesterday due to work. I gather that India won comfortably, though not as comfortably as they might – Rohit Sharma dropped an easy chance which would have given Axar Patel a hat trick, the first ever in the Champions Trophy, and the reprieved batter than took part in a huge partnership which gave Bangladesh something to attempt to defend.

Today’s match had strong echoes of Pakistan v New Zealand. South Africa won the toss and batted first, and with Ryan Rickelton scoring a fine century, Bavuma helping to set a platform for them with 58 and then van der Dussen and Markram scoring quicker 50s later on the in the innings (each made 52, off respectively 46 and 36 balls) South Africa emerged with 315-6 from their 50 overs, which looked more than enough. Probably the most disappointed of the Afghans would have been Rashid Khan whose figures of 10-0-59-0 continue a very poor showing in ODI tournament matches (he now has 17 wickets in 19 such matches at an average of over 50 a piece, though his economy rate is acceptable, largely because he is so good that opposition sides will happily settle for blanking his wickets column. Noor Ahmad, the young left arm wrist spinner, was frankly poor, recording 9-0-65-1. In reply Afghanistan never got into the hunt. Rahmat Shah played a fine knock but found no significant support. Other than his 90, the next highest scores were 18s from Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan. When Shah was last out, nicking one from Rabada through to Rickelton South Africa had won by 107 runs, a result which has probably already confirmed that Afghanistan will be making an early exit from the tournament. Rickelton’s century and solid keeping performance (two catches taken, only two byes let through) earned him the Player of the Match award, though Rabada’s 3-36, with Azmatullah Omarzai the least regarded batter of the trio, must have come into the reckoning.

LOOKING AHEAD

Australia are in a weakened state – tomorrow will be the first time in nine years that they take the field without any of Cummins, Hazlewood or Starc, and so makeshift is their squad that they are captained by the sandpaper tarnished Steve Smith. England have been in poor form, and much will come down to how they approach their batting. New Zealand and South Africa have played it right, building a base and then upping the tempo in the later stages. Pakistan were far too conservative in the first half of their chase against New Zealand, dropping irretrievably behind the required rate. England have a tendency to treat 50 over innings as extended versions of 20 over innings, which is how they might well come a cropper. The extra length of the innings means that there are times when consolidation is necessary – though not to the extreme of allowing 100 of the first 141 balls of your team’s innings to be dots!

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first of the spring flowers are emerging, and it has been warm enough yesterday and today to venture out without a coat.
A juxtaposition of two stamps each of which depict the world’s first Steam Lcomotive, Trevithick’s Pen-y-Darren, which first ran in 1804.

Picking an All Time ODI XI

An attempt at selecting an all-time ODI XI, with mentions of a few players from before the ODI era who I might have considered had I not decided to stick to actual ODI players. Also a photo gallery.

I am writing this from King’s Lynn library (it has limited opening on Sundays, to those wh0 are ‘Open Library’ members). This topic was raised by the talksport2 commentary team in an ODI between India and England, and between the distractions of having my entire heating system replaced and my home broadband malfunctioning I have not previously got round to posting my own version.

THE BRIEF

I will be picking only people who have ODI experience, though I will then append a short subsection on who might have been considered had I opted not to thus restrict myself. The number six slot will feature two possibilities, as explained more fully when I get there. I will not include an honourable mentions section as to do justice to those it would have to be far too long. If you fancy suggesting alternatives you are most welcome, though I urge you to consider the effect of your choices on the overall balance of the side.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. +Adam Gilchrist (Australia, left handed opening batter, wicket keeper). This man changed ideas as to what could be expected of the wicket keeper with the bat. Some subsequent attempts to find a version of him have neglected to pay sufficient attention to the keeping skills of the player concerned, but he was top notch in that department as well as with the bat.
  2. Rohit Sharma (India, right handed opening batter). He holds the highest ever ODI score, 264, and has also scored two other ODI double centuries, the only player to have as many as three to his name. Overall he has some 11,000 ODI runs to his name, and his century tally is third on the all-time list.
  3. Viv Richards (West Indies, right handed batter, occasional off spinner). The first player to really master the art of ODI batting. The 189* he scored in a total of 272-9 at Old Trafford in 1984 was for a long time the highest ever ODI score.
  4. Virat Kohli (India, right handed batter). Has to rank as the all time number one ODI batter. I could not accommodate both him and Sachin Tendulkar in this XI, and in ODI terms Kohli is ahead of his predecessor. Kohli’s century making rate of better than one every six ODI innings puts him way ahead of the competition.
  5. AB de Villers (South Africa, right handed batter, occasional wicket keeper, occasional right arm medium pacer). Known as ‘Mr 36o’ for his ability to score runs to literally any part of the field he was epoch making batter, a competent keeper and had occasional successes bowling medium pace.
  6. *Imran Khan (Pakistan, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). One of the greatest of all all rounders. He came out of retirement to lead Pakistan to victory in the 1992 world cup. In the event of the pitch warranting a spin bowling all rounder rather than a pace bowling one Shakib Al-Hasan of Bangladesh would take his slot and the captaincy.
  7. Wasim Akram (Pakistan, left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). A record that speaks for itself.
  8. Joel Garner (West Indies, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). The most economical bowler in ODI history, and achiever of the highest ever ODI ranking points total.
  9. Muthiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka, off spinner, right handed batter). When Sri Lanka won the 1996 world cup their bowling was so dominated by spin that the new ball pair of Vaas and Wickramasinghe often bowled only their opening spells, not being recalled later in the innings. The leader of the Sri Lankan spin unit that won them the world cup that year was Muralidaran.
  10. Adam Zampa (Australia, leg spinner, right handed batter). Shane Warne was not quite the force with a white ball that he was with a red one, though of course he was capable being the matchwinner with a white one, but for my money with the white ball and only with the white ball Zampa outranks his fellow Aussie, which is why I pick him here.
  11. Glenn McGrath (Australia, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). The key bowler in Australia’s most dominant period in men’s white ball cricket, during which they won three straight world cups (1999, 2003 and 2007).

This side features a very powerful top five, all rounders at six and seven and four great bowlers. Yes, with Garner as high as eight the tail starts quite early, but I am not expecting them to be called on to bat with massive frequency. I also reckon that the bowling unit, with two tall, lethally accurate, right arm pacers, an all time great left arm pacer, two great specialist spinners and either a fourth fast bowler or a third, different (SLA, as opposed to OS and LS already there) spin option will be quite capable of defending even an under par total. With regards to the balance of the side I have followed my usual principle of giving the bowling unit primary importance – history is well stocked with winning sides who had great bowling but comparatively modest batting, while there have been very few whose balance has been the other way round.

PLAYERS FROM BEFORE THE ODI ERA

I consider three players from before ODI cricket was a thing to have strong cases for consideration:

Garry Sobers (West Indies, left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket). Accommodating him in place of any of that top five would be extremely hard, but the most complete player the game has ever known, and one whose approach to batting was very attack minded would have to at least be considered.

Frank Woolley (England, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spin bowler). Given his outstanding FC record and his attacking approach he would replace Shakib Al-Hasan as my alternative selection to Imran Khan on spinning surfaces, and may even straight out replace Imran on any surface. The prejudices of his era stopped from getting regular captaincy experience, but I think he would have done the job well given proper opportunities.

Gilbert Jessop (England, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). He is also a potential replacement for Imran. His feats of rapid scoring are legendary, he once bowled unchanged through an FC innings while conceding only three (Northamptonshire 12 all out, Dennett 8-9 with his left arm spin, Jessop 2-3 at the other end) runs and his fielding was the stuff of legend.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Australia Complete WAshes Whitewash

An account of the third and as it turned out final day at the MCG and a photo gallery.

The word ‘WAshes’, with the first two letters capitalized is a social media hashtag created by combining the W from women’s with the word Ashes. This post looks at the events of the third and as it turns out final day of the one-off test match that ended this year’s WAshes series.

ENGLAND’S BEST PERIOD OF THE SERIES

The early stages of the day, which got underway at 3:30AM UK time, saw England produce their best bowling and fielding of the series. Knight opted for the contrasting threats of Ecclestone (left arm, slow) and Filer (right arm, fast), and both bowled beautifully. Mooney became the first Australian to complete centuries in all three formats (Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont, both playing for England in this match, are also members of this small club). She was out to a beauty from Lauren Filer which clean bowled her. The Australian innings ended when Perry, who came in at number ten after being held back due to injury, chipped a return catch to Ecclestone who thus claimed a place on the MCG honours board with her fifth wicket of the innings. She had toiled hard – the final ball of the Australian innings was the third of her 45th over thereof. Footage of this good spell for England can be viewed here.

ENGLAND’S SECOND INNINGS

England had scored a mere six runs when Darcie Brown got through the defences of Maia Bouchier, ending a wretched tour for the 26 year old, who was out for one. Bouchier’s tour aggregate was 33 runs from six innings, she does not bowl, and in a side who are not great in the field she is one of the most frequent offenders when it comes to dropped catches.

Beaumont and Knight batted well for a time, both hitting some highly impressive shots. However, with 79 on the board Knight was dismissed to a catch by Litchfield off Gardner. Nat Sciver-Brunt started impressively and the 100 came up without further loss, but at that point Alana King, in what was to be a long unchanged spell from the Shane Warne Stand end took centre stage with her leg spin. At 100 she trapped Sciver-Brunt plumb in front for 18. Three balls later Dunkley fell to an incredible ball. Footage of this delivery is available here, and I urge you to watch it and see for yourself what it did. Danni Wyatt-Hodge is high class batter, and a very experienced one, but she did not play like one this time round. She essayed a sweep, a shot that England have got in trouble with against Australia’s spinners all through this series, and Litchfield took a fine catch. The score had not advanced from King got one through Beaumont’s previously impregnable defences to dismiss the diminutive opener for 47. That was 109-6, and right on the stroke of the second interval Amy Jones edged one from Gardner to Mooney who made no mistake behind the stumps. Soon after the resumption Ryana MacDonald-Gay was eighth out, helplessly popping up a catch to Brown off King. Both spinners were involved in the dismissal of Ecclestone, joint third top scorer with 18, King taking the catch off Gardner. That left the two Laurens, Filer and Bell, to delay the inevitable as long as they could. In the event the numbers 10 and 11 hung on for 11.2 overs together before Filer fell to a catch by Sutherland off King to give Australia victory by an innings and 122 runs and a 16-0 clean sweep in the multi-format series. It was an appropriate ending – Sutherland was the obvious choice for Player of the Match for that dazzling 163 and King, with 23 wickets in all, was an equally obvious choice for Player of the Series. That Ecclestone, Filer and Bell, numbers 8,10 and 11, survived respectively for 50, 45 and 30 balls (the last being an unbeaten 0) serves to further highlight the wretchedness of that headlong plunge from 100-2 to 122-8. A highlights package from today can be viewed here. A full scorecard of this match can be viewed here. Australia absolutely deserved their clean sweep, and England need to make big changes moving forward.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This was my first photograph of February

Whitewash Imminent

A look at the events of the first two days of the test match that is the final instalment of this year’s Women’s Ashes series, and a photo gallery.

At 3:30AM UK time yesterday the final instalment of the multi-format series for the Women’s Ashes, a day/night test match at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground, got underway. Australia had won both limited overs series 3-0, meaning that in the points system used to score the whole series they were 12-0 with four points at stake for the Test Match.

DAY ONE

Australia won the toss and put England in to bat. Several England players got starts, but only Natalie Sciver-Brunt who fought her way to a half century made a significant contribution. To make things worse for England it rapidly became clear that even on day one the pitch was helping spinners, and England, somewhat oddly given where their prime bowling strength lies, had opted to play only one front line spinner, Ecclestone. England were all out for 170, just before I had to set off for work. I found out later in the day that Australia had reached 53-1 by the close, and would find out later still that one catch had already gone begging.

DAY TWO

This was the day the wheels came right off for England (and probably the exhaust pipe and the axles!). The bowlers did not bowl badly, but the fielding was terrible, a further seven catches being dropped (although in other circumstances the last of these, an attempt at a return catch by fast bowler Lauren Filer would have earned her commendation for a fine effort rather than being recorded as the latest in a long series of drops). Annabel Sutherland, after being reprieved three times early in her innings played sublimely for 163, while Alyssa Healy, fit enough to bat and captain, but not to keep, offered some support, and then Beth Mooney, the batting star of the entire series, demonstrated her continuing excellence. After Sutherland’s magnificent innings ended, bowled by 20 year old medium pacer Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Mooney was supported by Ash Gardner who scored 44 before a catch was finally taken, by Filer off Ecclestone, and then in the last stages of the day by Tahlia McGrath. After having used only her five front line bowling options (Filer, Lauren Bell, Sciver-Brunt, MacDonald-Gay and Ecclestone) all the way through to that point the England skipper Heather Knight finally did something different for the final over the day – she turned to her own part time off spin. The main question was whether Mooney, already on a new test career best, could complete her maiden test ton before the close. In the end she did not, finishing the day on 98 not out. Australia at 422-5 already have a first innings lead of 252, with two whole days remaining. Ellyse Perry has a hip problem and has not batted, but it is not impossible that she will be considered fit enough to do so in the early part of tomorrow. The attendance for this match so far has been 23,508, a new record attendance for any women’s test match, with two weekend days to come.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Hurricane Mitchell

A look back at the BBL Final, and one of the most extraordinary T20 innings ever played. Also a photo gallery.

Today saw the final of the 14th edition of the Big Bash League. The contending teams were Hobart Hurricanes, winners of the league stage of the tournament, and also victors over Sydney Sixers in the first match of the post-season, and Sydney Thunder, third in the league stage of the season, enders of Melbourne Stars’ Lazarus act (making the KOs after starting with five successive losses) and victors over their Sydney rivals in the penultimate match of the tournament to claim their place in the final. As group winners Hurricanes staged the game at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

THE THUNDER INNINGS

Hobart Hurricanes won the bat flip and put Thunder in. David Warner and especially Jason Sangha got Thunder away to a fast start. At the end of the four over Power Play the score was 40-0, and that tempo was pretty much maintained through the first half of the innings, at which point the score was 97-0. A team who are 97-0 after 10 overs of a 20 over innings SHOULD top the 200 mark without much difficulty. However, the first half of their innings was be the last period of the match in which Thunder could claim to have had the better of things. Thunder delayed their Power Surge, due to wickets starting to fall, and just as they were preparing to take it Jason Sangha was out for 67 off 42 balls. That was 146-4 after precisely 16 overs, and having basically left themselves no other choice Thunder activated the Surge for overs 17 and 18. They scored 20 runs for no wicket in those two overs, which is no better than fair for a Power Surge on a good batting track. A big last over of the innings (14 in total coming from it) got Thunder to 182-7 from their 20 overs – 85-7 in the second half of their innings. A total of over 180 wins more T20s than it loses, and finals are often lower scoring than regular matches…

AN INCREDIBLE INNINGS

The first ball of the Hurricanes innings, bowled by Nathan McAndrew, went away for five wides. The six legal deliveries of the over yielded a further 18, as Mitchel Owen gave notice of his intentions. By the end of the four over Power Play Hurricanes were a barely believable 74-0, most of the damage being done by Owen, who was playing an innings that will become part of cricket legend. Tanveer Sangha had Caleb Jewell caught by Warner for 13 off the second ball of the eighth over to make 109-1. Owen reached three figures off his 39th ball, having hit 11 sixes, an all time record for any BBL innings, along the way. By the end of the 10th over it was 138-2, Owen 108* off 42 balls. The mid-innings drinks break, as often happens, broke the flow, and Owen was out first ball on the resumption, but by then the job was done, and it was just a question of when Hurricanes would complete their victory. Hurricanes past 150 in the 12th over, and at the end of that over activated their Power Surge. Those two overs yielded 29 further runs for no further loss, Wes Agar saving a tiny amount of face by avoiding conceding the winning runs, but finishing with 2-0-39-0. Ben McDermott dispatched the first ball of the 15th over for four, and Hurricanes had won by seven wickets with 5.5 overs to spare. Tim David, who most would have pegged in advance of the innings as Hurricanes likeliest matchwinner with the bat ended up not being required at all, such was their dominance due to that amazing knock by Owen. Hurricanes have been the best team in this year’s competition, and although the scale of the hammering was rough on Thunder, cricketing justice was done in this final. The scorecard from this amazing game can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Australia Dominant in Women’s Ashes

A look at today’s ODI between the Australia and England women’s teams and a look at the current state of the Women’s Ashes series, plus a large photo gallery.,

The Women’s Ashes multi-format series in Australia is nearly done. The ODI and T20I sections (three matches each) are now both done, leaving only the Test Match to play. This post looks at what has happened so far.

TODAY’S MATCH

This morning UK time (late evening South Australia time) the third and final T20I took place in Adelaide. In metaphorical terms England did not merely go off the rails, they careered right to the bottom of the ravine and got smashed against the rocks. At the halfway stage, with Australia having won the toss and batted, it did not look too awful. Australia had scored 162-5, an innings dominated by Beth Mooney, who did not merely bat right through the innings, which on a hot evening would have been impressive anyway, she scored 94 of those 162 runs. That total soon looked positively mountainous, as England began losing wickets right from the start of the reply. At 39-3 with skipper Heather Knight and veteran opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge together England might have had half a chance of getting somewhere close, though that pair would probably have had to do most of the remaining batting themselves. At 48-7 the only question was whether England would avoid their lowest ever T20I score, which stood at 87 all out. Sophie Ecclestone joined Knight and the pair put together the best stand of the England innings. The ending of that partnership, worth 29 by then, was illustrative of one the key differences between the sides – the catch by Georgia Voll, who had earlier helped Mooney to put on 56 for the first wicket, which got Ecclestone was quite simply incredible. A video clip can be seen here. Voll, playing her first international series at the age of 21, has had a fine start, contributing 173 runs at 86.50 and a SR of 108.80 to the ODI leg of the series and 49 at 16.33 and an SR of 132.43. Between that and Beth Mooney playing the best cricket of her life at the age of 31 Australia have barely missed the injured Alyssa Healy from the top of their order. Linsey Smith, who had impressed with the ball and in the field on what was a rare appearance for her (as a left arm spinner she only plays when England deem it right to select two such bowlers) was ninth out at 82, run out by a sharp piece of fielding by Ellyse Perry. Lauren Filer lasted long enough for England to get past 87, but not long enough for England as a whole to match Mooney on her own – when Knight was last out to a stumping by Player of the Match Mooney off Tahlia McGrath’s medium pace the total had reached 90, 40 of them from the skipper. Australia had thus won by 72 runs, and had made six wins out of six across the limited overs element of the series. The points score with the test match to come is thus Australia 12 England 0.

A MISMATCH

The fact that Australia have won all three ODIs and all three WODIs tells some of the story of how dominant they have been, but not all of it. There has been one occasion in the six matches on which Australia have been in genuine trouble: in the second ODI they were all out for 180, which shouldn’t win a 50 overs per side match. They responded by bowling England out for 159. None of the other matches have ever got close. England have a fine bowling unit, though Australia are ahead even there. Batting wise Australia have been far better, but the biggest gulf has been in fielding skill. England have rarely risen above the competent in the field, rather too often have fallen below that level, and whereas Australia have had several show stopping pieces of fielding England have not had one. The two byes that accrued off Linsey Smith’s first ball were illustrative: even though saving runs was no longer relevant to Australia so dominant was their position Darcie Brown raced after the ball, got to it just before it reached the rope, tipped it back into play and saved her side two runs. England have not been at their best at any stage of this series, and against Australia any hint of weakness gets punished.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…