Yesterday afternoon the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams clashed in Cardiff. This post looks back at a command performance from the Manchester Originals bowlers.
THE GAUR CHARGE
Welsh Fire battled first, and Mahika Gaur opened the bowling for Manchester Originals. The Hundred allows bowlers to bowl as many as ten balls straight through before another bowler comes on (more usually five, but bowlers do sometimes bowl ten straight through). Gaur not only bowled the first ten balls straight through, she then came back after the minimum five balls off and bowled another ten straight through, thereby getting through her entire allocation within the Power Play (the first 25 balls of the innings). Gaur took 2-10 from those 20 balls (the five that she didn’t bowl were bowled by Sophie Ecclestone). Fire were 12-2 from those 25 balls, and already looking at a tough task. The rest of the bowlers were also highly impressive. England quickie Lauren Filer emerged with statistically the best figures of the innings, 3-8 from her full allocation of 20 balls, while Ecclestone had 2-11 from her full 20. Only Amelia Kerr 0-24 from 20 and Danielle Gregory with 0-7 from five went for over a run a ball. In the end Fire limped to 73-9 from their 100 balls, after which there was only ever going to be one result, which duly arrived with seven wickets and 19 balls to spare. The Manchester Originals bowlers were superb, but the Welsh Fire batters deserve some censure – of the 60 balls bowled by the trio of Gaur, Ecclestone and Filer, 41 (68.33% of the total) were dot balls, which is frankly ridiculous in this format. Mahika Gaur whose history making performance in becoming the first ever bowler to bowl 20 of the first 25 balls of a Hundred match was put the skids under the Fire was named Player of the Match. About the titles of both this post and the main body of it, the gaur is a species of Asian wild cattle, and the bulls in particular are known for being both immensely strong and very aggressive. Scorecard here, plus a jpg below.
PICTURE GALLERY
This comes from today at work, where I passed the halfway stage in my creation of day one of a two day stamp sale…
A look back the match between the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women’s teams, a special ‘town centre and riverfront gallery’ and my regular photo gallery.
As West Norfolk roasts in 30+ degree heat (that in combination with it being a workday was why I did not post yesterday) today is a ‘double double header’ in The Hundred. The early match featured the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women in action, and this post looks back at that game.
BOWLERS DOMINANT
Southern Brave bowled first at a ground that is generally low scoring, and they bowled magnificently. Apart from Hollie Armitage who scored 36 off 28 balls there was nothing approaching a major contribution. Annabel Sutherland was second top scorer, but she would be the last person to take any great pride in 20 off 20 balls. Probably the second best performer for the Superchargers was their number nine Lucy Higham, who managed 13 from eight balls. Only two Brave bowlers, Lauren Bell with 1-25 from 20 and Chloe Tryon with 0-14 from 10 went for more than a run a ball. Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine took 3-15 from her 20 balls, and at the other end of the experience spectrum 17 year old Tilly Corteen-Coleman was again impressive, with 1-17 from her 20 balls.
AN EXCELLENT CHASE
Maia Bouchier struggled to 5 off 15 balls, but by the time she was out Danni Wyatt-Hodge was already going well, and Laura Wolvaardt was soon looking equally impressive. When Wyatt-Hodge was stumped by Bess Heath off Katherine Fraser for 43 it was 83-2 from 68 balls. Sophie Devine now came in, and added an unbeaten 15 from eight balls to her efforts with the ball and in the field. It was Wolvaardt who scored the winning run, taking her own score to 33 not out from 29 balls. As well as eight wickets Southern Brave had 17 balls in hand when they completed the victory. Only left arm medium pacer Grace Ballinger with 10 balls for nine runs had gone at less than one a ball for the Superchargers. Full scorecard here. I am currently listening to the match between the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams. Fire are struggling at 21-2 from 30 balls. Mahika Gaur has already bowled her allocation of 20 balls, taking 2-10, with 14 of the 20 balls dots. Remarkably she bowled 10 straight through to start the innings, then after five balls off as mandated for this competition she bowled ten more straight through, thus doing all her bowling in the Power Play. She is 19 years old, bowls left arm medium fast, is exceptionally tall (her nickname is ‘two metre Mahika’), and played international cricket for the United Arab Emirates at the age of 12! She is now part of the England set up.
PHOTO GALLERY INTRO – KING’S LYNN TOWN AND RIVERFRONT
Before my main gallery I have a special gallery made up of pictures exclusively from the Great Ouse and the town centre…
This tidal clock can be seen on one of the towers of King’s Lynn Minster, and I have not seen its like anywhere else.Among the boats at the pontoon jetty were two that were completely new to me, this one……and this one, largely obscured because it was on the outside of the jetty and a lot of boats were moored there.Some pictures of the Bank House where I will be stewarding on heritage open day.The King’s Lynn mariners circle. which is on Purfleet Quay……with close ups of each of the eight panels dedicated to specific mariners. Not also the feature image, assembled from these pictures.The Custom House, generally considered to be the centre of King’s Lynn……the giant tree at the junction of High Street and New Conduit Street, which I heretically consider the centre of King’s Lynn – this is geographically more central than the Custom House, and I personally consider a tree as a town centre marker to be an improvement on a building, even a super-iconic one.The new library/ community hub coming on apace.Three shots focussed on the tiling (all recycled and environmentally friendly), overlapping in ‘tortoiseshell’ fashion.
THE REGULAR PHOTOS
My usual sign off…
The art and the artist – a spider surveying the world from the centre of her latest creation.
A look back at this afternoon’s match between the Manchester Originals and London Spirt women’s teams, and a photo gallery.
Today’s round of The Hundred featured Manchester Originals playing host to London Spirit. Allegedly for next year the Manchester franchise will be the Manchester Super Giants, with the owners of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants having bought the name change. The women’s match happened first as is standard in this tournament, and this post looks back at it.
THE ORIGINALS INNINGS
The Originals started slowly, and lost two early wickets as well. Kathryn Bryce was caught behind off Tara Norris, and then Amelia Kerr fell victim to some terrible judgement from Beth Mooney. The previous delivery had been a no ball, so this one was a ‘free hit’ ball, off which the only way one can be out is run out. Mooney went for a second with Kerr running to the danger end. The call was bad enough that although Eva Gray’s return was not world beating Kerr was barely even in the frame when the bails were taken off. Mooney now batted well, with Seren Smale playing the support role. However, just as Originals were thinking in terms of recovery Mooney was out, caught by Norris off Charlie Dean to make it 45-3. Scoring now virtually ceased, and although only one had been added to the score eight balls had elapsed since the Mooney dismissal when Smale was bowled by Sarah Glenn for 5 off 12 balls. Deandra Dottin top scored with 36, while Fi Morris and Alice Monaghan supported her. A final total of 122-6 looked inadequate.
THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS
For much of the chase Spirit looked to be falling short. They were given a chance when Deandra Dottin had a nightmare sequence, first a n0-ball hit four four, for a total of six runs, and then another six off the free hit ball. Suddenly Spirit were on terms. Grace Harris, who had struck those blows off Dottin reached a 32 ball half century off the 92nd ball of the innings. However, she had taken a single to get there and was thus at the wrong end. There were nine needed from eight balls at this point. Then Issy Wong was pinned LBW, and referred it upstairs, burning her side’s review when it was shown to be plumb. The 94th ball of the innings did for Dean in the same fashion. Sarah Glenn edged the hat trick ball past the keeper for four and that was five needed off five balls. The veteran Dottin was entrusted with the bowling at this crucial juncture. Two runs came off the 96th ball, and for the first time runs required were lower than balls left – three off four balls. The 97th ball was a yorker which Glenn could do no more than dig out for a dot ball. However the leg spinner then rose to the occasion on the 98th ball (the antepenultimate scheduled ball of the match), driving it through the off side for four to finally get London Spirit over the line. A quirk of the Originals deployment of their bowlers was that leg spinner Dani Gregory had 1-4 from five balls – she bowled one superb set and then was not used again. Scorecard here.
A look at two outstanding performances by youngsters today in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
Today, like yesterday has been a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred – one morning/ afternoon double header and one afternoon/ evening double header – the evening match between the Trent Rockets and Northern Superchargers men’s teams gets underway at 6PM. I have followed my usual policy on such days where there is an overlap of listening to the morning match, then listening to both matches of the second double header, which means I listen to two women’s and one men’s match. This post looks at the two women’s games that happened today.
CORTEEN-COLEMAN PUTS SKIDS UNDER PHOENIX
Southern Brave had tallied a respectable but not outstanding 139-8 from their 100 balls. Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the way with 59, while there were also useful contributions from Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine and silky South African Laura Wolvaardt. Young left arm wrist spinner Millie Taylor continued what is becoming a very memorable season for her by taking 1-25 from her 20 balls.
Birmingham Phoenix had got to 19 without loss from the first ten balls of the reply when Southern Brave turned to 17 year old left arm orthodox spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman. In the space of three balls she changed the complexion of the match, bowling Emma Lamb for 9 with her first ball, and then two balls later dismissing Marie Kelly the same way, for a duck. When Lauren Bell got rid of the surviving opener, Georgia Voll, with the 18th ball of the innings the Phoenix was well and truly in the ashes, and unlike in the legend this one was not going to revive. Ellyse Perry, Amy Jones and especially Sterre Kalis kept things alive for them, but they were never other than behind the rate, and when Kalis finally fell, to the third last ball of the match, caught by Corteen-Coleman off Bell for 44 (34) it was 124-9, 16 needed off three balls. None of those runs were scored, Hannah Baker surviving one ball before being castled by the next, the penultimate scheduled ball of the match. Sophie Devine was named player of the match for her 27 and 2-28, though personally I would have given it to Corteen-Coleman whose two early wickets put the skids under the Phoenix chase, and whose catch to dismiss Kalis effectively sealed things for Southern Brave. Scorecard here.
PERRIN PULVERISES THE ROCKETS
The focus for me now switched to Nottingham, where Trent Rockets were playing host to Northern Superchargers. Rockets began appallingly, losing three wickets almost before they were started. Their skipper, Ashleigh Gardner, led a fightback, scoring 61 off 32 balls, but they could do no better than 128-8.
Davina Perrin, an 18 year old opening batter, proceeded to make an inadequate total look positively risible, as she climbed into the Rockets bowlers. Alice Davidson-Richards provided early support, and then when she was out Phoebe Litchfield, the 22 year old Australian, produced a splendid cameo, scoring 22 off just 10 balls. Annabel Sutherland, generally regarded as the best current all rounder in the women’s game, and player of the tournament in2024, now came to the crease, and it fell to her in the end to make the winning hit, a four that took her to 18 not out off 11. Perrin had scored 72 not out from 40 balls, with 12 fours. This supercharged performance gave Superchargers the win by eight wickets, with 21 balls to spare. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A beetle on my left forearm this morning (three pics)Some butterflies in my back garden – three red admirals and one European Peacock.A comma butterfly on an ivy flowerhead from my post-lunch walkfrom the same walk, a small pale green insect with wings so diaphanous as to virtually transparent temporarily on my left arm.Another visitor to the garden, a hummingbird hawkmoth I think (three pics).
The star of this post is a beetle I spotted watching the Nar Outfall from a very precarious perch at the apex of a concrete wall overlooking the Nar Outfall. There are three pictures of the beetle.
This is a whimsical little post from this morning’s walk.
A BONUS FIND
I was on the bridge over the Nar Outfall, with the Great Ouse, which the Nar joins, about 20 yards away. My attention was principally directed at the structure I have dubbed ‘Cormorant platform’ because those birds make such frequent use of it. One such was on the platform and in full display mode (these pictures will feature in my next post). While I was photographing this bird my eye was caught by something on the very apex of the concrete wall that protects pedestrians on the bridge from falling into the Nar Outfall. Closer inspection confirmed that it was a beetle, enjoying the sun and apparently the view of the water from its somewhat precarious perch.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the pictures I took of the beetle.
The first shotA second improved pictureThe third and final picture. This picture and its immediate predecessor convinced me when I edited them that the grooved carapace which I had originally though to be black was actually a very dark green.
Details of my stewarding commitment for this year’s Heritage Open Day (Sunday 14th September). A picture gallery from today at work.
This post, with a gallery from today at work, is going to be a brief one.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY 2025
King’s Lynn has its annual Heritage Open Day on the second Sunday in September. On this day various interesting buildings are opened for public viewing. This year that second Sunday is the latest possible date – the 14th. In order to ensure that the day runs smoothly stewards are required at the various buildings. Stewards will tell you about the history of the building, will monitor numbers, and at some of the busier and/or more problematic sites will engage in a measure of crowd control. I have been one of the stewards for some years now, and of course made myself available again this year. I have recently found out where and when I will be stewarding. For stewarding purposes the day is divided into thirds – 10AM to Noon, Noon to 2Pm and 2PM to 4PM. I will be stewarding at the Bank House Hotel, whose chief attraction is a remarkable cellar system, dating back to times when rather more goods arrived in and departed from King’s Lynn than the King’s customs guys ever knew about, between noon and 2PM. I am delighted to have been given this venue.
PICTURES
The majority of these were scans. Unlike on Tuesday, when I told you which was which, I leave it to you to see if you can tell…
Lot 150 (four images total). These are high value because they are mint. Although they are quite hard to tell apart each is a slightly different colour.
A detailed account of a long walk I took this morning, with plenty of photographs, Also a gallery of photos not related to that walk.
This morning it was bright, sunny and already showing promise of becoming the warm day it now is. I thus decided to make my morning walk a long one.
SETTING FORTH
I left by the back door, headed up the unnamed private road that runs behind my house, crossed Raby Avenue onto Smith Avenue, walked along that road to the point at which it swings 90 degrees and becomes Townshend Terrace, at which point I diverged by way of a short path that leads alongside a pond to Loke Road. Crossing Loke Road I then took Harefield Parade, alongside a second pond, this one with a curved edge. From the end of Harefield Parade I followed a footpath that leads into Kettlewell Lane Park. I left the path in Kettlewell Lane in order to walk alongside some bushes that often harbour insect life. There was one such sighting today. Then I walked along the bank of the Gaywood River until it was time to leave Kettlewell Lane Park and cross the main road at Eastgate Bridge. Having crossed the main road I took Highgate, past the Methodist Chapel, continuing until I reached the footpath that crosses the Gaywood and ultimately brings one out on Wyatt Street. I crossed Wyatt Street to another footpath section which runs alongside Eastgate Academy, joining Blackfriars Road about 100 yards from the train station. I made my way past the train station and into The Walks…
A bee in my back garden.This I think is a supergiant hoverfly – it was on a nettle leaf in Kettlewell Lane ParkThis was alongside the Gaywood River.
THE WALKS TO THE GREAT OUSE
Entering The Walks I headed on to St John’s Walk, which if you follow it all the way leads through past the Recreation Field to Tennyson Avenue, though on this occasion I followed it only as far as the sculpted sections of the Gaywood river the flow through this area of parkland. Shunning paths I walked right alongside the river, where there is a lot of plant life, and sometimes interesting insects. I left the river where my route intersected with the Broad Walk (which runs from directly opposite King’s Lynn library through to the home of King’s Lynn Town football club). I took the Broadwalk through the Guanock Gate and across the Gaywood, before then following a path that cuts through to a bigger path, which leads to the Seven Sisters Gate, by which I left the parkland. I followed the road until I reached a path that leads through to London Road, emerging near a light controlled crossing from which the South Gate is visible. I crossed London Road here and walked down past the South Gate, then swinging right, crossing the Nar, and leaving the road at a path that leads into Harding’s Pits. The path that I had chosen cuts another path that I might have chosen about halfway along its length, and I followed this path from the intersection to the Great Ouse…
ALONG THE GREAT OUSE TO PURFLEET QUAY
I now turned north along the Great Ouse, following the footpath until it joined the road at the Nar Outfall, and then after crossing the Nar I took the unsurfaced footpath that follows the dike around old Boal Quay and then on level ground runs alongside the wall that is part of King’s Lynn’s flood defences, coming out close to the river. I followed the town centre section of the river front past the pontoon jetty, at which several boats were moored, past the courthouse, past the Bank House hotel and across the mouth of the Purfleet, from where one gets a splendid view of the Custom House. I went via the display honouring famous mariners associated in some way with the town and the statue of Captain George Vancouver, who surveyed and charted the Pacific Northwest coast all the way from San Diego, California to Anchorage, Alaska (it took him four years – 1791-5 – to complete this monumental task, and in Canada there is a city named Vancouver). From Purfleet on, though I made one diversion, I was at all times headed towards home…
A composite image showing both the statue of Captain Vancouver and the plaque affixed to the stone plinth on which the statue is mounted.
HOMEWARD BOUND
I walked along Purfleet Quay past the Custom House, crossed King Street and headed along New Conduit Street, past the junction with the High Street, past the statue of King John (unworthy of my camera) and past the construction on the old Argos site that will be King’s Lynn’s new library and community hub when it is complete, then up past the old post office and St James’ Leisure Centre, and in to The Walks, and up past the station, at which point I diverted by way of Morrison’s where I had a small amount of shopping to do. The shopping attended to I left the environs of Morrison’s by way of a short footpath that leads from the carpark through to Highgate. From the point at which I met the footpath by which I left Highgate on my out my route duplicated the outbound route in reverse as far as Loke Road, at which point I headed along Loke Road, across Raby Avenue and on to Columbia Way, ultimately returning to my home via the front door.
Coming along nicely.A solid looking insect, with an overripe blackberry in the top left corner giving it scale.A close up of the insect.I think this is a gatekeeper butterfly.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just to wrap things up here is gallery of photos not from this particular walk…
This grasshopper was resting in a flower no more than 60 metres from King’s Lynn train station.
An account of my day at work including a full image gallery.
I don’t normally blog on workdays but I felt that today was interesting enough to make an exception to the rule.
COMBINING TYPING AND IMAGING
I am currently working on what will be day one of a two day stamp sale, typing up handwritten descriptions in the correct format for an auction catalogue and also imaging the lots (unlike day two, which I started first and have almost completed, and which is an exercise in recycling old lots these are new lots). At the start of today I had got to lot 54, and had 11 lots ready for the typing and imaging process, which gave time for more lots plus descriptions to be found. After I had dealt with those 11 lots I then typed up a further 20 descriptions, did the imaging (a mix of photographs for the bigger lots and scans for the smaller ones). Then I repeated the process for a further 15 lots bringing the total to a hundred. I still had a little time left, so I did a further five lots as a bonus (lot 100 had been my self-set minimum point to reach to by the end of today). I will resume on Thursday starting from lot 106. As you will see from the image gallery that follows the extra five lots were not just a bonus in terms of being ahead of where I reckoned on being – the last of the extra lots was of personal interest. My approach to the imaging was to take the photographs of the larger lots first, and then scan the smaller ones. Save for lot 101, described in its caption, I took no more than a single scan of any scannable lot – secondary images when I deemed them appropriate were extracted from the original scan.
PICTURES
Here is today’s image gallery…
The first of the scans.Back to photographyThis lot as you will see had features of interest on both sides.A close up of the embossed Southwestern Railway Company crestExtracted from the previous image, the locomotive.Some more scans.Back to photographyMore scansPhotographs again.ScansPhotographsScansPhotographsScansPhotographsScansPhotographsScansLot 101, a composite scan – the lot comprised a total of six stock cards, one double sided, with necessitated three separate scans and then a ‘bolt together’ operation in Paint.Lot 102, the last scanned item of the day.Lot 103, double sided, and too large to be scanned.Lot 104.Lot 105 – some railway history.
An account of an extraordinary hour of cricket this morning to end an extraordinary series, plus a look ahead to England’s winter tour and a photo gallery.
Play resumed today at The Oval with England needing 35 runs to win and having four wickets left. This post describes a crazy hour of cricket this morning.
THE END OF A GREAT SERIES
The weather had closed in after two balls of a Prasidh Krishna over yesterday evening, so he started proceedings this morning. Jamie Overton hit the first two balls of the day for fours, the first a superb shot, a pull that sent the ball in front of square for four, and the second an edge. Then came a huge moment, when Jamie Smith, the last front line batter remaining for England, was out caught behind. Overton and Gus Atkinson advanced the score to 354, 20 to win, 19 for the tie that would be enough to give England the series. Then Overton was given LBW, a very slow decision by umpire Dharmasena (so slow that Overton was actually at the bowler’s end having run an intended leg bye by the time the finger was raised). Overton reviewed it, and it was umpire’s call on wickets, just brushing the outside edge of leg stump. Some might argue that if it taken Dharmasena as long as it did to assess the situation there had to be doubt in his mind and therefore he should not have given it. That brought Josh Tongue in join Atkinson. Three runs later Krishna bowled Tongue to make it 357-9, and Woakes, his left arm in a sling (he dislocated a shoulder in a fielding attempt on day one, and was on the field for the first time since that injury) made his way to the middle, following in the footsteps of the likes of Lionel Tennyson, Colin Cowdrey, Paul Terry and Malcolm Marshall in batting one-handed in a test match (Tennyson actually scored 63 and 36 one-handed in the face of Aussie speedsters Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald). Atkinson did his best to advance the score, and Gill twice refused to alter his deep set field on the last ball of overs, allowing Atkinson to take the strike when India could have given themselves an over at the injured Woakes. On the second of those occasions the score ticked to 367-9, one big hit away from levelling the scores and winning the series for England. Siraj, who had bowled his heart out and must by this point have been pretty much out on his feet, took the ball for yet another over. With the first ball of the new over he hit Atkinson’s stumps, and just before midday India had won the match by six runs. The turning point that enabled all this drama, and England’s eventual failure by so slender a margin was Harry Brook’s crazy dismissal yesterday with England 301-3 and India looking every inch a beaten side. For the record Siraj’s marathon bowling efforts secured him the Player of the Match, while Shubman Gill was India’s player of the series for his 754 runs across the five matches and Brook England’s, with 481 runs in the series. A scorecard of the match can be seen here.
LOOKING AHEAD
This winter England travel to Australia to renew test cricket’s oldest rivalry. Australia hold The Ashes, and the last time an England side regained the urn down under was in 1970-1 when Ray Illingworth skippered the side to victory in the series that ended Bill Lawry’s playing career (England sides retained the urn down under in 1978-9, 1986-7 and 2010-11 as well). Can this England do the almost impossible? Possibly, though it will be incredibly difficult even for such a confident England outfit as this one. If the likes of Wood, Archer and Atkinson are fit on a consistent basis rather than the odd match here or there that will be a big help. Woakes will almost certainly not be able to tour, but I would probably not pick him for an Australian tour anyway – even fit he would be unlikely to make much of an impact there. More worrying is that England’s pig headedness has left them with an opener averaging barely more than 30 in test cricket and a number three averaging a little over 35 in test cricket (an a series in Australia is not the time to be blooding newcomers to the test scene). Although a little under five runs an innings separates these players there is another difference – Crawley’s test average is a near duplicate of his first class average meaning that he is quite simply not good enough at the job. Pope however has a magnificent record in first class cricket and has failed to translate that to consistent success at test level. I would like to see Rehan Ahmed’s form for Leicestershire recognized with a place in the squad. If England want to attempt to equip themselves with something approaching a replacement for Stokes the player (Stokes the captain and Stokes the talisman are irreplaceable) then Jordan Clark has a lot going for him. In all probability, if England are to prevail Stokes will to be both the Brearley and the Botham of the squad.
How the fifth and final match of the 2025 series between the England and India men’s teams is poised and a large photo gallery.
I had expected to be posting about the conclusion of the final test of the 2025 series between England and India today, but the weather at The Oval turned nasty, bringing an early close with the match interestingly poised. Therefore the series will finish tomorrow.
HOW THINGS STAND
This match has seen astonishing twists and turns. First Atkinson, returning from injury at his home ground, took five cheap wickets to restrict India to 224 in the first innings. Then England made a blazing start in response only to lose wickets in a heap thereafter to a combination of good bowling and more than a few bad (or in some cases downright stupid) shots. In the end their advantage was 23. England bowled well again, but their fielding was the stuff of horror stories – six catches were dropped (I would probably class the sixth as more of a great stop than a drop had the rest of the fielding been up to snuff) and one clear cut run out opportunity fluffed. With this generous assistance India built lead of 373. England were 50-1 coming in to day, with Crawley having again demonstrated his inadequacy as a test opener. At 106-3 with Duckett and Pope gone in addition it looked good for India, but then a great stand between Root and Brook seemed to have settled things in England’s favour. Then Brook gifted India his wicket in a truly bizarre way – he actually completely lost his bat while playing an aggressive shot and ended up caught at mid off. This shortly after completing a century, his tenth in test cricket, off 91 balls. Jacob Bethell had his second failure of the match, and then not very long after completing his 39th test century Root was caught behind for 105. Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton were together at the crease, struggling to score as the ball suddenly started misbehaving when a black cloud reduced the light sufficiently for the umpires to take the players off with the score 339-6. That cloud then released its contents, and shortly after 6PM Oval groundsman Lee Fortis confirmed to the umpires that there was no way the surface would be playable by the cut off time of 6:42PM and that was the end of day four. England thus need 35 with four wickets standing to win the match, 34 for test cricket’s third ever tied match which would also win them the series, while India need four wickets for 33 or less or level the series. Chris Woakes dislocated his shoulder in the course of diving for a ball on day one, and would only bat in extremis, just to add to the variables. This has been an outstanding series, meriting comparison with the 2005 Ashes series, and in many ways that third ever tie in test history would be the most appropriate way for it to end.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
You may recall that I showed a female Karner Blue in yesterday’s gallery. This picture taken on Monday has now been confirmed as a male of the same species, which is considered to be endangered.The female Karner Blue
aspiblog 