An account of a somewhat convoluted path to a 300 lot banknote and coin auction that is now up and running, plus a photo gallery.
Yesterday, with a little assistance from the former colleague who used to do such things, I sent an auction live on both the platforms James and Sons regularly use, the-saleroom.com and easylive. This post explains about that auction and its somewhat less than straightforward origins.
A FALSE START
Ten days ago sale 2285 was as follows: Lots 1-50 books, all described and imaged, lots 51-105 ephemera, described and imaged, with an unknown number of further such lots to go in, Lots 451-500 Banknotes, described and imaged, Lots 501-737 coin and coin related lots, described and imaged, lots 738-800 yet to be filled, lots 801-900 postcards, described and imaged, and lots 901-1000 militaria, as yet unfilled. Then my employer decided he wanted the coin and banknote lots under the hammer. Originally, on Thursday of last week, we were going to do this a timed-bidding auction, and had sent it live on the-saleroom as such, but then my employer panicked and went back on that, and that sale had to be deleted.
THE REAL DEAL
On Tuesday of this week I prepared as much as I could for a launch on Thursday. On Thursday the auction finally did go live on both platforms, with 300 lots in total, which will go under the hammer on December 2nd (I also have a 1,000 lot, two-day stamp sale complete and ready to go, and sending that online should be much more straightforward) starting at 10AM. Owing to the fact that the images had originally been saved as lots 451-750, and with those numbers, the images files had to be renumbered appropriately before they could be uploaded, which is why the auction does not have all the images yet – I have renumbered and uploaded up to lot 180, and have renumbered lots 181-90 but had no time to upload them yesterday. Fortunately I will not need to renumber the much larger number of images in the stamp/ postal history auction – this auction features about 900 images in total, the larger one some 4,000. I will have the rest of the renumbering done at some point on Tuesday, and may be able to get an email out that same day, or that might have to wait until Thursday. The heart of this auction is a collection of Polish coins spanning about half a millennium. To see what the auction currently looks like on easylive go here, while the catalogue on the-saleroom is still pending approval.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
These sunset shots were taken from a bus that had broken down yesterday evening. We had a wait of about 20 minutes before the replacement arrived.
An account of my Heritage Open Day, with lots of pictures.
Yesterday was King’s Lynn Heritage Open Day 2025 (Downham Market will be having their equivalent this coming Sunday, and I may pay a visit). This post looks back at the day. This post of course covers only a fraction of the sites that were open for the day – the official brochure listed 58 sites.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY
I set forth from home at about 10:15, intending to see a few things before doing my stewarding, and then either go home or look at a few more places after stewarding. I started with a look at some of the classic cars in the Tuesday Market Place…
My next port of call was the Guildhall of St George on King Street, a building that dates from the late 14th century, meaning that it was over 200 years old when Shakespeare came to town (this guildhall includes a theatre that has been staging live performances for over six centuries, and the Bard of Avon was among those to visit in that capacity).
The frontage of the Guldhall of St George
My next port of call was another guildhall, the Guildhall of the Holy Trinity, which also serves as King’s Lynn’s Town Hall.
The massive front window of this guildhall, viewed from inside……various panes have writing scratched into them.
After this I headed to the river front, and Sommerfeld & Thomas, some of which was open for viewing for the first time.
The outside view of Sommerfeld & ThomasThese remains out back (two pics) indicate just how huge Sommerfeld & Thomas was in its heyday.
I then headed along the river front and past Custom House to King Street.
Back on King Street I made a quick visit to the What a Hoot Distillery. I did not purchase anything there, though until I saw the price I was briefly considering their golden rum.
I then visited numbers 23-25 King Street, once private residences, now a solicitor’s practice – the two houses were joined together in 1989.
My last visit before heading towards the Bank House for my stewarding commitment was to another solicitor’s building, a regular port of call of mine, because it is Norman in origin and therefore among the oldest in King’s Lynn (the oldest building in the town is All Saints Church, Hillington Square, also Norman).
The stewarding, at the Bank House, was not especially difficult, although the placing of the hotel’s coffee machine was unhelpful, and a lack of functioning lighting restricted the portion of the cellars that was open to the public. My fellow steward then disappeared without telling me anything somewhat less than half way through our slot, and the Bank House being popular I never had a long enough quiet spell to be able to make a phone call, so had do all the stewarding myself. I waited until both stewards for the final session had arrived before taking my leave, and opted to head for home.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Some of the photographs here relate to Heritage Open Day, others are my usual sort…
This little bus was stopped outside the Bank House when I photographed it. It was too close to the beginning of my stewarding slot for me to ride on it.I spotted this from my stewarding spot outside the Bank House.At the bus station on my route home…Crossing Railway Road – my last photo of Heritage Open Day.
A look back at the match between the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix women’s teams in The Hundred, and a photo gallery,
This afternoon the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix women’s teams clashed in The Hundred (the men’s match is just getting underway as I type. This post looks back at the women’s match.
AN INNINGS IN THREE PARTS
Birmingham Phoenix found themselves batting first. The pitch was a good one, though the playing area was very large, and this factor played its role in proceedings. At 44-1 after 30 balls Phoenix looked to be going nicely. Then came a collapse, caused largely by bad batting. First Emma Lamb tried to aerial against the off spin of Lucy Higham and picked out Annabel Sutherland to make it 44-2. Then 11 runs accrued before the real collapse hit. Marie Kelly, bowled by Linsey Smith for 20 was actually got out, and Ellyse Perry, run out when Sutherland deflected a drive from Sterre Kalis into the bowler’s end stumps with the Aussie superstar out of her crease was genuinely unlucky. However Amy Jones, who holed to Sutherland off Grace Ballinger for 1, and Ailsa Lister who went aerial against Higham and succeeded only in finding the safe hands of Kate Cross, also for 1 both played brainless shots. Lister’s dismissal made the score 59-6 from 51 balls, with four wickets having gone for four runs in 12 balls, while five had fallen for 15 in 21 balls. The unbroken seventh wicket stand between Kalis and Em Arlott which took the score on to 116 by the end of the 100 balls, and in which neither player was seriously troubled served only to illustrate just how badly Phoenix had batted to suffer that collapse. Left arm spinner Linsey Smith had 2-18 from her 20 balls.
THE SUPERCHARGERS CHASE
This match had been billed as featuring a clash of Aussie titans, with Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland in opposition to one another. However, it was to be another Aussie, 22 year old Phoebe Litchfield, who stole the show in the end. Davina Perrin and Alice Davidson-Richards put on 27 from 19 balls before Perrin was out, which brought Litchfield to the crease. The score had risen to 59 by the time Davidson-Richards was out to the 46th ball of the innings. This brought Sutherland in to join her compatriot. However the more experienced Aussie had to settle on this occasion for a supporting role, as the young left hander produced a quite glorious display. Learning the lessons from what had befallen Phoenix, Litchfield settled for fours and for running well between the wickets on other occasions. When the Superchargers sealed an eight wicket win with 26 balls to spare Litchfield had scored 59 not out from 28 balls with 11 fours, while Sutherland was 20 not out from 13 balls with two fours. Phoenix were guilty of some poor fielding along the way – Megan Schutt, the veteran Aussie seamer, tried to stop one with her boot and saw it roll away for four, while Hannah Baker, with the game well and truly lost already, dropped a very easy chance from Litchfield, then 48 not out. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
My bus fare ready in advance.This unfortunate muntjac may have been a casualty of the heat yesterday – I saw no sign of injury on its body.A picture with a displaying cormorant in the foreground and West Lynn church in the background.
An account of yesterday’s clash between Birmingham Phoenix and Trent Rockets in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
This year’s edition of The Hundred got underway on Tuesday with the derbies between London Spirit and Oval Invincibles. Yesterday saw the fourth set of fixtures meaning that all eight sides have been in action once. As I type this the Oval Invincibles women are in action against Manchester Originals women, the first fixture of an action packed day. Yesterday Birmingham Phoenix played host to Trent Rockets, and the women’s fixture to which the rest of this post is devoted happened first as is standard in The Hundred.
THE SIDES
Birmingham Phoenix lined up as follows: Georgia Voll, Emma Lamb, *Ellyse Perry, +Amy Jones, Sterre Kalis, Ailsa Lister, Em Arlott, Millie Taylor, Megan Schutt and Hannah Baker.
Trent Rockets opted for an XI of Bryony Smith, Grace Scrivens, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, *Ash Gardner, Heather Graham, Emma Jones, +Natasha Wraith, Alana King, Alexa Stonehouse, Kirstie Gordon and Cassidy McCarthy.
THE MATCH
Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and opted to bat first. Voll and Lamb began impressively and at the end of the opening 25 ball Power Play (only two fielders allowed out deep) Phoenix were 36-0, Voll 19, Lamb 14. Alana King, the great Aussie leg spinner, came on immediately the Power Play was done and her second ball bowled her compatriot Voll for 19. Perry now joined Lamb, and played a fine support role while Lamb hit top form with a vengeance. A time out was taken at 48 balls into the innings, with score 77-1, of which Lamb’s share was 48. At the halfway point it was 78-1. Early in the second half of the innings Lamb reached 50, off her 28th ball, having struck eight fours along the way. While boundaries are always important the real key to Phoenix’s strong progress was that there were few dot balls. From this high water mark wickets began to fall, but after 75 balls, just about to enter the so-called ‘death balls’ Phoenix were 106-4, having scored 70-4 from the middle part of their innings. When they reached the 90 ball mark with 132 on the board a 150+ total would still have been the goal, but Rockets bowled well from balls 91 to 97 inclusive, though a big finish from Phoenix still got them to 148-5. Lister had scored 21 not out of 17, and Marie Kelly, largely responsible for the final flourish referred to, has 23 not out from just 10 balls. King, as befits her status, was the only multiple wicket taker, but she would have been disappointed to have conceded as many as 30 from her allocation of 20 balls.
Bryony Smith started impressively for Rockets, but the 21 year old Scrivens struggled badly, and her dismissal for 2 (8), which made it 35-1 from 24 balls was probably a relief even to her. At the end of their Power Play Rockets were 36-1, the same run tally but one wicket worse than Phoenix. In spite of the clear fact that they had done less well in this phase than had Phoenix Michael Carberry, supposedly ‘expert summariser’ on the radio (in his playing days he was a rather stodgy opener, not perhaps an appropriate choice to be making expert comments on the game’s most frenetic format) said that he thought Rockets were ahead of the game. Whatever may have been the case going into the middle phase, by the end of it no one could have been in any doubt who was ahead of the game. By then Rockets were 91-4, needing 58 from the last 25 balls at 2.32 per ball (11.60 per set of five, which equates to 13.92 per over in other formats), and had scored 55-3 in the middle phase, compared to Phoenix’s 70-4 in the same period. The one hope for Rockets lay in the fact that Nat Sciver-Brunt was still at the crease and was batting superbly. By the time 10 balls remained the Rockets needed 27 to win. Over the next six deliveries Millie Taylor effectively settled the match. First of all she conceded just seven runs from her own last five balls of the match, meaning that she had 1-22 from her 20 balls. Then off the the 96h ball of the innings, with Em Arlott bowling to close out the match she took a superb catch to dismiss Sciver-Brunt for 64, comfortably the highest individual score of the game, and made off a mere 40 balls. That left Rockets needing 20 off four balls to win the match, and at no time did it look remotely probably that they would do it. The final margin was 11 runs (note the importance of that 15 run gap between what the sides scored in the middle part of their innings). Phoenix had won the Power Play by virtue of not losing a wicket themselves while Rockets did, totally bossed the middle phase – 70 to 55 – and narrowly lost the ‘death balls) – 42 to 46. As well as Taylor who I have already mentioned another youngster, 21 year old leg spinner Hannah Baker, had 2-18 from 15 balls. Emma Lamb’s 55 (32), the chief reason for Phoenix’s substantial total, earned her Player of the Match. A mention also for the fielding of Ailsa Lister – three of the first four Rockets wickets went to catches taken by her. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Wheel clamps are an uncommon sight these days……this one in place due to the vehicle being untaxed, and omission that has clearly been put right, since the next time I walked past that location the vehicle was gone.The town wall from the park sideThe town wall looking along Kettlewell Lane.The beetle the was the star of my previous post (https://aspi.blog/2025/08/08/a-beetle-watching-the-nar-outfall/)
A look at some recent action in the men’s and women’s T20 cups and a large photo gallery.
Both the men’s and women’s domestic T20 cup competitions are going on at the moment. Yesterday both Surrey teams recorded wins at Southampton. Today Essex Women are closing in on victory over Birmingham Bears Women (I followed the early part of that match, before the first part of today’s action at The Oval got underway). This post looks at some of these matches.
YESTERDAY EVENING
I got home from work yesterday just in time to catch the closing stages of Hampshire Women v Surrey Women. It went down to the very final ball, which Paige Scholfield hit for four to get Surrey over the line. The men’s match provided plenty of entertainment, but not a close finish. Surrey’s strong bowling unit, given a total of 193 to defend by their batters, were simply too good for the Hampshire batting, and the margin was very substantial in Surrey’s favour. Southampton has been a happy hunting ground for Surrey men in this tournament – they last lost to Hampshire there way back in 2015. Is it time for Hampshire to schedule this fixture for an out ground? Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Basingstoke have all staged matches over the years.
TODAY
Essex won the toss and batted. They scored 150-3 from their 20 overs, Cordelia Griffith scoring 47 not out of 36 balls and Madeline Penna 41 not out off 42 balls. Some good captaincy by Grace Scivens, at 21 a very young skipper, and some ordinary batting from Warwickshire seemed to have settled it. At 111-6 it looked all done. However, since then another youngster, Charis Pavely, a left arm spin bowling all rounder, has been showing an audience that includes a number of school parties what she can do with the bat, and it now looks like Birmingham Bears are going to win. Pavely is currently 67* (38), with five fours and three sixes.
Surrey Women are currently in action against Lancashire Thunder Women, while the second half of this somewhat unorthodox double header will feature Surrey Men against Sussex Sharks Men. The current match started with a bang – Bryony Smith hitting the first ball of it for four and then being bowled by the second to give Sophie Morris instant revenge. Sophia Dunkley got to 10 and was then bowled by Tara Norris. Then a disastrous piece of running between the wickets cost Surrey the wicket of Kira Chathli. A mini-revival led by Grace Harris and with Danni Wyatt-Hodge struggling but fighting gamely has just ended with Wyatt-Hodge going stumped by Threlkeld off Sophie Morris to make it 50-4 in the eighth over, S Morris 2-5. Paige Scholfield has joined Harris.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A new insect sighting – for all its colouring this is too large to be any kind of bee or wasp.Photographing swallows is hard because they move fast and a are never at rest.A Cinnabar MothA Cinnabar Moth caterpillar.The hot weather we are having here in King’s Lynn has brought the dragonflies out.Two Little Egrets in one frame.
A back at the round of county championship fixtures that took place over the bank holiday weekend, a look at the points system and a photo gallery.
The most recent round of county championship fixtures took place between Friday 2 and Monday 5 May. It was an excellent round of fixtures overall, with the only clear cut dud game, the one at the Utilita Bowl where both hosts Hampshire and visitors Durham seem to have decided almost from moment one that a high scoring draw and consequent boost to a few people’s batting averages was all that was available. In the rest of this post I will look at the games I actually followed some of, and will end with something about the current points system in the county championship.
SOMERSET v ESSEX
Somerset came into this round without a win so far this season, and for a long time it did not look like that would be changing. Somerset had surrendered tamely for 145 in response to Essex’s first innings 206. When Essex led by over 300 with only four wickets down in their second innings it was looking horribly one-sided. Although it did not look like it at the time the injury sustained by Jordan Cox in his anxiety to get to three figures (at that stage the previous highest score of the game was the 41 made Noah Thain in the Essex first innings) was a turning point in the match. Cox completed his ton, and immediately retired hurt. From that point five wickets crashed for seven runs, which precluded any return to the crease on Cox’s part. A total of 321 still looked beyond Somerset’s capabilities. At 78-5 the only question seemed to be whether or not there would be a fourth day – with not seeming the more likely answer. However Lewis Gregory now joined James Rew, and redeemed a less than stellar effort with the ball by launching a counter attack. The sixth wicket pair put on a century stand before Gregory was out. Craig Overton now came in and supported Rew to such good purpose that they were still together at the close. On the fourth morning the pair continued their good work, and the Essex bowling, normally among the best in the country, became somewhat ragged, with even the usually metronomic Sam Cook struggling to locate the right areas and regular fourth innings destroyer Harmer not quite looking at his best. A Somerset win had looked very distant when play started, but as Rew and Overton kept going and going it went from deeply improbable through unlikely and on to possible, then probable and finally, as Rew moved past three figures, a near certainty. When Rew finally fell for a magnificent 116 a mere nine more were needed for the win, and Josh Davey, by no means a mug with the bat, was joining Overton. It was Overton, appropriately enough, who struck the final blow, a six that simultaneously propelled Somerset to victory and him past the 50 mark. Somerset have a long history of involvement in bizarre matches (e.g. Headingley 1901 – Somerset 87, Yorkshire 325, Somerset 630, Yorkshire 113, Somerset won by 279 runs after trailing by 238 on first innings), but not even they have been involved in many games to equal this one.
OTHER MATCHES
Lancashire v Gloucestershire bore all the hallmarks of a dull draw deep into day three, when in response to a Lancashire score of 450 Gloucestershire were steadily moving into a lead. However, once they had the lead Gloucestershire did attack, led by Oliver Price, who before this innings had never topped 150 in a first class match. Now he made it 250, a mark that only one previous Gloucestershire batter, Walter Hammond, had ever reached against Lancashire. Gloucestershire ended the third day on 589-8, a score at which they promptly declared. Lancashire were at one point four wickets down and level in terms of runs, but in the end they did enough to draw the match.
Glamorgan against Derbyshire got very tense in the closing stages. When Derbyshire were 248-5 chasing a target of 338 it looked all over, but a clatter of wickets suddenly left Derbyshire clinging on by their finger tips. In the end the match was drawn, with Derbyshire surviving the final over with their score 308-9. This innings featured a maiden first class five-wicket haul for Ben Kellaway, who like Aussie women’s player Jemma Barsby cam bowl both off spin and left arm orthodox spin. Kellaway had earlier played a big innings for Glamorgan as well.
Middlesex and Kent also had an incredible finish. In their case the draw was off the table, but win for either side or a tie were possible deep into the closing stages. The fortunes of wat swayed hither and thither with first one side and then the other looking favourites. In the end Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones got his side over the line for a two wicket win. This was harsh on Daniel Bell-Drummond who had scored a double century in the Kent second innings to put Middlesex under pressure.
THE POINTS SYSTEM
As it currently stands a win is worth 16 points, a draw is worth 8 points and there are 8 bonus points available, 5 for batting (250 = 1, 300 = 2, 350 = 3, 400 = 4, 450 = 5) and 3 for bowling (3, 6 and 9 wickets). These bonus points are awarded specifically in the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings. The big problem is the valuation put on the draw, because a draw with a full ration of bonus points nets 16 points, making it almost as valuable as a win with a low bonus point tally. Although the round that has just gone was a good one overall, there was the game I mentioned in passing at the Utilita Bowl where both sides settled early for a high scoring draw, and there have been several notably cowardly declarations earlier in the season where sides have built their leads to an absurd extent and ultimately declared so late in the game that only rank incompetence by their opponents could result in victory. I would either reduce the award for drawing a game to 6 points, or if keeping the draw at eight points boost the award for winning a match to 20 points, to make sure achieving victory even with a small bonus point count is definitely more desirable than a high scoring draw. Matches like the abomination at the Utilita Bowl are a poor advert for what is actually a great competition – witness the four matches that I looked at in more detail in the course of this post.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This is in Grimston – my bus home from work yesterday was diverted from its usual route.
The third post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group trip to Pensthorpe.
This is third post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe (see here and here). This post is devoted to the cranes and flamingos. I made two visits to that part of Pensthorpe in the course of the day, one near the start, and one just after eating lunch.
THE CRANE AND FLAMINGO AREA
The Crane and Flamingo Area has two ways in and out, both in between the Flamingo pond and the Crane hide. It is close to the wetland area, and also close to the Monet inspired bridge. Pensthorpe is very well equipped with signage, so finding one’s way there is not difficult, but it is not on the way to or from anywhere else, so it requires a conscious decision to give it your attention. There are four different crane species to be seen, each viewable from a different window of the hide.
A brief look at Ashwani Kumar’s extraordinary IPL debut and a photo gallery.
Today’s IPL match features Mumbai Indians in action against Kolkata Knight Riders. To say that things are going MI’s way would be a major understatement of the case. This post however looks at one particular player involved in the debacle (from their point of view) that was the KKR innings.
“WE HAVE A DEBUTANT PLAYING FOR US TODAY”
The title of this section refers to the way in which Hardik Pandya, skipper of Mumbai Indians, introduced Ashwani Kumar, a left arm medium pace bowler. After today I do not think either Pandya or anyone else will be in any further danger of struggling to recall the young man’s name. Before he had been called on to bowl he had pouched a catch to make his first mark as an IPL player. It was with the ball, partly because KKR tried to target him and failed miserably, that he made what looks like being the decisive contribution to this match. He started by having KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane caught by Tilak Varma. He added the wickets of Rinku Singh (caught by Raman Dhir), “impact sub” Manish Pandey (a desperation move brought on by the KKR collapse – it would be more normal for a side batting first to use this to bring in an extra bowler) and West Indian legend Andre Russell (both bowled). His final figures were 3-0-24-4. KKR were not only all out for a beggarly 116, they only lasted 16.2 overs – in other words 22 deliveries were not utilised at all. MI are cruising towards a massive win as I type.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before I present my full photo gallery I am showcasing a couple of unlucky candidates for the feature image. First up, and the closest contender othe rthan the chosen one is this…
“Four in One” Four bees in a single frame – three flying around and one on a flower head.
The other candidate was this one…
“Egret photobombed by flying gull” An Egret at the edge of the Nar outfall with a flying gull with wings at full stretch in the foreground.
Now for the full gallery…
The chosen feature image “In Formation” – two bees flying exactly parallel to one another, seemingly with a cluster of white flowers as the target.The Egret did also manage to get undivided camera space!A song thrush
A brief look at the conclusion to the last ‘timeless’ test match ever to be played, a conclusion which unfolded on March 14th 1939, 11 days after the match had begun.
Up until World War II broke out both Australia and South Africa were believers in timeless test matches (i.e. played until one or other side had won). This post looks briefly at the match which finally ended timeless tests.
OF RAIN, TRAINS AND BOATS
As March 14th 1939 dawned England were within sight a victory that had it eventuated would have strained credulity. At one point South Africa had been over 400 runs to the good with all ten second wickets standing. Both sides knew that although the test match, which had begun 11 days previously on March 3rd, had been designated timeless this would have to be the final day as England needed to catch a train to Cape Town or miss their boat home and be stranded for at least a month (and of course war was looming, which made folk even less keen on being trapped abroad than they would have been anyway. Although it had rained on several occasions in the match these interludes had served only to bind the surface of the pitch back together, and it was still playing well and true. England, set a mammoth 696 to win, went past 600 with only three wickets gone. At 611 Eddie Paynter was fourth out for 75. Les Ames now joined Hammond at the crease, and the pair were still together when the 650 came up. At exactly 650 Hammond was stumped off Dalton for 140. That brought Bryan Valentine, a specialist batter, in to join Ames. Four runs later the heavens opened, and the downpour proved terminal. In total the match had seen 1,981 runs scored for the loss of 35 wickets, an aggregate that remains a test match record but was beaten twice in the next decade in FC matches, both involving Bombay as it was then called – Bombay v Holkar yielding 2,078 runs, including 249 in losing cause for Denis Compton, and then in 1948 Bombay v Maharashtra yielding 2,376. The Durban test match still had the record for the longest span of any first class match. Hedley Verity, the left arm spinner, sent down 774 balls across the two South African innings (96.6 eight ball overs under the playing conditions of the day, equivalent to 129 six ball overs. For South Africa Norman Gordon, a seamer no less, sent down 736 balls (92 eight ball overs, equivalent to 122.4 six ball overs). There is a book about this match “Edging Towards Darkness” by John Lazenby. No timeless match has been scheduled since this one. For the moment here is the scorecard.
An account of the final group fixture of the 14th edition of the Big Bash League, Melbourne Stars v Hobart Hurricanes. Also a large photo gallery.
When Melbourne Stars began the 14th edition of the Big Bash League with five straight losses no one would have imagined that it would be them who went into the final match of the group stage with something to play for, while their opposition, Hobart Hurricanes had already secured first place in the group irrespective of the result. However that was the situation. Having won four successive games to get back in the hunt the Stars came into today’s match knowing that a win would qualify them for the knockouts. This post looks back at the match.
THE STARS INNINGS
Hobart Hurricanes won the bat flip, and as seems to be an inflexible rule for BBL sides, they chose to bowl first. The fact that the game was a ‘dead rubber’ for them was reflected in their playing XI, which was decidedly on the weak side. The team occupying fourth going into this match, Perth Scorchers, may well have looked askance at the Hurricanes chosen XI. The four over opening Power Play offered little sign of either side dominating – Stars were 30-1 after four overs. The Stars went slower after the Power Play, and after 8.4 overs the score was 58-2. Two successive fours ended that ninth over, and a further nine runs came off the tenth, bringing Stars to the halfway stage of their innings at 75-2. Marcus Stoinis departed to the fourth ball of the 11th over, making it 81-3. Stoinis had scored 32 off 19 balls. It was here that the game started to change. Just seven balls after Stoinis was out a six from Glenn Maxwell brought up the Stars 100. At the end of the 13th over Stars were 118-3, and they activated the Power Surge. It was not actually a very impressive two overs, yielding 18-0 in total. With five overs to go in their innings Stars were 136-3. Beau Webster, who at one point had been 8* (13) hit two fours and a six to start the 16th over, reaching a 30 ball half century with that six. He was out immediately after completing the half century. Glenn Maxwell now took centre change, helped by Hilton Cartwright. The 17th over saw 23 runs added to the total. The 18th over, bowled by veteran Chris Jordan, was better, and also featured the run out of Cartwright. The 19th over was bowled by Cameron Gannon, a 35 year old former USA international. He had fared pretty well until this over, and with four balls left of his spell he had 0-26. By the time he had bowled the last of those four balls his figures were 0-48! Maxwell, now absolutely running riot, had hit him for 4,6,6,6 to end the 19th over. That meant that with an over to go Stars were 205-5. It fell to Jordan to bowl the final over. In the circumstances conceding a further 14 wasn’t too bad , and his figures of 3-0-30-0 in a score of 219-5 also look respectable. However, he was clearly not fully fit, and he effectively functioned as a spinner bowling off a long run up – all 18 of his deliveries were ‘pace off’.
THE HURRICANES REPLY
Mitchell Owen started like a runaway train, but none of his team mates were similarly inspired. The third ball of the second over saw Caleb Jewell caught by Stoinis off Steketee to make it 22-1, and two balls later new batter Charlie Wakim was caught by Cartwright for a two ball duck and it was 22-2. Peter Siddle bowled the third over of the innings, and yielded 21 runs. However Steketee, bowling the fourth over, pinned McDermott LBW to make it 45-3. The second ball of the sixth over saw Owen caught by Maxwell for 38 (17) to make it 54-4. Nikhil Chaudhary and Matthew Wade batted well together, but one ball before the end of the tenth over, and thus one ball before the earliest point at which the Power Surge could be activated Wade fell to a catch by Cartwright to make it 92-5, Stoinis the beneficiary. The Hurricanes did not take the Power Surge at the first opportunity. Chaudhary started the 11th over, bowled by Pakistani leg spinner Usama Mir by hitting the first two balls for fours to bring up the 100 for his side, but he was then out caught and bowled off the next ball and it was 100-6. The score at the end of the 11th was 101-6, and although Tim David, Hurricanes’ sole remaining hope, was at the wrong end, they took the Power Surge as they virtually had to. Siddle conceded just eight from the 12th over, and T Curran matched him in the 13th. Joel Paris, left arm medium fast, bowled Jordan with the third ball of the 14th and that was 123-7. The fourth ball of the 15th over just about terminated Hurricanes hopes – David was caught by Maxwell off Mir to make it 133-8. At the end of that over Hurricanes were 134-8, needing 86 off the last five overs. Stars had hit 83 off the last five overs of their innings, but a)they were setting a target, not under the gun and b)they had front line batters at the crease, while Hurricanes were down to the tail enders. The remainder of the match saw Nathan Ellis, who had only been fit enough to bowl one over, amass a new T20 career best of 40, before off the third ball of the final over he got out, caught by Maxwell off Steketee. Maxwell was the only candidate for Player of the Match – it was his 76* (32) that put Stars out of reach, and this was his third catch, so it was appropriate that he should end the match. Steketee also deserves a hat tip – in a match in which 398 runs were score from 39.3 overs his bowling figures were 3.3-0-24-4. Hurricanes will be in action the day after tomorrow, hosting Sydney Sixers in the Qualifier, while Melbourne Stars travel to Sydney to face Sydney Thunder in the Knockout a day later, and in a real rarity for the BBL, Perth Scorchers’ season is over. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This is a very clear shot of a redshank, where the Nar joins the Great Ouse. It is quite similar to a sandpiper, but the legs (hence the name) and the speckled underside make the identification clear.
aspiblog 