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All Time XIs – A Family Affair Part Two

The second part of a two part exercise that started yesterday, featuring the second XII, honourable mentions and a comparison, as well as a large photo gallery.

Welcome to the second part of a two part all time XIs piece that I started yesterday. Today we see our second XI, honourable mentions and a comparison.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Graeme Pollock (left handed batter). Not a regular opener, but he did once score 274 in a test match from number three, and my reckoning is that he could cope with the task of opening. He averaged over 60 in test cricket before the curtain came down on South Africa due to the foul apartheid system of government in that country.
  2. Majid Khan (right handed opening batter). One of three cousins to have captained Pakistan (only one of the other two features in this post), he was a stylish and attack minded opening batter, generally rated by those who saw him as a better player than an average just the wrong side of 40 suggests.
  3. Garry Sobers (left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket, brilliant fielder). The most multi-skilled player in cricket’s long history, and a regular in this batting position – his then test record 365* came batting here.
  4. Mark Waugh (right handed batter, occasional off spinner, ace slip fielder). Once dubbed ‘Afghan’ because how much longer it took the Aussie selectors to noticer him than it taken them to notice his twin brother, he was a stylish batter and the safest slip fielder I ever saw in action.
  5. Steve Waugh (right handed batter, occasional medium pace bowler, vice captain). A gritty and determined batter who tended to score runs when they were most needed, and I have acknowledged his leadership qualities by naming him as vice-captain of this XI.
  6. Jonathan Bairstow (right handed batter, occasional wicket keeper). He is picked in this side as a specialist batter, a role that in my view he is best suited to.
  7. *Imran Khan (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). One of the greatest of all allrounders, cousin of Majid Khan and designated captain of the XI. Some might make him vice-captain and S Waugh captain rather than vice-versa, but I believe he was the finer skipper, and also the Pakistan Cricket Board recently disgraced themselves by putting up a montage about Pakistan cricket history that did not even mention him.
  8. David Holford (right handed batter, leg spinner). A cousin of Garry Sobers, which is why I am prepared to pick him although his record is fairly moderate – a compromise to get Sobers in being worthwhile IMO. The two cousins once saved a test match against England by putting on 274 together.
  9. +David Bairstow (wicket keeper, right handed batter). This is why I selected Jonathan Bairstow – there are limited ways of getting a top drawer keeper into a side of this nature and this is one of them.
  10. Shaun Pollock (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). Almost absurdly low in the order for him (nos 8,9 and 10 in this side are virtually interchangeable in terms of batting skill, and all rather better than a standard number eight).
  11. Peter Pollock (right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). One of the most ferocious fast bowlers of South Africa’s first period as a test nation (JJ Kotze, Neil Adcock and Peter Heine are other contenders), a fine player to round out the XI.

This side is awesomely strong in batting, superbly equipped in seam/ pace bowling (P Pollock, S Pollock, I Khan, Sobers), has a great skipper and a great keeper, but is under par in the spin department, with the moderate Holford and Sobers in his slower guises the best available to them.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Two fast bowlers I could not accommodate in either XI were West Indian half brothers Fidel Edwards and Pedro Collins. The Mohammad brethren of Karachi, five of whom played FC cricket and four of whom gained test selection were perhaps the most notable family to be omitted, although the multi-generational Cowdreys (four generations), D’Oliveiras and Headleys (three generations each) all produced many first class cricketers and two of the five Edriches of Norfolk to play first class cricket would have been worthy selections. The two George Baileys of Tasmania, Great-great grandfather and Great-great grandson, are to date the furthest apart by generation of related first class cricketers, but the elder just missed out on international honours and the younger was never a regular in the Aussie team. The Gunns of Notttinghamshire produced four first class cricketers, two of whom, William (also the original Gunn of Gunn&Moore) and George did well for England. Sussex have a long history of cricketing families (see my post about that county), but the only family of theirs that had two players of sufficient class to potentially claim places were the ruling family of Nawanagar with ‘Ranji’ and ‘Duleep’.

THE COMPARISON

The XI I presented today is stronger in batting (although G Pollock is out of position), and its pace/ seam attack is quicker though not necessarily better. Neither side is that strong in spin bowling. Both will be well led, and both have high class keepers, though Tallon would outrank D Bairstow in that department. No side with WG Grace in their ranks can be entirely discounted but I think todays XI have a clear advantage and would expect a five match series between these sides to end 4-1 in their favour.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – The Ms Second XI

On the first anniversary of publishing my all time Ms XI I produce a second XI from the riches available under this letter to do battle with them. Also a huge photo gallery.

this day last year I published my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with M. As I point out in the original piece (click the M at the end of last sentence) there was a wealth of talent for this letter, so I am picking a second XI who could go up against the originals.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Hanif Mohammad (Pakistan, right handed opening batter). Until Lara’s 501* in 1994 he held the record first class score with 499 for Karachi vs Bahawalpur, and he still holds the record for the longest test innings ever played, 970 minutes, in the course of which he scored 337.
  2. Roy Marshall (Hampshire, West Indies, right handed opening batter). The Barbadian was an attack minded opener and should combine well with his more defensively oriented opening partner. His career for WI was brief, but he was brilliant for Hampshire for many years – so many that at one point England were considering selecting him as he had qualified by residence, but they opted not to do so.
  3. *Peter May (Surrey, England, right handed batter, captain). For a naturally aggressive batter to average 46 in cricket’s lowest, slowest scoring decade, the 1950s, was a fine achievement. His 285* at Edgbaston in 1957 stood as the highest by an England skipper until Gooch scored 333 v India at Lord’s in 1990.
  4. Stan McCabe (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). His career highlights include 187* at Sydney in the series opener of the 1932-3 Ashes, 189* vs South Africa which caused the fielding side to appeal against the light, a real rarity, and 232* at Trent Bridge in 1938 when his play induced Bradman (no less) to call his team mates out on to the balcony to watch on the grounds that “you will never see batting like this again”.
  5. Mushtaq Mohammad (Northamptonshire, Pakistan, right handed batter, leg spinner). One of five brothers to play FC cricket, and four of them got to play at test level. He was just 15 when he made his test debut and did well enough at that level to average 39 with the bat and 29 with the ball. That included twice scoring a century and taking a five-for in the same match (only Ian Botham, five times, and R Ashwin, three times, have done so on more occasions at the highest level).
  6. Mulvantrai ‘Vinoo’ Mankad (India, right handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). Although his batting and bowling averages are just the wrong way round he was indubitably a fine all rounder, his batting average being depressed by the fact that he so often had to open the innings as India lacked players sound enough to take on the moving ball, and he often had to do a lot of bowling due India lacking depth in that department.
  7. +Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh, wicket keeper, right handed batter). One of the greatest cricketers his country has ever produced, well worth his place in this side.
  8. Arthur Morton (Derbyshire, right arm medium pacer, off spinner, right handed batter). 981 FC wickets at 22.78 get him in this side, while over 10,000 FC runs are a useful second string to the bow. He scored 50 in a total of 68 all out v Yorkshire at Chesterfield in 1914.
  9. Ted McDonald (Australia, Lancashire, right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). He played the 1920-1 and 1921 Ashes series, forming test cricket’s first genuine pace bowling partnership with Jack Gregory. He then signed a contract to play Lancashire League cricket, which ended his international career, but he would go on to play for Lancashire and would spearhead their pace attack in the most successful period in their history.
  10. Devon Malcolm (Derbyshire, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). Genuinely fast, but badly mishandled by the England management of his day. His peak came against South Africa at The Oval in 1994, when he took 9-57 as they crashed to 144 all out.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece, including the first ever instance of 17 in a match (Hampshire still won that game by one wicket, the winning runs being scored by a man named Hargreaves who married Alice Pleasence Liddell, the Alice of “Alice in Wonderland”).

This side has a powerful top four, arguably four all rounders including the keeper, and a trio of specialist fast bowlers to round out the order. This side has a wealth of bowling options – Mycroft, McDonald, Malcolm, Morton in his medium paced guise and McCabe to bowl seam/ pace and Mushtaq Mohammad, Mankad and Morton in his slower guise to bowl spin, while no batting order with someone of Morton’s calibre at number eight can be called shallow either.

AN HONOURABLE MENTION

The original Ms post dealt with almost everyone who might merit an honourable mention, but I give attention to one particular missing name: John Murray of Middlesex and England who made the second most first class dismissals of any wicket keeper behind Bob Taylor and was also a useful batter. I gave the verdict to Mushfiqur Rahim, but it was a very close call. As to who would win this one, I back the first XI, but I think the second would make a very good fight of it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (to see a larger version of any picture just click on it)…

All Time XIs – Holmesian

An all time XI of players with links to Sherlock Holmes stories and a large photo gallery.

A whimsical variation on the all time XIs theme – this XI is made up of players whose names connect in some way to Sherlock Holmes stories.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, captain). He sneaks in by way of “Thor Bridge”, which features a governess by the name of Grace Dunbar, who June Thomson makes a persuasive case for being the second Mrs Watson. His cricketing credentials need no amplification.
  2. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, fine fielder). One half of the most successful opening pair in first class history, the senior by precisely seven years in age, though the junior in cricketing stature (he and Herbert Sutcliffe shared 74 century opening stands together, 69 of them for Yorkshire and 64 in the county championship).
  3. Colin Munro (left handed batter). The Kiwi boasts an FC batting average of over 50. He qualifies by virtue of Mr Grant Munro, who seeks Holmes’ advice/assistance in “The Adventure of the Yellow Face”.
  4. Elias ‘Patsy’ Hendren (right handed batter, brilliant fielder). The third leading run scorer in FC history and second leading century maker in FC history, he gets in through his rarely used given name – two Eliases at least, Elias Whitney in “The Adventure of the Twisted Lip” and Elias Openshaw in “The Five Orange Pips” play walk on roles in Holmes stories.
  5. Vic Wilson (left handed batter, brilliant close fielder). Had a fine FC record, and eventually became Yorkshire’s first professional skipper since before Lord Hawke’s time. He gets in by way of Jabez Wilson in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, and incidentally he appears on the scoresheet as JV Wilson, while ‘Wilson the notorious canary trainer’ gets a passing mention in another of the stories.
  6. Johnny Douglas (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Trevor Bailey’s spiritual forebear as an adhesive middle order batter and useful seam bowler, also played his county cricket at Essex. Jack Douglas is the name by which we are introduced to the Pinkerton agency ace Birdy Edwards in “The Valley of Fear”.
  7. +Adam Gilchrist (left handed batter, wicket keeper). One of the three students in the story with that title is named Gilchrist. My chosen keeper’s credentials need no amplification.
  8. Johnnie Clay (off spinner, right handed batter). Captained Glamorgan when they were promoted to first class status in 1921, and was still playing for them when they won the 1948 championship, their first such title. He took 1,317 FC wickets at 19.76 a piece, and was good enough with the bat to score two first class centuries. He gets in by way of John Clay in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, rated by Holmes as the fourth most dangerous man in London at the time.
  9. Frank Holmes Tyson (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A brief and meteoric career, but he blitzed the Aussies in their own backyard along the way (in the 1954-5 Ashes). His middle name gets him in, hence my including it here.
  10. Dan Moriarty (left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). 49 FC wickets at 29 each, and has good records in List A and T20 as well, and at 24 definitely still young enough to be improving. He of course gets in courtesy of Holmes’ archenemy Professor Moriarty.
  11. William Mycroft (left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece, just missing out on test cricket (he was approaching 36 years of age when the first such match was played in 1877). He qualifies at least twice over – through his surname, which is the given name of the elder Holmes brother (not necessarily coincidence – Doyle was a keen cricketer and avid cricket fan, and one theory about the names of the brothers is that Sherlock was an amalgam of Shacklock and Sherwin, respectively fast bowler and keeper for Nottinghamshire, while Mycroft came from William and Thomas Mycroft who played similar roles for neighbouring Derbyshire) and through William Kirwan, the murdered coachman in “The Adventure of the Reigate Squires”.

This side has a good top five, an all rounder at six, the greatest batter of all genuine top line keepers and four great and well varied bowlers. With Tyson and Mycroft to take the new ball, Douglas as third seamer and Clay and Moriarty contrasting spinners this side is unlikely to struggle to take 20 wickets.

TWO POTENTIAL OVERSEAS PLAYERS

All 11 players I have named save for Munro are home grown, but two who might have had an extra overseas slot, in each case coming in place of Douglas were the 1920s Australians Hunter ‘Stork’ Hendry who would have qualified by way of Violet Hunter from “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” and Jack Ryder, who would get in courtesy of James Ryder from “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”. However, while both these worthies would outrank Douglas as a batter he outranks both as a bowler, and given the strength of the top five and the presence of Gilchrist at number seven I felt that was reason to give Douglas the nod.

OTHER POSSIBLES

Many readers doubtless have their own ideas. Second choice keeper would be Amy Jones, who would qualify by virtue of Inspector Athelney Jones in “The Sign of Four”, and there are many other possibilities, and I would welcome suggestions in the comments.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – The Letter F

I originally produced this post OTD last year, and now reproduce it. I add an honourable mention that I missed first time round. Ken Farnes does not quite displace Jack Ferris or George Freeman from the XI, but I should have mentioned his brief career, terminated by WWII, in which conflict he lost his life.

Thomas's avataraspiblog

I continue my exploration of the all time XI theme with a look at players whose surnames begin with the letter F.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Roy Fredericks (West Indies). Somewhat overshadowed by the later deeds of the greatest opening combo WI have ever produced, Greenidge and Haynes, Fredericks was nevertheless a player of the highest class. His most famous test knock was an innings of 169 against Australia at the WACA in Perth, not generally a happy hunting ground for visiting players. He was also only the second player to score a century in a men’s ODI after Dennis Amiss.
  2. Charles Burgess Fry (Sussex, England). His mastery of the art of batting is all the more astonishing given that cricket was just one area in which he excelled. He once scored a six successive first class centuries, a feat equalled by Bradman and Procter but unsurpassed to this…

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All Time XIs – The Letter C

I will be at work today, and am unlikely to put up a new blog post today, so exactly one year to the day after I created it here is my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with the letter C. In that year a new name has emerged as meriting consideration – Tagenarine Chanderpaul has made a very impressive start for WI. He has more to do to earn his place yet, but he is definitely one to watch.

Thomas's avataraspiblog

The temperature here is back to what would be expected of England in July after two days of serious heat. Peterborough, just over an hour to the west of me by bus was one of various UK places to top 40 degrees yesterday, while the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, south of me, clocked 39.9. Holbeach and Marham, either side of King’s Lynn and closer still, both also had temperatures between 39 and 40. I am continuing my series of all-time XI posts with a look at the letter C.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Lancashire, West Indies). The Guyanese super stacker was not a regular opener, but with due respect to his achievements this season I could hardly pick Ben Compton, and nor did any other regular openers beginning with C jump out at me. I reckon he can handle the job, and as you will see going…

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All Time XIs – The Letter G

Today is the 175th anniversary of the birth of the captain of this team (I took this letter out of order OTD last year as part of this series, the longest I have ever run on this blog) precisely so it would coincide with the skipper’s birth anniversary. It is also for that reason that I am doing a full reblog, rather than as with others merely including a link in a regular blog post.

WG Grace can be regarded as the most important single player in the game’s history, and the 175th anniversary of his birth certainly deserves to be acknowledged…

Thomas's avataraspiblog

Outside it is ferociously hot, as per weather forecast. I have curtains drawn at the front of my bungalow, blinds down at the back and windows open everywhere, and so far that is keeping indoors bearable. I have skipped forward a few letters in my selection of teams with surnames beginning with the same letter because today is the 174th anniversary of the birth of the skipper of the team for whom that letter is G. Coverage of the second women’s ODI between England and South Africa is just underway. Ben Stokes has announced that tomorrow’s ODI in Durham will be his last game in that format – he is still available for selection in T20Is, but his main focus is the team of which he is captain, the test team.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Sunil Gavaskar (Somerset and India). The first to reach the career milestone of 10,000…

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All Time XIs – “Bazball”

An all time XI picked to play in the style of Ben Stokes’ England test team and a large photo gallery, including a new bird sighting.

Welcome to my latest offering. I am studiously avoiding paying any attention whatsoever to events in London today, and this sentence will be the only hint of anything to do with those events you get in this blog. Today I select an all time XI that I would trust to play cricket with the same approach as Ben Stokes’ current England test side. I am following my “county” rules in terms of selection – one overseas player allowed, the rest English.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, captain). A batter who always looked to score runs and scored huge numbers of them, his approach to captaincy was also fundamentally attacking.
  2. Lionel Palairet (right handed opening batter). A dashing opening batter who scored 10o+ runs in a morning session on five separate occasions in 1901, one of them against that years champions Yorkshire when Somerset trailed by 238 on first innings and came back to win by 279 runs.
  3. Frank Woolley (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner, ace slip fielder). The only cricketer ever to score 10,000+ FC runs, take 1,000+ FC wickets and pouch 1,000+ FC catches, and noted for feats of fast scoring with the bat.
  4. Denis Compton (right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spinner). A top drawer entertainer with a magnificent record.
  5. Garry Sobers (left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket, ace fielder). There was really only one candidate for the overseas player in an XI of this nature – the most complete player there has ever been, and very attacking by inclination.
  6. +Les Ames (right handed batter, wicket keeper). He won the Lawrence trophy for the fastest first class century of the season twice in the first three years of its existence.
  7. Gilbert Jessop (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, ace fielder). He scored 53 first class hundreds, yet only once did he bat for more than three hours in a single innings, for a score of 240. He still has the record for the fastest test century by an England batter, though there have been several recent challenges.
  8. Arthur Wellard (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower middle order batter). In 1935 he hit 66 sixes in the first class season, a record that stood for half a century. A quarter of his 12,000 FC runs came in sixes, and he was a good enough bowler to set the Somerset record for most first class wickets in a season.
  9. Jim Laker (off spinner, right handed lower order batter). With Woolley, Sobers and Compton able to cover every variety of left arm spin and the next player in the order famed for bowling what was effectively a quick leg break I felt that an off spinner was called for, and Laker was clearly the answer.
  10. Syd Barnes (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower order batter). Probably the greatest bowler there has ever been, a must pick.
  11. William Mycroft (left arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). My envisaged new ball partner for Barnes, he just missed out on the start of test cricket, being 35 years old when the inaugural such match was played, though he had had a fine season in 1876. He took over 800 first class wickets at 12 a piece.

This squad has a powerful batting line up, with all of the top seven save Palairet (two caps in 1902) test match regulars, and the only non-bowlers are keeper Ames and Palairet, though Compton would be unlikely to be called on for many overs in this line up. The bowling attack is richly varied, and that Barnes was well suited to sharing the new ball with a left arm pacer is proven by the great success he had in the 1911-12 Ashes when opening the bowling with Frank Foster, just such a bowler. I would expect this side to score big totals at a rapid rate and not to have any problems taking 20 opposition wickets.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Of course there are hundreds of potential qualifiers for this XI. My biggest regret was not being able to accommodate an under arm bowler – there were three outstanding candidates, David Harris, the first authentically great bowler, Digby Jephson who might have had Wellard’s slot and George Simpson-Hayward, the last of the breed to play at test level. If you want to suggest other players go ahead – as I have said there are many possibles, but do consider how your choices would affect the balance of the side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a fine photo gallery, including a new bird sighting – I saw a pair of shelduck where the Nar flows into the Great Ouse while out walking this morning. Also, I will probably not get a post up tomorrow as I will be out for most of the day since the Metronomes are playing at Broxbourne. Now for those photos…

A Topsy-Turvy Melbourne Derby

A look at today’s Melbourne derby in the Big Bash League plus some photographs.

This morning’s live BBL radio commentary saw the two Melbourne sides, Renegades and Stars face one another. Stars following Heat’s win earlier were languishing at the bottom of the heap, Renegades one of a number of sides battling for qualification slots (Only Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers are genuinely comfortably placed to qualify).

THE RENEGADES INNINGS

Renegades batted first, and they started dreadfully, managing just 17-1 from their four overs of opening Power Play. They began to recover in overs 5-10, reaching 63-3 at the halfway stage of their innings. The second half of their innings was a massive improvement, a well timed Power Surge continuing the recovery, and then a magnificent late innings from Jonathan Wells helping to boost their final total to 161-7.

THE STARS RESPONSE

Stars began their reply sensationally, passing 80, with all their wickets standing in just the eighth over. Once the first wicket fell however, they were unable to maintain the momentum, and began to lose wickets at regular intervals. Not even the assistance of two balls hitting the closed roof of the stadium and being thus awarded six a piece did much for the second half of the Stars innings. A succession of overs in which runs weren’t scored and wickets fell ultimately saw the Stars needing 12 from the final over to win. Nick Larkin, the sole remaining batter of any substance, made a complete and utter mess of playing that final over. He declined singles off the first two balls, wishing to keept the strike for himself, but then took the single off the third, leaving a tailender on strike with 11 needed off three balls. A run out off the fourth ball did at least get Larkin back on strike, but 11 were now needed off two balls. Larkin hit the first for four. The final ball of the match was full, just wide of the stumps, but not enough so to be called a wide, and Larkin ridiculously failed even to get bat to it, the resultant dot giving Renegades victory by six runs, boosting their qualification hopes and pretty much exterminating such qualification hopes as Stars had still retained. Arguably Stars were favourites to win right until the start of the 19th over of their innings, at which point they needed 15. Good teams go all out to break the back of things with an over to spare in these circumstances, and it was really this over, with only three runs coming it from it that killed the Stars. This loss will be hard to recover from because Stars will know that they should have been comfortable winners.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Rawalpindi Runfest

A look at goings on in Rawalpindi where Pakistan are playing England in a test match that has already seen seven centuries and the first test wickets by a bowler with first two initials WG since 1890.

The Pakistan vs England test series, the first between these two teams to take place in Pakistan in 17 years (for most of that time Pakistan were restricted to playing “home” series at neutral venues such as the United Arab Emirates because of security concerns) got underway on Thursday morning (earlyish Pakistan time, very early – though “ridiculous o’clock” rather than “ludicrous o’clock” as would be the case for a series in Australia). This post looks at the first three days action.

ENGLAND MANAGE TO NAME A TEAM

There had been fears that the start of this match would be delayed due to illness in the England camp, but although they had to make some last minute changes England were able to come up with 11 fit players. In batting order the final XI was Crawley, Duckett, +Pope, Root, Brook, *Stokes, Livingstone, Jacks, Robinson, Leach, Anderson. Foakes being unavailable meant Pope keeping wicket, and the team looked colossally strong in batting but limited in bowling (while some of the bowlers concerned are excellent practitioners of their art an attack with three specialists – Anderson, Leach and Robinson, and back up options Stokes, Jacks and Livingston is no one’s definition of a stellar bowling unit, with Stokes the nearest thing to a properly fast bowler in the ranks). There was less drama around the Pakistan selections, though their bowling attack was a very inexperienced one. Fortunately for England Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first (IMO a decision to field first would have raised legitimate questions about whether Stokes had been doing deals with dodgy bookies so terrible would it have been).

DAY ONE: THE RUNS FLOW

A barely believable opening day saw England post a new record for the opening day of a test match of 506-4, and that with fading light in the evening restricting play to 79 overs. The previous record of 494 by Australia versus South Africa had stood since 1910. Crawley, Duckett, Pope and Brook all registered centuries on this amazing opening day, and all went at over a run a ball. In amongst the carnage Joe Root just for once failed with the bat. Pakistan bowled poorly, and England’s batters took no prisoners – every loose ball was remorselessly punished.

DAY TWO: PAKISTAN FIGHT BACK

It is not often that a team who score 657 batting first could be disappointed with their efforts, but England were in that position. On one of the flattest pitches ever seen and against an experienced attack they lost their last six wickets in less than a full session, though their blistering scoring rate made up for the lack of time that they batted for. The innings lasted exactly 101 overs, with Brook scoring England’s quickest ever test 150 (at 80 balls his 100 was third on the England list behind Gilbert Jessop and Jonathan Bairstow, while Crawley had taken 86 balls, the same number as Botham at Old in 1981). Zahid Mahmood had the remarkable figures of 33-1-235-4!

By the time fading light forced a second successive early closure of a day’s play Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s openers, were still together and the score was 181-0.

DAY THREE – LATE WICKETS SPARE ENGLAND’S BLUSHES

Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq each completed tons for Pakistan, making this the first test match in which all four openers had scored first innings centuries. Babar Azam also reached three figures, and at 413-3 Pakistan looked well capable of taking a first innings lead. The breaking of Pakistan’s open stand featured a bit of cricket history – debutant Will Jacks became the first person with first two initials WG to claim a test scalp since the original “WG” dismissed Aussie wicket keeper Jack Blackham at Lord’s in 1890. This also meant that it took approximately 19 and a half years less as a test cricketer to claim a scalp on Pakistan soil than Anderson, whose own first scalp in that country came later in the day.

Late in the day England got things to happen, and by the time the light forced a third straight early finish to a day’s play Pakistan were 499-7, still 158 in arrears. Jacks has three of the wickets (remarkable given that at the start of the 2022 English season he had a grand total of three first class wickets), Leach two and Anderson and Robinson one a piece. England will be looking to polish of Pakistan’s tail early tomorrow, and score quick enough in their second innings to have a bowl at Pakistan before the close of tomorrow. Pakistan will be looking to thwart England for as long as possible – for them a draw will now be the summit of their ambitions for this match, while England retain some hope of winning. Incidentally with seven centuries already racked up it is worth noting that the record for any test match is eight and the FC record is nine, in an absurd game between Bombay and Maharashtra in the late 1940s which the former won by 354 runs – Bombay 651-9d and 714-8d, Maharashtra 407 and 604.

Although this game is not utterly dead yet, that is more by accident than by design, and a pitch on which bowlers are as helpless as they have been these three days is a poor one for test cricket. My own feeling is that a draw remains the likeliest outcome, with the Pakistan win and the tie the two rank outsiders and an England win maybe 25%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photographs are all work photographs. The auctions in which these items feature can be viewed here and here.

Lot 11 (four images)
Lot 27 (four images)
Lot 35 (four images). Since I had opted for Argentine stamps…
…I also had to include some Brazilian ones.

Now on to the second sale (takes place on Dec 14th):