Category: Uncategorized

India Poised For Big Win Over Afghanistan

A look at recent developments in the 2023 ODI Cricket world cup, with emphasis on today’s match, between Afghanistan and India. Also a large photo gallery – even when grey as it is today this October has been much warmer than is normal for an English October.

Yesterday was a work day, so I did not get to follow much of the action in the two cricket world cup matches that took place – I got some but not all of England’s innings against Bangladesh and the last few overs of Pakistan v Sri Lanka, with the latter completing the largest successful run chase in World Cup history with just under two overs and six wickets to spare. Today India are playing Afghanistan and the rest of the post is about that match.

THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS

Afghanistan won the toss and have chosen to bat, and in spite of the likely outcome of this match I think they made the correct decision. I also reckon that their score of 272-8 from their 50 overs to be an important one, not because it was enough on a pitch as good for batting as this one, but because it was an undeniably respectable total against top tier opposition and crucially it was made in spite of the fact that both of Afghanistan’s biggest batting guns, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, failed to fire. The major contributions came from Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62), who shared a century stand together for the fourth wicket. Most of the Indian bowlers did respectably, with the exception of Mohammad Siraj who bowled seven overs for 55 runs. Jasprit Bumrah was the most impressive by a long way, finishing with 4-39 on a track offering no bowler the slightest hint of assistance.

INDIA’S REPLY

The big story of India’s innings so far has been Rohit Sharma. The Indian opener has been rewriting the record books – most sixes in international cricket across formats, overhauling Chris Gayle’s 553, most runs out of a team’s first 100 in a world cup match – 76, fastest world cup century by an Indian. He has been dismissed, for 131 off 84 balls, bowled by Rashid Khan, but the outcome of the match is as good as settled – India are 231-2 in the 29th over, needing just 42 more to win. India will be giving an already good net run rate a boost.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a splendid photo gallery to share with you…

While I have been prepping this post for publication India have advanced to 255-2 from 33 overs, needing a mere 18 more to complete their victory.

The Closing Stages of the County Championship Season

We are about to go into the final session of play of the County Championship season of 2023. Surrey are already confirmed as champions – although they lost a hard fought match against Hampshire their only rivals Essex had already crumbled to an innings defeat at the hands of already relegated Northamptonshire. Durham and Worcestershire are the promoted sides, which leaves only the question of whether Kent or Middlesex are the other side to go down.

DERBYSHIRE V GLAMORGAN

This match, the one I am currently listening to is between two sides who have both had poor seasons. Derbyshire are winless, and due to their craven cowardice in delaying their declaration today until the target stood at 384 in 70 overs, nowhere near a tempting enough carrot to lure Glamorgan, whose position is already settled, into going for the target, and thus almost certainly guaranteeing the draw. Derbyshire will finish at worst second from bottom, but that is only because Yorkshire were hit with a punitive points deduction, which has been enough to guarantee them last place in the table.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V MIDDLESEX

Another match involving a declaration on the final day, but Middlesex, knowing that a draw was effectively valueless to them in their quest to stay up did dangle a carrot, and Nottinghamshire are making the chase look quite easy at present. Kent and Lancashire are pretty much certain to draw – Lancashire are still batting in their second innings and are 181 ahead of Kent, which means that unless Middlesex can scramble nine wickets from somewhere in less than a full session they will go down.

A NOTE ON OVERSEAS PLAYERS

Those who have studied my all time county XIs will have noted that on those occasions on which I named an overseas player (and I never picked more than one) I nearly always opted for a bowler. The use Surrey have made this season of Sean Abbott, Daniel Worrall and Kemar Roach underlines the value of high quality overseas bowlers. On the other side of the scale I would put Sussex, third in division two, in spite of losing only one match all season – they have had 10 draws in 14 matches. Their main overseas star has been Cheteshwar Pujara, a pure batter, and for a few matches, a side that was struggling to take 20 wickets was further skewed in favour of batting when they opted to allow Steve Smith to have some pre-Ashes batting practice. Pujara may have been justifiable, but signing a second overseas pure batter when struggling for wickets was on any reckoning misjudged.

A CLAIM FOR A PLACE ON THE INDIAN TOUR

England’s next test tour is to India, a place where spin bowling is important. The best specialist spinner in England is Jack Leach, and Rehan Ahmed is very promising young cricketer. In addition to these two I would draw attention to the man whose 800 runs and 40 wickets has helped Hampshire to third place in division one, Liam Dawson. If England go on a test tour of India without Dawson in the form he is currently enjoying their selectors will be guilty of dereliction of duty, as they will also be if anyone other than Foakes is named as keeper.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

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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