A look back at day one of the third Ashes test in Adelaide and a photo gallery.
The third test match of the ongoing series between Australia and England’s men’s teams got underway overnight UK time. This post looks back at a curious day’s play.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England had announced their team early, in keeping with their recent methods in this department. The fact that Shoaib Bashir missed out for a third straight match, creating the possibility that series will be decided before he plays a game, raised eyebrows. The problem with this selection from England is that they fast tracked him into the test side with this specific series most in mind, which makes then sidelining him for each of the first three matches look bizarre. Australia had intended to drop Usman Khawaja, which could well have ended his test career, but then Steve Smith experienced giddiness and nausea while batting in the nets and it was deemed serious enough to put him out of the match, so Khawaja was back in the side. Australia won the toss, and there was never much doubt about the decision, so it was over to England’s bowlers to see what they could do.
A CURATE’S EGG PERFORMANCE
England did not bowl very well overall, but they had some assistance from the Australian batting, who seemed somewhat infected by their opponents freneticism at the crease. Immediately after lunch, when Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green suffered almost identical ultra-soft dismissals in the space of three balls, each hitting deliveries from Archer straight to midwicket and suddenly the score was 94-4 it looked very good for England. Khawaja and Alex Carey regained the initiative for Australia, but then Khawaja tried to go big against the part time spin of WG Jacks and succeeded in holing out Josh Tongue for 82. Carey, supported in turn by Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc proceeded to a splendid maiden Ashes ton. However Jacks showed something of the original WG’s knack for inducing batters to get themselves out, drawing an injudicious shot from Carey which resulted in a catch to Jamie Smith. The day ended with Australia on 326-8. With temperatures in Adelaide forecast to reach 39 degrees on day two (two degrees above the cut off point for an abandonment during my brief career as an umpire in Under 14s Whites matches there) what happens then will have a big influence on the outcome of the match and thus whether England can get back into the series. If they can get the last two wickets quickly and then bat for the rest of the day, forcing Australia to labour in the field through the fiercest heat they will have a good chance. Cummins has just returned earlier than expected from an injury, and a long, hot innings in the field would be a big early test of just how ready he was to make that comeback. A concern for England, given their controversial decision to overlook the specialist spinner is the fact that it was Will Jacks, definitely a batter who bowls off spin, who ended bowling the most overs for them on day one.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The first five images are of a gold ducat that has been manipulated in some way – the 1583 date, clearly visible, does not match with the style of portrait. These images did their job, and the coin has been sold for a negotiated price not hugely much less than the original sale price.This style of portrait was used only in 1585, 1586 and 1587,, not 1583.This image comes from our upcoming two-day sale on January 13th and 14th. A full catalogue can be viewed on the-saleroom or easyliveauction.A cormorant right at the topmost point of a willow tree. This willow overlooks the Townshend Terrace pond in North Lynn.
A look at the action on day three in Brisbane and a photo gallery.
Today was the third day of the second Ashes test at Brisbane, and this post looks back at a day that has gone a long way to killing England’s hopes in this series.
EPIC FAIL 1: THE END OF THE AUSTRALIAN FIRST INNINGS
Australia resumed this morning on 378-6, 44 ahead on first innings. Only five runs had been added when Michael Neser was seventh out, and even by the time Alex Carey was eighth out, caught behind off Atkinson for 63 to the give the bowler his maiden Ashes scalp the score was 416, 82 ahead, and not yet necessarily terminal. It was at this stage that Stokes blundered badly. The ‘strategy’ of feeding the senior batter runs so that you can attack the junior batter may have something going for it, though I have never seen it definitively work and have seen it definitively fail, and I am 100% certain that when the senior batter is the opposition number nine, as was the situation it has precisely nothing going for it – attack from both ends and look to get the innings finished quickly. The chief damage done by the partnership that Stokes’ methods did nothing to prevent from happening was not actually the 75 runs that accrued, but the fact that they were together for more than a full session, pushing the start of the England innings ever closer to happening under the floodlights. Starc reached to top individual score of the innings, 77, before he was ninth out, caught by Stokes off Carse to give the latter possibly the most undeserved four wicket haul in test history. Even the last pair boosted the score by a further 20, and soaked up yet more of the daylight. England began their second innings just before the second interval, when they would have started the day hoping to be in before the first interval.
EPIC FAIL 2: A GRUESOME BATTING DISPLAY
The England second innings began quite well, with Crawley and Duckett making it through to the second interval with their stand unbroken. The first wicket was a genuine misfortune, Duckett being bowled by one that kept low to make it 48-1. However none of the subsequent dismissals could accurately be described as due either to misfortune or particularly good bowling – it was a display of rank bad batting. With 90 on the board Pope aimed a big drive at Neser and succeeded only in hitting a return catch which was duly accepted. Seven runs later Crawley was dismissed in an almost action replay of the Pope dismissal – same bowler, same type shot, same outcome. The two Yorkshiremen Root and Brook took the score to 121 before Root played loosely st Starc and edged behind to go for 15. Two runs later Brook, also on 15, drove casually at Boland and edged behind to put England five down. It got worse before the close, as Jamie Smith played yet another loose drive, this time against Starc, and Carey was once again in business behind the stumps. Stokes and Jacks made it through to the close with no further damage, but at 134-6 England are still 43 runs short of parity. By my reckoning 13 of the 16 wickets England have lost so far in this match have been given rather than being taken.
A look at the first two days of action is the pink ball test in Brisbane, and a photo gallery.
Having covered Tuesday’s auction I now turn to something else. Early yesterday morning UK tine a day-night test match got underway in Brisbane, the second match of the 2025-26 Ashes series. England had lost the first match by this same stage, so the fact that I am writing about a match that is still in progress is an improvement.
ROOT THE ALL TIME GREAT
Even before the events of this match no one seriously doubted that Joe Root was a great batter rather than merely a good or even very good one, but there were certain Aussies who would deny him the status of an all-time great because he had a blot on an otherwise stellar CV – he had never scored a test century in Australia. There seemed small chance of England having anything the celebrate when Root’s innings began – Duckett and Pope had both fallen cheaply, and the score was 5-2. Zak Crawley came back well from his pair in Perth, making an impressive 76 and sharing a century stand with Root. Harry Brook looked highly impressive in making 31, but his dismissal when he should have gone on to a properly big score was a shocking one, not just because the shot was one he should never have taken on, but because he did so against Starc, the only genuinely dangerous bowler Australia had. Stokes gave Root some support but got out before long. That brought Jamie Smith, facing a pink ball for the first time in his professional career (apparently it was not worthwhile to send him, and others in the same boat, such as Will Jacks, in for the injured Wood – a batting all rounder who bowls off-spin in for a specialist pacer – to Canberra to play in the President’s XI match) to the crease. Smith collected a duck to put England six down, and bring Jacks to the crease. I had to leave for work at this point, but a later check confirmed that Root, in the 70s when I left, had finally scored that first century on Aussie soil and removed any possible doubt about his status as an all time great. His best support after I had left came from number 11 Jofra Archer, who made into the 30s, and would be last out for 38 early this morning UK time. England amassed 334, Root with 135 not out being the person who made that total possible.
AUSTRALIA SO FAR
England produced a very variable bowling performance, and the fielding was far too fallible. Four clear-cut chances went down, Duckett culpable on two occasions to go with his duck, and Joe Root in the slips got a hand to ball that streaked away for four, though it would have been an absolute screamer of a catch had he held it. Brydon Carse took three wickets in the course of the day and had a chance shelled, but he was also absurdly expensive – at one stage he was leaking runs at a rate that would have raised eyebrows in a T20 league, and even by the end of the day he had 3-113 from 17 overs. Australia were 291-3 at high water mark, but then Green and Smith both fell to Carse very quicky. England got one further wicket in the day, but in the latter stages as they started to show obvious tiredness Australia got on top once again, ending the day on 378-6, 44 runs ahead on first innings with four wickets standing. England are not out of this yet – come the fourth innings the pitch will be very tricky, but they need to bowl well first thing tomorrow, and then bat well for the rest of tomorrow and well in to day four.
Today saw the start of the 2025-6 Ashes series between the Australia and England men’s teams, with England launching a bid to achieve something last pulled off by Ray Illingworth’s 1970-1 side – come to Australia without The Ashes and leave with them (Three subsequent England skippers, Brearley in 1978-9, Gatting in 1986-7 and Strauss in 2010-11 have retained as opposed to regaining The Ashes in Australia). Perth was the venue, a city in which England have only once won a test match, during Brearley’s 1978-9 triumph.
PRELIMINARIES
Both sides had in different ways caused eyebrows to rise in the run up to the series. Australia had lost skipper Pat Cummins and, right on the eve of the contest, fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood to injuries, and their top order was in a state of flux as well, with Jake Weatherald, at 31 years of age no youngster, earmarked for a debut in this match. The vacancy opened up by Hazlewood’s injury was filled by Brendan Doggett, also 31 years old and making his debut at the highest level.
England meanwhile were much more settled, but their preparation had raised eyebrows. They had played one preliminary fixture, at Lilac Hill, a venue with no similarities to Perth, and rather than a genuine match it was England v England Lions, with everyone getting involved rather than two sides of 11. Correctly in view of everyone actually being fit and the nature of the Perth pitch they had omitted Shoaib Bashir, going with a full battery of pacers – in batting order from 8-11 Atkinson, Carse, Archer and Wood, with Ben Stokes also fit to bowl. Australia, short of experience with the injuries to Cummins and Hazlewood, had opted to pick Nathan Lyon, the veteran off spinner who has just celebrated his 38th birthday, in their line up. Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat, probably aware that the side batting first has won every test match at this new venue.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Four years ago Mitchell Starc struck with the first ball of the series, removing Rory Burns. This time it took him until the last ball of the first over to make the breakthrough. The dismissal was the sort of dismissal that an AI bot asked to produce a typical Crawley dismissal would have come up with – a loose drive resulting in an edge and first slip being in business.
England scored at a rapid rate in spite of an outfield that was both large and slow (there were a number of threes and one all run four for shots where the ball stopped just inside the ropes). However they also lost wickets at a rapid rate. Harry Brook scored an impressive 50 but got himself out immediately after reaching that mark, while Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith both looked good but failed to go big, scoring 46 and 33 respectively. This was not a surface on which lower order batters were likely to prosper, and from 160-5 England fell away to 172 all out, Starc 7-58, a new test best. However, they still had the opportunity to bowl on a spicy deck, and had a bowling unit that looked both stronger and better suited to such a surface than Australia’s makeshift one…
THE AUSTRALIAN REPLY
Australia also lost their first wicket before scoring a run, Khawaja having left the field during the England innings and rendered himself unable to open the innings, a mishap that meant the debutant Weatherald would be on strike for the first ball of the reply, with Labuschagne at the other end. Archer’s first ball beat him, and the second pinned him LBW. Khawaja was still not allowed to bat at this point, and stand-in skipper Steve Smith (yes, he of sandpaper infamy) joined Labuschagne for a second wicket stand that soaked up a bit of time but not produce many runs. The second ball of the 15th over, bowled by Archer (by then into a second spell) rattled Labuschagne’s stumps to make it 28-2. Nine balls and two runs later Steve Smith edged one from Brydon Carse to be caught by Brook for 17 and that was 30-3. One run later Carse had Khawaja caught behind to make it 31-4. Travis Head and Cameron Green seemed to be seeing Australia through in a good partnership when Stokes introduced himself to the attack. With the score on 76 Travis Head fell to a catch by Carse off Stokes to end a 45 run partnership. Seven runs later Green edged through to Smith, leaving Carey and a precarious tail (Starc at least one place too high eight, Lyon two places too high at nine and genuine rabbits Doggett and Boland) to attempt to get Australia somewhere near parity. Starc and Carey fared well together for a time, until Starc, on 12, gave Carse another catch off Stokes. Three runs later came the dismissal that made it unequivocally England’s day, Carey becoming the third Aussie to be caught by Carse off Stokes, for 26 in his case. That was 121-8, and two balls later Boland, sent in ahead of Doggett for no apparent reason, was caught by Brook to make it 121-9 and give Stokes his fifth wicket of the innings. There was time for just one more over in this eventful day, and Australia survived it, adding two runs to their score as well. The day thus saw 295 runs scored and 19 wickets fall, and that with only 71.5 overs being bowled (32.5 for the England innings, 39 in the Australian innings). That 19 wickets was the most on an opening day of an Ashes match since Old Trafford in 1909 when both sides had completed their first innings by the end of day one. 51,531 people, a record crowd for a match in Perth, watched some or all of the day’s action at the ground (officially 10,000 of these were English, but there are also quite a few English migrants living in Perth who would have been counted as local sales). With this much happening on day one one can already strike out days four and five, and day three is far from certain to happen. In a day of two halves the brilliance of England’s bowlers, backed by some good catching, ultimately more than offset a rather slipshod batting effort, but the batters cannot expect the bowlers to dig them out of every hole like that.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A pied wagtail exploring Fakenham Market yesterday as I walked through on my way to work (it was practically at my feet when I took this picture)“Red sky at night, Shepherd’s delight” – although whether that quite applies when said ‘night’ is falling at about 4PM is another matter!
An account of today’s match at the cricket world cup between the Australia and England women’s teams and two photo galleries.
Today’s match at the women’s cricket world cup saw a revisit to international sport’s oldest continuously maintained rivalry, that between Australia and England. This post looks back at the match.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Both sides were already qualified for the semi-finals but:
This match could easily be a dress rehearsal for bigger match later in the tournament.
Whoever emerged victorious from the encounter would temporarily displace South Africa from top spot in the table and
No game between this particular pair of opponents can ever be described as meaningless.
Australia were missing Alyssa Healy with a calf strain, and her place at the top of the order went to Georgia Voll, while Beth Mooney took over the wicket keeping gauntlets and Tahlia McGrath assumed the captaincy (Mooney and McGrath are absolute regulars in the XI, so Voll for Healy was only the change in personnel). England were unchanged from the side that just prevailed over India at this same venue last time out. Australia won the toss and chose to put England in to bat.
England started fast, with Tammy Beaumont in particular playing impressively. However Australia soon adapted to the conditions, realizing that pace off was the way to go. Annabel Sutherland, the fastest of Australia’s bowlers was expensive early on, but once she worked the surface out and focussed on slower balls she bowled very well, and emerged with 3-60 from her 10 overs, her 13th, 14th and 15th wickets of the tournament, putting her two clear of Deepti Sharma at the top of the wicket takers list. Ashleigh Gardner fared well with her off spin as well, claiming 2-39 for the innings. Beaumont’s 78, which fizzled out after a blazing start, was the only innings of real substance for England, though a spirited partnership between Capsey and Dean, numbers seven and eight in the order, somewhat revived England in the closing stages. England ended their innings on 244-9.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE
Fungi at Fakenham ChurchFungi near QEH (13 pics total)
THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE
With a modest total on the board England needed a good start, and they got it. Lauren Bell bowled Phoebe Litchfield with the third ball of the inning, Linsey Smith accounted for the other opener Voll in the fourth over and for Ellyse Perry in the sixth over at which point the score was 24-3. When Nat Sciver-Brunt took a catch off Ecclestone to dismiss Mooney for 20 it was 68-4, and Ashleigh Gardner was joining Annabel Sutherland. Their partnership turned the game, slowly at first, and then very rapidly. By the closing stages the only questions where whether both batters would reach three figures, and if so who would get there first. Gardner did reach three figures, off the 70th ball of her innings, and in the end Sutherland just missed out, though Gardner had tried to create the opportunity for her team mate to get there. In the end after the 41st over had start with a two and a single that took Sutherland to 98 not out but left her off strike, Gardner, who had blocked the last three balls of the 40th over to give Sutherland a shot at the landmark, straight drove the third ball of the 41st over for the winning runs, ending with 104 not out from 73 balls, including 16 fours, while Sutherland’s 98 not out took 123 balls and included nine fours and a six. Their stand was worth an unbroken 180 from 24.4 overs. England had their moments during the match, but against this Australian combination having one’s moments from time to time is simply not good enough. Sutherland’s 3-60 and 98 not out earned her Player of the Match, by a short head from Gardner (2-39 and 104 not out).
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This morning was a sunny one, and I spent a lot of it walking. This Egret was directly across the Great Ouse from Harding’s PitsThis pair of Egrets were near the Nar outfall.This heron with two cormorants for company was on a concrete block just off the west bank of the Great Ouse, more or less opposite Purfleet QuayA freight locomotive in the siding near my house this morning.A particularly elegant little fungus, with a long thin stem and a parasol like cap. I revisited the site of that fungus later and it was still there.
A look at yesterday’s Champions Trophy match between Australia and England. Also a photo gallery.
Yesterday the Champions Trophy saw Australia take on England. This post looks at what has been thus far the match of the tournament (and today’s match, between another pair of fierce rivals, India and Pakistan is not looking like rivalling it right now).
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Phil Salt and Jamie Smith were both out fairly early for England, but then Ben Duckett and Joe Root had a splendid partnership for the third wicket. There were stages when a total not far short of 400 looked possible. Duckett, often fairly criticized for not being willing to give himself time to get settled in, played an absolute blinder of an innings. Even in ‘restrained’ ODI mode he scored rapidly, eventually falling late on in the innings for 165 off 143 balls. Buttler got himself out in the 43rd over, and in the end England amassed 351-8. Even on a good pitch and a fast outfield that looked fairly impressive…
THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE
At one stage Australia were 136-4, and it looked like England were in control, though they had gone batting heavy – the fifth bowling allocation was in the hands of Livingstone and Root. In the event it was the three specialist pacers, Archer, Carse and Wood who proved shockingly expensive. Buttler demonstrated again what a poor captain he is, giving Root and Livingstone just one over more than the minimum he needed from them, though they were faring less badly than the quicks. The sole England bowler to fare really well was 37 year old Adil Rashid who recorded 10-1-47-1. The Australian comeback began with Inglis and Carey putting on 146 for the fifth wicket in 19.2 overs. The last ball of the 38th over was the moment the match swung decisively – Archer dropped a very easy chance offered by Carey, which would have had Australia 248-5, needing 104 off the last 12 overs with only five wickets left. By the time Carey was dismissed, the ask was down to 70 off 8.2 overs, not normally considered difficult these days, and Australia made it look very easy in the end. There were 2.3 overs to go when Inglis finished it in style with a six, the sixth of his innings. Inglis had 120* from 86 balls. The three fast bowlers had combined figures of 26.3-0-226-3, an average of 75.33, a strike rate of a wicket every 53 balls and an economy rate of 8.53. Livingstone and Root had 11-0-73-1, an average of 73.00, a striker rate of a wicket every 66 balls and an economy rate of 6.64 per over – below the required rate, and 1.89 runs per over less than the quicks went at. England now need to win both their remaining games, the first of which is against Afghanistan.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
There are rarely as many as four trains visible at King’s Lynn station.
An account of the third and as it turned out final day at the MCG and a photo gallery.
The word ‘WAshes’, with the first two letters capitalized is a social media hashtag created by combining the W from women’s with the word Ashes. This post looks at the events of the third and as it turns out final day of the one-off test match that ended this year’s WAshes series.
ENGLAND’S BEST PERIOD OF THE SERIES
The early stages of the day, which got underway at 3:30AM UK time, saw England produce their best bowling and fielding of the series. Knight opted for the contrasting threats of Ecclestone (left arm, slow) and Filer (right arm, fast), and both bowled beautifully. Mooney became the first Australian to complete centuries in all three formats (Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont, both playing for England in this match, are also members of this small club). She was out to a beauty from Lauren Filer which clean bowled her. The Australian innings ended when Perry, who came in at number ten after being held back due to injury, chipped a return catch to Ecclestone who thus claimed a place on the MCG honours board with her fifth wicket of the innings. She had toiled hard – the final ball of the Australian innings was the third of her 45th over thereof. Footage of this good spell for England can be viewed here.
ENGLAND’S SECOND INNINGS
England had scored a mere six runs when Darcie Brown got through the defences of Maia Bouchier, ending a wretched tour for the 26 year old, who was out for one. Bouchier’s tour aggregate was 33 runs from six innings, she does not bowl, and in a side who are not great in the field she is one of the most frequent offenders when it comes to dropped catches.
Beaumont and Knight batted well for a time, both hitting some highly impressive shots. However, with 79 on the board Knight was dismissed to a catch by Litchfield off Gardner. Nat Sciver-Brunt started impressively and the 100 came up without further loss, but at that point Alana King, in what was to be a long unchanged spell from the Shane Warne Stand end took centre stage with her leg spin. At 100 she trapped Sciver-Brunt plumb in front for 18. Three balls later Dunkley fell to an incredible ball. Footage of this delivery is available here, and I urge you to watch it and see for yourself what it did. Danni Wyatt-Hodge is high class batter, and a very experienced one, but she did not play like one this time round. She essayed a sweep, a shot that England have got in trouble with against Australia’s spinners all through this series, and Litchfield took a fine catch. The score had not advanced from King got one through Beaumont’s previously impregnable defences to dismiss the diminutive opener for 47. That was 109-6, and right on the stroke of the second interval Amy Jones edged one from Gardner to Mooney who made no mistake behind the stumps. Soon after the resumption Ryana MacDonald-Gay was eighth out, helplessly popping up a catch to Brown off King. Both spinners were involved in the dismissal of Ecclestone, joint third top scorer with 18, King taking the catch off Gardner. That left the two Laurens, Filer and Bell, to delay the inevitable as long as they could. In the event the numbers 10 and 11 hung on for 11.2 overs together before Filer fell to a catch by Sutherland off King to give Australia victory by an innings and 122 runs and a 16-0 clean sweep in the multi-format series. It was an appropriate ending – Sutherland was the obvious choice for Player of the Match for that dazzling 163 and King, with 23 wickets in all, was an equally obvious choice for Player of the Series. That Ecclestone, Filer and Bell, numbers 8,10 and 11, survived respectively for 50, 45 and 30 balls (the last being an unbeaten 0) serves to further highlight the wretchedness of that headlong plunge from 100-2 to 122-8. A highlights package from today can be viewed here. A full scorecard of this match can be viewed here. Australia absolutely deserved their clean sweep, and England need to make big changes moving forward.
A look at the events of the first two days of the test match that is the final instalment of this year’s Women’s Ashes series, and a photo gallery.
At 3:30AM UK time yesterday the final instalment of the multi-format series for the Women’s Ashes, a day/night test match at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground, got underway. Australia had won both limited overs series 3-0, meaning that in the points system used to score the whole series they were 12-0 with four points at stake for the Test Match.
DAY ONE
Australia won the toss and put England in to bat. Several England players got starts, but only Natalie Sciver-Brunt who fought her way to a half century made a significant contribution. To make things worse for England it rapidly became clear that even on day one the pitch was helping spinners, and England, somewhat oddly given where their prime bowling strength lies, had opted to play only one front line spinner, Ecclestone. England were all out for 170, just before I had to set off for work. I found out later in the day that Australia had reached 53-1 by the close, and would find out later still that one catch had already gone begging.
DAY TWO
This was the day the wheels came right off for England (and probably the exhaust pipe and the axles!). The bowlers did not bowl badly, but the fielding was terrible, a further seven catches being dropped (although in other circumstances the last of these, an attempt at a return catch by fast bowler Lauren Filer would have earned her commendation for a fine effort rather than being recorded as the latest in a long series of drops). Annabel Sutherland, after being reprieved three times early in her innings played sublimely for 163, while Alyssa Healy, fit enough to bat and captain, but not to keep, offered some support, and then Beth Mooney, the batting star of the entire series, demonstrated her continuing excellence. After Sutherland’s magnificent innings ended, bowled by 20 year old medium pacer Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Mooney was supported by Ash Gardner who scored 44 before a catch was finally taken, by Filer off Ecclestone, and then in the last stages of the day by Tahlia McGrath. After having used only her five front line bowling options (Filer, Lauren Bell, Sciver-Brunt, MacDonald-Gay and Ecclestone) all the way through to that point the England skipper Heather Knight finally did something different for the final over the day – she turned to her own part time off spin. The main question was whether Mooney, already on a new test career best, could complete her maiden test ton before the close. In the end she did not, finishing the day on 98 not out. Australia at 422-5 already have a first innings lead of 252, with two whole days remaining. Ellyse Perry has a hip problem and has not batted, but it is not impossible that she will be considered fit enough to do so in the early part of tomorrow. The attendance for this match so far has been 23,508, a new record attendance for any women’s test match, with two weekend days to come.
A look at today’s ODI between the Australia and England women’s teams and a look at the current state of the Women’s Ashes series, plus a large photo gallery.,
The Women’s Ashes multi-format series in Australia is nearly done. The ODI and T20I sections (three matches each) are now both done, leaving only the Test Match to play. This post looks at what has happened so far.
TODAY’S MATCH
This morning UK time (late evening South Australia time) the third and final T20I took place in Adelaide. In metaphorical terms England did not merely go off the rails, they careered right to the bottom of the ravine and got smashed against the rocks. At the halfway stage, with Australia having won the toss and batted, it did not look too awful. Australia had scored 162-5, an innings dominated by Beth Mooney, who did not merely bat right through the innings, which on a hot evening would have been impressive anyway, she scored 94 of those 162 runs. That total soon looked positively mountainous, as England began losing wickets right from the start of the reply. At 39-3 with skipper Heather Knight and veteran opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge together England might have had half a chance of getting somewhere close, though that pair would probably have had to do most of the remaining batting themselves. At 48-7 the only question was whether England would avoid their lowest ever T20I score, which stood at 87 all out. Sophie Ecclestone joined Knight and the pair put together the best stand of the England innings. The ending of that partnership, worth 29 by then, was illustrative of one the key differences between the sides – the catch by Georgia Voll, who had earlier helped Mooney to put on 56 for the first wicket, which got Ecclestone was quite simply incredible. A video clip can be seen here. Voll, playing her first international series at the age of 21, has had a fine start, contributing 173 runs at 86.50 and a SR of 108.80 to the ODI leg of the series and 49 at 16.33 and an SR of 132.43. Between that and Beth Mooney playing the best cricket of her life at the age of 31 Australia have barely missed the injured Alyssa Healy from the top of their order. Linsey Smith, who had impressed with the ball and in the field on what was a rare appearance for her (as a left arm spinner she only plays when England deem it right to select two such bowlers) was ninth out at 82, run out by a sharp piece of fielding by Ellyse Perry. Lauren Filer lasted long enough for England to get past 87, but not long enough for England as a whole to match Mooney on her own – when Knight was last out to a stumping by Player of the Match Mooney off Tahlia McGrath’s medium pace the total had reached 90, 40 of them from the skipper. Australia had thus won by 72 runs, and had made six wins out of six across the limited overs element of the series. The points score with the test match to come is thus Australia 12 England 0.
A MISMATCH
The fact that Australia have won all three ODIs and all three WODIs tells some of the story of how dominant they have been, but not all of it. There has been one occasion in the six matches on which Australia have been in genuine trouble: in the second ODI they were all out for 180, which shouldn’t win a 50 overs per side match. They responded by bowling England out for 159. None of the other matches have ever got close. England have a fine bowling unit, though Australia are ahead even there. Batting wise Australia have been far better, but the biggest gulf has been in fielding skill. England have rarely risen above the competent in the field, rather too often have fallen below that level, and whereas Australia have had several show stopping pieces of fielding England have not had one. The two byes that accrued off Linsey Smith’s first ball were illustrative: even though saving runs was no longer relevant to Australia so dominant was their position Darcie Brown raced after the ball, got to it just before it reached the rope, tipped it back into play and saved her side two runs. England have not been at their best at any stage of this series, and against Australia any hint of weakness gets punished.
A look at developments in the Women’s Ashes, an account of an auction and a look at the state of play in the BBL, plus a photo gallery.
There has been a lot of cricket this week and my employers had an auction on Wednesday. This post looks at both things.
AUSTRALIA IN COMMAND OF WOMEN’S ASHES
The One Day Internation segment of the Women’s Ashes multi-format series is now over, and Australia have won all three matches, giving them a 6-0 lead with ten further points to play for. England have to win all three T20Is and the test match that ends the series to regain the Women’s Ashes.
I covered the first match in an earlier post. The second match was from an England perspective the most disappointing of the series – the bowlers did superbly to dismiss Australia for 180, only for the batting to fold miserably to 159 all out and defeat by 21 runs.
The third match, which took place overnight UK time, started well, with four Australian wickets down fairly quickly, but the middle and lower order wrested the initiative back, Ash Gardner leading the way with her maiden international ton – 102 off 102 balls – with Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath each scoring 50s and Georgia Wareham giving the total a final boost with a spectacular 38* off 12 balls. This led to a final total of 308-8 for the Australian Women. England were never really in the hunt, and ended up losing by 222 runs. Player of the Match Gardner was involved in the most spectacular moment of this innings, the dismissal of Sophie Ecclestone. Ecclestone went big, and looked for all the world to be scoring six when Gardner leaped high to catch the ball, and then had the presence of mind to realize she was about to land beyond the boundary, throw it back up, run in and catch it again. A video of this dismissal can be seen here.
THE AUCTION
The January auction, a small one of 386 lots, featuring vintage radios and clocks, militaria, some very well preserved 1970s posters and a few other bits got underway at 10AM sharp on Wednesday. A malfunction on the part of easyliveauction, one of the two online platforms we use, caused an early halt – the problem, which was definitely at their end, was not resolved for some hours – after just over 300 of the lots had gone under the hammer. However, up to that point it had been very successful, with many items exceeding estimates by considerable amounts. Along the way, lot 169 went to me. This lot was a collection of stuff relating to a trip to Normandy run by the Southern Railway in 1934, in a tour company paper wallet. It used to be commonplace for railway companies to also operate ferry services, enabling the whole route to be booked through themselves, and ensuring that the boat departure would mesh well with the arrival of the train at the nearest station. I end this section with a gallery devoted to this item…
I always try to produce detailed galleries for items I am thinking of bidding for, to avoid any suggestion that I might be hiding things from potential rival bidders.In this case it stretched to ten images.The remaining images in this gallery were taken at home this morning.
THREE BBL KNOCKOUT SLOTS CONFIRMED
There are just three group fixtures left in this year’s BBL. With today’s match between the two Sydney outfits, Sixers and Thunder, ruined by the weather we now know that Hobart Hurricanes (played nine, 15 points) are winning the league stage, whatever happens in their final group fixture against Melbourne Stars. Sydney Sixers are second and Sydney Thunder are third, both sufficiently clear of fourth for these spots to be certain. None of the remaining five teams are entirely ruled out of qualifying yet, although tomorrow’s two matches will winnow down the possibilities. It will be Sunday’s match between Stars and Hurricanes that will finally settle it. There is nothing at stake in that game for the Hurricanes – they as mentioned are qualifying as winners of the league stage even if they lose that match, whereas for Stars it will be a chance to complete a Houdini act – they started with five straight losses and they have a legitimate chance of qualifying.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Birds flying in an approximate V formation……this close up suggests that they are a species of goose.
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