An account of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra’s first ever relaxed concert, which took place yesterday at The Corn Exchange, King’s Lynn. Also a photo gallery.
This is the first of two posts I will be putting up today. The second will complete the story of the test match at Edgbaston, which ended yesterday evening. This one looks back at a special event that took place yesterday afternoon.
A NEW DEPARTURE
The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra staged a relaxed concert, the first such that they have done, at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn yesterday afternoon. The seating was loosely arranged on an open floor and at the same level as the orchestra. There were no hard and fast rules to adhere to, though there a request was made of people that they not go in among the orchestra as doing would so would disrupt the concentration of the players. The West Norfolk Autism Group had been allocated seats (tickets free of charge), and I was one of those who attended. The concert was scheduled to start at 2:30, and we were advised to arrive early. I was actually the first of the attendees to arrive, getting to the Corn Exchange pretty much on the dot of two o’clock. The performance lasted a little more than an hour.
THE MUSIC
Just before the performance was due to start we were given sheets listing the music – 13 pieces were named in total, and the sheet made it clear that not all would be played.
This image is of an a4 printed sheet which has the official Norfolk Symphony Orchestra header, below which appears “Welcome to our relaxed concert today we hope you enjoy it. We will be some playing music from the following list The pieces will be introduced as we go along so you know what we are playing
Brahms – St Anthony Chorale Variations Pachelbel – Canon Wiseman – Wilde Suite Nyman – Time Lapse Daft Punk – Adagio for Tron Faure – Sicilienne Arthur Benjamin – Jamaican Rumba Ernest Bucalossi – Grasshopper Dance Tchaikovsky – Sleeping Beauty Waltz Vaughan-Williams – Greensleeves Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Elgar – Salut D’Amour Rachmaninoff – Vocalise”
The first two pieces actually played were the Brahms and the Elgar. They were followed by three film pieces by Wiseman, Nyman and Daft Punk. Debbie Wiseman was voted the world’s best living composer in 2022, and the Wilde Suite provided some indication of why. The performance then finished with three dance pieces, the Jamaican Rumba, the Grasshopper Dance and the Sleeping Beauty Waltz. All were excellent and all were very well performed. I thoroughly enjoyed this event and look forward to the next one. My only mild regret is that the Pachelbel piece did not make the cut.
The penultimate post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group trip to Pensthorpe, featuring the cranes and flamingos.
Welcome to the penultimate post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group trip to Pensthorpe (posts 1, 2, 3 and 4 can be viewed by clicking the relevant number, and the final post, about the trailer ride, will appear tomorrow, one week after the trip took place).
FLAMINGOS AND CRANES
The Flamingo and Crane Enclosures are accessed in the same way when on the way round Pensthorpe. The path into the area that houses both enclosures arrives in between the two – flamingos one way, cranes the other. Although one cannot get close to the flamingos their enclosure is open, with nothing concealed. The cranes, of which Pensthorpe has four distinct species, are viewable only from a hide, which has four separate hatches through which one can look, one for each species. The cranes are one of many conservation projects being undertaken at Pensthorpe.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the photographs I got of the cranes and flamingos:
Flamingo doing a cormorant impression – the feature image is a composite featuring this and the most impressive of the cranes.This shelduck was near the path linking the flamingo and crane areas.The East African Crowned Crane……and a close up of that ‘crown’.
Welcome to the fourth post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group trip to Pensthorpe Natural Park (see here, here and here). Today I look at the Waders Aviary.
THE WADERS AVIARY
The Waders Aviary is accessed by a door from the gift shop/ viewing gallery area, and is the only part of the site accessible via that door – it is entirely self contained, and one must therefore fully intend to visit it. It is extremely well worth visiting. There is a walkway along one side of the aviary which is the only part of the enclosure that is accessible to the public. To prepare for the main photo gallery here is the information about which birds can be seen here:
A look at the more artistic elements of Pensthorpe Natural Park.
Welcome to the third post in my mini-series about the West Norfolk Autism Group’s trip to Pensthorpe on Saturday (see here and here). Today I focus on one particular aspect of the site – the artistic element thereof.
ART AT PENSTHORPE
Art is clearly highly appreciated by the people who run Pensthorpe Natural Park, with a number of nature inspired sculptures dotted around the site, at least one very artistic gate (I did actually use it for its intended purpose, as well as photographing it) and a bridge inspired by a great artist of the past. I do not know if Claude Monet ever visited Norfolk (I suspect not) but he would certainly recognize the bridge modelled on his own at Giverny. The artistic element undoubtedly enhances the overall experience.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are my photographs of the artistic elements of Pensthorpe (those that I managed to capture anyway).
A look back at the final day of Six Nations 2024 action, and a bumper photo gallery, presented in three parts.
The 2024 Six Nations rugby tournament concluded late yesterday evening, with France playing England in Lyon in a match that would decide second and third spots in the final table. This match was the third match a final day and that it had no bearing on who won the tournament shows that the schedulers miscalculated somewhat.
THE EARLIER GAMES
The first match of the day saw Wales and Italy facing one another in a game that Wales had to win to avoid the wooden spoon. A win for Italy would make it their best ever Six Nations showing. It was also confirmed as a final international appearance for George North of Wales, and I suspect there may be other members of this Welsh squad who will not be seen at international level again. The Italians were 11-0 up at half time, and a converted try right at the start of the second half extended the lead to 18. At that point Wales finally showed a hint of fighting spirit, and in the end the final score was remarkably close, but Italy’s early dominance had ensured that justice was done, and that they did indeed record the win that gave them their best ever Six Nations showing.
Ireland needed only a single point from their match against Scotland to ensure that they would retain the championship that they won last year. Scotland came out fighting, making it clear from the word go that they were not just there to assist in Ireland’s coronation. Ireland proved good enough in the end, and retained their championship, underlining their status as the current dominant force in European rugby.
FRANCE V ENGLAND
This match would have no bearing on who won the tournament, but no game between these old rivals is ever meaningless, and there was plenty of pride at stake, as well as which of these sides would end up in second place. The match was an absolute belter of a game. The lead changed many times. With only a few minutes to go England got a penalty, and in the situation George Ford opted to kick for the corner hoping to set up a try rather than settle for three points. A superb kick gave England a line out just ten metres from the try line, and some slick work from that line out got them the try, and Ford, as unerring with the boot as he had been all game, duly scored the conversion to put England ahead. Then, with 38 seconds left on the clock France were awarded a penalty. For them, with three points being sufficient to re-establish their lead in the dying seconds it was a ‘must kick’ opportunity, though at 49 metres it was a major challenge to do so. Ramos, the French kicker, managed to put it over and the home crowd celebrated. There was time for the match to restart, but there was never any doubt that the French would retain possession for long enough thereafter to hang on for the win and with it second place in the table.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Yesterday was a very spring like day, and I deliberately extended my walks to and from King’s Lynn library where there was a ‘just a cuppa’ morning for autistic adults to take full advantage of it. Thus comes a gallery three parts…
Friday afternoon’s walk and the walk to the library…
The walk to the library yesterday starts here.
Lego architecture at the coffee morning…
Modification of the roof to include an overhanging observation platform.The final modification – the blue bases used here represent part of a river, with clear blocks forming a stepping stone type crossing thereof.
The walk back from the library…
A brimstone butterfly fluttering around the greenery near Kettlewell Lane (four pics)
A brief post celebrating the fact that after a week and a half without it I once again have broadband access at home. Ends with a bumper photo gallery, including the first butterfly of 2024.
The engineer came round near the beginning of the official slot of 8AM – 1PM today and connected up my new EE Home Hub, so after a gap of a week and a half I have Broadband at home once again.
A FRIGHTENINGLY WARM FEBRUARY
As I type this it is 12 degrees Celsius outside (53.6 Fahrenheit for USian readers), and that is far from out of keeping with the last week or so, when double figure positives have been the rule rather than the exception. February in high northern latitudes such as England is generally one of the two coldest months of the year alongside January, and the outside temperature hitting double figure positives on a regular basis is way out of kilter. Yesterday while out and about I saw my first butterfly of 2024, a small Tortoiseshell, while the spring flowers are in full bloom.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Saturday and yesterday were both good days for photography, in spite of being cloudy, and I therefore finish this post a king size gallery…
This shot and the next seven after it showcase the Lego architecture that I indulged in at the ‘Just a Cuppa’ morning for Autistic Adults at King’s Lynn Library on Saturday.This close up of the entrance also shows the topmost part of the gothic archway which links the front porch to the main building.A small Tortoiseshell butterfly in the grass alongside Bawsey Drain, heading towards North Lynn.
A look back at the Boxing Day test between Australia and Pakistan, a brief comment on the Lamichhane case (some may find this distressing), a mention of the Panto at the Corn Exchange and a photo gallery.
Early yesterday morning the the Boxing Day test match between Australia and Pakistan ended a day ahead of schedule. The main part of this post looks back at that match. There is then a second section that some readers may find distressing, covering a piece of news that should not be overlooked. I end with my usual photo gallery.
A HARD FOUGHT BATTLE
I posted about developments earlier in this match here. Pakistan ended up 61 behind on first innings. They began the Australian second innings breathing fire, reducing their hosts to 16-4 at one point. They had a chance to make it 46-5, but it went to ground as more than one other did in the course of the match. The reprieved batter, Mitchell Marsh, went on to top score with 96 and Australia had 316 to defend in the end. The biggest ever successful chase at The G is 332, by England in 1928-9 in the match that won them that Ashes series, while Pakistan have a horrible record down under – last time they won a test match anywhere in Australia the side was captained by Imran Khan.
However, Pakistan did not surrender meekly, as their subcontinental neighbours had at Centurion in the other Boxing Day test (India 245, South Africa 406, India 131 – South Africa won by an innings and 30 runs), they had a real go at the target.
The got to within 100 of the target with the sixth wicket pairing of Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman together and going nicely. Cummins appealed for a catch behind against Rizwan, given not out on the field, with the TMS commentary team also certain that it wasn’t out and Rizwan indicating that it had hit his forearm on the way through. Australia sent it upstairs, and after about five minutes of using every piece of technology available to him the third umpire Richard Illingworth found what he believed was evidence to overturn the decision and instructed Michael Gough, the on field umpire, to do so. My belief is that having studied replays for that long there is no way the evidence Illingworth had could have been convincing enough to warrant an overturn.
The controversial breakthrough thus achieved, Australia did not take long to do the rest of the job, Pakistan being all out for 237 to lose by 79 runs. Pat Cummins in addition to captaining his side took five wickets in each Pakistan innings (5-48 and 5-49 respectively), and there was thus only one candidate for Player of the Match. Nevertheless, for me, the circumstances of Rizwan’s dismissal in the final innings means that this victory by Australia is somewhat tainted. A full scorecard can be seen here.
THE LAMICHHANE CASE
Yesterday it was announced that the a Nepalese jury had found Sandeep Lamichhane, the Nepali leg spinner, guilty of raping a minor, an offence that under Nepali law carries a possible 12 year jail term. In my view the ICC, as cricket’s world governing body, have a duty to respond to this news: Lamichhane should forthwith be banned outright from ever having anything more to do with organized cricket – no playing, no umpiring, no commentary gigs, no coaching (especially this latter given what he has been found guilty of) etc.
THE CHRISTMAS PANTO
This year’s Christmas Panto at the Corn Exchange, King’s Lynn was Dick Whittington, and on Thursday night the West Norfolk Autism Group had block booked seats. The fact that we were buying in bulk got us a substantial discount on the regular price, and members were only asked to pay £5 per ticket by us. It was an excellent production, well worth the minor inconvenience of the timing (a scheduled 5:30PM start, which meant all I had time to do at home between work and the performance was get changed out of my work clothes, and supper had to wait until I got home again at the end of the evening).
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The Corn Exchange Advertising in the foyer of the Corn Exchange.
An all time XI of players whose given names begin with T, including an honourable mentions section which pays particular attention to four specific areas, and a photo gallery.
Today I look at great players with given names beginning with the letter T. This was a particularly tough XI to select, and I will be starting the honourable mentions section with four disputed areas in this team. Incidentally I offer wholehearted congratulations to India Women on their all time record test victory over England Women. Their star was Deepti Sharma, who scored runs in both innings and was the chief destroyer with the ball as well, claiming 5-7 in the first England innings and 4-32 second time round.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Tom Hayward (England, right handed opening batter, right arm medium pacer). In 1900 he passed his 1,000 FC runs for the season before the end of May, only the second ever to do so after WG Grace, all though the good Doctor scored all his runs actually in May, whereas Hayward’s tally included runs in April. 14 years later Hayward brought up the career landmark of 100 first class hundreds, again second ever to do so after WG. In 1906 he scored 3,518 first class runs in the season, a tally that stood as a record for 41 years, before Denis Compton and Bill Edrich both beat it in the same season. He also ushered on to the scene a fellow native of Cambridge named John Berry Hobbs.
Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh, left handed opening batter). An attack minded left hander to go with the more conservatively minded right hander Hayward, and one with a test average of close to 40.
*Tom Abell (England, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer, captain). I needed a captain for this side, and this was my solution.
Tom Graveney (England, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). A stylish batter, with a test record of very considerable substance as well.
Travis Head (Australia, left handed batter, occasional off spinner). It has taken a while for him to really establish himself at the very highest level but he is now one of the best batters in the world.
Trevor Goddard (South Africa, left handed batter, left arm medium pacer). A genuine, but massively under-appreciated all rounder, I go into more detail about this slot in the next section of the post. For the moment, suffice it to note that he averaged 34 with the bat and 26 with the ball at test level.
+Tom Blundell (New Zealand, wicket keeper, right handed batter). An accomplished keeper/ batter for New Zealand, his record demands that he be included.
Tom Emmett (England, left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). By the time test cricket was a thing he was past his absolute prime, but his FC averages were the right way around, 14.84 with the bat and 13.55 with the ball, which convert using my usual metric to 22.26 with the bat and 20.23 with the ball in the modern era.
Tom Richardson (England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). His 14 test appearances yielded 88 wickets. His achievements for Surrey were staggering as well. Between 1894 and 1897 inclusive (four English seasons and one tour of Australia), Richardson claimed 1,005 first class wickets.
Tom Goddard (England, off spinner, right handed batter). He started as a fast bowler, but following advice from Gloucestershire team mate Charlie Parker, who had noted the size of Goddard’s hands and the strength of his fingers he went away and remodelled himself as a spinner, and in that capacity he was one of the greats, ending a very long career (forced because of an attack of pleurisy) as the fifth leading first class wicket taker of all time, with 2,979 scalps at 19.84 each.
Taijul Islam (Bangladesh, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). 44 test appearances have yielded him 192 wickets, sufficient to earn him his place in this XI.
This side is strong in batting, even with the 9, 10, 11 being old style tail enders, and has lots of bowling, with Emmett, Richardson, Tom Goddard, Islam and Trevor Goddard as the main attack and Hayward, Abell and Head all capable of providing support if needed.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will start with four particularly contentious areas, in batting order:
First, the number three slot. Technically I should have given this to Tom Latham of New Zealand, but I decided it was worth possibly sacrificing a few runs per innings to have Abell’s captaincy available.
Second, the all rounder position. Many would have opted for Trevor Bailey, but Goddard actually had better records in both departments than the other Trevor. Bailey averaged 29.74 with the bat and 29.21 with the ball at test level, Trevor Goddard 34.46 with the bat and 26.22 with the ball. Goddard also had a better wicket taking rate than Bailey, claiming an average of exactly three per test whereas Bailey averaged just 2.16 per test. Thomas Odoyo of Kenya would be a contender for a limited overs side.
Third, the wicket keeper’s slot. Taslim Arif had an amazing record with the bat for Pakistan in the few tests he got selected for, but he was never first choice keeper. Tim Ambrose of England was a quality keeper and a useful batter, but not quite good enough to displace Blundell. Tom Box, an legendary keeper of the mid 19th century also merits a mention.
Fourth, the new ball pairing. I opted for a pair of outstanding practitioners he never overlapped, rather than a pair with respectable records who bowled in tandem a considerable number of times at the highest level, Trent Boult (LFM) and Tim Southee (RFM), both of New Zealand. My feeling is that Emmett and Richardson were so great as individuals that I am prepared not to pick the established pairing, but I acknowledge that there is a good case for picking the Kiwis.
Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka was a fine batter on flat subcontinental pitches, but did little outside of Asia.
Two quality English seamers who missed out were Tom Cartwright and Tim Bresnan. Tom Wass of Nottinghamshire, a bowler of both fast medium and leg spin who took 1,666 first class wickets at 20 without ever getting an England call up was a challenger for the place I gave to Taijul Islam. Tymal Mills would be in the mix for a T20 side, but concerns over his back have led him to restrict himself to cricket in which he never has to bowl more than four overs at a stretch.
Tim May of Australia was a fine off spinner, but not fine enough to dislodge the fifth leading wicket taker in FC history. Tommy Mitchell of Derbyshire was a good leg spinner, who claimed three wickets at 20 each in his sole test appearance, which came during the 1932-3 Ashes in the one match for which England deemed two specialist spinners necessary.
Tom Walker of Hambledon does not have a complete enough career record to be selected, but needs mention for historic reasons – he was the first to attempt round arm bowling, and also pioneered lob bowling. Thomas Lord, a native of Thirsk, was a negligible cricketer, but the third of the three grounds he arranged for the Marylebone Cricket Club, which opened for business in 1814 is one of the most famous cricketing venues in the world.
Finally, while picking a fictional character is too much even for me to consider, Tom Spedegue of “Spedegue’s Dropper” would certainly have given the bowling extra variety.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The dates for the next year’s Autism Acceptance just a cuppa sessions at King’s Lynn libraryLego architecture, at today’s Autism Acceptance just a cuppa (six pics)A cormorant swimming in the Gaywood River near Kettlewell Lane was an unexpected sight (features in a number of pics).A title page for my wildlife themed cigarette cards, using one of my own photos.
Continuing the exploration of the all-time XIs theme with a look at the letter N.
Welcome to this latest installment in my exploration of the ‘all time XIs’ theme. This time the team all have surnames beginning with the letter N.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Stan Nichols (Essex, England). Left handed batter, right arm fast bowler. He didn’t play many games for England, but he was an Essex stalwart for many years, and he did on occasion open the batting for the county, a role I have given him in this.
Mudassar Nazar (Pakistan). A stubborn right handed opening batter and occasional purveyor of medium pace. He forms an excellent counterpoint to the flamboyant Nichols.
Seymour Nurse (West Indies). An excellent batter with test HS of 258. He is the first of a powerful trio of middle order batters for this team.
Arthur Dudley Nourse (South Africa). A test average of 53, maintained through a long career.
Arthur William ‘Dave’ Nourse (South Africa). A left handed batter and left arm medium pace bowler. He was Dudley’s father, but never coached his son. Once an argument about how to hold the bat broke out in a game of street cricket that Dudley was playing, and Dudley took the matter to his father. Papa Nourse, completely composed, told Dudley “Son I learned to bat with a fence paling – now you go and do the same”. From that moment on Dudley did things his way.
*Monty Noble (Australia). A right handed batter and off spin bowler, he was one two notable all rounders to play for Australia in the early 20th century, Warwick Armstrong being the other. He was highly regarded as captain of the side, a role I have given him in this XI. He was the third victim of arguably the most notable test hat trick ever taken, when at Headingley in 1899 JT Hearne accounted for Clem Hill, Syd Gregory and him in successive balls – one great batter, one very good one and one all rounder. He was the bowler when Albert Trott hit his famous blow that carried the Lord’s pavilion. His accounts of the 1924-5 and 1928-9 Ashes series are both excellent reads. His full record can be viewed here.
+Paul Nixon (Leicestershire, England). Years of sterling service for his county did not translate into many England caps, but he was a superb keeper, and good enough with the bat to have scored 1,000 FC runs in a season – the first Leicestershire keeper to reach that mark since 1935.
Makhaya Ntini (South Africa). Over 300 test wickets confirm his status as a top notch fast bowler.
Shahbaz Nadeem (India). A left arm orthodox spinner with a fine FC record whose international opportunities have been limited by the fact that he is a contemporary of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, both of whom are quite rightly ahead of him in the pecking order.
Sarfraz Nawaz (Pakistan). Not a genuinely fast bowler, but a highly effective operator at fast medium. His greatest moment came with Australia 305-3 chasing a target of 382 – they were 310 all out, Sarfraz Nawaz taking all seven of those wickets, to give him nine in the innings, at a cost of one run.
Anrich Nortje (South Africa). One of the fastest bowlers of the current era, no opponents relish facing him.
This side contains a somewhat make shift opening pair, a powerful trio at three, four and five, a genuine all rounder, a keeper who could bat and four fine specialist bowlers. It is not one of the strongest XIs in this series, but it is certainly not the weakest either. If forced to choose I would always prefer a strong bowling side with slightly questionable batting over a powerful batting side that will struggle to take 20 wickets – the former combo is much more likely to win matches, while the latter will probably be made to settle for a draw when its batting fires and be defeated when it does not.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will start with the question of openers: the main alternatives to using Nichols in that role were Scott Newman, who never played international cricket though he was fairly prolific at county level, and Imran Nazir of Pakistan, most of whose greatest successes came in limited overs matches.
Henry Nicholls of New Zealand is a gritty batter but not quite of the necessary class to displace Nurse or either of the Nourses from this XI.
Otto Nothling was a fine all round athlete, and a good cricketer at state level in Australia, but when the chance came at test level he did nothing. Had I not settled on Noble as skipper I would have considered Shelley Nitschke for the all rounders slot – her being a left arm spinner would have made selecting the specialist spinner somewhat easier.
The only alternative to Nixon for the keeper’s slot that I could think of was another player with Leicestershire connections, Tom New. He was perhaps a little better with the bat than Nixon but he was not as good a keeper, and that settled the issue.
Rana Naved of Pakistan at number eight would have strengthened the batting (none of my four chosen bowlers would be likely to make a major contribution in that department), but while his record at FC level and in limited overs internationals was good, he paid over 50 a piece for his test wickets. Australian brothers Lisle and Vernon Nagel both bowled medium fast, making use of their height (6’6″) to generate awkward bounce. Lisle once took 8-32 in an innings in a tour match vs MCC (during the 1932-3 tour), but he did not deliver for the test team. Buster Nupen, the only test cricketer born in Norway, came close, but he paid 32 a piece for his wickets at the highest level, just too much. Australian pacer Ashley Noffke was never a regular at international level, and similarly current Indian pacer T Natarajan has yet to establish himself at the highest level.
Mark Nicholas could only have made the XI as a specialist captain, a notion I do not especially approve of, and with Noble available to skipper one that was hardly necessary. He would however get to lead the comms team when this XI was in action.
Nasim-ul-Ghani who was the first nightwatcher to score a test ton did not do enough with his left arm spin to merit inclusion. Sunil Narine, formerly of the West Indies and now plying his trade in short format leagues around the world is an off spinner thus with the presence of Noble doubly disqualified. Similar arguments apply to Afghan legend Mohammad Nabi.
I fully expect that ten years or so from now the young Afghan left arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad will have taken his place among the cricketing elite, but at the moment, not altogether surprisingly for a 17 tear old he does not have enough of a record to be worth a place. He may suffer somewhat because his country have such a glut of quality spinners: Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Qais Ahmad and Zahir Khan are just four of those he is up against for international honours.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Our cricketing journey through the letter N is at an end and it remains only to apply the usual sign off…
A look at Surrey v Gloucestershire, a mathematical teaser, an article and some photographs.
Although I am giving some details from a cricket match and have used that as my title this is not exclusively a cricket article. I also wish to take the opportunity to welcome any new readers who may come to the site as a result of an article about me in the Lynn News, a screenshot of which is the feature image of this post. Also, I am going off on holiday later today, to northern Scotland (I will be travelling on an overnight train for some of the journey), and posting may be limited for the next eight days for that reason.
SURREY V GLOUCESTERSHIRE
This match has seen some dramatic swings in the just over four sessions it has been going for. At 105-1 Surrey looked in control, at 183-5 the pendulum had swung towards Gloucestershire, and by the close yesterday at 285-5 it was evenly poised. Hashim Amla, the former South African international, had a ton to his name by the close and Jamie Overton at n07 reached 50 off the final ball of the day. Overton fell to the first ball of the morning, which brought Sean Abbott to the crease. Gloucestershire then made a very odd call, seeking to keep Amla off strike to attack Abbott who is a decent lower order batter and had been sent in ahead of someone with 10,000 FC career runs to his name. This backfired horribly, Abbott making 40 out of a stand of 61. His dismissal at 346 brought Rikki Clarke (he of the 10,000 FC runs) to the crease, and at the moment he and Amla are still together. The score is now 385-7, with Amla closing in on 150. To come are the two specialist spinners, Virdi and Moriarty. Gloucestershire have been excellent thus far this season, but it is hard to see any way for them to win this game from here.
A MATHEMATICAL TEASER
I regularly feature problems I have encountered on the website http://www.brilliant.org here, sometimes adapated, and I do so again today:
A small additional question: can you identify the four mathematicians after whom Carl, Leonhard, Emmy and Sophie are named (answers to both parts of this question in my next post).
PHOTOGRAPHS
I always include photographs in my blog posts, and I have some for you now:
aspiblog 