Tag: BBL14

Hurricane Mitchell

A look back at the BBL Final, and one of the most extraordinary T20 innings ever played. Also a photo gallery.

Today saw the final of the 14th edition of the Big Bash League. The contending teams were Hobart Hurricanes, winners of the league stage of the tournament, and also victors over Sydney Sixers in the first match of the post-season, and Sydney Thunder, third in the league stage of the season, enders of Melbourne Stars’ Lazarus act (making the KOs after starting with five successive losses) and victors over their Sydney rivals in the penultimate match of the tournament to claim their place in the final. As group winners Hurricanes staged the game at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

THE THUNDER INNINGS

Hobart Hurricanes won the bat flip and put Thunder in. David Warner and especially Jason Sangha got Thunder away to a fast start. At the end of the four over Power Play the score was 40-0, and that tempo was pretty much maintained through the first half of the innings, at which point the score was 97-0. A team who are 97-0 after 10 overs of a 20 over innings SHOULD top the 200 mark without much difficulty. However, the first half of their innings was be the last period of the match in which Thunder could claim to have had the better of things. Thunder delayed their Power Surge, due to wickets starting to fall, and just as they were preparing to take it Jason Sangha was out for 67 off 42 balls. That was 146-4 after precisely 16 overs, and having basically left themselves no other choice Thunder activated the Surge for overs 17 and 18. They scored 20 runs for no wicket in those two overs, which is no better than fair for a Power Surge on a good batting track. A big last over of the innings (14 in total coming from it) got Thunder to 182-7 from their 20 overs – 85-7 in the second half of their innings. A total of over 180 wins more T20s than it loses, and finals are often lower scoring than regular matches…

AN INCREDIBLE INNINGS

The first ball of the Hurricanes innings, bowled by Nathan McAndrew, went away for five wides. The six legal deliveries of the over yielded a further 18, as Mitchel Owen gave notice of his intentions. By the end of the four over Power Play Hurricanes were a barely believable 74-0, most of the damage being done by Owen, who was playing an innings that will become part of cricket legend. Tanveer Sangha had Caleb Jewell caught by Warner for 13 off the second ball of the eighth over to make 109-1. Owen reached three figures off his 39th ball, having hit 11 sixes, an all time record for any BBL innings, along the way. By the end of the 10th over it was 138-2, Owen 108* off 42 balls. The mid-innings drinks break, as often happens, broke the flow, and Owen was out first ball on the resumption, but by then the job was done, and it was just a question of when Hurricanes would complete their victory. Hurricanes past 150 in the 12th over, and at the end of that over activated their Power Surge. Those two overs yielded 29 further runs for no further loss, Wes Agar saving a tiny amount of face by avoiding conceding the winning runs, but finishing with 2-0-39-0. Ben McDermott dispatched the first ball of the 15th over for four, and Hurricanes had won by seven wickets with 5.5 overs to spare. Tim David, who most would have pegged in advance of the innings as Hurricanes likeliest matchwinner with the bat ended up not being required at all, such was their dominance due to that amazing knock by Owen. Hurricanes have been the best team in this year’s competition, and although the scale of the hammering was rough on Thunder, cricketing justice was done in this final. The scorecard from this amazing game can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Melbourne Stars Great Escape

An account of the final group fixture of the 14th edition of the Big Bash League, Melbourne Stars v Hobart Hurricanes. Also a large photo gallery.

When Melbourne Stars began the 14th edition of the Big Bash League with five straight losses no one would have imagined that it would be them who went into the final match of the group stage with something to play for, while their opposition, Hobart Hurricanes had already secured first place in the group irrespective of the result. However that was the situation. Having won four successive games to get back in the hunt the Stars came into today’s match knowing that a win would qualify them for the knockouts. This post looks back at the match.

THE STARS INNINGS

Hobart Hurricanes won the bat flip, and as seems to be an inflexible rule for BBL sides, they chose to bowl first. The fact that the game was a ‘dead rubber’ for them was reflected in their playing XI, which was decidedly on the weak side. The team occupying fourth going into this match, Perth Scorchers, may well have looked askance at the Hurricanes chosen XI. The four over opening Power Play offered little sign of either side dominating – Stars were 30-1 after four overs. The Stars went slower after the Power Play, and after 8.4 overs the score was 58-2. Two successive fours ended that ninth over, and a further nine runs came off the tenth, bringing Stars to the halfway stage of their innings at 75-2. Marcus Stoinis departed to the fourth ball of the 11th over, making it 81-3. Stoinis had scored 32 off 19 balls. It was here that the game started to change. Just seven balls after Stoinis was out a six from Glenn Maxwell brought up the Stars 100. At the end of the 13th over Stars were 118-3, and they activated the Power Surge. It was not actually a very impressive two overs, yielding 18-0 in total. With five overs to go in their innings Stars were 136-3. Beau Webster, who at one point had been 8* (13) hit two fours and a six to start the 16th over, reaching a 30 ball half century with that six. He was out immediately after completing the half century. Glenn Maxwell now took centre change, helped by Hilton Cartwright. The 17th over saw 23 runs added to the total. The 18th over, bowled by veteran Chris Jordan, was better, and also featured the run out of Cartwright. The 19th over was bowled by Cameron Gannon, a 35 year old former USA international. He had fared pretty well until this over, and with four balls left of his spell he had 0-26. By the time he had bowled the last of those four balls his figures were 0-48! Maxwell, now absolutely running riot, had hit him for 4,6,6,6 to end the 19th over. That meant that with an over to go Stars were 205-5. It fell to Jordan to bowl the final over. In the circumstances conceding a further 14 wasn’t too bad , and his figures of 3-0-30-0 in a score of 219-5 also look respectable. However, he was clearly not fully fit, and he effectively functioned as a spinner bowling off a long run up – all 18 of his deliveries were ‘pace off’.

THE HURRICANES REPLY

Mitchell Owen started like a runaway train, but none of his team mates were similarly inspired. The third ball of the second over saw Caleb Jewell caught by Stoinis off Steketee to make it 22-1, and two balls later new batter Charlie Wakim was caught by Cartwright for a two ball duck and it was 22-2. Peter Siddle bowled the third over of the innings, and yielded 21 runs. However Steketee, bowling the fourth over, pinned McDermott LBW to make it 45-3. The second ball of the sixth over saw Owen caught by Maxwell for 38 (17) to make it 54-4. Nikhil Chaudhary and Matthew Wade batted well together, but one ball before the end of the tenth over, and thus one ball before the earliest point at which the Power Surge could be activated Wade fell to a catch by Cartwright to make it 92-5, Stoinis the beneficiary. The Hurricanes did not take the Power Surge at the first opportunity. Chaudhary started the 11th over, bowled by Pakistani leg spinner Usama Mir by hitting the first two balls for fours to bring up the 100 for his side, but he was then out caught and bowled off the next ball and it was 100-6. The score at the end of the 11th was 101-6, and although Tim David, Hurricanes’ sole remaining hope, was at the wrong end, they took the Power Surge as they virtually had to. Siddle conceded just eight from the 12th over, and T Curran matched him in the 13th. Joel Paris, left arm medium fast, bowled Jordan with the third ball of the 14th and that was 123-7. The fourth ball of the 15th over just about terminated Hurricanes hopes – David was caught by Maxwell off Mir to make it 133-8. At the end of that over Hurricanes were 134-8, needing 86 off the last five overs. Stars had hit 83 off the last five overs of their innings, but a)they were setting a target, not under the gun and b)they had front line batters at the crease, while Hurricanes were down to the tail enders. The remainder of the match saw Nathan Ellis, who had only been fit enough to bowl one over, amass a new T20 career best of 40, before off the third ball of the final over he got out, caught by Maxwell off Steketee. Maxwell was the only candidate for Player of the Match – it was his 76* (32) that put Stars out of reach, and this was his third catch, so it was appropriate that he should end the match. Steketee also deserves a hat tip – in a match in which 398 runs were score from 39.3 overs his bowling figures were 3.3-0-24-4. Hurricanes will be in action the day after tomorrow, hosting Sydney Sixers in the Qualifier, while Melbourne Stars travel to Sydney to face Sydney Thunder in the Knockout a day later, and in a real rarity for the BBL, Perth Scorchers’ season is over. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This is a very clear shot of a redshank, where the Nar joins the Great Ouse. It is quite similar to a sandpiper, but the legs (hence the name) and the speckled underside make the identification clear.

BBL 2024-5’s Big Cull

A look at today’s action in the BBL and the state of play in that competition with one group match still to play. Also a large photo gallery.

There were two BBL matches today – first at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne the Renegades played host to Brisbane Heat, and then in Perth the Scorchers played host to Adelaide Strikers. At the start of today all four of these teams had mathematical chances of qualifying, as also did incumbent fourth placers Melbourne Stars. By the end of today only one of the four teams in action retained a chance of qualifying. This post looks at how the day unfolded.

BRISBANE BOWLERS BATTERED

Brisbane Heat batted first, and a score of 196-4 should at least have tested their hosts. Unfortunately some very ordinary bowling and a quite magnificent innings from Jake Fraser-McGurk (95 off 46 balls) saw Renegades win by three wickets with two whole overs to spare, a result that put Renegades fourth, ahead of city rivals Stars on net run rate, but with the latter having a game in hand, to be played tomorrow. Scorecard here.

GAMES WITHIN GAMES

Adelaide Strikers found themselves batting first, and started at a tremendous gallop, looking likely to score over 200 for a significant part of their innings. However they suffered a horrendous batting collapse from a high water mark of 88-2 after 7.1 overs, ending up being all out for 161 from 19.1 overs.

The Perth Scorchers innings was where games within games came into play – they needed 162 from 20 overs to win, but a close match would see both sides eliminated, one on absolute terms and the other on net run rate. The calculations revealed that Scorchers needed to knock the runs off in 18 overs or less to move into fourth on net run rate, while Strikers needed to restrict Scorchers to 146 or less to take fourth spot themselves.

At the half way stage Scorchers were 85-3, ahead of the basic required rate, but short of where they needed to be to win in 18 overs or less. When the fourth wicket pair were still in residence at the end of the 12th over Scorchers took their two over Power Surge, quite rightly – with the 18 over win in mind they could have delayed at most one more over while still getting full benefit from their surge. In the event they did superbly in those two overs, scoring 31 runs and losing only one wicket. In the course of 16th over two things happened – first Scorchers moved to 147, which ensured that Strikers were eliminated even if they somehow won from there, and then the Scorchers 150 came up. At the start of the 17th over 11 runs were needed and Scorchers had two overs in which to get them to stay alive in the tournament. In point of fact it took Cooper Connolly precisely two balls to complete the job, with the third and fourth sixes of his innings. Connolly had scored 39* (21), and Scorchers had won by six wickets with 3.4 overs of their allocated 20 unused, and 1.4 overs of the 18 that they had at their disposal given net run rate considerations. Thus Scorchers currently sit fourth, with one group game, tomorrow morning between Hobart Hurricanes, already confirmed as winners of the league stage, and Melbourne Stars who will qualify if they can win, or if the match is washed out, or if it is tied and the Super Over is also tied. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A BBL Double Header

Brief accounts of todays BBL matches and two photo galleries.

Greetings from a chilly King’s Lynn (officially the outside temperature is just into positive figures right now, which is a rarity this last week). This morning there were two Big Bash League games. The early game saw Perth Scorchers in action against Sydney Sixers and the later game saw Adelaide Strikers face Brisbane Heat.

SIXERS v SCORCHERS

The Perth Scorchers won the toss and put Sydney Sixers in. At first this move looked like working well – at the end of their four over opening Power Play the Sixers were 19-1. However, the Sixers would compensate for their slow start with a vengeance. By the end of the 10th over Sixers had recovered to 80-2. The Sydney innings was ignited by their Power Surge, which they took for overs 13 and 14 of the innings. They belted those two overs for 35 in total without losing a wicket. They topped 150 off the last ball of the 16th over. Even then Scorchers might have had a chance in the chase, but the last four overs were absolute carnage – 70 runs in total came off them. Sixers thus ended up with 220 to defend. The chief architect of their huge total was Steve Smith, who had been dropped early in his innings, scoring 121 off 64 balls. Moises Henriques scored 46 off 28 balls, and Ben Dwarshuis gave the total a final push into the stratosphere with 23 not out off seven balls at the end. The worst sufferer among the Scorchers bowlers was Andrew Tye, 4-0-62-0.

Scorchers were never in the hunt, and even a seventh wicket stand of 76 between Ashton Turner and Matthew Spoors only reduced the margin of defeat. In the end there were only 16 runs in it. Sean Abbott took 4-43.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

I am splitting today’s gallery because it is very large…

STRIKERS v HEAT

Heat won the toss, and just as Scorchers had earlier on they opted to bowl first. In their case there was never even a moment of doubt as to just how appallingly that decision had backfired – by the end of their four over opening Power Play the Strikers were 62-0. The field dropping back did not massively slow them,, the opening stand reaching 121 in 8.5 overs before Chris Lynn fell for 47 off 20 balls. Matthew Short continued to blaze away, ultimately scoring 109 off 54 balls. Alex Ross contributed 44 not out off 19 balls, and D’Arcy Short 16* off 10 balls. Strikers had 251-5 from their 20 overs, the second highest total in the history of the BBL. Heat, batting second, under floodlights and with their opponents bowling and fielding in less hot conditions then they themselves had endured earlier fared well in normal terms, but such was the magnitude of the challenge that they never looked remotely capable of surmounting it. A collapse from 146-3 to 158-9 merely underlined the hopelessness of the position in which they had put themselves. The last pair raised that score by 37, though the target had long since become a distant dream, and midway through the 19th over the asking rate went beyond six per ball. D’Arcy Short had 4-15 from three overs of left arm wrist spin and also held two catches in the field, but it was the other Short, Matthew, who was named Player of the Match for his ton and some clever captaincy. Strikers had won by 56 runs, and moved off the bottom of the table. Heat are now in serious trouble, hitting poor form at the wrong time, and probably about to be deprived of Colin Munro due to injury – he batted well down the order today for that reason, while Strikers, for all that are firmly in the last chance saloon even after this win look better placed to grab a qualifying spot, as they are finding form at the right time of the season. It seems to me, following from afar, that too many BBL skippers who win the toss put their opponents in without thought, and today the policy resulted in two losses, both in games that realistically speaking were settled by the end of the first 20 overs.

PHOTO GALLERY TWO

This picture was taken from west of the Great Ouse – yesterday morning was a West Norfolk Autism Group committee meeting in our office space which is just west of the river.
I had had a lift to the meeting, but walked home, after a false start which I corrected just after taking this picture.
The Great Ouse from the western edge of the road bridge across it.
A mute swan briefly taking wing.
This was my first picture of yesterday’s second walk.
These last six pictures starting with this one are from today.
It was misty down by the Great Ouse…
…but overall the sky was clear enough that the moon was visible. Many years ago in a one day match that finished very late umpire Arthur Jepson dismissed an appeal against the light with “you can see the moon – how far do you want to see?”

BBL Update

A look at the current situation in the BBL and a photo gallery.

The 2024-5 edition of the Big Bash League is now approaching the business end. Every franchise has played at least seven of their 10 group games, with two, Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars having played eight. This post looks at the state of play in the tournament.

DOWN THE TABLE

Hobart Hurricanes obliterated Sydney Thunder earlier today in a match that I only caught the start of due to having an important meeting to attend this morning, and they now have 11 points from seven games, and barring a complete collapse in what is left of the tournament they will feature in the knockouts.

Sydney Sixers have nine points from seven games, and they too are highly likely to be involved in the knockouts.

Sydney Thunder have nine points from eight games. They lost Daniel Sams and Cameron Bancroft to freak injuries resulting from a collision in the field, and the loss of the former has left them absolutely hamstrung in the Power Surge overs. Mohammad Hasnain and George Garton, signed as replacement bowlers, have both proved not to be up to the task, and Wes Agar, who has also been tried in this phase has likewise failed. This means that although one win from their two remaining games would probably be enough their qualification has to be considered as being in jeopardy. The extent of their problems bowling wise is illustrated by todays events – they had a respectable total of 164 to defend, and Hurricanes won with 3.1 overs to spare.

Brisbane Heat have seven points from seven games. They probably need two wins from their last three to qualify, but with Max Bryant coming to the fore with the bat this season I rate their chances of achieving that above those of the Thunder even winning one more game.

Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades are each on six points from seven games, a position from which two wins might be enough, but more likely they would need to win all three of their remaining games.

Melbourne Stars have six points from eight games. However, they started with five straight losses and have won their next three. If they can win their last two that might just sneak them qualification, and they would then be going into the knockouts with tremendous recent form to bolster their chances.

Adelaide Strikers have four points from seven games. They can afford no further slip ups of any sort, but not even they can be officially ruled out as yet.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

2,500

My 2,500th blog post, featuring a cricket story, a review of a science book and lots of photos.

Welcome to my 2,500th blog post. The only thing I could think of about the number 2,500 for this post is that it is the square of 50, which is coincidentally the age I will be at my next birthday.

A NEW TALENT ARRIVES

The Men’s Big Bash League is now in full swing, and today is a double header day. The second half of that double header, the so-called ‘Sydney Smash’ derby between Sixers and Thunder is currently underway. The first match took place in Tasmania, where Hobart Hurricanes hosted Perth Scorchers. The Hurricanes won by eight wickets with four balls to spare. All else in the match was overshadowed by the batting performance of Mitchell Owen, who came into this match without a century in any form of professional cricket to his name, and with a mere 89 BBL runs IN TOTAL from 14 previous BBL matches. By the end of the 19th over he was on 96* but was at the wrong end, with a mere seven needed. His partner, Ben McDermott, got a single off the first ball of that finakl over, which was also called ‘no ball’, reducing the ask to five, and meaning that Owen was back on strike with five needed and a ‘free hit’ on the way. He cashed in, smashing the ball in question for four to reach three figures off the 63rd delivery of his innings. He scored the winning single off the next ball. Given that the Hurricanes target had been only 156 there was only one conceivable candidate for Player of the Match, and Owen duly collected that award. Scorecard here.

A FEW WORK PHOTOS

In the week just gone I have been imaging toys that will go under the hammer in March (the week before that I did what was almost entirely a ‘copy and paste’ exercise to create the stamp section of the April auction, lots 501-750 inclusive). The following pictures are the galleries for two of the lots from this week:

SCIENCE BOOK RECOMMENDATION

One of my recent library finds was “Life is Simple” by Johnjoe McFadden. This book is both history and science, covering the life and work of William of Occam, and the role that Occam’s Razor, the notion that unnecessary hypotheses should be disposed of, has played over the last seven centuries since it was first proposed. The book is a wonderful read, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (remember photos can be viewed at large size by clicking on them)…