Tag: Bees

England in Trouble in Rawalpindi

A look at the the action during the first two days of the third test of the Pakistan v England series in Rawalpindi and a large photo gallery.

The third and final test match of the series between Pakistan and England got underway in Rawalpindi yesterday morning. This post looks at the events of the first two days.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England had called up Rehan Ahmed and with Carse having problems with a foot injury Atkinson replaced him in the XI. This meant three front line spinners (Leach, Bashir and Ahmed) and only Atkinson as a specialist pacer, with skipper Stokes second option in that department. Pakistan were unchanged. The pitch had had giant fans blowing on it to dry it out more for the spinners. England won the toss and chose to bat.

THE FIRST DAY

Duckett batted well and reached a fine 50 before getting out. The rest of the top six did little worthy of mention, and at 118-6 England looked in deep trouble. However, Atkinson batted well in support of Smith who batted very impressively, and by the time I left to catch the bus to work the score had risen to 158-6. I was to find out later that the England recovery continued, and they got to 267 all out, before reducing Pakistan to 73-3 by the close of day one.

DAY TWO

England had a good morning, and at one stage Pakistan were 177-7. That score had increased by 10 when lunch came at 8:30 UK time (session times on Fridays in Pakistan are different from on other days – the morning session is extended, then the lunch break lasts an hour to incorporate time for Friday prayers, and the afternoon and evening sessions are a little shorter). The afternoon session was the first of two where the match appeared to swing decisively. England captured only wicket in that session, and Pakistan, withNoman Ali attacking, and Saud Shakeel accumulating sensibly and without fuss against field settings that were designed to prevent boundaries but as a consequence allowed him to score ones and twos more or less at will, scored 90 runs, levelling the scores. The evening session began with a period of absolute carnage, as Sajid Khan, the number 10, laid about him in spectacular fashion. The lead raced past 50 in the sixth over after the interval. The scoring reined in after that, but runs continued to accrue. Finally, with the lead standing at 70, Atkinson induced a miscue from Shakeel whose magnificent innings of 134 (223 balls, just five fours and thus a lot of running) came to an end with a tame catch to sub fielder Matt Potts. Seven further runs accrued before Sajid Khan exposed number 11 Zahid Mahmood to the wiles of Rehan Ahmed. One ball from leg spinner to leg spinner was sufficient to end the innings, Zahid failing to pick the googly and being bowled. Rehan Ahmed had 4-66 for the innings, Shoaib Bashir, chief victim of the post tea onslaught, had 3-129, but the real disappointment among the England spinners was Leach, more experienced than the other two combined, who on a surface that was offering assistance had 1-105 from 31 overs. Atkinson, on a surface on which he should have been a non-factor, had 2-22 from 12 overs.

England lost both openers to LBWs , one to Noman Ali and one to Sajid Khan. With the score 20, Pope who had amassed a single, gave a catch to Salman Agha off Noman Ali. Root and Brook joined forces, and had added four runs when the umpires decided that the floodlights were now dominating the natural light and took the players off, ending play for the day, with England 53 runs behind Pakistan and having seven second innings wickets standing. Failure to finish off opposition innings is becoming a recurrent problem for this England side, and the batting of the top three in the second innings was disastrous. They should have learned by this stage that playing back foot strokes against spinners on this surface is a recipe for disaster, but both openers perished essaying exactly such shots.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Women’s T20 World Cup

A look at the Women’s T20 World Cup, now underway in the United Arab Emirates, and a photo gallery.

The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 is underway. It was due to be staged in Bangladesh but was then moved at the last minute to the United Arab Emirates, although Bangladesh are still officially tournament hosts. In this post I look at what has happened so far in the matches I have been able to follow.

THE EARLY STAGES OF THE TOURNAMENT

Australia, winners of six of the previous eight editions of this tournament, are as expected looking formidable once more. The extraordinary number of genuine all rounders they have in their squad (including the two recognized wicket keepers, who opened the batting together – Healy getting the gloves, Mooney playing as a pure batter – they had no fewer than six such players in their XI – Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath and Annabel Sutherland, all in the top seven of the batting order, and all well capable of bowling their full four overs, are the others) means that rather than struggling to cover all bases they have a positive embarrassment of riches. Effectively they were taking to the field with a team of about 15 – seven front line batters including the keeper, and eight front line bowlers – the four all rounders listed and four players chosen specifically on ground of their bowling skills.

England were fairly impressive in disposing of ‘hosts’ Bangladesh – their 118-7 from their 20 overs is the highest team total thus far recorded at Sharjah, where the pitches have been low and slow, and runs have been at a massive premium, and was enough for them to win by 26 runs. To give you an idea of the nature of the Sharjah surface, England picked four specialist spinners – Linsey Smith, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn, and Nat Sciver-Brunt’s four overs of medium pace were the only overs by anyone other than those four for them. Further commentary on this is provided by Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s innings – the recently married (hence new, hyphenated surname) opener scored 41, but even she, normally exceptionally quick scoring, was barely striking at 100.

India suffered a humiliation against New Zealand in their opening match, going down by 58 runs. They were sloppy in the field (though far from the only offenders in this regard – a shedload of catches have gone down this tournament), with at least two very easy catches going down and a good 20 runs being conceded through poor ground fielding, and very poor with the bat. They were better today against Pakistan, but again there were lapses in the field, and they were overcautious with the bat, eventually getting home with only seven balls to spare, doing little to reduce the massive negative net run rate the NZ game left them with. This is important because they also have Australia in the group which almost certainly means that the other sides are fighting over one semi-final slot. Sri Lanka have yet to grow out of their dependence on Chamari Athapaththu – once the batting all rounder fell cheaply in their opening fixture they never looked like making a contest of it. South Africa were impressive – left arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba took four cheap wickets for them, and their opening pair of skipper Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits knocked the target off without being parted, each topping 50 in the process.

Dubai has been a better venue for cricket than Sharjah, which I am not convinced is still up to international standard, but even there the 160 that New Zealand posted against India is a massive outlier – 120 would still be respectable there, and 130 would be make the side scoring it favourites to win.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I am not sure of the correct way to dispose of an unneeded mobility scooter, but dumping it in the river (in this case The Gaywood near Kettlewell Lane) is definitely not it.

Cornwall – Rame Peninsular Walk

An account of walk in my parents local area, complete with photo gallery.

On Tuesday we did a walk in my parents local area. This post describes my particular walk (all of us did somewhat different things).

THE CONSTRAINTS

In order to fit in around people’s limitations (time and otherwise) both cars were being used – my mother, my sister and I were travelling in one to Rame Head where our walk would begin, while my father took the other to a different parking spot and walked towards us, meeting us part way through our walk. We would walk together to the second parking spot, my father would give my mother a lift back to Rame Head so she could take the other car into Liskeard where she had an appointment, and would then drive back along the route the my sister and I would be walking to give us the possibility of a lift back to the fort. He overtook just on the far side of the twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand from the fort, my sister chose to take the lift back, while I opted to stay walking.

THE WALK

The path from Rame Head is extremely scenic, with some wonderful sea views. Out on Rame Head there was a wind blowing, but once away from the head the path was quite sheltered, and the temperature was fairly warm. The second stage of the walk, with my sister, was all road based, but there were one or two decent views along the way. The final stage, on my own, was road based until Kingsand, then on to a path through the Edgecumbe estate up the point at which that path intersects with the road above Fort Picklecombe. The path offers some fine views and was good for walking on.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my pictures taken during the walk…

Early in the walk.
October is late in the yeat for butterflies, but they are not quite done yet.
A distant view of Fort Pickelcombe (taken from the far side of Kingsand/ Cawsand).

A One Day Clash Between Past and Present

Two XIs – ‘Blasts from the Past’ – an XI who would have been excellent in limited overs cricket given the chance – and an XI picked from the best English white ball players of modern times. Also a photo gallery.

During the bit of commentary on yesterday’s third ODI between England and Australia that I was able to catch (between work and a weather induced early finish not nearly enough for me to write about) there was some discussion about greats of the past who might have fared well in limited overs cricket had it been a thing in their eras. I therefore offer a clash of two England XIs – an XI exclusively from before the era of limited overs cricket and an XI from the era of limited overs cricket. Usual one day rules apply.

BLAST FROM THE PAST XI

  1. Charlie Barnett (Gloucestershire) – right handed opening batter. He once had 98* to his name going into lunch on day one of an Ashes match, having told his opening partner Leonard Hutton not to worry about trying to give him the strike in the final over before the interval because “we’ve given them enough cause for indigestion”.
  2. Lionel Palairet (Somerset) – right handed opening batter. He scored pre-lunch hundreds off scratch no fewer than five times in his first class career. He may also have had the most stories per match of anyone with more than one international cap – his two England appearances were Old Trafford and The Oval tests of 1902, the first a pulsating encounter that the Aussies won by three runs and the second “Jessop’s Match”.
  3. Frank Woolley (Kent) – left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner. A fast scoring batter, a genuinely front line spinner (he achieved the “batting all rounder’s double” of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in first class matches in the same season no fewer than four times.
  4. Denis Compton (Middlesex) – right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spin bowler. He was capable of scoring at a breath taking rate and his penchant for unorthodoxy would have stood him in good stead in a limited overs setting.
  5. +Les Ames (Kent) – right handed batter, wicket keeper. His aggressive batting (winner of the Lawrence trophy for the fastest first class hundred of the season twice in the first three years of its existence) he was the only candidate for the gauntlets in this side.
  6. Gilbert Jessop (Gloucestershire) – right handed batter, right arm fast bowler. If ever there was a guaranteed selection for a side of this nature it was he. The most consistently rapid run scorer the game has ever known, a useful fast bowler and an outstanding fielder, he had all the attributes to have been a key member of any limited overs side.
  7. *Percy Fender (Surrey) – right handed batter, right arm leg spinner, captain. Still holds the record for the fastest first class century against legitimate as opposed to declaration bowling, 35 minutes against Northamptonshire. A fine leg spinner and an astute captain as well.
  8. Frank Foster (Warwickshire) – left handed batter, left arm fast medium bowler. A good enough batter (and attacking by instinct) to have a first class triple century to his name, and a good enough bowler to have been one half of one of the great new ball pairings in test cricket alongside the guy at number 10 in this side.
  9. Billy Bates (Yorkshire) – off spinner, right handed batter. A fine all rounder in his day, and a notably economical bowler.
  10. Syd Barnes (Warwickshire, Lancashire, various league sides) – right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter. He would doubtless grumble about only being allowed 10 overs in the innings, but he would undoubtedly be a challenge for anyone to play, and in this XI he would be sharing the new ball with one of his favourite partners, and would be well handled by skipper Fender.
  11. Alfred Shaw (Nottinghamshire, Sussex) – right arm medium/ right arm slow bowler, right handed batter. The man who bowled more first class overs than he conceded runs at that level – to me almost as much of a cast iron pick for this XI as was Jessop.

This XI features great batting depth, with everyone down to Bates capable of major contributions there, a stellar collection of bowling talents – Compton would be eighth choice bowler in this side, a crafty and astute captain and a great wicket keeper.

THE MODERNS

  1. Alastair Brown (Surrey) – right handed opening batter. He was unlucky in terms of England caps because his prime was before England had really grasped the concept of separate squads for test and one day cricket. However he produced some devastating performances for Surrey, including 268 v Glamorgan, which remains the highest by an English batter in a limited overs match.
  2. David Gower (Leicestershire, Hampshire) – left handed batter. He did quite frequently open in limited overs matches, and was one of the first English batters to have great success in the format.
  3. Kevin Pietersen (Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey)- right handed batter, occasional off spinner. One of the most explosive talents ever possessed by anyone.
  4. *Joe Root (Yorkshire) – right handed batter, occasional off/leg spinner. The best England batter to appear in my lifetime, and certainly among the top half-dozen the country have ever had. I have reservations about his captaincy.
  5. +Jos Buttler (Somerset, Lancashire) right handed batter, wicket keeper. Excellent as an ODI finisher, the role he has here, and also as a T20I opener.
  6. *Ben Stokes (Durham) left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler. A great match winner (cf his heroics in the 2019 world cup final), and as he has shown in test cricket a fine captain as well, which role I have given him in this side.
  7. Liam Dawson (Hampshire) – left arm spinner, left handed batter. A high quality all rounder who has been poorly treated by England – the fact that he will not be on the plane to Pakistan for England’s next tour is frankly scandalous.
  8. Moeen Ali (Worcestershire, Warwickshire) – off spinner, left handed batter. An excellent white ball cricketer.
  9. Adil Rashid (Yorkshire) – leg spinner, right handed batter. Without question the best white ball spinner of any kind England have ever had, and as such a shoo-in for this XI.
  10. Darren Gough (Yorkshire) – right arm fast bowler, right handed batter.
  11. Jofra Archer (Sussex) – right arm fast bowler, right handed batter. When fully fit he is absolutely devastating.

This side is strong in batting, and has a well varied bowling attack. There are only three pace options – Gough, Archer and Stokes, but there are three genuine spinners plus Root and Pietersen as back up options.

COMPARISONS

First to clear up a small point for regular readers, I have decided to omit the usual honourable mentions section from this post as if I did such a section any kind of justice it would be longer than the rest of the post put together. Please feel free to volunteer your own suggestions, though please remember to consider who you would replace from my selections and how that would affect the balance of the side(s).

The ‘Blasts from the Past’ are better equipped in all departments, and I would not rate Fender an inferior leader to Stokes. If a time machine enables these sides, with all 22 players at their peak and uninjured, to contest a five match series I would expect the ‘Blasts from the Past’ combo to win 4-1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

An ECB Muck Up and a Hat Trick of Somerset Near Misses

A look at the scheduling of the One Day Cup final, the match that we eventually got, a day late and less than half the scheduled length, and at Somerset’s season. Also a photo gallery.

The final of the One Day Cup, between Glamorgan and Somerset at Nottingham, should have taken place yesterday, but after a complete washout then the two sides reconvened on today, the designated reserve day, and fought out the final over a reduced duration of 20 overs (but still according to One Day rules, so the power play was only four overs, rather than the six in an official T20). Before looking at the match, and what it means for Somerset’s season I will take aim at the ECB over certain matters.

MISTAKES AND PROBLEMS

The biggest single mistake in the scheduling of this final was to make the main day a Sunday and the reserve a Monday. When the Sunday was completely rained out many had no option but to return home disappointed, and today’s action took place in a very sparsely populated Trent Bridge. Having decided to have a reserve day in case of potential weather problems, which is probably sensible, and proved necessary in this case, it would surely have been better to aim for a Saturday final, with the reserve day on a Sunday – the drop off in attendance after a washout on the intended day would surely be much smaller.

It is also curious to say the least that there is a huge time lag between the semi-finals and the final, and it would be better for these key matches to be much closer together.

This competition would rank third among the county competitions even without other factors, but the fact that the group stage overlaps with The Hundred means that rather than being third among near equals it is a sideshow, involving mainly reserve and youth players.

TODAY’S MATCH

Somerset had many players available to them who were not so during the group stages but had decided to stick with the players who had got them to the final. This meant that they were a much less experienced XI than Glamorgan. It also meant that the reduction from 50 overs per side to 20 was much worse news for them than it was for Glamorgan – there were not many players in the Somerset XI who would have been picked to play a T20 match for the county. However when left arm seamer Alfie Ogborne took two very early wickets Somerset would have been hopeful. Will Smale hit 28 off 14 balls before he was third out, to a superb catch by Sean Dickson off Kasey Aldridge. Colin Ingram did not really click, contributing 11 at a run a ball. Initially Sam Northeast also appeared to be struggling. However Northeast, one of the best county batters never to have got an England chance, showed the value of experience, as he turned a sticky start into the key innings of the final. Billy Root hit 39 of 28 balls before the 5th, 6th and 7th wickets all went quickly. Timm van der Gugten smashed 26* off nine balls at the death, out of an unbroken 28 that he and Northeast put on. This left Glamorgan with 186-7, and Northeast 63* (49) having enabled the big hitters to really go for things in the knowledge that wickets would only be falling at one end.

George Thomas and Andrew Umeed had scored 14 together, 13 of them to Thomas, when Umeed completely ignored Thomas’ call for a run. Thomas was thus run out, with Umeed having contributed rather more to the dismissal through his failure to respond to Thomas’ call than did Northeast with what was a good throw. Goldsworthy never got going, making 11 off 13, by which point Somerset were miles behind the required rate. Umeed had batted well, though he was never scoring fast enough, when he took on medium pacer Andy Gorvin, got an edge and was caught by keeper Smale. Four runs later James Rew’s spirited 19 came to an end, caught by Smale off Kellaway. Incidentally Kellaway, an ambidextrous spinner (he can bowl both off spin and left arm orthodox spin), extracted enough turn to make Dickson’s decision not to bowl Jack Leach (who would never be significant with the bat in a limited overs match) look even odder than it already did. The fifth wicket stand between Archie Vaughan and Sean Dickon represented Somerset’s best period of the innings. By the time the last over came round Somerset needed 23 to win. Dan Douthwaite restricted them to just seven, and Glamorgan had won by 15 runs.

Somerset fought hard, though Sean Dickson did not have great day as skipper in my opinion. As well as his failure to use Leach I think his decision to hold himself back until number six, by which point the match was pretty much lost was a poor one. He played a fine innings once he got to the middle, scoring 44 off 20 balls, but Goldsworthy for one was unsuited to the situation in which he found himself batting, and although Archie Vaughan fared decently the skipper should surely have come in ahead of him.

Somerset have thus lost in the finals of both the T20 and the One Day Cup, while they have one last match to play, a four day game against Hampshire which will settle the runners up spot in the County Championship. When Somerset beat Surrey to close the gap in the County Championship to eight points with two matches remaining they had legitimate hopes of sweeping the board, but in the end it looks like an ‘Eratosthenes‘ season for them – second best in everything (Eratosthenes was Librarian of Alexandria around 250BCE, the plum academic posting of the era, and one rival is alleged to dubbed him ‘Beta’ on the grounds that he was the second best in the world at everything).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England’s Poor Start to ODI Series

A look back at the first two matches of the ODI series between the England and Australia men’s teams and a photo gallery.

The England men’s side are finishing their home season with a One Day International series against Australia. This post looks at developments in that series so far.

ODI ONE – A GOOD START GOES BAD

At 214-2 with plenty of time to go in their innings England seemed set for a 350+ score. Then Ben Duckett and Harry Brook got out in quick succession in near identical fashion, each giving Marnus Labuschagne return catches. That put the skids under the innings, and wickets continued to fall. In the end England were all out in 49.4 of their 50 overs for 315, a total which was at least 50 short of what it should have been. Labuschagne, a batter who bowls rather than a genuine all rounder, had figures of 3-39. It was soon obvious that England would have their work cut out to defend this score. In the end Travis Head, who played a quite magnificent innings, was joined for the killing partnership by Labuschagne. Head, unlike Duckett who had thrown his wicket away for 91, batted right through to the end, which came with six whole overs and seven wickets to spare, topping 150 in the process, while Labuschagne was unbeaten on 77 at the other end. Scorecard here.

MATCH TWO – A TACTICAL BLUNDER SETS UP DISASTER

In the second match, which took place yesterday, Australia found themselves batting first, and England bowled well. When Australia lost their ninth wicket at 221 a 1-1 series score looked likely, even though Brydon Carse had been shockingly expensive. However England now resorted to the tactic of feeding Carey singles so that they could bowl at the number 11, Hazlewood. Hazlewood is a genuine number 11, but even he is capable of presenting a straight bat to a couple of deliveries per over. With no real pressure being imposed due to the decision not to attack Carey the last wicket accrued 49 before Carey was caught off the fourth ball of the 45th over for 74. Hazlewood was unbeaten on 4, but he had done all that the combination of Carey’s good batting and England’s poor tactics had required of him.

One result of this last wicket stand was that instead of heading into the innings break on the back of a clatter of wickets (the 7th, 8th and 9th had fallen quite close together) the sides returned to the pavilion with the momentum definitely with Australia. Australia had Salt and Jacks out fairly quickly, with just 28 on the board. Brook fell with 46 on the board, and then at 65 England suffered a double blow, as Duckett (32) was out to a fine return catch by Hardie, and then Livingstone feathered the next ball behind and Carey held another fine catch. Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell added 55 for the sixth wicket, before Bethell gave Starc a catch off Maxwell. Carse then joined Smith for what might look like a respectable seventh wicket stand, but the problem was he failed abysmally to rotate to the strike – 56 balls were bowled between the fall of the sixth and seventh wickets, and Carse faced 40 of them, which is not what the balance of strike should be between a front line batter and a bowler who bats. It was Smith who was seventh out, for 49, a dismissal that more or less sealed things, although Adil Rashid did his best from number nine. England did just top 200, being all out for 202, giving Australia victory by 68 runs. Scorecard here.

Australia are thus 2-0 up in the series with three to play.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Surrey Give Stewart Super Send Off

A look back at the two matches which in combination set the seal on Surrey’s third successive county championship title, a link and a photo gallery.

Just over half an hour into day four of the penultimate round of county championship fixtures Anderson Philip, a West Indian pacer currently playing for Lancashire, bowled James Rew for 31 to give his side victory by 168 runs. Lancashire thus enter the final game of the season with a chance to avoid relegation. At the other end of the table, with Surrey having cleaned up Durham yesterday afternoon, it meant that the gap between Surrey and Somerset was now 28 points, which is too many to be bridged in a single match, since only 24 can be taken in one match. Surrey have thus secured a third straight title, a feat last achieved by any county in 1968, when Brian Close skippered Yorkshire to a third straight title.

SURREY V DURHAM

On day two Surrey built a huge lead over Durham, with Ryan Patel scoring a career best 134. Durham then sent a nightwatch into open their second innings, 153 adrift, and when that tactic failed promptly doubled down by sending in another nightwatch. The second nightwatcher did make it through to the close, but Durham were in a total mess. Day three was a work day for me, and my attention once home from work was mainly on the first ODI of a series between England and Australia. Durham lost two wickets very early on day three, and although they did avoid the humiliation of an innings defeat they only managed to take a lead of 24. Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley unsurprisingly knocked these runs off without being separated. Scorecard here. Alec Stewart is leaving the position from which he has overseen the recent Surrey ascendancy at the end of this season, and this result and that of the Somerset match confirm that he will bow out on an appropriately high note.

LANCASHIRE V SOMERSET

After both sides had been all out on day one, Lancashire batted right through day two. There was a controversial incident in their innings when George Balderson was run out by at least a yard but umpire O’Shaughnessy failed to give it out. At that point Lancashire were just over 270 in front, and they were add a further 120 to their lead before they were all out. Somerset, needing 393 to win or 392 to tie (or rain to intervene and save them) to keep their championship hopes alive (a draw or tie would leave Surrey able to secure the title on bonus points alone irrespective of the result of their final game, while a loss would end Somerset’s challenge right there) reached the close of day three on 204-6, with Kasey Aldridge having been dismissed by what became the last ball of the day. Day four started atrociously for Somerset, with the first ball of the day, from Luke Wells, bowling skipper Lewis Gregory for a first ball duck. A few moments later a ball from Anderson Philip kept low to pin Craig Overton LBW for 4 and make it 209-8. The ninth wicket added 11, 9 of them to Brett Randell, before James Rew misjudged and took a single with four balls of a Luke Wells over to go, exposing Randell to Wells’ mixed spin, against which the Kiwi could be expected to be less comfortable than against pace/seam. Sure enough, Wells produced one that was too good for the Kiwi and bowled him to make it 220-9. Four runs later came Philip’s delivery that got through Rew and ended it with Lancashire home by 168 runs. Scorecard here. Somerset’s final match against Hampshire will decide second and third spots in the table, but the title is securely in Surrey’s hands. Elsewhere Sussex did enough to confirm that they will be in division one next season, securing promotion with a game to spare, and results were bad enough for Kent that their relegation, a formality for some time, was finally confirmed, again with a match to spare.

DOMINANT PERIODS

As mentioned in the introduction it is 56 years since any county secure three straight championships. However there have been longer streaks of dominance. Surrey themselves hold the record with seven successive titles in the 1950s (1952-8 inclusive). Yorkshire won four in a row in the 1920s. Surrey had a sequence of six outright wins and a shared title in the late 1880s and early 1890s , though that started before the competition was put on a fully organized footing in 1890, as did the whole of Nottinghamshire’s dominant period in the first half of the 1880s. All of these sides, and the Yorkshire side that won seven titles in total during the 1930s had stellar bowling units, and that is also the present Surrey outfit’s greatest strength. Other sides may have first choice bowlers of similar stature to Surrey’s, but Surrey have incredible depth. Surrey can (and at times this season have) be without a fistful of first team regulars and still put a formidable XI on to the pitch, whereas for most other counties the soft underbelly starts to show with a few absentees.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off, a link to an article from futurity.org which connects closely with my photo gallery since it is about bees.

Now for my own photos…

County Championship Crunch Contests

A look at goings on in the two most important county championship fixtures of this penultimate round of games – Lancashire v Somerset and Surrey v Durham. Also a large photo gallery,

After the previous round of County Championship matches Surrey held a slender eight point advantage over Somerset at the top of the table (Hampshire are the next closest challengers but they would need a quite remarkable series of events to unfold for them to get past both of the top two) thanks to Somerset beating Surrey. Surrey are bidding for a third successive title, a feat last achieved by anyone in 1968, while Somerset have never won the title, or been named ‘Champion County’ in the years before 1890 when the competition was first put on an organized footing. This post looks at what is going on in the matches involving these counties in this round.

LANCASHIRE v SOMERSET

Both were for different reasons in need of a big haul of points from this match. Lancashire are looking relegation full in the face, while Somerset have that eight point gap to close on Surrey – and the weather forecast for the time of the final round of fixtures is not hugely promising. Unfortunately the ground staff at Old Trafford did not get the memo, and left a large amount of grass on the pitch, meaning that the seamers had a fine old time. By the end of yesterday both sides had had their first innings, and while each got the full haul of three bowling points they also each collected zero batting points. Lancashire mustered 140, Somerset 146. Lancashire have batted better second time round, and their lead has recently crossed 150, with six second wickets still standing. Josh Bohannon made a fine 60, and first class debutant Harry Singh batted a very long time for his 31 (142 balls). Currently Rocky Flintoff (son of Andrew) is batting alongside Lancashire keeper Matty Hurst, and the score is 162-4, a lead of 156. Matty Hurst has just gone, playing a loose shot off Randell, giving the Kiwi seamer has second Somerset wicket, in his third bowling innings for the county, Craig Overton taking the catch in the slips. Lancashire, 164-5, lead by 158 overall. Rocky Flintoff has been absolutely done by a beauty from Jack Leach which has bowled him for 27 to make it 168-6, the youngster having just hit a boundary. Lancashire 162 ahead now.

SURREY v DURHAM

Durham, batting first yesterday, scored 262, Colin Ackermann leading the way with 78 not out. Surrey are currently 214-5 in response. Rory Burns made 55, Ryan Patel is currently 47 not out, and Durham have given away 35 extras. While I have been recording a couple of Lancashire wickets falling Surrey have moved on to 220-5, with Ryan Patel now past 50.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A flying dragonfly
A heron in evidence at the edge of the Great Ouse.
The heron, four cormorants, and West Lynn church all in a single shot.
A perfect conker (two pics).


Glory for Gloucestershire

A look back at the finale to the longest day of the English cricket calendar, the T20 blast final between Gloucestershire and Somerset. Also a photo gallery.

I covered the semi-finals yesterday, immediately after the second of them concluded. This post looks at the final, between the two west country sides, Gloucestershire and Somerset.

APPLYING THE SQUEEZE WITH THE BALL

Both sides were unchanged from their semi-final successes. Gloucestershire won the toss and decided to bowl first. Somerset started fast, but Matt Taylor got Will Smeed with the first ball of the fourth over to make it 28-1. Taylor ended that fourth over by removing the other Somerset opener, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, for 20. Then in the sixth over James Rew became Taylor’s third victim. The third ball of the seventh over, bowled by Oliver Price, got through the defences of Dickson, one of the batting heroes of Somerset’s semi-final victory, for a duck, and Somerset were 42-4 and in a pile of trouble. They never really extracted themselves from this predicament, though skipper Lewis Gregory fought his way to a half century. Gregory’s innings was terminated by David Payne with the penultimate ball of the 19th over, with the score on 123. It was Payne’s 33rd wicket of the tournament, equalling the all time record for a single year of this competition, set by Alfonso Thomas of Somerset some years ago. Only one further run accrued before Jake Ball was out with two balls of the innings left. A toral of 124 left Somerset in ‘miracles required’ territory 0 the previous lowest ever total defended successfully in a final was 145 by Somerset themselves last year and by Leicestershire a few years back.

KILLING THE CHASE

Somerset needed early wickets to have any chance at all of defending their decidedly modest score, and they did not get them. Miles Hammond and Cameron Bancroft were soon scoring at well above the required rate. A ten wicket win looked likely when both were going great guns. By the time Bancroft finally fell to a catch by Smeed off Davey there were only 13 more needed for the win. Bracey fell cheaply, but by then only six were required. Miles Hammond was there at the end, 58 not out from 41 balls (as compared to Bancroft’s 53 from 42 balls), but it was the new batter, Oliver Price, who ended the chase with a six. Gloucestershire had eight wickets and five whole overs to spare, meaning that overall in their semi-final and final they had 16 wickets and 11.2 overs to spare on their opponents. In losing only four wickets on finals day while winning the trophy they had set a new record – the previous fewest wickets lost on the day by a trophy winning side was five by Northamptonshire. Full scorecard here.

Matt Taylor, whose three early wickets put the skids under the Somerset innings, was correctly named Player of the Match. This is Gloucestershire’s first ever T20 Blast trophy, though just a few years before the launch of T20 cricket they had a very successful one-day side. They were named ‘Champion County’ three times in the 1870s, being unbeaten in two of those seasons, and have been runners up six times since the County Championship was put on an organized footing in 1890. Somerset still have shots at two trophies this season – they are in the final of the One Day Cup, and are challenging hard for the county championship (see here).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (remember to click on images to view them at a larger size)…

This cormorant (three pics) was swimming in a stretch of the Gaywood in which I have never previously seen one, which runs more or less past the back of Gaywood Tesco.

How a West Country Derby Final Came to Be

A look at the two T20 Vitality Blast semi-finals, Somerset v Surrey and Gloucestershire v Sussex, and a large photo gallery.

Today is finals day in the T20 Vitality Blast, the longest day of the English cricketing year – both semi-finals and the final take place on one day. The venue this year is Edgbaston, and since none of the four teams involved are based there I will use strict alphabetical order when referring to the matches. This was the second straight time that all four semi-finalists were from the south group. The format of the day is that the first semi-final starts at 11AM, the second at 2:30PM and the final, which is still to come and is played under lights, at 6:45PM. This post looks at the two semi-finals.

SOMERSET v SURREY

Somerset are the holders, Surrey have such strength in depth that they are a threat in any competition. Somerset won the toss and opted to bowl first. Surrey started well, and it looked ominous for Somerset when skipper Gregory inexplicably allowed a ball passing within half a metre of him to go the boundary without even trying to stop it. However, Gregory made amends with the ball, helping to put the skids under Surrey’s good start. In the end it took a bit of a final flourish to get Surrey up to their final total of 153-9, no more than respectable.

It looked a good deal more than respectable when Somerset were 7-3. However Sean Dickson and James Rew proceeded to settle in and then share an all time finals day record partnership for any wicket, 144 in total before Dickson perished in the moment of victory for 78 off 57 balls. New batter Gregory hit his second delivery for six to secure to the victory, and to add insult to injury for Jordan Clark it was also called no-ball meaning that it cost him eight runs in total. James Rew was 62 not out from 44 balls in what was his debut in this competition. This makes it twice in three days across formats that Somerset have put one over on Surrey. Full scorecard here.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE v SUSSEX

Gloucestershire were probably the least fancied of the four semi-finalists. Sussex had boosted their own stocks by absolutely annihilating Lancashire in their quarter-final. Sussex won the toss and decided to bat first, a decision they soon had cause to regret. David Payne was supremely economical, taking 1-9 from his four overs of left arm seam. At one stage Sussex were 44-5 and then 64-7. The eighth wicket stand between Jack Carson and Oliver Edward Robinson was worth 37 and at least spared Sussex the humiliation of having less than 100 to defend. The first ball of the 19th over ended the innings with the score 106, leaving Gloucestershire with an easy task. Miles Hammond, who had taken four catches in the field, the most ever by a non-wicket keeper in this competition (not the first Hammond of Gloucestershire to feature in such records – the legendary Wally Hammond once pouched ten in the course of a first class match, still a record for non-keeper a century on), was out cheaply for just 7, but Bancroft and Bracey had a good partnership for the second wicket. Cameron Bancroft reached 39 before he was second out, and Oliver Price joined James Bracey. Bracey was especially impressive as this pair moved towards victory. Just before the end Robinson, who had bowled his four overs of right arm medium pace for 23 runs but no wickets, excellent in most circumstances but here failing to answer Sussex’s biggest requirement, shelled a very straightforward chance from Bracey, a single accruing. Price took another single, and then Bracey secured Gloucestershire their place in an all west country final by driving one down the ground for six. Gloucestershire had eight wickets and 6.2 overs to spare, dealing even more ruthlessly with Sussex in this semi-final than Sussex had dealt with Lancashire in their quarter-final. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off, the toss has just happened for the final, with Gloucestershire winning it and opting to bowl first. Now for the photographs…

Flowering Ivy features heavily today – at this time of year it is vital for pollinators, there being a limited amount of stuff still in flower.