A look back at yesterday’s match in The Hundred (women’s), a link to a quiz and a photo gallery.
Yesterday in The Hundred Birmingham Phoenix were in action against Sun Risers Leeds. Neither match went well for the Birmingham outfit. This post looks back at the women’s match.
AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT GOING
Only two members of the Birmingham Phoenix XI reached double figures. The worst aspect of a sorry display was what happened in the final 20 balls. After 80 balls Phoenix were a not very impressive 89-4, but with Emma Lamb going well, and Annerie Dercksen at the crease with her they were not yet in a hopeless position. A strong finish could have got them to 125 or thereabouts, which would at least have meant that the run chase was not a complete formality. They actually managed 18-5 from those 20 balls, ending on 107-9, which was never going to be enough.
PHOENIX INCINERATED LITCHFIELD STYLE
The only setback Sun Risers Leeds suffered was the loss of Bryony Smith for 12 which made it 24-1 from 15 balls. Thereafter Phoebe Litchfield played a quite brilliant innings, with sensible support from the vastly experienced Lauren Winfield-Hill. By the time Sun Risers won, by nine wickets with a massive 31 balls to spare Litchfield had amassed 71 not out from 33 balls, with 13 fours and one six, overshadowing all else in the match in the process, while Winfield-Hill had scored 26 not out from 27 balls never looking in any trouble. Scorecard here. This hammering not only eliminated Phoenix, it also ensured that London Spirit would make no further progress in the competition and dotted the Is and crossed the Ts on MI London’s elimination, which in most minds had been confirmed for some days. Southern Brave and Trent Rockets are duking it out for top spot, with the latter now favourites to take to it, while Manchester Super Giants, Welsh Fire and Sun Risers Leeds are battling for the third qualifying spot, with the first named currently holding the advantage, though that could change fairly soon if Southern Brave manage to chase down their total of 139-4.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before I present my gallery I have a quiz I created for funtrivia.com to share with you – it is a photo quiz about King’s Lynn landmarks (and you do not have to sign up for the site to play it – many play as guests).
A look back at today’s early game between the Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire women’s sides, a contest that was very intriguing because both sides played badly. Also a photo gallery.
Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. The early women’s match featured Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire in action at Old Trafford. This post looks back at that match.
MANCHESTER SUPER GIANTS INNINGS
Manchester Super Giants started badly and got worse. With one ball of her allocation to go Irish medium pacer Orla Prendergast was on for the best figures in this year’s Hundred (women’s), with 4-14 against her name at that point. Had that last delivery been a wicket, a dot or a single she would have displaced Ashleigh Gardner’s 4-16. As it was the delivery was edged for four, somewhat unjustly depriving her of this landmark, leaving her with 4-18 overall. The innings ended with number 11 Bex Tyson showing up her more renowned colleagues by hitting a four over cover and then scoring a single. Manchester Super Giants had limped to 85-9, which should never have come close to being a defensible total…
MAKING A BANQUET OF AN EASY TASK
Welsh Fire were barely any more impressive than their opponents had been with the bat. At 64-4 from 68 balls and with Ecclestone, Super Giants’ most dangerous bowler having only two balls left Fire looked in control, unimpressive as their efforts had been. Then, off Ecclestone’s penultimate ball Georgia Wareham let fly and was caught by Meg Lanning for 17 (12). Had she played Ecclestone out the match would have been effectively settled. Ecclestone ended with a dot ball and figures of 3-14 from her 20 balls. Scoring was now painfully slow, and when Grace Thompson was run out in bizarre fashion, setting off for a run only for bowler Kathryn Bryce to pick the ball up and return it to the keeper for her to be run out, and then two balls later Niamh Holland was out bowled by the Scot for a duck it was 76-7 from 83 balls and there was just a hint that Fire could somehow contrive to lose this one. Rhianna Southby, the Fire keeper, who had been impeccable in her main role, including a very smart stumping to account for Ecclestone, now came in and hit a four to ease the pressure. After two dots balls she added another, and though the match had limped into its final 10 balls only two runs were now needed for the win. Heather Graham now struck a boundary off Mady Villiers to finish things with nine balls and three wickets to spare, but Fire had done it the hard way. Prendergast’s 4-18 got her the ‘Match Hero’ award, though personally I would have honoured Southby for a blemish-free keeping performance and her sensible batting when it looked her side were making a Horlicks of the chase. Few if any of the other 21 players involved could point to an unblemished performance. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This insect, which I believe to be a ‘leaf miner’ was on the topside of the leaf when I spotted it and moved to the underside while I was preparing to photograph it. This either a very large wasp or a small hornet.
A look back at this afternoon’s match between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s teams, which confirmed the elimination of the former. Also a photo gallery.
Today has been a double double header in The Hundred. This post looks back at the game between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s sides earlier this afternoon.
AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT STARTED
Sometimes when looking back at an ultimately losing batting performance one can point to a slow start, sometimes to a falling away at the finish. On this occasion everything about the MI London innings was wrong. The dominant figure was Sophie Ecclestone, the tall left arm spin bowler. Ecclestone bowled the first ten balls of the match straight through, and in that period dismissed both openers for the total cost of a single. When a catch by Grace Ballinger off Ryana MacDonald-Gay accounted for MI London skipper Hollie Armitage for 18 the score was 37-4 from 48 balls. Kira Chathli actually did score at above a run a ball, but she was fifth out with the score at 60, caught by Ecclestone off Kathryn Bryce. Nicola Carey got to third top score of 17, but her dismissal, to another catch by Ecclestone, this time off Macdonald-Gay made 78-6 from 82 balls. Chinelle Henry briefly offered hope of a late revival but her dismissal to a catch by Lanning off Brown ended even those modest hopes, and in the end MI London were all out for 92 from the 99th ball of their innings. Only a two off the last ball of her allocation denied Ecclestone the cheapest figures for a full 20 ball allocation in the history of The Hundred (women’s) – those two runs were the sixth and seventh she conceded in the innings, leaving Lauren Bell’s 4-6 still in possession of the palm. As well as two wickets and the two catches already detailed it was Ecclestone’s throw that ran out Tara Norris for a duck.
A FORMALITY OF A CHASE
The Manchester Super Giants opening pair of Meg Lanning and Smriti Mandhana kicked off with a rapid opening stand of 73 that exposed just how utterly abject the MI London innings had been. Although there was a mini-clatter of wickets once this stand was ended, the back of the chase had long since been broken. It fell to Mady Villiers to make the winning hit, a boundary of the 72nd ball of the innings that gave MSG the win with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. MI London came into this match ensconced in the last chance saloon, with last orders having been called, and the barmaid being busy wiping down those tables not yet in use, and their horror-show performance confirmed the end of a challenge that had never really begun. It is ironic given how the involvement of IPL people and money has been hyped up that the first side officially eliminated is one that has been IPL-rebranded. There was only one candidate for Player of the Match/ ‘Match Hero’, Sophie Ecclestone, who was duly so named. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A small green beetle in a very pale pink flower not far from the train station.I have never previously seen starlings on what I call ‘Cormorant Platform’, but yesterday a vast number of them took a mid-flight pause there, and this picture and the next two are a result of that.A female house sparrow ensconced in the branches of a buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge.A pied wagtail prospecting for insects at Loke Road Rec – the state of the grass tells you how little rain we have had here recently.Five insects here – four, the three on the right as you look and the one on the left are some species of yellow and black beetle. The small one in the centre I cannot work out at all.I am not sure of the species but this is a butterfly of the ‘leaf mimic’ type, looking passably similar to a withered brown leaf.A comma butterfly visiting my garden (two pics) at just the right time to become part of this gallery!
A look back at a tie in the Hundred (women’s) which featured some great cricket and a very poor ‘match hero’ decision. Also a photo gallery.
Today is a double header day in The Hundred. The early part of the double header was Welsh Fire against Trent Rockets in the women’s. Then there was a choice of two matches – the men’s match from the first double header or the women’s London derby – MI London v London Spirit. I opted for the latter, and was rewarded – the men’s match was a complete non-contest, with the Rockets romping home by nine wickets with 28 balls to spare. The women’s London Derby was rather different…
THE MI LONDON INNINGS
MI London had been put into bat, and for much of their innings it looked like they would have a very modest total to defend. However Chinelle Henry smashed 33 not out off 12 balls at the death, including hitting the last three balls of the innings for 6,4,6. That got MI London to 151. Although Melie Kerr scored more (49 not out off 33 balls), Henry’s was the key innings in making this a defensible score.
THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS
For most of their innings London Spirit were ahead on comparison, but they never quite sealed the deal. Every time they looked like doing so someone got out. Marie Kelly hit 45 from 28 balls, before being caught by Henry off Gordon. Marizanne Kapp then looked to be carrying on where Kelly had left off, but immediately after hitting a six off Matthews she attacked again and was caught by Dani Gregory. Then Amy Jones assumed control, but when she had reached 49 she holed out off Kirstie Gordon. Finally, Nadine de Klerk had the chance to win it but holed out to Kerr off Matthews for 13 which left four needed off two balls and a new batter to face. London Spirit skipper Charlie Dean accepted responsibility for this task, and grabbed a single, which left Deandra Dottin on strike and needing three to win from one ball. She did her best, and got back for two to tie the scores, just getting in before the bails were removed – a direct hit would have done for and given MI London a one run win. Somewhat bizarrely Kelly’s 45 got her ‘Match Hero’ – it should quite clearly have gone to Chinelle Henry, whose innings was crucial in getting her side to a score they could even think about defending, who started the London Spirit innings by dismissing the dangerous Grace Harris for a duck, caught by skipper Hollie Armitage, and took the catch that dismissed Kelly off Gordon. If any of those things I have just listed had not happened London Spirit would have won the match, which is why Henry should have had the award and not Kelly. I am annoyed by this verdict, and it is cricket knowledge, not the fact that I grew up in south London that makes me so. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Two pics of a full moon that was very low in the sky and looked much bigger than normal.A red admiral and a bumblebee in one picture.
A look back at the Saturday afternoon/ evening double header involving Welsh Fire and MI London, and a photo gallery.
The weekend saw no fewer than four double headers in The Hundred, two on each of Saturday and Sunday. The second double header on Saturday featured Welsh Fire against MI London, and both matches saw remarkable performances.
THE WOMEN’S MATCH
The London side won the toss and opted to bowl first. Welsh Fire batted very well, especially Sophie Devine (52 off 29 balls) and Georgia Wareham (43 not out off 20 balls), and ended up with a massive 177-4 from their 100 balls. To successfully chase a total of this magnitude you need a strong start, which was just what MI London did not get. Grace Potts bowled 20 of the first 30 balls of the reply, and took out the top three in the MI London order. When Danni Wyatt-Hodge was third out, to the 26th ball of the innings, the score was 33-3 and the match was as good as settled. With the partial exception of Chinelle Henry who scored 30 off 23 balls no MI London batter even threatened to really get going, and in the end they were all out for 117 from 92 balls, giving Welsh Fire a win by 60 runs. Grace Potts, whose bowling at the start of the MI London innings had effectively sealed the deal on a Welsh Fire win should have been ‘Match Hero’, but that award went instead to Georgia Wareham, who had nabbed a couple of wickets to go with her innings referred to above. Scorecard here.
THE MEN’S MATCH
The men’s fixture was dominated by a single player. Rachin Ravindra, a New Zealander who bats left handed and bowls left arm orthodox spin had an astonishing match. He came in to bat at 20-2 from 22 balls, and proceeded to hit 98 off 44 balls with seven fours and seven sixes. Joe Root played the support role with 29 from 26 balls, while Jordan Cox weighed in with 17 not out off nine balls. It is measure of Ravindra’s utter dominance of team mates and opponents alike that Welsh Fire ended with 167-5. Ravindra’s 98 came out of 143 scored while he was at the crease.
MI London were never up with the required rate at any stage of the chase, though while James Vince was going well it looked like they could make a close contest of it. He was fifth out for 66, with the score at 122 and 28 balls left, and his dismissal was courtesy of a return catch by none other than Rachin Ravindra. He was replaced in the middle by Tom Curran. Had he batted really well MI London might still have got close, but as it was all he could scrape was 10 off 11 balls, with one four. The match-losing nature of this innings is readily apparent when you consider a) he came in with his side needing 46 off 28 balls, a tough but not impossible ask, and b) he was out with the score at 150 from 96 balls, meaning that the target was now 18 from four balls which is a huge ask. Rashid Khan managed to get the strike to Sherfane Rutherford, who can hit a big ball, but only one accrued from that delivery, and a requirement of 17 from three balls does not give much of a margin of error. In the event MI London advanced their score by two runs, making the final result a 15 run win for the Welsh Fire. With that blistering 98 and 1-25 from 15 balls with that wicket being the key one of Vince there was never any doubt about who would be ‘Match Hero’ this time – the chap whose parents couldn’t decide whether to honour Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid and therefore came up with the portmanteau name Rachin for him. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A couple of work pictures to start with – this postcard is an old one……as evidence by the stamp, which comes from late in the reign of queen Victoria.An ichneumon wasp on a green leaf……and close up. This species lays its eggs in caterpillars, which the larvae then devour from the inside.A couple of the newest variety of £1 coins. Painted LadyRagwort alive with caterpillars (five pics)GoldfinchesSwans and Cygnets in a section of Bawsey Drain near LynnsportA hoverfly that has evolved to mimic a bumblebee.
A look back at today’s match between the Birmingham Phoenix and Trent Rockets women’s teams and last night’s contest between London Spirit and Manchester Super Giants men’s teams, plus a photo gallery.
This post focuses on two of the most dissimilar cricket matches you could imagine, last night’s match between the London Spirit and Manchester Super Giants (nee Originals) men’s sides (a combination of work yesterday and London Spirit women failing to show any of the quality for which they are named meant that I did not get to follow any of the women’s match), and this afternoon’s match between Birmingham Phoenix and Trent Rockets women’s sides. I will start with the latter first.
ONE WAY TRAFFIC IN BIRMINGHAM
Trent Rockets won the toss and opted to bowl. The biggest selection news was that England skipper Natalie Sciver-Brunt was missing due to workload management. How would Birmingham Phoenix react to their opponents being minus their star player? Almost as badly as a long ago South Africa men’s side did to news that Don Bradman would not be available for their opponents Australia. On that occasion South Africa proceeded to collapse for 36 and 45, still the lowest combined aggregate for which any test side has ever lost all 20 wickets. Here Phoenix were at one stage an eye-popping 15-6. They revived a little from that position, but it was blatantly obvious that they were mainly concerned with actually batting for 100 balls. They failed even to manage this, their tenth wicket falling to the 95th ball of their innings. They had scraped up a measly 64 all out, of which 39 had come from the bat of Ellyse Perry. Extras, with seven, was the second biggest contributor, while Eva Gray made six from number nine, Alana King five from number eight and Linsey Smith four from number 10. The Rockets bowling figures deserve quoting in full:
Kim Garth 15 balls, 11 dots, five runs conceded, two wickets taken. Samantha Bates 20-13-10-3 Georgia Elwiss 20-12-13-3 Katie Levick 20-14-8-1 Ashleigh Gardner 15-5-19-1 Georgia Adams 5-1-4-0
Although Lauren Filer removed Beth Mooney for 4 with an absolute beauty Sophia Dunkley was already motoring by then and the Rockets were 40-1 from 19 balls. Sophie Luff came in at number three, and was instantly in command as well. Trent Rockets won by nine wickets with 69 of their 100 allotted balls unused. Sophia Dunkley had hit 43 not out from 17 balls with eight fours and a six, and Sophie Luff 19 not out from nine balls with four fours. Samantha Bates was named Player of the Match, a verdict with which it would be hard to argue. Scorecard here.
LIVINGSTONE’S LONE HAND
Manchester Super Giants were 65-1 after 42 balls and 105-2 after 67 balls. They fell away horribly from that high water mark, ending with 138-9 from their 100 balls. They bowled better than they had batted, and although Liam Livingstone played a great innings to follow a good effort with the ball London Spirit were never up with the rate at any stage of the chase. It was close in the final stages, but the 98th ball of the Spirit innings, bowled by 23 year old fast bowler Sonny Baker, who had claimed responsibility for closing things out, clean bowled him for 69 from 40 balls, making it 130-5, nine needed from two balls and a new batter coming in. Jamie Overton can hit a ball a very long way, but on this occasion he could do no better than a single, and with eight needed off one ball all Baker had to do was make sure it was a legal delivery. It was, and the heavily hyped James Coles hit it straight to Tom Moores, meaning that London Spirit ended up on 131-6, beaten by seven runs, a famous margin on the other side of the Thames (the match that led to the creation of The Ashes, at The Oval in 1882, went Australia’s way by that margin). Baker had been a little expensive earlier in the innings, but when it really counted he came good and won the match for his side. Livingstone, who had bowled his full allocation of 20 balls and taken 2-14 as well as playing the innings that kept his side in the hunt (though never, pace comments to the contrary by the so-called ‘expert summariser’, actually favourites to reach the target) was named ‘Match Hero’, a rare occasion when such an award to a member of the defeated side was entirely justified. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A mixed gallery today, with some work pictures to start…
One of the things I am currently doing at work is cataloguing our whole stock of postcards. …one of which has a ‘squared circle’ Crewe Station cancel on an Edward VII stamp, proving genuine age.A painted lady and a bumblebee have targeted the same buddleia head.Three gatekeeper butterflies on one bramble clump.
A look back at the Men’s Hundred (mis)match between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds at The Oval yesterday and a large photo gallery.
The Hundred has undergone a major revamp since last summer, with the IPL getting involved in a big way. This post looks at the early stages of the competition.
NEW ERA OFF TO A FAMILIAR START
The first match of the Hundred in 2026 featured MI London (the former Oval Invincibles, and although the MI derives from the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, who now own this franchise as well as many others we have been instructed that the required pronunciation is ‘My London’ not ‘M I London’) in action against Sunrisers Leeds (nee Northern Superchargers, also now owned by an IPL franchise, in this case Hyderabad). I missed the women’s match due to being at work, but I did listen to the men’s game.
Sunrisers Leeds, batting first, started brightly, and for more than half of their allotted 100 balls looked to be going very well. The key moment was the dismissal of Mitch ‘the bison’ Marsh for 41, caught by Sam Curran off Tom Curran, which made it 84-3 from 56 balls. That started a collapse, and Leeds were all out for 143 off the penultimate ball of their innings. Richard Gleeson had 4-25 from 19 balls and Sam Curran 2-27 from 15 balls.
Will Jacks and Jason Roy were both out cheaply for the London side, but a good stand between James Vince and Sam Curran took them past 50 before Vince was bowled for 17 to make it 51-3 from 44 balls. That brought Nicholas Pooran, one of the ultimate ‘guns for hire’ in this era of franchise cricket, to the crease to join Curran. Curran batted beautifully, but even he was overshadowed by the pyrotechnics of Pooran. The Oval is a big ground, but most of Pooran’s five sixes cleared the ropes by a very long way. In all the West Indian hammered 58 not out from 22 balls with five of each kind of boundary, Curran ended on 60 not out from 39 balls with five fours and three sixes. The London side had romped home by seven wickets with 16 balls to spare, a barely credible margin in a match in this format. Sam Curran’s all round efforts plus his captaincy of the London side secured him the ‘Match Hero’ award. Some names of changed and there is more money involved, but the franchise based at The Oval still looks formidably strong. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
After a reminder to click on photos to view them at larger size we move to my usual sign off…
A hummingbird hawkmoth extracting nectar from a buddleia plant……and close up in all its glory.It rained lightly but persistently yesterday morning, and that brought the snails out in force.This red admiral has seen better days.goldfinches on a roof.This feather, which I saw lying near the Gaywood river at Kettlewell Lane Park originally belonged to a blue jay.Two bumblebees enjoying the same buddleia head.A painted lady rests on a patch of gravelA gatekeeper oblingly spreads its wings.
A look at the Indian men’s cricket team’s visit to Ireland and England, the latter part of which i s still in progress, a link to a chronological listing of my ‘Arisaig 2026’ posts and a photo gallery that is basically a highlights package of the last month.
I completed my series about my Scottish holiday on Wednesday, and have today created a page which lists all the posts in that series in chronological order. I now move back to the present. The Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams are both in England at the moment, with the latter playing their first ever test match, at a venue (Lord’s) whose pavilion was barred to women within the lifetimes of some of the players. I will have much to say about that match in due course, but as today is day one I look instead at the doings of the men’s side who have been playing T20Is (20 overs per side international matches) in Ireland now England.
THE EMERALD ISLE
Ireland have a bit of a tradition of embarrassing theoretically more illustrious opposition, going back as far as 1969 when they caught a visiting West Indies side on a very green pitch and rolled them for 25. They have added India to their scalp bags. Their victory in the opener might have been put down as a fluke, or to India being unfamiliar with Irish conditions, but when they repeated the dose in the second and last match to win the series it looked like India had major problems.
IN ENGLAND SO FAR
From Ireland India travelled east to England for a five match series. India had put up a good total in the first match when rain intervened and washed the rest of the match out. Three more matches have been played since then, and England have bossed all three. The most recent took place yesterday evening, and showcased most of India’s problems, with one exception – until last night Shreyas Iyer, recently promoted to the captaincy had done little with the bat since taking the reins. Last night he batted beautifully, scoring an unbeaten 80 from 49 balls. The problem was that his team mates combined to score a mere 78-7 from the 71 balls he did not face in the innings, a truly abysmal rate of scoring for this format. That total of 158 did not look likely to pose a threat to a confident England side, and in the end it was made to look an almost comically bad one. Harry Brook led the rampage with 79 not out from just 35 balls, while Phil Salt was also in brutal form. In the previous match India had bowled first, seen England score 201 and responded to a stiff challenge by slumping to 76 all out and defeat by 125 runs. With the final match of the England leg of this tour to take place at 2:30PM tomorrow India’s record for the trip stands at five defeats and one washout – and although at the time of the washout I thought they had been favourites to win that match their subsequent efforts suggest that actually England would have chased that one down as well. I have an idea as to the root cause of India’s problems on this tour: the IPL happens in (generally) small grounds on incredibly flat tracks, where scores of 250 in 20 overs are not uncommon and bowlers are seen as merely providing the deliveries to be hit for yet another succession of sixes, while the pitches in Ireland and England although good for batting have not left the bowlers completely out of things. Indian T20 batters tend to struggle in anything other than conditions tailor made for them, while the bowlers have grown unused to being significant factors.
PHOTOGRAPHS
While I have been concentrating for blogging purposes on my Scottish holiday it has been a splendid time for photography, and the gallery I now present is a highlights package spanning most of the period from 7th June, my first day back from holiday, to the present (reminder that photos can be seen at full size by clicking on them)…
A damselfly with a slender mainly black body and blue ring round the tail segment.Some pictures (six) of a hummingbird hawkmoth among the lavender.Goldfinch pictures taken through my front window.Cinnabar moth (four pics)red admiralAll legs and antennae (two pics)A set of pictures taken at Cavies and Cake in Fakenham just before work one Thursday (I was there with WNAG)Pictures from the NSOs second ever relaxed concert at the Corn Exchange on the 21st of JuneCaterpillars (three pics)A painted lady A spectacular beetle on a nettle leaf.A green damselfly of some description.This insect with a ,long blue body and wings with black tips is a demoiselleCaterpillarA red admiral and a European peacock on the same buddleia head.This coin recently passed through my hands (it is in circulation, not a proof coin).A comma butterfly
A look back at three splendid cricket matches and a photo gallery.
Not only are both the women’s and men’s English domestic T20 tournaments now in full swing, there is also a T20I series going on between England and New Zealand women’s teams. This post, typed as I listed to Bears v Somerset in the men’s tournament looks back at three classic matches.
ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND
This one did not start out as though it would develop into a classic – New Zealand were 5-3 in the second over and 11-4 in the fourth, batting first. Linsey Smith was the chief destroyer, claiming three victims with her crafty slow left arm swing (note she rarely if ever actually spins the ball, it is all about movement in the air for her). Then New Zealand were dug out of trouble by a fifth wicket stand of 159. Sophie Devine with 87 off 57 balls was the principal scorer. England were never quite on terms in the chase, and the issue was virtually settled by two errors in successive balls from Maia Bouchier. First she was guilty of ball watching, resulting in the run out of the vastly experienced Heather Knight, and then on the very next ball she suffered one of the softest dismissals you could ever see. That left England needing pretty much two a ball and with two brand new batters together at the crease, and New Zealand were in control from then on, winning eventually by 14 runs to level the series, with the next match to be played tomorrow.
THE SEVERN BRIDGE DERBY
Yesterday in the men’s T20 tournament Glamorgan entertained Gloucestershire. The match was an absolute nailbiter, going right down to the last ball, when Matt Taylor succeeded in getting a delivery from Fazalhaq Farooqi away for the four runs Gloucestershire still needed. This match was 158 plays 157, and was a far better spectacle than 260 plays 240 on a road could ever have been.
THE LONDON DERBY
At noon today Middlesex and Surrey assembled at Lord’s in the men’s T20 tournament. Yet again a low scoring match proved to be an absolute belter of a game. Middlesex batted first and managed 143-8 from their 20 overs, and that represented a decent recovery from a low water mark of 89-6. After 10.3 overs of the Surrey innings Middlesex looked in charge, with Lawrence having just gone to make it 56-4. That brought Laurie Evans in to join Surrey skipper Sam Curran. Curran assumed control of proceedings and played a magnificent knock, while Evans did all that was required of him. With three overs to go the pair were still together and the ask was down to 27. The 18th over effectively sealed the deal, with 24 accruing from it, including three sixes by Curran, the last of which took his score to 70. It took four more balls, three of them legal, for the job to be done, a wide and two singles accruing, with Curran appropriately scoring the winning run. In the end Curran and Evans did their jobs so well as to make it look like a very comfortable win for Surrey, but those who actually followed the game know different, and that the final margin of six wickets with nine balls to spare is a deceptive one.
A look at the events of Essex v Warwickshire in the Women’s T20 Cup, as I prepare to listen to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s competition, and a photo gallery.
The English domestic T20 competitions get underway today. I shall shortly be listening to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s T20 cup, but this post looks back at the game between Essex and Warwickshire in the women’s competition that happened earlier this afternoon.
A ONE WOMAN SHOW
Warwickshire found themselves batting first after the home side won the toss and opted to chase. When they were 80-1 approaching halfway things looked to be going well for them, but then Aussie import Georgia Redmayne was out to eh last ball of the 1oth over, to a return catch by Sophia Smale. Thereafter no one was able to stay with Abigail Freeborn, who batted excellently, for any length of time, and it took a big finish to boost Warwickshire to a final total of 164-8, of which Freeborn’s share was an unbeaten 86 from 56 balls, while Redmayne had scored 36 from 30.
ESSEX CRUISE HOME
Essex started the chase at a racing tempo, and even though they lost Grace Scrivens for 18, caught by Mary Taylor off Phoebe Brett that merely brought Cordelia Griffith in to join Alice Macleod, and the pair added 119 together in ten overs before both were out in successive deliveries, Macleod run out for 59 off 38 balls, and Griffith bowled by Millie Taylor (the two M Taylors are twin sisters just for the record) for 68 off 37 balls. The job was effectively done by then, and it took a mere four more deliveries for Joanne Gardner to finish the job, with Jodi Grewcock, miscast as an England opener in the recent ODI series against New Zealand, at the other end not actually getting to face a ball.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Mother and child – a muntjac fawn stands right next to its mother in Kettlewell Lane Park.
aspiblog 