A look at yesterday’s Women’s Six Nations rugby match between England and Italy and a splendid photo gallery.
The Women’s Six Nations rugby got underway this weekend. Yesterday saw England facing Italy.
A MATCH OF TWO HALVES
England have not lost a Womens Six Nations fixture since 2018, and last year they kept Italy scoreless. The first half hour of the match continued this pattern, and by that stage England had already secured the bonus point for scoring four or more tries. One of those was 35 year old Emily Scarratt’s 55th international try. Rosie Galligan had a try chalked off for not being fully in control of the ball, but the replay also showed an earlier Italian infraction which caused the referee to award a penalty try (seven points, since one of the rules governing penalty tries is that they are always considered to be converted, without the kick having to be taken) and send the Italian offender to the sinbin for 20 minutes. Near the end of the first half Italy did actually score, with Francesca Sgorbini touching down, but that made little difference to the overall score line, which reflected England’s dominance.
The second half was very different, with Italy fighting like tigers. Sgorbini briefly thought she had her second try of the match but it was chalked off bu the TMO. England also had a try disallowed. Over half an hour into what was threatening to be a scoreless half Amy Cokayne scored an undisputed try. The final score was England 38 (six tries, three conversions and the automatic extra two points for the penalty try) Italy 5 (Sgorbini’s unconverted try) and England fully merited their win, but Italy deserve credit for the fight they showed in the second half, when they might have caved an allowed an absolute monster score to be posted against them.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (don’t forget that you can view images at larger size by clicking on them)…
My sister had booked a table at this establishment for Sunday dinner last night.A redshank near the Nar outfall (as you will see I took several photographs of this bird).two for one on bees!Close up emphasising the two bees.The full picture…from which this (one spider, two bees and some purple flowers)……this one (close focus on the two bees)……this one (focus on the smaller bee, with the spider also on the image)……and this one (the bumblebee the solo star) were all extracted.
A look at the early stages of IPL 2025 and a large photo gallery.
This year’s Indian Premier League started yesterday. Yesterday saw Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Kolkata Knight Riders, while today has seen Sunrisers Hyderabad versus Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are currently playing, though I am listening to the Women’s Six Nations rugby match between England and Italy which is about to get underway.
RCB’S STATEMENT WIN
RCB have never won the IPL. KKR started out red hot, being past the 100 mark by the halfway stage of their innings. They fell away in the second half of their innings and ended with only 174 to defend. This might seem respectable for a T20 innings, but RCB soon put it in perspective. They too were past 100 inside ten overs, but unlike KKR they did not fall off thereafter, and they won in the end by seven wickets with over three overs to spare.
HYDERABAD RUNFEST
I missed the early stages of this one, but got to hear the closing stages of the SRH innings, as they mounted a concerted challenge to beat their own all-time record IPL innings total of 287. They ended up with 286-6, highlighted by Ishan Kishan scoring 106* from 47 balls. Jofra Archer gained the wrong sort of place in the record books with his 4-0-76-0, the most expensive spell in IPL history (and it might have been 4-0-81-0 as well – there was a four byes in his last over that could easily have been given as five no-balls). Royals themselves batted very well, except by comparison to the SRH blitz. In the end they were beaten by 44 runs, meaning that 40 overs had yielded a total of 528 runs.
A look back at James and Sons’ march auction and a large photo gallery.
James and Sons had their March auction of Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. This post looks briefly at an eventful two days.
BIDDERS OUT IN FORCE
Between the-saleroom and easyliveauction there were 331 online bidders following proceedings, in addition to a few people actually present at James and Sons and one telephone bidder. This wide interest was reflected in the hammer prices with many items doing remarkably well. Lot 168, which I had bid on on behalf of my parents, was just one item that went way over estimate, in this case climbing to £50 when expected to get no more than £30. Though personally disappointing it was professionally satisfying as not only were the images mine, it was also largely down to emails from me that so many people had advance knowledge of the auction.
The highest price gained by any single lot in this auction was for a cigarette card lot, number 539, which fetched £900…
The vernal equinox, the official start of spring in the northern hemisphere, is still three days away. However, by any reckoning other than the strictly official spring has already come to Norfolk this year. This brief post is solely for the purpose of sharing photos, mainly from Monday and yesterday, but with a couple from today as well…
This is the inside front cover picture of “The Murder of Crows” by Stephen Done, part of a series of novels set on this railway featuring Inspector Vignoles.
A look back at the final day of the Six Nations rugby and a huge photo gallery.
Yesterday saw the final round of the Six Nations rugby. This post looks back at how events unfolded.
THE SCENARIOS
The final fixtures, in order of playing, were Ireland v Italy, Wales v England and finally France v Scotland. Ireland, England and France all had chances to win, with the latter in pole position, Scotland were sure to finish fourth, with the wooden spoon between Wales and Italy. Ireland needed a bonus point win to have any serious chance of lifting the trophy. England could then displace them, a bonus point win putting them ahead at the top of the table outright and a win putting them ahead on points difference unless Ireland racked up a really huge score. Even a bonus point win for England was likely to leave France needing only to win the final match to clinch the title. A bonus point is awarded to teams scoring four or more tries in a match for the record.
THE FIRST TWO MATCHES
Ireland did get their bonus point win, but the margin was small, largely because their kicker, while good in open play had a nightmare when kicking at goal, only putting one such kick over in the entire match. In Cardiff it was one way traffic, with England racking up over 60 points. This included two tries for 20 year old debutant Henry Pollock. With that it was over to Paris for the final instalment of the tournament, with the home side knowing that any win would be enough.
THE GRAND FINALE
France started out dominating, but it took 17 minutes for their dominance to show on the scorecard, when in quick succession a penalty and a converted try put them 10-0 up. From here Scotland mounted an impressive fightback, the remainder of the second half being their best period of the match and quite possibly of the entire tournament. The French had a temporary numerical disadvantage that probably have been a permanent one when Mauvaka was yellow carded for a vicious headbutt on Ben White. Since the incident was off the ball, and not part of a tackle it has hard to seen any excuse for it being a yellow rather than a red card, but such was the verdict. On the stroke of the interval Scotland grounded the ball for what they, and everyone else, believed was a try giving them a half time lead. However, the video technology ruled it out on the ground that Blair Kinghorn had been in touch before Jordan grounded the ball. Thus at half time it was France 16 Scotland 13. That was the last sight Scotland had of victory, and thus the last sight England had of the title. The French went 10 points clear early in the second half. Bielle-Biarrey put himself into the record books with his try, which meant that a) he had scored in every round round of the tournament, something no one else had ever done, and b) he had scored a total of eight tries in the tournament, a new all time record. Scotland’s resistance was broken, and two more tries followed, and even with the previously immaculate Ramos failing to convert the final try that made it France 35 Scotland 16, 19 points ahead with 18 minutes left in the tournament. France did not add to their points tally after that, but neither did Scotland add to theirs. France had scored 30 tries in the tournament, another new record, beating the 29 scored by England in 2001. That England side announced itself in that tournament and went on to win the 2003 world cup. This French side have announced themselves in this tournament, and there is a world cup in 2027. Wales ended with a second straight wooden spoon, and Italy were equally clearly the second worst side in the tournament. Perhaps the time has come to make places at northern hemisphere rugby’s top table a privilege rather than a right by introducing relegation, with whichever side finishes last being replaced in the following year’s tournament by the next highest ranked northern hemisphere side.
A look at the England Men’s touring party for New Zealand, an auction lots related photo gallery, an account of Heat v Renegades in the WBBL and a regular photo gallery.
In addition to the selection of the tour party to New Zealand I will be mentioning today’s WBBL match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades. There will be two photo galleries, a small one separating the two cricket segments and the main one at the end.
THE ENGLAND TOUR PARTY TO NEW ZEALAND
The England men’s squad for their tour of New Zealand was announced yesterday:
Jamie Smith was known to be missing this tour as he is taking paternity leave. Jordan Cox is an odd choice as keeper, as he hardly ever does this job in domestic cricket. Oliver George Robinson, a superb keeper who has just had a season in which he scored 900 FC runs at an average of 48 is entitled to feel aggrieved. I have talked about Woakes overseas before, and I still consider him a waste of a spot. Jacob Bethell is a talented young player, but surely if England were looking to usher a youngster on to the international stage James Rew of Somerset would have been a better choice. I also feel, especially given that current number three Ollie Pope is coming off a shocking series in Pakistan (55 runs in five innings), that Josh Bohannon could have been considered. Finally, no one who has seen the selections of my all time XIs could suggest that I of all people do not appreciate spin bowling, but I find it hard to imagine a New Zealand strip on which the selection of even two out of Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir is justified. At best I would say that the selectors deserve 5/10 for this effort, and that is probably erring on the side of generosity.
AUCTION PURCHASES
I mentioned lot 731 in my post about the coin/ banknote/ cheque element of James and Sons’ most recent sale (see here) but that was one of three lots (all very cheap) that I secured over the two days. Lots 369 and 374, railway postcards, went under the hammer while I was at work, but I had put in bids in advance. This gallery shows those lots, and my subsequent treatment of them.
Lot 369 – an outside view of St Pancras stationI also imaged the stamp on the back for the auctionThe next few pictures were taken once the item was in my possesion.My solution to mounting the postcard and keeping the stamp visible – I cut a hole in the paper on which I was mounting it.Lot 374 Marylebone Station, for auction.Some pictures taken at home.I envisgaed combining this item with the Great Central Railway advert already in my possession.Ultimately I mounted them side by side.lot 731Paired up with another cheque issued to the South Eastern Railway Company.
BRISBANE HEAT v MELBOURNE RENEGADES
Renegades won the toss at Allan Border Field, Brisbane and put the home side in to bat. Grace Harris made a brief but dramatic contribution: her first ball was the fifth of the opening over and she smacked it out of the park. She top edged the next delivery and the bowler, Sophie Molineux exacted revenge for the previous ball by taking a return catch. That was 7-1 after one over. Georgia Redmayne was now joined by Lauren Winfield-Hill and they had a good partnership for the second wicket. Molineux was involved in Winfield-Hill’s dismissal for 26, catching the number three’s clip off the bowling of Georgia Wareham to make it 73-2. Charli Knott managed a single before Emma de Broughe took a catch off Hayley Matthews first ball of the match to make it 78-3 after 9.1 overs. At that point drinks were taken, rather than wait for the end of the 10th over. New batter Jess Jonassen and Redmayne took six off the remaining five balls of the tenth over and Heat were 84-3 at the halfway stage of their innings. Off the last ball of the 11th over Dottin had Redmayne caught by her opposite number, Nicole Faltum, for 44, which made it 86-4. Laura Harris now played a brilliant innings, making full use of the Power Surge. Her 31 off 16 balls, along with a few other contributions, notably 11 not out off seven balls from Grace Parsons at the end of the innings got Heat to 169-8 from their 20 overs.
Renegades made a blazing start to the chase, largely through Hayley Matthews. However Grace Parsons now took centre stage with the ball. First she had Matthews caught by Laura Harris for 35 which made it 51-1, then three balls later she had Alice Capsey stumped for a duck to make it 52-2. Then in the eighth over, her second, she had Deandra Dottin given LBW which made 59-3. Courtney Webb was run out after a fine return from Grace Harris and some quick work from bowler Shikha Pandey caught her out of her ground. Thereafter Renegades were never in the hunt. Some late hitting by Naomi Stalenberg (38 off 23 balls) lessened the damage that Renegades’ net run rate took but did not affect the final result. Renegades ended on 141-9, giving Heat the win by 28 runs. Parsons, who even with her final over costing 13 had 3-22 from her four overs as well as that 11 not out in the Heat innings was a shoo-in for Player of the Match. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Walking back from the bus stop once the clocks have gone back (it was still absolutely full daylight last week).
An account of today’s WBBL match (Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Thunder) and a photo gallery.
Today’s match in the WBBL was between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder.
THE HURRICANES INNINGS
Sydney Thunder won the bat flip and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee was out cheaply, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nicola Carey had a good partnership for the second wicket, and then Elyse Villani offered Carey further support. At the halfway stage of their innings the Hurricanes were 64-2 and looking set for a big score. They took the Power Surge (in this competition sides get four overs of standard Power Play at the start of the innings and a two over Power Surge which must be taken in the second half of the innings) immediately, and scored 28 runs from the two overs. At 92-2 after 12 overs 170 looked to be possible and 160 to be no mare than par. Then came a horrendous collapse which started with the dismissal of Carey for a fine 52 and saw four wickets tumble for just 12 runs. Tabatha Saville batted well at number seven, and found some useful late support from Molly Strano, who scored 9 not out off just five balls. The spinners had fared far better than the seamers. Shabnim Ismail’s pace was ineffective, leaving her with 0-30 from four overs, while Hannah Darlington, thad a disastrous 2-0-28-0, although veteran Sammy-Jo Johnson went for just 19 from her four overs and took a wicket. Pick of the Thunder bowlers was left arm spinner Samantha Bates who had 3-20. Hurricanes had amassed 141-7 by the end of their innings, 92-2 off the first 12 overs and 49-5 off the last eight overs.
THE THUNDER REPLY
There are few better options when spin is going to be key than Molly Strano, and the Hurricanes entrusted her with the first over of the innings. The very first ball of the Thunder innings pinned Sri Lankan ace Chamari Athatpaththu who had earlier claimed 2-26 from four overs of off spin plumb LBW. Athapaththu was somewhat slow to leave the crease, but it was one of the plumbest LBWs you could ever see. Phoebe Litchfield survived the remaining five balls of the over, but was not able to score off any of them, thus giving Strano the first maiden of this year’s tournament. Kathryn Bryce, the Scottish all rounder who bowls medium pace, was given the second over and conceded 14, which ended her participation as a bowler. The third over was Strano’s second, and six runs accrued from it. Lauren Smith, another off spinner, bowled the fourth over, and Georgia Voll was dismissed, holing out to Chloe Tryon in the deep to make it 24-2. Tahlia Wilson and Georgia Adams fell for 3 a piece, off four and six balls respectively and it was 38-4 in the seventh over. Anika Learoyd now offered Litchfield, who was playing beautifully after her slow start, the only serious support she would enjoy all innings. Litchfield reached a magnificent 50 off 36 balls, but then suffered a remarkable dismissal – Heather Graham, a medium pacer, fired one wide of the stumps and Lizelle Lee executed a smart stumping. The delivery was signalled wide, but one can be stumped off a wide, and Litchfield had to go, making the score 91-5. Sammy-Jo Johnson, a big hitter on her day, fell cheaply to make it 96-6. Two runs later Nicola Carey effectively ended the contest by bowling Learoyd for 29 to make it 98-7. 44 runs of 5.4 overs is not difficult if you have front line batters available to score them, but when you down to numbers 8,9,10 and 11 it is a major ask. Ella Briscoe and Hannah Darlington added 10 runs together for the eighth wicket before Heather Graham ended what had been a horror day for Darlington by bowling her for four. That was 108-8, which immediately became 108-9 when a mix-up between Ismail and Briscoe saw Ismail suffer that rarity, a zero ball duck (run out 0, having not faced a ball). By this stage were Thunder were a long way behind the required run rate as well. Samantha Bates who had earlier bowled so well got a single, and Briscoe also added a single to her score before the last ball of the 18th over, bowled by Tryon with her left arm spin, clean bowled Bates to make 110 all out and victory to the Hurricanes by 31 runs. Other than Bryce’s single expensive over the most expensive Hurricanes bowler was Tryon with 2-19 from three overs for an ER of 6.33. Heather Graham had 3-19 from her full four overs. Nicola Carey, one of the two half centurions in the match and also the possessor of figures of 3-0-18-1, was named Player of the Match.
After the first 12 overs of this match had yielded 92-2 the last 26 produced a combined 159-15. Bryce in that one over apart the Hurricanes seamers had realized that pace on the ball on this pitch just asked to be hit and deliberately slowed themselves down.
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.
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.
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).
aspiblog 