Tag: Birds

England Just About Hanging On

A look at day four at the SCG, a link and a photo gallery.

This post deals with day four of the final test match of the Ashes series, at the SCG.

A NEW TALENT ANNOUNCES ITSELF

Play resumed on day four with Australia 518-7, already 134 runs ahead of England on first innings. The last three Australian wickets boosted that total to 567, an overall lead of 183. England were further handicapped as they prepared for their second innings by a muscle strain suffered by Ben Stokes. Ben Duckett contributed 42, his highest score of the series. There was also a score of 42 from Harry Brook. Will Jacks, who as I have said elsewhere is actually more batter than bowler failed horrifically to take advantage of a promotion to number six, Stokes having decided to bat later in the order, playing a horrible shot to his second ball to give Cameron Green a catch off the bowling of Beau Webster. First to go had been Zak Crawley, LBW to Starc for 1. That meant that Jacob Bethell, batting at number three in spite of never having scored a first class hundred had to come in right at the start of the innings. He rose to the challenge brilliantly, playing a proper test match innings, showing skill, technique and the right temperament for the job in hand. It was during the stand with Brook that he reached that maiden first class century (while it is not commonplace for this to happen in a test match it is not super rare either – Charles Bannerman’s 165 in the first ever test match was his maiden FC century, and there is another member of the current England setup to have done the same thing, Gus Atkinson). Even after Brook’s dismissal and the Jacks howler referred to earlier he went on unperturbed, finding some support from Jamie Smith. Brydon Carse helped the eighth wicket to advance the score by 30, and at the end Matthew Potts was supporting Bethell, who ended the day unbeaten on 142, having faced 232 balls and hit 15 fours, with England 302-8, 119 to the good. Bethell’s innings was England’s third three figure score of the series, and both the previous two were scored by Joe Root, a universally acknowledged master of test match batting technique. I am not yet fully prepared to renounce my scepticism regarding Bethell’s selection, but I see no reason for this century not to be the first of many, and if he continues to deliver the goods as he did this day I will acknowledge that fact.

PHOTOGRAPHS

First I have a link to share, from science.org, to this article about how multi-cellular life may have come about. It is an appropriate share since my gallery includes pictures from all three of the multi-cellular or eukaryotic kingdoms. Now for my usual sign off…

A pair of swans on the Gaywood River
A purely plant picture – a leaf lying on grass.
Three cormorants perched on the structure I have named in their honour, with a large gull in among them.
A Little Egret just far enough into the Nar to be reflected back by the water.
And just a tad later on the wing.
A lapwing at the edge of the Nar.
A bracket fungus of some sort fairly high up a big tree.
The sculpted sections of the Gaywood, in The Walks, clearly did freeze to some extent (and bear in mind that today has been less cold than Monday or Tuesday and that there was rain overnight).
A kite flying above Bawsey drain.

Australia Take Control in Sydney

A look back at days two and three at the SCG and a photo gallery.

Before I get into the main meat of this post, the events of days two and three in the fifth Ashes test in Sydney I have some important news from today. On Christmas morning my computer started failing to recognize the existence of WIFI networks, and today I was finally able to take it to a friend in Fakenham who is a professional fixer of computers, and it is once again fully functioning.

AN ENGLAND INNINGS WITH A FAMILIAR PATTERN

England resumed on the second day on 211-3. For much of that second day things looked to be continuing to go their way. Although Jamie Smith suffered the daftest dismissal of the series (even in this series, where that particular field is highly contested it stood out like a sore thumb) just before lunch, slapping a long hop from part timer Marnus Labuschagne straight into deep extra cover’s hands most of the rest of the news for England was good. At 375-6 a very big total looked on, but the last four wickets tumbled for a mere nine further runs. It was still England’s best first innings effort of the series, and what made the whole pattern of this innings so familiar was that it was undergirded by a huge score from Joseph Edward Root. Root’s 160 was his second hundred of the series, and the 41st of his test career.

POOR BOWLING FROM ENGLAND

Having batted reasonably well England proceeded to bowl like drains. By the end of day two Australia were 166-2, with Travis Head in sight of his third century of the series. Matthew Potts, playing his first match since the game in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI, and his first first class match since the end of the English season was especially poor, conceding runs rapidly and not looking threatening.

ONE WAY TRAFFIC ON DAY THREE

Travis Head powered on to 163 in the early part of the day. By the close a much more experienced cricketer, Steve Smith, had also cruised past three figures, and Beau Webster, batting at number nine through a combination of a batter heavy original selection and the use of a night watcher the previous evening, supported him impressively in the closing stages, against a tiring bowling unit. Australia closed on 518-7, already 134 to the good, having scored 352-5 on the day. Potts had 0-141 from 25 overs, Carse had claimed three wickets but had also been very expensive. Tongue and Stokes each went at about three an over, and even part time spinners Jacks and Bethell were far less expensive than the two Durham bowlers who had shared the new ball. At their high water mark of 375-6 on the second afternoon England looked well placed, a day and a half later they have every appearance of being deep in a Kimberley diamond mine sized hole.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Ice on the surface of a frozen pond (lest the blue skies and evidence of sunshine fool you regarding the weather this January in England).
A section of Bawsey Drain, frozen over (the faster flowing Gaywood river has not frozen over, and the Great Ouse is an even less likely candidate for doing so).
This snow fell during Sunday night/ early Monday morning, and although there has been no new snow since then it has yet to disappear.
A footprint (mine) in the snow.

Day 1 in Sydney

A look back at the opening day of the final test match of the 2025-6 Ashes at the SCG and a photo gallery.

Late last night UK time the fifth and final test match of the 2025-6 Ashes series got underway at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This post looks back at the day.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Gus Atkinson was unavailable for England due to injury, and Matthew Potts was named as his replacement. This was England’s only change from the side that had won the Boxing Day test match in Melbourne, which meant that Shoaib Bashir, fast tracked into the England ranks due to the fact that his height would enable him to generate extra bounce, an asset that should make itself especially felt on Australian surfaces, would end up not playing a match in the entire series. Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FRUSTRATING

The bad element of the day came first, with England losing three wickets, Duckett (who has had a wretched series) for 27, Crawley for 16 and Bethell for 10. That was 57-3. and brought the two Yorkshiremen, Joe Root and Harry Brook together. This pair proceeded to bat beautifully until just before tea when it rained, sending the players in. In the event there was no further cricket in the day, though the commentators were absolutely adamant that there could and therefore should have been – it was dry for most of the evening session. Possibly, with most matches so far this series having not gone the distance, and two having finished in two days each the home side wanted as many days play as possible in Sydney and the local ground staff did not exactly bust a gut to get play back underway. The score at the end of a truncated day was 211-3, Brook 78 not out, Root 72 not out, and a wicket a piece for Starc, Neser and Boland.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Not a common sight for a town centre location – a pheasant outside St Nicholas Chapel

A Cornish Christmas 5: Walking and Games

An account of the final full day of my Christmas holiday in Cornwall, and a photo gallery.

On the Saturday, my last full day in Cornwall, we decided to make an early afternoon walk to the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, and call in at a pub for a drink.

THE WALK

The walk from Fort Picklecombe to the villages starts by exiting the apartments via a covered walkway from the third floor which brings you out on the road out of the fort just by the officer’s mess. Once the fort has been left behind there is an opportunity, of which we availed ourselves, to leave the road and walk along a path that is part of the Mount Edgcumbe estate. Shortly after rejoining the road at the end of this section of path one leaves it again on to a section of the coast path, which takes one right to the edge of the villages. Because of their location, perched on a slope at the edge of a bay, most of the roads in the villages are too steep and/or narrow to permit motor traffic, making them less dangerous for pedestrians. There are two pubs, and we selected the second, the Halfway Inn. The drinks were excellent. It was a beautiful sunny day, and provided some fine pictures.

THE GAMES

One of the games at the apartment was a ‘where is it’? game with multiple difficulty levels available. After one trial using a political map and small placement markers we played the remaining games using the satellite map and the larger placement markers. By the time the last game I had finished, on this Saturday evening, all of us had one at least one game. I had almost won the opener on the Tuesday, but although I was first over the finish line I then got done by two successive sudden death questions. This Saturday evening I was again across the finish line first, after a number of right answers of which only some could be called guesses, and on this occasion I got a fairly easy sudden death question to seal the win.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The name ‘Jail Ale’ relates to a famous prison on Dartmoor – it gets a mention in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

A Cornish Christmas 4: Golitha and the Doniert Stone

A look back at the Boxing Day activities of my Christmas in Cornwall, with a video and lots of photographs.

On Boxing Day we went out walking. Our original plan was to do a circular walk beginning with the Golitha falls Nature Reserve and continuing with a circular walk. This was later modified.

GOLITHA FALLS

Golitha falls are actually more a series of rapids on the river Fowey than falls as such. The nature reserve is very beautiful and has some interesting historic connections – the town of Fowey, at the estuary of the river Fowey used to be important in the pottery trade, and the clay from which the china was made passed through this region. In the course of our explorations we saw details of a pipeline that had once carried liquid kaolin.

THE DONIERT STONE

Doniert was the last recorded King of Cornwall back in the ninth century. His stone and an accompanying half stone sit in a semicircular enclosure just off a road. Although our original walk plan had to be abandoned to a stretch that was too muddy to be passed – I had a shoe sucked off before we abandoned our original plan – we were able to find an alternative route to the Doniert Stone and see this very interesting historical relic.

VIDEO

Here is a video…

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my pictures from this excursion…

Renegades Blown Away by Hurricanes

A look back at todays BBL game between Melbourne Renegades and Hobart Hurricanes and a photo gallery.

This morning UK time saw Melbourne Renegades entertain Hobart Hurricanes at Geelong. This post looks back at the match.

THE RENEGADES INNINGS

The match started strangely, with Josh Brown allowing Chris Jordan to bowl a maiden in the first over of the match. Maidens are rare birds in T20s, and I cannot recall a previous example of a match in this format starting with such an over. Tim Seifert got a single early in the second over, but off the fourth ball thereof Brown fell to a catch by Nikhil Chaudhary off Riley Meredith for an eight ball duck, an absurd innings in a T20. The third and fourth overs, bowled by Nathan Ellis and then Meredith bowling his second were taken for 17 runs each, and a Power Play score of 36-1 looked respectable. However, Hurricanes immediately tightened things up. In the ninth over Jordan bowled Seifert for 34 to make it 63-2. With the penultimate ball of the 10th over English leg spinner Rehan Ahmed bowled Mohammad Rizwan for 32, which brought about the mid-innings drinks break at 69-3. Two overs later Jake Fraser-McGurk and Ollie Peake were still together, and there was an obvious case for activating the Power Surge. However Renegades did the cowardly thing and held back in the hope of getting a better opportunity. Five balls into the 13th over Peake was well caught by Matthew Wade off Nathan Ellis to make it 86-4, and a chance to use the Surge with two batters who have both already faced a few balls had been squandered. Three balls into the 14th over and Hurricanes other leg spinner, Bangladeshi Rishad Hossain, bowled Fraser-McGurk to make it 88-5. Hassan Khan and Will Sutherland revived things for Renegades, and they eventually activated the Surge for overs 17 and 18. The first of these overs was beneficial to their cause, but the second, bowled by Jordan, was ruinous. Hassan Khan was out to the first ball of it, and Sutherland to the fourth, to make it 126-7. Jordan conceded one more run in the over, but still at that point had 3-9 from three overs. The last ball of the 19th over saw Gurinder Sandhu fall to a catch by Hossain off Ellis to make it 133-8. The final over was Jordan’s fourth and last as well, and with the second ball of it he accounted for Fergus O’Neill to make it 135-9. Jordan did not manage to complete his five-for, and ten runs accrued from the last four balls of the innings. However, 145-9 still looked a hopelessly inadequate score, and 4-1-19-4 was still an excellent set of bowling figures. Jordan has played over 400 T20s in his long career, and has never yet taken a five-for, though todays figures were not quite a career best – he has recorded 4-6 in the past. Rishad Hossain had 1-21 from his four overs and Rehan Ahmed 1-25 from his. If Stokes is still worried about Bashir’s lack of skill with the bat (see here) then perhaps Ahmed, a genuinely front line bowler could come into the side. It would be far from the first time that an English player in Australia not as part of a tour party has been drafted in in an emergency – George Gunn, in Australia for health reasons, was called in to the 1907-8 touring party and proceeded to top score in both innings on test debut, while in the 1990s Gus Fraser, omitted by Illingworth, was clever enough to arrange to be in Australia playing grade cricket, and soon found himself back in the side.

THE HURRICANES CHASE

Mitchell Owen fell to the first ball of the chase, caught behind by Rizwan off Jason Behrendorff. However Nikhil Chaudhary, recently demoted from opening to number three, then hit the second, third and fourth balls of that opening over for fours and Hurricanes were on their way, and never really looked back. The other opener, Tim Ward, was also dismissed in the Power Play, for 8, but Hurricanes already had 38 on the board by then. It was the third wicket stand between Chaudhury and Ben McDermott that killed the game stone dead. At the halfway mark Hurricanes were 95-2, with these two still together, and activating the Power Surge at the earliest possible opportunity was a blatantly obvious thing to do, and Hurricanes duly did so. Although they lost Chaudhury to the last ball of the Surge, caught by Fraser-McGurk off Sandhu for 79 (38) the two overs had also yielded 36 runs (18 each), and a mere 15 were needed for victory by then. It took 1.5 overs to knock those runs off, with no further wickets falling. McDermott ended on 49 not out (33). Hurricanes had won by seven wickets with 6.1 overs to spare and went top of the table. Jordan was named Player of the Match for his great bowling. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Fightback Comes Too Late

A look back at the final stages of the test match in Adelaide, some suggestions for Melbourne and a photo gallery.

Early this morning UK time England lost the test match in Adelaide by 82 runs and with it both The Ashes and the series. Australia are now 3-0 up with two matches left to play.

DAY FOUR

England had their best period of the test match when they took the last six Australian wickets for 38 runs. Unfortunately that still left them needing 435 to win, more than has ever been successfully chased in a test match before. By the close they had lost six of their second wickets and such hope as they still retained rested with Jamie Smith and Will Jacks.

DAY FIVE

Jamie Smith made 60, but his dismissal was a poor one. Jacks found further support from Brydon Carse, as England extended the match into the afternoon session of the final day. Jacks was eventually dismissed for 47 having held out for almost three hours. This was a particularly impressive effort since he is by nature a stroke maker but put that aside in the interests of the team. Thereafter the end was not long delayed.

LOOKING AHEAD TO MELBOURNE

There is no way Ollie Pope can retain his place for the fourth test match in Melbourne. It is also clear that England need a spinner, not a batter cosplaying as a front line spinner (I do not blame Jacks for the embarrassing results of this bowling figures wise, I blame England for trying to have him play a role he does not play even in domestic cricket). Jacks bats high in the order for Surrey, and with England having a vacancy at number three there is an obvious solution there – Jacks moves up and plays as the batter he is, Pope goes out, Bashir comes in. Also for Melbourne I want Matthew Potts in for Brydon Carse, who did get some wickets here but also bowled a lot of dross. While the series is over there is a huge difference between 5-0 and 4-1 or 3-2, and England should be looking to restore some pride in these final matches. In 1950-1 Freddie Brown’s side had a horror time for much of their tour, with a lot of ill luck along the way, but they never lost heart, and in the final test match they saved some face with a victory, England’s first over Australia since before WWII, and in England in 1953 Len Hutton’s England regained The Ashes, which had been in Aussie hands for almost 19 years at the time.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Australia Well on Top in Adelaide

A look back at days two and three of the test match in Brisbane, some comments regarding the makeup of the England side, and a photo gallery.

This post looks back at days two and three of the test match in Adelaide that is currently in progress.

DAY 2

England took far too long to dispose of the last two Australian wickets, allowing them to boost the total to 371. Australia then did what England had signally failed to do: bowl properly. The best one can say about England’s efforts in the face of a very good bowling performance from Australia is that at least on this occasion they were in general got out rather than giving their wickets away. The chief exception was Ollie Pope, whose shot against Nathan Lyon was gruesomeness personified. The bowler, returning after missing Brisbane, an omission about which he was in his own words “filthy” could not be sure how things would go for him. Pope hit the veteran off spinner’s very first ball straight to midwicket to depart for 3. That brought Lyon level with McGrath on 563 scalps, and a few moments later he was alone as Australia’s second most prolific test wicket taker ever behind Warne when he bowled Ben Duckett. Brook batted with greater responsibility than he had shown in the first two matches (it would have been hard for him to show less) to accrue 45, at a still reasonable speed. Stoked dug in for the long haul, and before the close of this day, Archer, a five-for already to his name found himself in action with the bat. England ended on 213-8, 158 adrift.

DAY THREE

England began well, staging a significant batting revival of their own, with Archer clocking up a maiden test 50 and Stokes battling on to 83. They managed 286, a deficit of 85. Sadly that was the last good news for England. The rest of the day was dominated by Travis Head, scoring his second ton of the series (England have one such score between them, from Root in Brisbane, for this series). Australia soon realized that other than Archer the England bowling contained zero threat. Will Jacks, again used as a stock spinner, ended the day with 1-107 from 19 overs (for comparison Lyon, a genuine bowler, had 2-70 from 28 overs in England’s innings, which is what proper stock bowling looks like). This is not an attack on Jacks, a fine cricketer but not, repeat not, a front line spinner. He is a good batter and an occasional bowler, and England sticking him in at number eight as a supposed front line bowler was a poor call – and it is England against whom my ire is directed. In the first innings Jacks had 2-105 from 20 overs. The last bowler to concede 100 or more in each innings of an Ashes match before this was Shane Warne, in a game in which he captured 12 wickets, and the last English bowler to do so was Ian Botham at The Oval in 1981, when he took 11 wickets. Jacks at the moment has 3-212 for the match. Usman Khawaja scored 40, but Head’s best support came from Alex Carey who followed his first century by reaching 52 not out. Australia were 271-4 at the close, 356 ahead, with Head 142 not out.

LOOKING AHEAD

After the close of play England’s spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel acted as spokesperson for the team. In a moment that brought to mind (at least to my mind) the ‘many worlds‘ view espoused by certain cosmologists Patel told those listening that Jacks had not bowled badly today. There may indeed be an alternate universe in which Jacks did not bowl badly (possibly even one in which he actually bowled well), but in the universe in which this match was played and in which I was listening his 1-107 from 19 overs was not an unfair reflection on his bowling. It is not Jacks’ fault – he was put in to a job that he does not do even at domestic level, which is the fault of those making that call, but Jeetan Patel did himself no favours by producing such a blatant porky. Unless miracles happen on days four and five England will move on to the Boxing Day test having already surrendered both Ashes and series. Two players who cannot be allowed to keep their places based on the evidence so far available are Pope and Carse. I would replace Carse with Matt Potts, a crafty fast-medium in place of a brainless pacer. As for Pope I would use the necessity of dropping him to change the balance of the side, by bringing in Bashir. The number three slot could go either to Jacks, a top order batter for Surrey, or Stokes could move up and take on that crucial position himself. To win a test match in general you need to take 20 wickets. At Perth and Brisbane England managed 12 wickets each time. They have taken 14 so far here, but the only way they will make it to all 20 is if Australia decide that there is so much time left in the match they need not bother to declare.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

An unusual £2 coin I got in change recently. Given who it is commemorating the skull is obviously that of Yorick.
The West Norfolk Autism Group committee Christmas lunch took place at the Crown & Mitre today.
We were in the room (effectively a large lean-to greenhouse) overlooking the Great Ouse. There is an outside seating area beyond this room if you are there in summer.
This picture of the outside of the Crown & Mitre shows the room we were in – the white structure bottom right.
The street frontage.

An Even First Day

A look back at day one of the third Ashes test in Adelaide and a photo gallery.

The third test match of the ongoing series between Australia and England’s men’s teams got underway overnight UK time. This post looks back at a curious day’s play.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England had announced their team early, in keeping with their recent methods in this department. The fact that Shoaib Bashir missed out for a third straight match, creating the possibility that series will be decided before he plays a game, raised eyebrows. The problem with this selection from England is that they fast tracked him into the test side with this specific series most in mind, which makes then sidelining him for each of the first three matches look bizarre. Australia had intended to drop Usman Khawaja, which could well have ended his test career, but then Steve Smith experienced giddiness and nausea while batting in the nets and it was deemed serious enough to put him out of the match, so Khawaja was back in the side. Australia won the toss, and there was never much doubt about the decision, so it was over to England’s bowlers to see what they could do.

A CURATE’S EGG PERFORMANCE

England did not bowl very well overall, but they had some assistance from the Australian batting, who seemed somewhat infected by their opponents freneticism at the crease. Immediately after lunch, when Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green suffered almost identical ultra-soft dismissals in the space of three balls, each hitting deliveries from Archer straight to midwicket and suddenly the score was 94-4 it looked very good for England. Khawaja and Alex Carey regained the initiative for Australia, but then Khawaja tried to go big against the part time spin of WG Jacks and succeeded in holing out Josh Tongue for 82. Carey, supported in turn by Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc proceeded to a splendid maiden Ashes ton. However Jacks showed something of the original WG’s knack for inducing batters to get themselves out, drawing an injudicious shot from Carey which resulted in a catch to Jamie Smith. The day ended with Australia on 326-8. With temperatures in Adelaide forecast to reach 39 degrees on day two (two degrees above the cut off point for an abandonment during my brief career as an umpire in Under 14s Whites matches there) what happens then will have a big influence on the outcome of the match and thus whether England can get back into the series. If they can get the last two wickets quickly and then bat for the rest of the day, forcing Australia to labour in the field through the fiercest heat they will have a good chance. Cummins has just returned earlier than expected from an injury, and a long, hot innings in the field would be a big early test of just how ready he was to make that comeback. A concern for England, given their controversial decision to overlook the specialist spinner is the fact that it was Will Jacks, definitely a batter who bowls off spin, who ended bowling the most overs for them on day one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first five images are of a gold ducat that has been manipulated in some way – the 1583 date, clearly visible, does not match with the style of portrait. These images did their job, and the coin has been sold for a negotiated price not hugely much less than the original sale price.
This style of portrait was used only in 1585, 1586 and 1587,, not 1583.
This image comes from our upcoming two-day sale on January 13th and 14th. A full catalogue can be viewed on the-saleroom or easyliveauction.
A cormorant right at the topmost point of a willow tree. This willow overlooks the Townshend Terrace pond in North Lynn.

Renegades Rampant

An account of todays match in the men’s Big Bash League, a pungent comment re England’s chosen XI for Adelaide tomorrow and a photo gallery.

The Women’s Big Bash League 11th edition finished on Saturday, and the 15th edition of the men’s tournament started yesterday. Today Melbourne Renegades faced Brisbane Heat in a night match in Geelong. This post looks back at that match.

RENEGADES RUNFEST

Things initially did not look overly bright for Renegades, with only Tim Seifert of the early batters looking good. Josh Brown managed 15 (13), which looked positively explosive compared to number three Mohammad Rizwan’s 3 (10). Jake Fraser-McGurk had just started to look like he might provide Seifert some decent support when he suffered a stupid dismissal, walking across his stumps against seamer Jack Wildermuth, missing and being bowled. This attempt to open up the leg side was particularly ill-judged given that Heat had stocked that side with plenty of fielders. Oliver Peake, 19 years old, came in at number five, and batted magnificently. He and Seifert put on 121 together in precisely nine overs (9.3 to 18.3) of the innings, Seifert reaching three figures. Wildermuth got them both in the space of three balls, 203-3 becoming 204-5. Shaheen Shah Afridi had a nightmare with the ball, which ended in bizarre fashion, when he was ordered away from the bowling crease after producing two dangerously high full tosses in a single over, the 18th over of the innings. His figures when his spell was compulsorily halted were 2.4.-0-43-0. Nathan McSweeney completed that 18th over. The 20th over was bowled by Xavier Bartlett, and in the circumstances he did well to only concede a further eight.

THE HEAT RESPONSE

At no stage were Heat close to being up with the rate, and as can happen in such circumstances that required rate climbed alarmingly in the second half of their innings. Only a late flourish between youngster Hugh Weibgen and veteran Jimmy Peirson, which produced 78 runs from 5.5 overs enabled them to keep the margin respectable. There was time in the dying embers of the game for Afridi to add a duck with the bat to his disaster class with the ball. Afridi’s dismissal, clean bowled by Gurinder Singh Sandhu, left Heat needing 17 from one ball, and they managed two off that final ball. Melbourne Renegades had won by 14 runs. Their best bowler on the day was Will Sutherland who took 3-33 from his four overs, while Jason Behrendorff had 2-34 from his four and Sandhu 2-35 from his four.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Tomorrow night UK time the third match of the Ashes series gets underway in Adelaide. England have confirmed their playing XI, with the only change from Brisbane being Tongue coming in for Atkinson. That means that Shoaib Bashir, fast tracked into the England team and kept there in spite of some less than convincing returns at test level with this specific series in mind may end up not participating until it has already been lost. However England’s actual selections work out they have made themselves look fools over Bashir. Now for my usual sign off…

These last few photos are of a massive fly past of migrating birds. There is virtually no overlap between the birds being photographed here. The pictures were taken on Columbia Way at about 3:30PM, as I returned from my post-lunch walk.