Tag: Birds

Ups and Downs at Birmingham

A look at developments son far in the third test match between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston

Yesterday morning the third test match of the three match series between England and the West Indies got underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England named an unchanged XI, logical but a little disappointing – one would have like to see Potts and/ or Pennington in action. West Indies showed one change – Motie who had missed the second match due to injury returning in place of Sinclair, who had stood in for him. West Indies won the toss and chose to bat first. Putting England in on a surface like the one at Edgbaston would have reeked of fear, so this was a positive sign.

DAY ONE

West Indies began well, with the opening stand yielding 76. However one wicket produced a clatter, and at 115-5 West Indies looked in deep trouble. Jason Holder and Joshua da Silva then had an excellent partnership for the sixth wicket. The lower order also contributed a little, and in the end West Indies posted 282 all out. Kraigg Brathwaite scored 61 opening the batting, Holder 59 in the middle of the order, and Gus Atkinson had the best bowling figures with 4-67, giving him 20 wickets one innings in to his third test match. England had a mini-session to negotiate before the close, and made rather a hash of doing so, losing both openers and nightwatcher Mark Wood to end the day on a precarious 38-3.

DAY TWO (SO FAR)

The day started as the previous one had ended, with England losing wickets rapidly – first Pope and then Brook departed cheaply, at which point it was 54-5. Root and Stokes began the recovery, putting on 115 together before Stokeshit a short ball from Alzarri Joseph straight to Kraigg Brathwaite at forward short leg. Root and Jamie Smith continued the good work before Motie trapped Root LBW 13 short of a century. In the course of this innings Root passed Lara’s career aggregate of test runs, took his own tally past 12,000 and in the process assured himself of ending the innings with his average above 50 – the sixth time in his career that he has moved his average above 50. That was 231-7, with Woakes joining Smith. Smith completed his second test fifty, and when the tea interval arrived England were 274-7, just 8 runs short of first innings parity. A rain delay has extended the tea interval but they are now back underway. While I have been preparing this for publication England have moved into a first innings lead, with Smith and Woakes still together.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Hundred 2024

A look at goings on in the Hundred 2024 so far and a large photo gallery.

The most controversial competition in cricket, The Hundred, is under way for 2024. This post looks at some of what has happened already.

THE HUNDRED 2024

The Hundred got underway on Tuesday, and there was also action on Wednesday and Thursday, and will be more today.

Tuesday saw the Oval Invincibles successful in both the women’s and men’s games.

On Wednesday Southern Brave and London Spirit were the contending teams. London Spirit won the women’s match, largely thanks to a superb 65* from Heather Knight. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, making her Hundred debut at the age of just 16 had a dream start when she dismissed Meg Lanning with her second ball, holding a fine return catch to do so.

Yesterday was the turn of Manchester Originals and Welsh Fire. In the women’s match it looked at one point like the Originals could defend a total of 113, but Sophia Dunkley stepped on the accelerator at the crucial moment, turning a questionable looking 37* (34) into an indubitably match winning 69* (47).

The Men’s game embarrassingly one-sided, as an appalling batting performance from the Originals saw them tumble to 37-7. They recovered from there to post 86-8 from their 100 balls, but Welsh Fire made that total look absolutely as derisory as it was, never looking in any trouble at any stage of the chase.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Second Test Match Between England and West Indies

A look back at the test match at Trent Bridge between England and West indies. and a fine photo gallery.

I did not actually get to follow a great deal of the match that unfolded at Trent Bridge between Thursday and Sunday (scheduled for five days, but four proved enough). Thursday was a work day, so I got only the closing stages of England’s 416, and as documented in my previous two tests I was busy over the weekend.

A HISTORIC MATCH

England amassed 416 on the opening day, but had, as opening batter Ben Duckett admitted, “left a few runs out there”. The West Indies response was led by two batters from the tiny island of Dominica (also birthplace of pace bowlers Norbert Philip of the West indies and Phillip DeFreitas of England) Alick Athenaze (82) and Kavem Hodge (120, the first test century by a Dominican), and at the end of day two they were 351-5 in response to that 416 by England. In the end, assisted by England trying to be too clever against the tailenders, West Indies led by 41. During the bit of listening I got in on the Saturday in between concerts Brook and Root batted beautifully after Pope had completed a 50 and then got out. Both players would get hundreds, but for the second time in the match England didn’t maximise their opportunity, suffering a collapse late on. They did however pass 400 for the second time in the match, the first England team to do so (though it has been done against them at least once – Headingley 1948, England 496 and 365-8 declared, Australia 458 and 404-3 to win by seven wickets). Part of the reason that occurrences are rare (there have been 12 in all of test history) is that sides putting up big totals used to expect only to bat once – declining to enforce the follow-on was much rarer than it has recently become. Also scoring rates were less rapid in test cricket in days gone by, which mean that topping 400 twice would almost certainly not have led to victory (the extraordinary Headingley 1948 match aside). West Indies thus need 385 to win – fewer than had been scored in any of the first three innings of the match. By the time I got to catch up on the action on Sunday after Norton Hill the West Indies second innings was already underway, and it did not initially look promising for England. However, with 61 on the board Woakes had Mikyle Louis caught behind and a dramatic collapse set in, including off spinner Shoaib Bashir entering the record books by taking wickets in each of his first three overs – before this only one spinner had taken wickets in each of their first two overs in a test innings at Trent Bridge – Shane Warne, when he almost bowled Australia to victory in 2005 with England needing only 129 to win. When Wood dismissed Sinclair courtesy of a catch by Crawley West Indies had tumbled to 93-6. They were still six down when I left for my evening engagement, but England, with the aid of the extra half hour got the job done that evening. West Indies were all out for 143 in the end, Bashir 5-41, including the final wicket, Shamar Joseph clean bowled for 8. Pope was named Player of the Match for his scores of 121 and 51. England had underachieved with the bat in the first innings on their own admission, had arguably done the same in the second, and had still emerged victorious by the huge margin of 241 runs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Red Admiral looking rather the worse for wear.
In contrast this Comma looked in perfect health.

England Women’s Perfect Summer

A look back at England Women’s last home match of the summer and a photo gallery.

As I write this post the England and West Indies men’s teams are locked in a test match battle at Trent Bridge. England Women played their last home match of the summer (they have a series in Ireland to come before heading over to Bangladesh for the T20 world cup) on Wednesday evening.

SETTING THE SCENE

England Women had won every match against Sri Lanka in the first part of their home season, and went into Wednesday night’s fixture having won all three ODIs and the first four T20Is against New Zealand. England had never previously won as many as 13 matches in a home season, which is what they were looking to achieve. They found themselves batting first…

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England started badly, and at 87-6 they looked in big trouble. Heather Knight and Charlie Dean put on 54 together for the seventh wicket to dig England out of this hole, and a couple of good blows by Sophie Ecclestone at the end boosted the final total to 155-7. This was enough to require New Zealand to score their highest total of the series to win.

THE NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE

New Zealand were in the game for good while, and even kept Sophie Ecclestone wicketless, ending a run of 34 international innings in which she had claimed at least one scalp. However England never really looked in danger during this innings, and some good death bowling meant that the final margin in their favour was 20 runs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Broad beans – a little too large for comfort but…
…the inside of the pods were fluffy which suggested that they weren’t beyond hope – and indeed they were fine.
This is some breed of diving duck that I have not been able to identify as yet.
Another shot of the diving duck, as it came up from another dive.
birds and a ‘bird man’

The England Side to Face West Indies on Thursday

A look at England’s selections for the upcoming second test match of the three test match series against the West Indies and a huge photo gallery.

England announced their playing XI for the test match starting on Thursday yesterday afternoon. I have now had time to process my thoughts, which are actually pretty straightforward.

THE PROBLEMS WITH THE XI

The top seven is precisely as expected, and I don’t see many changes there at present. Of the remaining four Atkinson of course had to retain his place after that stellar debut, and the selectors appear to have decided that Bashir is the first choice spinner, so again it makes sense that he retains his slot. However the remaining two places are the cause for concern – Woakes having done precious little at his favourite venue retains the number eight slot, and Mark Wood, in his mid-thirties and injury prone, has been given the slot freed up by the enforced retirement of James Anderson. I do not believe that either of these players should be playing, and I think Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington, in the squad, and Sam Cook, now recovered from the injury that cost him a place in the squad for the first two tests, are all entitled to feel aggrieved. Anderson’s retirement was enforced allegedly because the selectors wanted to look to the future, and Wood hardly represents the future, and Woakes is also at the veteran stage of his career and has the additional strike against him that he has never had any test success overseas.

I also don’t buy the notion that Woakes provides ballast at number eight for two reasons:

  1. against this opposition England should not require ballast at number eight.
  2. If England are genuinely concerned in this regard then rather than select a veteran who is an unlikely tourist they could drop Bashir and play either Rehan Ahmed or Matthew Critchley at number eight as the spin option, with Atkinson and two out of Cook, Potts and Pennington rounding out the order.

I understand the stated reasons for forcing Anderson’s retirement but I regard naming Wood as his replacement as an act of rankest hypocrisy, out of keeping with looking to the future as it is. I consider this selection as utterly senseless.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a massive gallery for you…

Surrey Secure Home Quarter Final in T20 Blast

A look back at Essex v Surrey in the T20 Blast yesterday and a bumper photo gallery.

Yesterday afternoon there were various fixtures in the T20 Blast competition, and the one that I opted to follow was between Essex and Surrey. This post looks at that match and its wider context within the competition as a whole.

THE SITUATION GOING INTO THIS ROUND

The T20 Blast competition features two groups of nine teams, divided on geographical lines into a North group and a South group. The top four sides from each group progress to the quarter finals, with the top two in each group being rewarded for their extra success by getting to host their quarter final. The semi-finals and final are all played on one day to end the competition. Sussex were not in action this round, though their win in their previous match had put them second in the group. Gloucestershire were in action playing against Glamorgan, and that was the match most likely to impact on this one. Surrey knew that a win of any sort would guarantee them a home qualification, while Essex knew that at least a share of the points would ensure that they qualified. Surrey were not at full strength for various reasons but their line up still looked formidable. Essex did have a full strength side. In spite of the fact that there was other sporting action on the ground at Chelmsford was full.

THE SURREY INNINGS

Surrey batted first. Will Jacks played a superb innings, and was supported by various others along the way. Even so, with three balls to go Surrey had 178 on the board and Essex were reasonably hopeful. Cameron Steel ensured that those last three balls went for 11 runs and Surrey thus had 189 to defend. Jacks had scored 86 off 46 balls, and the best bowler for Essex was leg spinning all rounder Matthew Critchley, whose 4-0-22-2 was especially outstanding given the way the other Essex bowlers were treated. Critchley has been doing well in all formats lately, and if he continues to do so he may be a candidate for the next Ashes tour as English off spinners do not fare well down under, and there aren’t a lot of left arm spinning options.

THE ESSEX INNINGS

Dean Elgar, for many years a South Africa test cricketer, went cheaply, for just 9, but a successful chase looked possible while Adam Rossington and Michael Pepper, the latter fresh off a match winning 120* in Essex’s last outing were together. However, Pepper’s dismissal to the first ball of the tenth over, for 27, triggered something of a collapse, as 87-1 became 104-4 and then 124-5. At 148, with the required run rate getting out of hand, Essex’s last hope vanished when Rossington was caught by Jamie Overton off Sam Curran for 78 (46). That left Essex needing 42 off 15 balls with no front line batters left. They fought bravely, with news coming through that Gloucestershire had trounced Glamorgan, but the ask was just too much, and Surrey ran out winners by 13 runs, ensuring that they will play their quarter-final match at home. Gloucestershire’s big win moved them up to fifth and gives them a better net RR than Essex, which means that if they win their last group game and Essex lose theirs Essex will go out. Sussex and Somerset are fighting over which of them will end up in the top two and secure a home quarter final. In the other group the Birmingham Bears are qualified, but everyone else down to Derbyshire in seventh has some sort of chance of also doing so.

PHOTOGRAPHS

This gallery only contains about half of the new photos that I have ready to share, and there are more still on my camera…

A pill bug (so called because its defence mechanism is to roll itself up presenting that armoured exoskeleton to potential attackers.
A heron surveying the scene where the Nar flows into the Great Ouse.
While I was there it moved to the other side of the Great Ouse.

The England XI For The First Test Match

A look at the England XI for the upcoming test match against the West indies, which was annoucned today, two days in advance of the match starting.

The England Men’s Playing XI for the test match against the West Indies that is due to start at Lord’s on Wednesday has been announced. In batting order it is: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, *Ben Stokes, +Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson. This will be Anderson’s last game for England. This post gives my thoughts on the final XI.

THE BATTING

Jamie Smith deserves his elevation to the test ranks, but I would not have made him wicket keeper, a role he does not usually play for his county. I also think that number seven is not an ideal slot for him – he is a regular number four for his county, and I would have preferred to see Stokes put himself at number seven and allow Smith to bat a place higher at number six. Woakes has a fine record in England but is an unlikely tourist, and his selection smacks more than a little of hypocrisy given that Anderson’s retirement has been effectively forced since the selectors want to look to the future.

THE BOWLING

The bowling looks thin and will look even thinner if Stokes’ knee plays up enough ton prevent him from bowling. The only member of the attack capable of producing genuinely quick deliveries is Atkinson, with Anderson for all his advanced (by international cricket standards) years probably still quicker than Woakes, and Stokes if he bowls no longer seriously quick. Bashir did well enough in India, but there is little reason to believe that he will be especially tricky to play on English pitches. Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts, both in the squad and both left out of the final XI can feel hard done by, as can left arm spinner Jack Leach, now officially confirmed as being below Bashir in the selectors pecking order. I would have placed more reliance on that powerful top seven than has actually been done and had one or other of Potts or Pennington playing in place of Woakes. The West Indies are not among the most formidable of test foes right now, and I would still expect this XI to be good enough against them, but I cannot pretend to be impressed by it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (don’t forget – if you want to view pictures at a larger size just click on one)…

No cormorants today, but oystercatchers…
…and this egret.
The gulls did a good job of cleaning out this discarded crab shell!
Two dragonflies of different species…
…this green one…
…and this mainly dark blue one.

Different Format, Same Result

Yesterday, following on from the ODI series that in which England Women comfortably won all three matches the T20I series between the England and New Zealand women’s teams got underway.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England found themselves batting first. They were given a strong start by Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier, the former being preferred in T20Is to Tammy Beaumont, who was in the commentary box instead. Bouchier’s dismissal brought Natalie Sciver-Brunt to the crease, and she immediately put the Kiwis to the sword, making even Wyatt look somewhat pedestrian by comparison. Wyatt entered the record books when she brought up her 17th T20I 50, moving ahead of Sarah Taylor to the top of the England list of makers of such scores. Sciver-Brunt was already into the 40s by then, but she finally fell just short of 50. The left handed Freya Kemp maintained the momentum. Wyatt’s innings ended for 76. England finished with 197-3 from their 20 overs.

THE NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE

New Zealand started fairly well, although they were always behind the required rate. As had been a regular theme of the ODI series it was the spinners (of whom England had no fewer than four for this match, with a series in Bangladesh coming up in the futures) who applied a chokehold from which the Kiwis could not escape. At 63-1 New Zealand seemed to be faring respectably, especially given that the only one to go, Georgia Plimmer, had been run out, her third such dismissal in four innings. Once the second wicket fell however the floodgates opened, with leg spinner Sarah Glenn claiming three scalps in a single over, and Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone picking up a wicket the score soon read 67-6. Jess Kerr, sister of leg spinning all rounder Amelia Kerr, batted in a manner that should have caused some of the more senior Kiwi batters no little embarrassment, making 38 to give the Kiwis a hint of respectability. Near the end the fourth front line England spinner, Linsey Smith, picked up a wicket. New Zealand finished with 138-9, beaten by 59 runs, which in a T20 is an absolute pummelling. Scorecard here.

PIZZA MAKING

Today there was a Pizza making session for autistic adults at the King’s Lynn branch of Pizza Express. Great fun was had by all, and my Pizza was certainly good.

The base in the tray in which the pizza would be cooked.
The base loaded with toppings.
The last pre-cook addition – some oregano.
Dough laid out for the pizza makers.
My particular piece of dough.
The base, before removing the flour.

The above show stages in the preparation of the pizza, and below is the final outcome…

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off, in two parts, from yesterday and today…

Part 2…

Election Thoughts

The 2024 General Election is done and dusted and the votes have been tallied up. This post looks at some of the features of that election. I have deliberately overlooked one party because of the way the official coverage has been gushing over them while ignoring at least equally deserving cases.

THE LEAST CONVINCING “LANDSLIDE” EVER

Keir Starmer is Prime Minister, and has a colossal majority. However, that majority is based on the votes of only about 20% of the electorate (35% of the votes on a very moderate 60% turnout). This is an artefact of the outmoded first past the post (FPTP) system still used in UK elections. FPTP works when and only when basically every vote goes to one of two parties. When, as it in this election, a number of parties figure prominently it throws up some very bizarre outcomes, including Starmer and his version of Labour having a thumping parliamentary majority based on half a million votes FEWER than Corbyn and his version of the Labour party polled five years ago. Having pointed out that this election is not nearly as much of a triumph for Starmer as it might look (it has been a total, unequivocal disaster for the Tories) I am of course pleased that the Tories are gone after 14 years. The moment at which Labour’s confirmed seat count ticked to the magic 326 (half of 650 plus one for an absolute majority) was one to cherish – North East Somerset & Hanham, where the odious Jacob Rees-Mogg was the Tory candidate went to Labour.

OTHER FEATURES

The Liberal Democrats did superbly, overturning some seemingly impregnable Tory majorities (the scale of the disaster for the former governing party can be estimated by the fact that 12 people who had come into this election as cabinet ministers came out of it as ex-MPs), and becoming the third largest party in parliament. The Scottish National Party were all but obliterated.

In Islington, where Jeremy Corbyn, constituency MP for 41 years, had been thrown out of the Labour Party, who then imposed a private healthcare entrepreneur (a role at odds with everything the Labour Party should stand for) named Praful Nargund as the official candidate, was running as an independent. All of the polling companies ended with egg on their faces on this one – every last one of them had Nargund, with the benefit of having the Labour Party machine behind him winning comfortably, but it was Corbyn who won comfortably.

A number of left wing independents got in elsewhere as well, including eliminating Jon Ashworth, set to become a minister in the new government.

The Green Party, without the resources to mount full campaigns in every seat, but with candidates on the ballot paper everywhere, had targetted four seats for serious campaigning: Brighton Pavilion, which they held but had a new candidate as the incumbent had retired, Bristol Central (a new seat, where the Labour candidate who had been incumbent MP for its predecessor seat would have been a minister had she been elected), Waveney Valley (a new seat, where the predecessor seat was Tory held) and North Herefordshire (going into this election as close as one got to a safe Tory seat). All four of these seats now have Green MPs – Carla Denyer in Bristol Central, Adrian Ramsay in Waveney Valley, Sian Berry in Brighton Pavilion and Ellie Chowns in North Herefordshire. In addition a number of Greens came second in other constituencies. Sian Berry polled over twice as many votes as Labour in Brighton Pavilion, Carla Denyer has a majority of over 10,000 in Bristol Central (and Labour poured resources into both seats).

In my part of the world James Wild retained his seat, but his majority plummeted from 20,000 to 5,000, while in one of the last results to be officially confirmed Southwest Norfolk MP and former Prime Minister (for a risible 44 days) Liz Truss lost her seat to Labour’s Terry Jermy. Since both Boris Johnson’s former seat in Uxbridge and David Cameron’s former seat in Witney also changed hands that meant that three former prime minister’s seats fell in a single election.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This is now my reserve cafetiere…
…because I spotted this going for 50p in a yard sale.

Surrey Versus the Clock

Today is the final day of a round of County Championship fixtures. The tie of the round has been the top of the table clash between Surrey and Essex. This post looks at goings on there and elsewhere.

SURREY v ESSEX

Surrey scored 262 batting first with Jamie Smith, newly elevated to England’s test ranks (albeit as new keeper, rather than in his best role of specialist batter), scoring exactly 100. Essex were restricted to 180 in reply, Paul Walter top scoring with 64. Jordan Clark took 3-33, Daniel Worrall 3-40, and there were two wickets for James Taylor and one for Tom Lawes. When Essex had Surrey 127-6 in their second innings, 70 of them from Smith, it looked like they were in the contest, but Ryan Patel scored a century, enabling the last four wickets to add 151. The last two wickets added 85 of those, and Taylor at 10 and Worrall at 11 scored 3 and 4 respectively, such was Patel’s dominance and manipulation of the strike at that stage of proceedings. That left Essex needing 361 to win, and by the close of day three they were 21-2. There has been some rain today, but in the cricket that has been possible Surrey have claimed three wickets, Tom Lawes getting Matt Critchley and Tom Westley in successive balls, both caught behind by Foakes, and just recently Worrall claiming the key scalp of former South Africa test opener Dean Elgar for 60. Essex are 121-5 at present, 240 short of an always unlikely looking target, and with only five wickets left.

ELSEWHERE

There are two potential big run chases going on. In division one Somerset are 163-3 in pursuit of a target of 410 to beat Warwickshire. In division two Glamorgan were set a massive 593 by Gloucestershire, and although that still looks highly unlikely the Welsh side are 397-5 as I type, 196 short of their target. Sam Northeast has a ton to his name, a feat already achieved in the innings by Marnus Labuschagne. Supporting Northeast at the moment is all rounder Dan Douthwaite.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Three dragonflies from two species in a single shot. I have chosen this as the feature image.