A look at the action on day three in Brisbane and a photo gallery.
Today was the third day of the second Ashes test at Brisbane, and this post looks back at a day that has gone a long way to killing England’s hopes in this series.
EPIC FAIL 1: THE END OF THE AUSTRALIAN FIRST INNINGS
Australia resumed this morning on 378-6, 44 ahead on first innings. Only five runs had been added when Michael Neser was seventh out, and even by the time Alex Carey was eighth out, caught behind off Atkinson for 63 to the give the bowler his maiden Ashes scalp the score was 416, 82 ahead, and not yet necessarily terminal. It was at this stage that Stokes blundered badly. The ‘strategy’ of feeding the senior batter runs so that you can attack the junior batter may have something going for it, though I have never seen it definitively work and have seen it definitively fail, and I am 100% certain that when the senior batter is the opposition number nine, as was the situation it has precisely nothing going for it – attack from both ends and look to get the innings finished quickly. The chief damage done by the partnership that Stokes’ methods did nothing to prevent from happening was not actually the 75 runs that accrued, but the fact that they were together for more than a full session, pushing the start of the England innings ever closer to happening under the floodlights. Starc reached to top individual score of the innings, 77, before he was ninth out, caught by Stokes off Carse to give the latter possibly the most undeserved four wicket haul in test history. Even the last pair boosted the score by a further 20, and soaked up yet more of the daylight. England began their second innings just before the second interval, when they would have started the day hoping to be in before the first interval.
EPIC FAIL 2: A GRUESOME BATTING DISPLAY
The England second innings began quite well, with Crawley and Duckett making it through to the second interval with their stand unbroken. The first wicket was a genuine misfortune, Duckett being bowled by one that kept low to make it 48-1. However none of the subsequent dismissals could accurately be described as due either to misfortune or particularly good bowling – it was a display of rank bad batting. With 90 on the board Pope aimed a big drive at Neser and succeeded only in hitting a return catch which was duly accepted. Seven runs later Crawley was dismissed in an almost action replay of the Pope dismissal – same bowler, same type shot, same outcome. The two Yorkshiremen Root and Brook took the score to 121 before Root played loosely st Starc and edged behind to go for 15. Two runs later Brook, also on 15, drove casually at Boland and edged behind to put England five down. It got worse before the close, as Jamie Smith played yet another loose drive, this time against Starc, and Carey was once again in business behind the stumps. Stokes and Jacks made it through to the close with no further damage, but at 134-6 England are still 43 runs short of parity. By my reckoning 13 of the 16 wickets England have lost so far in this match have been given rather than being taken.
A look at the first two days of action is the pink ball test in Brisbane, and a photo gallery.
Having covered Tuesday’s auction I now turn to something else. Early yesterday morning UK tine a day-night test match got underway in Brisbane, the second match of the 2025-26 Ashes series. England had lost the first match by this same stage, so the fact that I am writing about a match that is still in progress is an improvement.
ROOT THE ALL TIME GREAT
Even before the events of this match no one seriously doubted that Joe Root was a great batter rather than merely a good or even very good one, but there were certain Aussies who would deny him the status of an all-time great because he had a blot on an otherwise stellar CV – he had never scored a test century in Australia. There seemed small chance of England having anything the celebrate when Root’s innings began – Duckett and Pope had both fallen cheaply, and the score was 5-2. Zak Crawley came back well from his pair in Perth, making an impressive 76 and sharing a century stand with Root. Harry Brook looked highly impressive in making 31, but his dismissal when he should have gone on to a properly big score was a shocking one, not just because the shot was one he should never have taken on, but because he did so against Starc, the only genuinely dangerous bowler Australia had. Stokes gave Root some support but got out before long. That brought Jamie Smith, facing a pink ball for the first time in his professional career (apparently it was not worthwhile to send him, and others in the same boat, such as Will Jacks, in for the injured Wood – a batting all rounder who bowls off-spin in for a specialist pacer – to Canberra to play in the President’s XI match) to the crease. Smith collected a duck to put England six down, and bring Jacks to the crease. I had to leave for work at this point, but a later check confirmed that Root, in the 70s when I left, had finally scored that first century on Aussie soil and removed any possible doubt about his status as an all time great. His best support after I had left came from number 11 Jofra Archer, who made into the 30s, and would be last out for 38 early this morning UK time. England amassed 334, Root with 135 not out being the person who made that total possible.
AUSTRALIA SO FAR
England produced a very variable bowling performance, and the fielding was far too fallible. Four clear-cut chances went down, Duckett culpable on two occasions to go with his duck, and Joe Root in the slips got a hand to ball that streaked away for four, though it would have been an absolute screamer of a catch had he held it. Brydon Carse took three wickets in the course of the day and had a chance shelled, but he was also absurdly expensive – at one stage he was leaking runs at a rate that would have raised eyebrows in a T20 league, and even by the end of the day he had 3-113 from 17 overs. Australia were 291-3 at high water mark, but then Green and Smith both fell to Carse very quicky. England got one further wicket in the day, but in the latter stages as they started to show obvious tiredness Australia got on top once again, ending the day on 378-6, 44 runs ahead on first innings with four wickets standing. England are not out of this yet – come the fourth innings the pitch will be very tricky, but they need to bowl well first thing tomorrow, and then bat well for the rest of tomorrow and well in to day four.
An account of an auction that did not go to plan but was nevertheless extremely successful, and a large photo gallery.
On Tuesday James and Sons had a small auction of banknotes and coins. I ran the IT side of the auction itself, having also typed all the descriptions and created most of the images. This post looks back at a day that while it certainly did not go exactly to plan was indubitably a successful for James and Sons.
AN EARLY START
With the sale getting underway at 10AM I had to arrive early, and the only way I could do so was to catch the early morning bus, getting into Fakenham at 7:48. I had warned my employer of this detail and he promised to arrive as near that time as he could manage. I got in to Fakenham as planned, found that my employer had not arrived yet, and took myself off for a short walk to fill a little time. He arrived a little after I got back to the shop, and opened up. At 9:30 the person who had done what I was to be doing that day arrived and put me through my paces. At 10 o’clock on the dot we kicked off.
THE SALE ITSELF
The 50 lots of banknotes with which the sale started were fairly quiet, though even one or two of those went well. The coins (lots 51-267 inclusive) fared quite superbly. The star item of the auction, a Stephan Batory 1583 gold ducat, soared to £2,300, considerably more than we had expected. While not going anything close to that kind of figure a lot of the silver coins achieved much higher prices than expected, with prices in three figures commonplace, and over £300 happening multiple times. Lots 268-277 and 281-300 were books about coins, and lots 278-280 were charity coin lots, and my employer’s voice was suffering, so he decided to end the sale at lot 267. I managed to close things down OK. Although there were no bidders in the shop we had active bidders on two online platforms (www.the-saleroom.com and www.easyliveauction.com) and we also had a telephone bidder (an old client who is a big spender, which is why it was permitted even though it meant someone had to be there with the sole purpose of handling these bids), and there were times when it was very intense. However, I enjoyed the day and was pleased overall with how it went.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here is my photo gallery for this post…
The gold ducat mentioned in the text (three images)Some of the other Polish coins (many images)Some pictures taken in and around Fakenham – as well as the early morning walk I got away early and did some more walking in the afternoon sun before getting the bus back.I won two lots myself, this coin honouring Marie Curie…….and this one honouring the other ATG scientist to have been born in Poland.
A look back at today’s WBBL clash in Drummoyne between Sydney Thunder and Brisbane Heat, a note about future posts and a photo gallery.
Today in the Women’s Big Bash League Sydney Thunder were hosting Brisbane Heat at Drummoyne. Neither side could qualify, but a win for Thunder if they managed it would condemn Heat to the wooden spoon (even if Heat had won they would need another win in their final game, another loss for Thunder and a substantial change in net run rates to avoid this fate).
THE THUNDER INNINGS
Thunder, batting first, had a slow start, and were 24-1 after their four over Power Play. That took a turn for the worse in the fifth over when English leg spinner Sarah Glenn making her debut for Heat struck twice in successive balls, bowling Voll with a ball that went straight through, and then bowling Knight round her legs with the next ball. Anika Learoyd and young all rounder Lucy Finn both also fell for single figure scores, and when veteran Laura Harris was LBW for 13 it was 93-6. Phoebe Litchfield, who had survived this carnage, had been dropped twice in the early stages of her innings, and these lapses would prove crucial, as she now found an excellent partner in Em Arlott. At 120 Litchfield’s innings ended for 61, but now, having played the support role for Litchfield, Arlott took control, in a partnership with Taneale Peschel that yielded a further 33 runs off the last 3.5 overs of the innings. Thunder thus had 153 to defend.
THE HEAT RESPONSE
The Heat innings began with Samantha Bates bowling to Charli Knott. The first three balls were all dots, and then Bates took a magnificent return catch to get Knott off the fourth ball. Lauren Winfield-Hill came in at number three, but never got going at all, and the fourth ball of the third over, bowled by Voll, pinned her LBW for 2 (5). In the next over Georgia Redmayne, batting at number four, was caught behind of Shabnim Ismail for 1. At the end of the four over opening Power Play the Heat were 10-3 and the game was effectively done. When Lucinda Bourke had reached 18 she fell to a catch by Voll off Peschel to make it 30-4. West Indian all rounder Chinelle Henry now joined Sianna Ginger, and they fared well for a time, until Henry was hit and retired hurt with the score at 53. Ten runs later Ginger who had scored an impressive 28 was caught and bowled by Arlott. The sixth wicket pair of Annie O’Neil and Mikayla Wrigley more than doubled that total, but were never on terms with the runs rate, and Thunder ran out winners by 23 runs in the end. Heat thus remain winless after nine games, and also remain without an individual 50+ score in this year’s tournament (Litchfield’s innings today was the fifth such score for the Thunder by comparison).
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just before the main purpose of this section a note for the future: I intend to write about yesterday’s auction on Friday – one of two posts I intend to write that day, with the other being about what is happening in the second Ashes test in Brisbane (in over 2,600 test matches to date there has never been a definite result in one day’s play, though MCC v Australia at Lord’s in 1878 was done and dusted in a day – MCC 33 and 19, Australia 41 and 12-1 won by nine wickets – and I do not see this one being done in a day either, even with Stokes’ England being involved!). Now it is time for my usual sign off…
Last night’s moon was approaching fullness……and tonight’s. seen in this shot against a day time sky was full and spectacular.A shot of the moon against the blackness of a clear night sky, unedited……cropped but not otherwise edited……the first of four different edits……of which I consider this the best.
A look at the extraordinary events that took place in Hobart earlier today UK time and a photo gallery.
Today’s Women’s Big Bash League match was at the Bellerive Oval where Hobart Hurricanes, top of the table, took on second place Melbourne Stars. This post looks back at a remarkable match.
THE HURRICANES INNINGS
Melbourne Stars won the toss and opted to field. After three overs Hurricanes were 16-0. The first big turning point in the game was the fourth over, bowled by Kim Garth. The normally reliable Irish born seamer had an absolute nightmare over, conceding 23, including two lots of five wides. Hurricanes were off and running, and not even a rain interruption midway through the sixth over of their innings which lasted long enough to reduce the match to 17 overs per side could slow their momentum. Danni Wyatt-Hodge blossomed from a slow start into a majestic innings, eventually scoring 71 (47). There were also useful contributions from Lizelle Lee, Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Elyse Villani, and the Hurricanes ended with 176-4 from their 17 overs, which became a DLS adjusted target of 180 for The Stars.
THE STARS RESPONSE
Nicola Carey had Rhys McKenna adjudged LBW twice in the course of the second over, the first one overturned on review, the second so plumb that McKenna did not send it upstairs. That was as nothing compared to the third over, when Meg Lanning hit Linsey Smith for six, but the English left arm spinner hit back instantly by bowling her with the very next ball. Nicola Carey consolidated this excellent start by bowling a very tight fourth over of the innings – just two singles from it, as opposed to the 23 leaked by Garth in the equivalent over of the Hurricanes innings. In the fifth over came another boundary/ wicket combination, Sutherland hitting a four off Linsey Smith to move into double figures before giving Lauren Smith a catch off her near namesake one ball later. That was 29-3. Amy Jones threatened briefly, and greeted the arrival of veteran off spinner Molly Strano for the seventh over by hitting a four off the first ball. Then, for the third time in the innings a boundary was instantly followed by a wicket, this time due more to a superb catch by Wyatt-Hodge than to any special merit in the ball from Strano. Stars 49-4, Jones out for 19, and it was about to get rapidly worse for them as well. Danielle Gibson got off the mark with single from the third ball of the over, and then Marizanne Kapp edged the fourth through to her compatriot Lee to make it 50-5. Kim Garth managed a single off the fifth ball of the over, and then Danielle Gibson gave Lauren Smith her second catch of the innings to make it a barely credible 51-6 after seven overs, Strano a ridiculous 1-0-6-3. The eighth over was a quiet one, and then it was time for Strano again. Incredibly, having struck with her 2nd, 4th and 6th balls she did so again with her eighth, Kim Garth giving Wyatt-Hodge her second catch of the innings to make it 54-7. In the tenth over a mix-up between Sasha Moloney and Georgia Prestwidge saw the latter run out by a combination of Linsey Smith and the bowler Hayley Silver-Holmes which made it 61-8. Now came Melbourne Stars least bad period of this innings, as Sasha Moloney, generally regarded as something of a makeweight, proceeded to demonstrate just how badly her more illustrious team mates had batted. Without ever seeming in much trouble Moloney made her way to 31 from 24 balls, and innings ended by Wyatt-Hodge;s third catch of the night, and Molly Strano’s fifth wicket thereof. That was 94-9. The fifth ball of the 16th over ended the match, Maisy Gibson sending it into the air. It was Rachel Trenaman, whose name no one had cause to mention at any other stage of the match, who got herself under it and pouched the catch to give Lauren Smith a wicket. Melbourne Stars were all out for 98 and had lost by 81 runs on the DLS method. Wyatt-Hodge with three catches, one of them an absolute screamer, to set alongside her majestic 71 was a deserving Player of the Match, though five-fors are very rare birds in this format, so Strano deserves some sympathy, and Linsey Smith’s early strikes, accounting for Lanning and Sutherland, two authentic greats, played a huge role in rattling the Stars. Hobart Hurricanes are now three points clear at the top of the table with 14 points to Stars 11, though the latter have two matches left in the group stage, while Hurricanes have only one.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This is an edit of yesterday’s feature image, with the colour reduced.The frontage of the Guildhall of St George, King Street, King’s Lynn.The frontage of the Guildhall of the Holy Trinity, which also serves as King’s Lynn’s town hall.
A look at the second and final day of The Prime Minister’s XI v An England XI at Manuka Oval, Canberra and a large photo gallery.
This post looks back the second and final day of the match at Manuka Oval, Canberra between The Prime Minister’s XI and An English XI. The reason for the quote marks in the title should become apparent during the rest of the post.
A BATTING DAY
An England XI resumed overnight on 30-0 in reply to the Prime Minister’s XIs 308-8 declared. Tom Haines and Emilio Gay continued to bat well, with Gay in particular impressing. Their stand was only broken when soreness in the hamstring area induced Gay to retire hurt (this after all is not a match that counts towards anyone’s career record). The only disappointment of the day followed, when one of the most overhyped young talents in the game, Jacob Bethell, contributed a mere 16 before getting out. That brought James Rew, who at the age of 21 already has 11 first class hundreds to his name (11 more than Bethell’s current tally, and he scored his tenth FC century at a younger age than anyone since Denis Compton) to the crease. Rew never really looked other than the high class player his record shows him to be (and according to his county, Somerset, his younger brother Thomas, also playing in this match, is even better), and although Haines fell for a fine 77, Asa Tribe, a Jersey born Glamorgan batter who has also played for his native Island, joined Rew and also played well. By this stage it was obvious that only two questions remained to be resolved – would the English side go ahead on first innings, and would Rew reach three figures? The answers proved to be ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Rew and Tribe were still together when An England XI moved to 309-2, Rew 93 not out, Tribe 53 not out, and immediately declared, which was followed equally quickly by handshakes on the final result. An England XI thus won on first innings, and secured for themselves such credit as could be taken from a match of this nature. However it is not properly speaking a win, since by the stated playing conditions (as opposed to the agreement that the sides had clearly come to) this was supposed to a be a two innings match, and neither side officially forfeited an innings, and therefore it is officially a drawn match. Various bowlers had moments for the English side, and Gay, Haines, J Rew and Tribe all impressed with the bat. One of the first two named should have good chances of swift elevation, with Crawley surely close to exhausting even his super-feline stock of test lives, and while Rew have may longer to wait England should be looking for ways to include him.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
I am not entirely sure as to the species of this magnificent raptor which I saw flying overhead earlier this afternoon, but I have had a suggestion of buzzard for it. Update I have just been told that it is a Red Kite.
A look at events at the Manuka Oval, Canberra, where The Prime Minister’s XI have been taking on ‘An England XI’ on day one of a two-day pink ball day-night match.
A two-day match of sorts, between ‘The Prime Minister’s XI’ and ‘An England XI’ got underway at Manuka Oval, Canberra early in the afternoon local time. It is a pink ball day-night match. The ‘of sorts’ in the first sentence relates to the fact that in spite of their official teams both teams will use more than 11 players in the course of the match.
A LIMITED LOOK AHEAD
None of the players involved in the test match are involved in this game – England have a shadow squad, dubbed ‘The Lions’ in Australia and it was from them that their team was picked, while the Prime Minister’s side is a combination of promising youngsters and old stagers (the oldest being 41 year old Peter Siddle). However, there was news about Mark Wood that suggested an extra fast bowler would be summoned to Brisbane.
HOW THE PLAY WENT
The Prime Minister’s XI won the toss and batted first (incidentally Mr Albanese was not present in person to watch his side – he had a very important commitment elsewhere). Matt Potts bowled a good early spell, but gained no reward. Josh Hull, a 6’7″ left arm pacer picked on account of his physical attributes rather than his playing record, which is rather modest, bowled a spell in which he pounded the ball in short to a field set for that type of bowling, which failed to impress anyone. Sam Konstas gave his wicket away for 36, giving Potts a catch of part time medium pacer Tom Haines, when no one else had made any impression on him. Thereafter Campbell Kellaway and Nathan McSweeney batted well together. Kellaway missed out on a century, going to a catch by Tom Haines off left arm spinner Tom Hartley for 82 to make it 130-2. That brought 19 year old Oliver Peake to the crease, and he also batted well, helping McSweeney to add a further 91 for the third wicket. McSweeney was the one to go, being well caught by Ben Kellaway (an allrounder, who in the manner of Jemma Barsby can bowl both off spin and left arm orthodox spin) off Potts. It was also Potts who got Peake, shortly after the youngster had reached a fine 50. Thereafter wickets fell more rapidly as the Prime Minister’s XI hustled towards a declaration. This eventually came at 308-8, and left An England XI five overs to see out against the new ball under the lights. Tom Haines and Emilio Gay did this well enough, reaching 30-0 in the process. It was an intriguing day, and we will see what tomorrow brings. Tongue’s pace will almost certainly tell in his favour when it comes to summoning a replacement for Wood to Brisbane, but I finish this section by emphasising that Potts was definitely the better bowler today.
A look back at today’s WBBL match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars, and a photo gallery.
Today in the Women’s Big Bash League Brisbane Heat played host to Melbourne Stars at Allan Border Field in a game that had been scheduled as late-night fixture (coverage starting at 9AM UK time) because it was seen as being a kind of ‘dessert’ after the main meal of day three of the test match at Perth. However, some Kamikaze batting by England and a great innings from Travis Head (go here for more) meant that there was in point of fact no day three in Perth, so this match became the main event.
THE STARS INNINGS
Melbourne Stars won the bat flip and opted to bat first. Brisbane Heat’s captain Jess Jonassen was not unhappy about this. Heat had lost all four of their games this edition, so desperately needed a win. At first they looked absolutely certain to get that win, as they tore through the Stars top and middle order, reducing the visitor’s to 44-6 at one point. At that stage South African veteran Marizanne Kapp was joined in the middle by young English bowling all rounder Danielle Gibson. They launched a spirited revival, putting on 73 together, of which Gibson’s share was precisely 30, from 24 balls, ending when Nadine de Klerk trapped her LBW. Georgia Prestwidge scored 3 (7), but such was the devastating fusillade from Kapp at the other end that the eighth wicket stand yielded 43 in 2.5 overs! This briefly opened the possibility of a Kapp century, but even batting as she was by then time was against her, the final over being already underway. In the end she finished with 93 not out from 51 balls, including nine fours and five sixes, in a Stars total of 171-8.
THE HEAT REPLY
Heat started far better than Stars had, with Grace Harris and Charli Knott putting on 50 for the first wicket, a stand that ended when Sophie Day pinned Harris LBW. Jess Jonassen now promoted herself to number three, when Georgia Redmayne would probably have been a better choice there. In the eighth over Kapp’s medium pace provided the second breakthrough, Harris being caught by Danielle Gibson to make it 56-2. Chinelle Henry looked dangerous, smashing two sixes in the space of three balls in the ninth over, but off the last ball, immediately after hitting the second of those sixes, she went big again and was superbly caught by Kapp for 13 (8) to make it 74-3. Jonassen never really looked like justifying her decision to bat at number three, and in the 12th over she was caught in the deep by Georgia Prestwidge off Day for 15 (14)to make it 92-4. Four balls and three runs later Nadine de Klerk took on McKenna and Prestwidge again got underneath it to make it 95-5. Georgia Redmayne and Lauren Winfield-Hill shared a decent partnership, but they were never up with the rate, and Redmayne’s dismissal left Heat needing 40 runs to win off just 3.1 overs. They never got remotely close, and it was only a four hit by young fast bowler Lucy Hamilton off the final ball of the match with the result long since settled that even enabled Heat to top the 150 mark. The final margin was 18 runs. Marizanne Kapp with that thunderous 93 not out, 4-0-31-2 with the ball and a superb catch was the only possible candidate for Player of the Match, and was duly so named. The Stars now sit third in the table, while Heat, after seven successive seasons of making the knockouts now know that they will not be extending their season this time.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
I rarely photograph pigeons but I thought this one with the distinctive green neck patch was worth making an exception for.Triangulation, ornithological style – two egrets and a gull form the corners of a triangle in the Great Ouse.The old (Custom House) and new (an art gallery/shop only a few years old) juxtaposed.A low sun shining on the Great Ouse.
A look back at an extraordinary day of test match action in Perth, England Player Ratings and a small photo gallery.
An extraordinary test match ended in Perth today after a mere two days of playing time. This post looks back at the events of an action packed second day (I covered yesterday here).
THE MORNING
The final wicket pairing for Australia did not hold things up for very long, though they did enough for Brendan Doggett to have made Scott Boland being sent in ahead of him look ridiculous. It was Brydon Carse who took that wicket, his third scalp of the innings, dismissing Nathan Lyon with the aid of a catch by Ben Duckett.
In the first innings Crawley was dismissed for a duck by the sixth ball. In the second he lasted one ball less long for the same tally, and again the dismissal was a self-inflicted one, this time hitting a return catch to Starc for the left armer’s eighth wicket of the match. Duckett and Pope fared well together for a time, and reached the lunch break with the score 59-1, a lead of 99 overall, and at that point England were short-priced favourites.
THE AFTERNOON
England had added six to their lunchtime tally when Ben Duckett edged one from Boland to Smith in the slips to go for 28. Ollie Pope, the sole English batter who seemed to grasp the necessity of placing the ball and running well on a ground as big as this one, was caught behind off Boland for 33, his second decent knock that fell short of a big score in the match to make it 76-3. That soon became 76-5, as the two Yorkshiremen Root and Brook each played poor shots, Root’s resulting in him being bowled by Starc, while Brook’s was caught by Khawaja. At 88 Ben Stokes edged one from Starc through to Carey to complete his second batting failure of the match. Smith and Gus Atkinson added 16 runs before Smith was adjudged out caught behind after a prolonged review, the sound appearing to come a fraction after the ball passed the bat, but not being causable by anything other than a nick. Then came England’s last decent period of the match, as Atkinson and Brydon Carse shared a sparky 50 partnership for the eighth wicket. Archer and Wood helped the score advance by a further 10 runs after that. Scott Boland had taken four wickets after looking toothless in the first dig, Starc and Doggett, who could be proud of his debut at the highest level, three each. In essence though this was a story of bad English batting, as they tried to hit everything, demonstrating that they had learned nothing from their first innings. In total they batted a mere 67.3 overs for their two innings, and there were a raft of self-inflicted dismissals. As for this second innings, the top individual score was achieved by Gus Atkinson, a bowler who is a goodish lower order batter but comes some way short of being accurately described as an all rounder. Still, Australia’s target of 205, which they would begin their attempt on after the tea break, would if achieved be the highest team total of the match, and only once in Ashes history, at Headingley in 2019 had that previously happened.
THE EVENING
Khawaja was once again unable to open, and on this occasion Australia chose to promote Travis Head to open with Jake Weatherald, enabling Labuschagne to occupy his preferred number three slot and Steve Smith the number four slot. Head and Weatherald batted very well, England did not bowl as well as they had in the first innings, partly because they were not allowed to do so. Head scored his first 20 at just about a run a ball, indulging in sensible aggression rather than mindless baseball type swinging at everything. It was after this early sensible period that he really exploded, having earned the right to do so. Carse got rid of Weatherald with 75 runs on the board, the debutant’s share being 23. Labsuchagne, in his preferred slot, played much more expansively than first time round, but again not resorting to mindless aggression, but it was Head who was in charge. Head reached his century from his 69th ball, the joint sixth fastest in test history, and the second fastest ever in The Ashes, with 12 fours and four sixes. He continued in similar vein after reaching the landmark. The ask was down to a mere 13, with the certainty of a finish that evening (eight extra overs were available if needed) when Head was finally out, well caught by Pope off Carse. Smith joined Labuschagne for the last rites. Labuschagne reached 50 with a six that also levelled the scores, but could not score of the last ball of that over, which meant that Steve Smith scored the actual winning run. The margin was eight wickets, and the match had undergone pretty much a 180 degree turn in the space of two sessions, from heavily in England’s favour to ultimately dominated by Australia. Mitchell Starc’s ten wicket match haul saw him named Player of the Match, a decision with which I have to disagree. Many of Starc;s wickets were given rather than being taken, and the contribution that settled the match belonged to Travis Head, who produced a masterpiece which started with the match still in the balance, if not somewhat in England’s favour and ended with the deal almost sealed in Australia’s favour. The last time an England side lost the opener in Australia and emerged victorious at the end of the series was in 1954-5, when Hutton’s side rebounded by winning matches two, three and four. Just to increase the task for England this time the next match, at Brisbane, is a pink-ball day/night match, a format at which Australia are close to untouchable. This was a match that England could and should have won, but indiscipline with the bat let them down badly, and while the bowlers rescued them once they could not do so twice.
ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS
These are given in batting order, and are marked out of 10, and they are harsh.
Zak Crawley – 0. The opener bagged a pair, was culpable for both dismissals, and did nothing of note in the field, therefore it is not possible to award him even a single point.
Ben Duckett – 3. Played nicely in both innings, but neither contribution was substantial. He did his job in the field.
Ollie Pope – 5. The only England batter to show signs of adapting his game to suit this ground – he scored ten threes across the two innings. He also fielded well.
Joe Root – 1. A duck in the first innings, 8 in the second, and he was part of the collapse that opened a way back into the match for Australia, playing a poor shot to boot.
Harry Brook – 4. A good 50 in the first innings, but his second innings failure was down to an awful shot, and he was the middle of three wickets to fall at the same score in that innings.
Ben Stokes – 5. Two failures with the bat. His first innings five-for looked to wrenched the initiative back for England, and he looked helpless in the face of Travis Head in the final innings.
Jamie Smith – 4. His first innings 33 was impressive for as long as it lasted, his second innings dismissal would probably not have been given in the days befor technology, and he kept competently.
Gus Atkinson 4. Though he personally went wicketless he was part of England’s good first innings bowling performance, and he top scored in England’s second innings, batting in a way that should have roundly embarrassed most of those above him in the order.
Brydon Carse 5. Five wickets in the match, although the fifth came too late to be of real relevance, and took part in a 50 partnership in the second English innings that seemed to have given them hope.
Jofra Archer – 4. Took the first two Australian wickets to fall, but did little of note thereafter.
Mark Wood – 3. Bowled fast though not for any great reward. As with all his fellow bowlers he has to be regarded as less at fault for the debacle than the batters.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Some of the photos in this gallery are from James and Sons upcoming auction on December 2nd – go here or here for more…
Today saw the start of the 2025-6 Ashes series between the Australia and England men’s teams, with England launching a bid to achieve something last pulled off by Ray Illingworth’s 1970-1 side – come to Australia without The Ashes and leave with them (Three subsequent England skippers, Brearley in 1978-9, Gatting in 1986-7 and Strauss in 2010-11 have retained as opposed to regaining The Ashes in Australia). Perth was the venue, a city in which England have only once won a test match, during Brearley’s 1978-9 triumph.
PRELIMINARIES
Both sides had in different ways caused eyebrows to rise in the run up to the series. Australia had lost skipper Pat Cummins and, right on the eve of the contest, fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood to injuries, and their top order was in a state of flux as well, with Jake Weatherald, at 31 years of age no youngster, earmarked for a debut in this match. The vacancy opened up by Hazlewood’s injury was filled by Brendan Doggett, also 31 years old and making his debut at the highest level.
England meanwhile were much more settled, but their preparation had raised eyebrows. They had played one preliminary fixture, at Lilac Hill, a venue with no similarities to Perth, and rather than a genuine match it was England v England Lions, with everyone getting involved rather than two sides of 11. Correctly in view of everyone actually being fit and the nature of the Perth pitch they had omitted Shoaib Bashir, going with a full battery of pacers – in batting order from 8-11 Atkinson, Carse, Archer and Wood, with Ben Stokes also fit to bowl. Australia, short of experience with the injuries to Cummins and Hazlewood, had opted to pick Nathan Lyon, the veteran off spinner who has just celebrated his 38th birthday, in their line up. Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat, probably aware that the side batting first has won every test match at this new venue.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Four years ago Mitchell Starc struck with the first ball of the series, removing Rory Burns. This time it took him until the last ball of the first over to make the breakthrough. The dismissal was the sort of dismissal that an AI bot asked to produce a typical Crawley dismissal would have come up with – a loose drive resulting in an edge and first slip being in business.
England scored at a rapid rate in spite of an outfield that was both large and slow (there were a number of threes and one all run four for shots where the ball stopped just inside the ropes). However they also lost wickets at a rapid rate. Harry Brook scored an impressive 50 but got himself out immediately after reaching that mark, while Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith both looked good but failed to go big, scoring 46 and 33 respectively. This was not a surface on which lower order batters were likely to prosper, and from 160-5 England fell away to 172 all out, Starc 7-58, a new test best. However, they still had the opportunity to bowl on a spicy deck, and had a bowling unit that looked both stronger and better suited to such a surface than Australia’s makeshift one…
THE AUSTRALIAN REPLY
Australia also lost their first wicket before scoring a run, Khawaja having left the field during the England innings and rendered himself unable to open the innings, a mishap that meant the debutant Weatherald would be on strike for the first ball of the reply, with Labuschagne at the other end. Archer’s first ball beat him, and the second pinned him LBW. Khawaja was still not allowed to bat at this point, and stand-in skipper Steve Smith (yes, he of sandpaper infamy) joined Labuschagne for a second wicket stand that soaked up a bit of time but not produce many runs. The second ball of the 15th over, bowled by Archer (by then into a second spell) rattled Labuschagne’s stumps to make it 28-2. Nine balls and two runs later Steve Smith edged one from Brydon Carse to be caught by Brook for 17 and that was 30-3. One run later Carse had Khawaja caught behind to make it 31-4. Travis Head and Cameron Green seemed to be seeing Australia through in a good partnership when Stokes introduced himself to the attack. With the score on 76 Travis Head fell to a catch by Carse off Stokes to end a 45 run partnership. Seven runs later Green edged through to Smith, leaving Carey and a precarious tail (Starc at least one place too high eight, Lyon two places too high at nine and genuine rabbits Doggett and Boland) to attempt to get Australia somewhere near parity. Starc and Carey fared well together for a time, until Starc, on 12, gave Carse another catch off Stokes. Three runs later came the dismissal that made it unequivocally England’s day, Carey becoming the third Aussie to be caught by Carse off Stokes, for 26 in his case. That was 121-8, and two balls later Boland, sent in ahead of Doggett for no apparent reason, was caught by Brook to make it 121-9 and give Stokes his fifth wicket of the innings. There was time for just one more over in this eventful day, and Australia survived it, adding two runs to their score as well. The day thus saw 295 runs scored and 19 wickets fall, and that with only 71.5 overs being bowled (32.5 for the England innings, 39 in the Australian innings). That 19 wickets was the most on an opening day of an Ashes match since Old Trafford in 1909 when both sides had completed their first innings by the end of day one. 51,531 people, a record crowd for a match in Perth, watched some or all of the day’s action at the ground (officially 10,000 of these were English, but there are also quite a few English migrants living in Perth who would have been counted as local sales). With this much happening on day one one can already strike out days four and five, and day three is far from certain to happen. In a day of two halves the brilliance of England’s bowlers, backed by some good catching, ultimately more than offset a rather slipshod batting effort, but the batters cannot expect the bowlers to dig them out of every hole like that.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A pied wagtail exploring Fakenham Market yesterday as I walked through on my way to work (it was practically at my feet when I took this picture)“Red sky at night, Shepherd’s delight” – although whether that quite applies when said ‘night’ is falling at about 4PM is another matter!
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