Tag: bugs

England Finish Season in Style

A look back at the last day of the 2026 English cricket season, headlined by an ODI series decider between England and Sri Lanka. Also a large photo gallery.

Yesterday saw the last knockings of the 2026 English cricket season, including the third and final ODI of a series between the England and Sri Lankan men’s sides, which this post looks back at.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Sri Lanka had levelled the series by winning the second match back on Thursday. Also in that match Jos Buttler had picked up an injury while batting and retired hurt, and he was absent from this match, his place as keeper being taken by Jordan Cox. England had a slightly less deep batting order than sometimes, but the presence of Gus Atkinson, with an international century to his name, at number nine is hardly indicative of a long tail. England won the toss and although the pitch was fairly green they opted to bat first, having realized that the layer of grass had been left in place because it was a fundamentally very dry surface and needed the presence of the grass to keep it together…

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Ben Duckett floundered to a five ball duck, finally being beaten all ends up and bowled by a superb ball from Madushanka (it was also a poor shot by Duckett but that should not detract from a fine piece of bowling). Joe Root was never in great form either, but he hung around for a time in support of Tom Banton who was batting magnificently. Harry Brook came in at number four, and now England had in form batters together at the crease. Banton reached his first international hundred. Brook fell at 218, having scored a fluent 77, which brought Jordan Cox to the crease. Banton was fourth out at 242, having scored 126 from 105 balls. Will Jacks and Jamie Overton each provided useful support to Cox who batted brilliantly. Asitha Fernando ended the innings on a personal high, bowling Cox for 76 (52) and then Dawson for a first ball duck with the last two balls of the innings, but the damage was well and truly done by then, with England posting 355-7 from their 50 overs.

THE SRI LANKA INNINGS

Sri Lanka never looked like getting anywhere near the huge total they had been set. Kusal Mendis, century maker in the second match of the series, produced a fluent 35, but once he was out to the last ball of the ninth over to make it 53-3 no one did a great deal. The run out of Rathnayake by Archer, which caused a deal of confusion because Cox had actually dislodged a bail before the ball arrived, stood because Archer’s throw actually removed a stump from the ground. That was 77-4, and with Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage following in short order it was soon 82-6. Sachindu Colombage and Janith Liyanage also one after the other, 104-6 becoming 106-8. None of Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando or Dilshan Madushanka, the three remaining Sri Lankan batters, have any batting pedigree whatsoever, and imagining that they might some score 250 between the three of them would have been fanciful to say the least. Malinga actually did reach double figures, a feat beyond the other two, who managed 8 between them. The match ended when Eshan Malinga swept at Will Jacks and Joe Root, soon to be named as England’s ODI player of the season, pouched a sharp catch at leg slip. The margin was 232 runs. Scorecard here.

Shortly before that Somerset and Surrey had shaken hands on a draw at Taunton, with Surrey five down in their second innings and almost 200 adrift. Somerset had built a first innings of 309 – 731 against 422, and had hoped that Leach and Vaughan could spin through Surrey’s second innings, but a couple of interruptions put paid to that. Tom Abell had scored 307 for Somerset, beaten among Somerset natives only by a 310 from Harold Gimblett many decades ago, although overseas stars Justin Langer and Viv Richards have also recorded higher scores for the county.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Warwickshire Champions

A look at how Warwickshire became county champions for the ninth time in their history and a large photo gallery.

The last round of county championship fixtures for the 2o26 season is going on. Although some matches will be going in to tomorrow we know where the county championship is going, and this post looks back at how that happened.

WARWICKSHIRE WITH THE STRONGEST FINISH

Going into the penultimate round of fixtures there were three teams seemingly duking it out for the title, Warwiwckshire, Nottinghamshire and Somerset. Both Nottinghamshire and Somerset slipped up in that round while Warwickshire won to take a 12 point lead into the final round.

In the final round Nottinghamshire faced Yorkshire, Somerset entertained Surrey and Warwickshire were at home to Leicestershire. It was obvious by the afternoon of day one (Thursday) that Warwickshire were faring better than the other two, and by the time day two ended Nottinghamshire’s challenge was also officially over, but Somerset were still theoretically in contention, though they would need to win and for Warwickshire to lose, and Warwickshire were in almost complete control of their match, having built a first innings advantage of 247 and already claimed three Leicestershire second innings wickets before the end of day two.

This morning belonged to Warwickshire, and by lunch time Leicestershire were eight down, a long way in arrears, and the title was as good as secure. Tom Scriven, the Leicestershire number nine, fought his way to 49, comfortably their highest individual score of the match, but then Ethan Bamber bowled him to claim his fifth scalp of the innings and ninth of the match and give Warwickshire the match by an innings and 79 runs and with it the county championship for the ninth time in their history. It was an appropriate way for the championship to be officially settled since Bamber, released by Middlesex in a ‘Decca Records’ like move by someone who questioned his temperament, has been superb as the spearhead of a very impressive Warwickshire bowling unit this season.

Just moments ago Yorkshire completed a one wicket win over Nottinghamshire. At Taunton the match is still ongoing, and Tom Abell for Somerset has reached a new career best of 228 not out, with Somerset now 174 ahead on first innings, which brings a win for them in to the picture should Surrey collapse in their second innings.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (reminder – click on an image to view it at larger size)…

A Tale of Two Centuries

A look back at yesterday’s Metro Bank One Day Cup final between Middlesex and Leicestershire and a photo gallery.

Yesterday saw the final of the Metro Bank One Day Cup at Trent Bridge. The two sides contesting the trophy were Middlesex and Leicestershire. This post looks back at a splendid match.

THE MIDDLESEX INNINGS

Leicestershire began well, reducing Middlesex to 71-5, with all five batters falling to catches by wicket keeper Ben Cox. At that juncture Harry Duke, once of Yorkshire, joined Ryan Higgins, in his second spell at Middlesex after a few years at Gloucestershire in the middle. The pair added 135 together before Duke fell to a catch by Stevie Eskinazi off Ian Holland. Tom Helm managed seven before being pinned LBW by Rehan Ahmed, the first and as it turned out only batter to be out other than caught in the entire innings. This was Ahmed’s second scalp, the first coming when Luke Hollman edged a googly through to Cox, one of the five early dismissals referred to above. Higgins completed an excellent century, and was then immediately out, caught by Nick Kelly off Holland to make it 224-8. That was Holland’s fourth scalp, and not long later he made it a five-for when he had Toby Roland-Jones caught by Ben Green. Holland incidentally is one of the few USians to be involved in high level professional cricket (Tara Norris in the women’s game is another). GThe innings ended at 231 when number 11 Naavya Sharma, unlikely to be moving up the order any time soon, gave Eskinazi a catch off Ahmed for the leg spinner’s third scalp of the innings. Ian Holland had 10-1-36-5, Rehan Ahmed 9.5.-1-55-3 and Tom Scriven 9-0-39-2. While not a huge total 231 was lot better than had seemed likely at 71-5, and it was clear that Leicestershire would need their wits about them to succeed in the chase.

THE LEICESTERSHIRE INNINGS

Leicestershire needed 232 to win, Middlesex needed 10 wickets, since there was no way Leicestershire would be short of the target if they batted for 50 overs. This innings soon boiled down to a contest between the Middlesex bowlers and Nick Kelly, who played a superb innings but did not get anything like sufficient support from the rest of the order. Veteran medium pacer Toby Roland-Jones bowled his full 10 over allocation early in the innings and captured 3-27. At 175-6 with Ben Green, who has a List A 150 to his name providing Kelly with staunch support Leicestershire were still in contention. It was at that point that Tom Helm, who would surely have played for England but for a miserable history of injuries, made his considerable presence felt. First he had Green caught by Josh de Caires to make it 175-7, and then after Nick Kelly and Tom Scriven had advanced the score by a further 13 he virtually settled the issue by having Nick Kelly caught by fellow centurion Higgins for 103. That left Leicestershire needing 44 to win and only bowlers to get them (Scriven is a capable lower order batter when he has someone to support but it would have been asking a lot for him to mastermind this chase on a tough pitch). Ajaz Patel got to 7, including one four, before he became the third victim of an immaculate display of death bowling by Helm, going to a catch by Zafar Gohar. Three balls later, with the score at 200, Scriven was last out, caught by Surrey reject and now Middlesex skipper Ben Geddes off Sharma for 10. Middlesex had won by 31 runs, and the difference had been that Higgins (whose 100, 0-41 from eight overs of medium pace and two catches got him Player of the Match) had real support from Harry Duke, whereas Leicestershire’s centurion, Kelly, was playing a lone hand – the next highest score of the innings was 16 by Rishi Patel, while the most balls negotiated by anyone save Kelly (107) was the 25 faced by Ben Green. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Hundred (Womens) Group Stage

A look at the league stage of The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.

Welsh Fire have just been MI London in the last group match of the Women’s Hundred, a result that meant that MI London were left holding the wooden spoon.

THE STANDINGS

The Hundred is an eight team league with a mini-knockout phase at the end. To qualify for the knockouts you have to finish in the top three, which I agree with for an eight team league. The group winners go straight into the final, while second place will host third place in The Eliminator. Some eight team leagues allow the whole top half of the table to qualify for KOs, and there was a brief period when one franchise league that I won’t name and shame even had five teams out of eight qualify for knock outs, meaning that a team with an overall losing record could still be playing KOs after the league stage, clearly ridiculous. A full table can be viewed here.

Manchester Super Giants, relegated to fourth place yesterday, have been a little unfortunate – one game at this tournament was rained out without a ball being bowled and it so happens that this sole ‘no result’ of the tournament involved them. Trent Rockets, runaway winners, with seven wins from their eight games, have absolutely earned their progress straight into the final. Southern Brave started brilliantly but have floundered at the finish, and in the end have had to settle for third, pipped at the post by Sun Risers Leeds, who have the same playing record but a better net run rate. Welsh Fire, victorious against London Spirit in today’s first match took fifth place, with Spirit sixth. MI London managed a mere 120 against Birmingham Phoenix, and although Phoenix struggled early on a big stand between Ellyse Perry (the matchwinner with an unbeaten 62 from 39 balls) and Fatima Sana put the matter beyond doubt.

Focussing specifically on the three teams whose season is not over, Rockets lost their first match but have peeled off seven straight wins since then and looked better as the tournament has progressed. Sun Riser Leeds came good at the right time, while Southern Brave have had a late tournament dip. Brave have an excellent bowling unit but a workaday batting unit, and their relative weakness in this department may cost them in the KOs.

Overall this has been a pretty good tournament, though I have concerns about the way some of the non-international English players are being treated. Lucy Higham of London Spirit, a fine off spinner, has been effectively treated as a specialist fielder. Today they fared so poorly with the bat that she actually got an innings, but her bowling, her strong suit, remained unused.

PHOTOGRAPHS

On Heritage Open Day (September 13th) I will doing the 2-4PM shift at The Secret Garden, Hampton Court, a site I know pretty well. My usual sign off…

Humiliation at Hove

A look at last night’s T20I between the England and West indies women’s teams and a photo gallery.

Last night the England and West Indies women’s teams assembled at Hove for the second match in a three match T20 series. This post tells the story of what happened.

HOW NOT TO HANDLE A T20I INNINGS

England won the toss and chose to bowl first. They named an unchanged XI, while for the West Indies Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle returned to action after injuries. As early as the fourth over it was possible to forecast the final result. With the second ball of that over Em Arlott clean bowled Hayley Matthews, and such is the extent to which West Indies depend on her for runs that that really did feel like it had pretty much settled the match. England bowled well, had moments of brilliance in the field, and West Indies played like a beaten team. The bowling figures for England, who relied entirely on their front five, since at no stage was enough pressure being applied to even suggest that Capsey or the skipper Sciver-Brunt would be needed were reflective of just how little the West Indies batters did. I present them in full below:

Bell 4-0-28-3
Arlott 4-1-14-3
Smith 4-0-15-0
Dean 4-0-12-2
Wong 4-0-10-1

Arlott bowled her four overs straight through at the start of the innings, leaving West Indies in the toils. Smith’s figures are for me the key indicator of where West Indies were lacking. She is an excellent bowler, but it should not be possible for someone who is not taking wickets to go for only 15 in four overs in a T20. If you are going to bat in a T20I you have to be able to keep the scoreboard ticking even if you cannot hit boundaries on a regular basis, and West Indies blocked far too many balls.

A total of 81-9 was never going to challenge England, and even with Danni Wyatt-Hodge falling to first ball of their innings it never looked anything but straightforward. Natalie Sciver-Brunt who had had a quiet first outing as skipper now came to the fore with an unbeaten 55 off 30 balls, while Dunkley played the support role ending with 24 not out from 25 balls. England won by nine wickets and required only 9.2 of a possible 20 overs to reach the target.

Should England win the toss again in the third match I would say they should choose to bat first this time round, as with the series won this is a fine opportunity to get some practice at doing what they don’t want – no side wins every toss after all.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…


England Going Well in Nottingham

A look at the events of the first two days of England v Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge and a photo gallery.

The second match of the Womens T20I series between England and West Indies has just got underway at Hove. Today has been the second day of a four day test match between England and Zimbabwe men’s teams at Trent Bridge. I missed most of yesterday’s play for various reasons.

MISJUDGEMENTS AT THE TOSS

Zimbabwe won the toss and inserted England. Allegedly Ben Stokes would also have bowled first had he won the toss. Whatever the reasoning behind Zimbabwe’s decision, and the one England would possibly have made, bowling first did not work out well for Zimbabwe. By the close of day one England had piled on 498-3 from 88 of a supposed minimum of 90 overs. I only caught one fairly brief passage of this day’s play, but I did get to hear Pope’s century (the third of three scored for England that day), Root’s 13,000th test run (only four others have ever reached this milestone – Dravid, Kallis and Ponting will be all in Root’s rear view mirror by the end of this season, but Tendulkar’s tally of 15,921 remains a long way off) and Pope’s 150 (he was going ballistic by this stage of proceedings, and that third 50 took only 33 balls). England continued scoring quick runs on the second morning. It was the dismissal of Brook for 58 off 50 balls, which made the score 565-6 that prompted Stokes to declare. The Zimbabwe first innings was a one man show, that man being 21 year old right handed opening batter Brian Bennett, who reached three figures off a mere 97 balls. He did not get a great deal of support from the rest of the order. He was reprieved on 89 when Root dropped a catch in the slips off Ben Stokes. Stokes was not long delayed – he took a wicket in his next over, and added a second in the course of what was a fairly brief spell. At 139 Josh Tongue had him fending a short ball into the hands of Pope at forward short leg but a call of no-ball saved him. In Tongue’s next over the same sequence of play – short ball, fend, catch by Pope, ensued and this time it was a legal delivery. Bennett’s dismissal made it 246-6, and with Richard Ngarava having injured his back while bowling and not being fit to bat it did not take terribly long to wrap the innings up. The final score was 265 all out, giving England a lead of precisely 400. In view of it being a four day match, and tomorrow’s forecast being a little dodgy Stokes had no hesitation in sending Zimbabwe in again. Bennett could duplicate his first innings form, being pinned LBW by Atkinson for 1 (it was given not out on the field, but Atkinson sent it upstairs and was proven right). Tongue then intervened with the wicket of Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine, caught by Pope at forward short leg. Sean Williams batted impressively to reach 22 not out by the close, but at 30-2 Zimbabwe are still 270 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Pakistan Level Test Series Against England

An account of the second test of the Pakistan v England series in Multan, which ended this morning UK time, and a photo gallery.

The second test of the three test series between Pakistan and England has just ended with the home side winning by 152 runs. The pitch was reused from the first match, and it was always likely that the side winning the toss would also win the match. This post looks back at a compelling match.

THE TOSS AND PRELIMINARIES

Pakistan, with a selection committee so large it almost outnumbered their playing staff, had named a completely revamped XI. They had picked only one front line seamer, Aamer Jamal, with their second ranked operator in that department being skipper Shan Masood with eight wickets in over 150 FC matches. The side was packed with spinners. The other big news was that Babar Azam was replaced by Kamran Ghulam. For England a fit again Stokes replaced Woakes, and of course captained the side, and Potts replaced Atkinson, meaning that England’s three front line seamers in the match all played for Durham, the first time an England seam attack containing at least three players were all from one county since the 1894-5 Ashes when Tom Richardson, Bill Lockwood and Bill Brockwell all of Surrey played all five test matches. The two front line spinners, Leach and Bashir, both play for Somerset, whereas in the 1894-5 Ashes the spin was in the hands of Peel (Yorkshire) and Briggs (Lancashire). Pakistan won the toss, and as was mandatory on what was already a day six pitch chose to bat first.

THE FIRST INNINGS

The debutant Kamran Ghulam scored a century, Saim Ayub managed 77, and with a few contributions from further down the order Pakistan tallied 366. Carse was impressive, taking 3-50, Potts had 2-66, Leach took 4-114, and Bashir’s inexperience was exposed as he finished with 1-85.

England lost Crawley early, but Ben Duckett played a magnificent innings, and at 211-2 England might have hoped for a first innings lead. However Root and Duckett fell in fairly quick succession, and a collapse ser in. Jamie Smith’s dismissal made it 262-9. Leach and Bashir added 29 to that tally before Bashir fell for 9, leaving Leach unbeaten on 25. Aamer Jamal was innocuous, and Zahid Mahmood, the leg spinner, also went wicketless, the damage being done by off spinner Sajid Khan, 7-111 and left arm spinner Noman Ali, 3-101.

THE SECOND INNINGS

England bowled well second time round, and Pakistan at one stage were 156-8, 231 ahead overall. However Salman Agha and Sajid Khan shared a ninth wicket stand of 65, which meant that England ultimately needed 297 to win. Bashir took 4-66, though he also went at 3.5 an over. Leach had 3-67, and was even more expensive. Carse took two wickets and Potts one. Salman Agha scored 63.

By the end of day three England were 36-2, with both openers gone. The fourth and final day, such as there was of it, belong to Noman Ali. The 38 year old left arm spinner whose appearances at the highest level have been sporadic tore through England. The only wicket to go anywhere else in this session was that of Pope, caught and bowled by Sajid Khan for 22. Ali had Root and Brook LBW, Stokes stumped (a particularly embarrassing dismissal for the skipper since he lost his grip on his bat while essaying the shot and had to have said implement returned to him by a fielder), and Smith, Carse, Leach and Bashir all caught, the last two in successive balls, both by Abdullah Shafique. This left England 144 all out, Stokes top scoring with 37, Carse second best with 27, which included three sixes. Noman Ali had innings figures of 8-46, giving him 11 in the match, and Sajid Khan had the other two giving him nine wickets for the match. This was only the seventh time in history that two bowlers had accounted for all 20 wickets for their side in a test match, and only the second occasion for two spinners to do so after Laker (19) and Lock (1) at Old Trafford in 1956. Sajid Khan, who had done the damage in the first innings when the pitch wasn’t offering so much, and shared in two significant ninth wicket stands (49 in the first innings as well as that 65 in the second) was named Player of the Match. Incidentally while a spectacular reversal of fortunes going from winning by an innings and 47 runs to losing 152 is not an England record for such – in the 1965-6 Ashes they won one match by an innings and lost the next by an innings to even things up. I have no issues with this pitch – I prefer matches where the bowlers are properly in the game, as they were in this one. Of course it was a challenge for England in the later stages – not since Durban in 1939 has anyone faced a day nine surface! The challenge for the Rawalpindi ground staff is to produce a surface that has something to offer without already having had five days played on it – they have only one match there.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The England XI For Tomorrow

Some thoughts on the England XI for the test match that starts at Lord’s tomorrow and a photo gallery.

Tomorrow the second of three test matches between the England and Sri Lanka men’s teams gets underway at Lord’s. England announced their playing XI yesterday and this post looks at that announcement

THE ENGLAND XI

The above comes courtesy of cricinfo.

The only change is the injury enforced one of Olly Stone for Mark Wood.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE XI

Ben Duckett failed twice in the first test but has done enough to prove himself as a test opener. Dan Lawrence is not really an opener at all, but a) he didn’t do too badly in Manchester and far more significantly in my view, b) to change your mind about something like this after one match would smack of panic. Ollie Pope has a magnificent FC record but an ordinary test one to date, though his average at number three in test cricket is respectable. As skipper he was going to keep his place barring injury, but there remains a Hick like chasm between his FC and test returns. Root, Brook and Smith are the engine room of the batting, and to have left any of them out would have been rank stupidity. The question arises over number seven. England, sticking to the policy with which they won the first test, went for the genuine all rounder Chris Woakes, leaving Smith with the gauntlets and enabling the selection of five front line bowlers. I wholeheartedly approve of this policy. The alternatives were either to deepen the batting at the cost of leaving the bowling light or to select a keeper at seven and relieve Smith of the gloves. I would have preferred to see Smith elevated as a pure batter rather than as batter/ keeper, but he barely put a foot wrong since his promotion to international status, and I much prefer a full range of bowling options (have a look at some of my All Time XIs, especially the one of players whose surnames begin with V for more on my thoughts in this regard). Atkinson fared well with the bat at number eight last time out, and has done brilliantly with the ball all through his test career to date. Potts had a poor game at Old Trafford, but I think it right to persist with him rather than give up straight away. Stone is a fine bowler who would have played many more times at the highest level but for the injury problems that have dogged him all through his career. Bashir has not any tremendously helpful conditions this home season but he has been adequate as a spinner. Thus over these selections I am broadly supportive of the ECB (it would be frankly laughable for anyone to make out that I of all people am blindly loyal to the ECB).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before I present the full gallery (remember to view images at a larger size than shown here just click on the image) a brief note about the featured image which appears last of all. It is a composite of two images taken approximately 26 hours and about a quarter of a mile apart – the first was something I spotted on a leaf in my back garden when setting off for work yesterday, the second something I saw on the way home from a walk that took in among many other places both the library and a supermarket (the first of three walks today – the pictures from the other two are still on my camera). We are now ready for my usual sign off…

This picture of the remarkable Gayton village sign (a 3d construction) came with the assistance of me having got the best seat on a closed-top double decker bus – the non-drivers side front window seat on the top deck.

A Humdinger in the Hundred

A look back at today’s Hundred (women’s) match between Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets, with special focus on the final ten balls. Also a photo gallery.

Today the Hundred has matches between Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets. The men’s match will be starting in a quarter of an hour. This post looks back at a the women’s match.

THE MANCHESTER ORIGINALS INNINGS

Manchester Originals have come in for considerable stick over the make up of their squad. They have an overload of opening batters – todays playing XI featured four regular openers (Emma Lamb and Eve Jones being the two to come in down the order). Today however Eve Jones went a long way to addressing such concerns with a fine innings from number 5. Originals skipper Sophie Ecclestone hit 13 off just five balls to give the total a late boost. Even so, a total of 137 didn’t look exactly mountainous.

THE FIRST 90 BALLS OF THE ROCKETS CHASE

The Rockets lost three wickets fairly early in the chase, but then Nat Sciver-Brunt and Ash Gardner settled into a stand that looked to be moving things in their favour. With ten balls to go in the chase Rockets needed 22 to win, with Sciver-Brunt and Gardner still in residence.

THE LAST 10 BALLS

Lauren Filer was given responsibility for bowling balls 91-95, and she did an excellent job. Even with her final ball going for four the equation was 13 needed off the last five balls. Filer had 2-26 in total from her 20 balls. Kathryn Bryce was given responsibility for bowling the last five balls of the match. Gardner hit the first two of these balls for four to reduce the ask to five runs off three balls, and that point it looked like Rockets had done the job. Gardner went for glory off the 98th ball but hit it too high and Beth Mooney was able to get round underneath it, which meant the ask was now five off two balls with a brand new batter to face the first of them. Heather Graham, the new batter, did the sensible thing and grabbed a single, bringing Sciver-Brunt with an undefeated half century to her name down on strike with the task of hitting a four to win the match. Sciver-Brunt whipped the final ball towards midwicket, but while the shot had power it lacked for placement, failing to located a big enough gap in the field and Rockets only managed two runs of the final ball, meaning that Originals had hung on to win by one run. Filer was named Player of the Match for her bowling, and deservedly so. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This may look a bit like a boiled sweet, but it is actually what is known depending on your source either as a ‘jewel bug’ or a ‘metallic shield bug’.
An ultra close-up of one of these bugs.

The World T20 Cup Latest

A look at developments in the T20 World Cup, including the eliminations of Sri Lanka and new Zealand, a revival in England’s fortunes and the situation currently unfolding in Florida. Also a large photo gallery.

This post looks at recent developments in the men’s T20 World Cup. I am typing it while waiting on developments in Florida (of which more later).

SRI LANKA AND NEW ZEALAND ELIMINATED

Sri Lanka became the first full member nation to be eliminated from the tournament, after a washed out match left them too far adrift to qualify. New Zealand’s elimination was confirmed in the small hours of this morning UK time when Afghanistan beat Papua New Guinea comfortably, a result which left Afghanistan and the West Indies both with three wins out of three, making the match between Afghanistan and West Indies a contest for who wins the group outright, with both sides certain of qualification.

ENGLAND THROW THEMSELVES A LIFELINE

Last night England played Oman in a match which they not only had to win, they had to win it by a very big margin due to net run rate being a factor. Had England been permitted to invent a result for this game to suit themselves they would not have dared to come up with what actually happened – they bowled Oman out for 48, Rashid taking 4-11 and Mark Wood and Jofra Archer each snaring three victims, and then blasted their way to the target in a preposterous 3.1 overs. This means that net run rate is effectively no longer a factor – if England beat Namibia and Australia beat Scotland then England will qualify for the super eights,

AN ODD QUADRANGULAR IN FLORIDA

I call this one a quadrangular because there are four factors, three present at the Lauderhill ground (unlike the pop-up stadium at Nassau County, New York this is an authentic cricket ground) and one watching nervously on the outcome. The Lauderhill ground is situated close enough to Fort Lauderdale railway station for the railway to be useful for visiting journalists. The three participants who are present are respectively The USA cricket team, the Ireland cricket team and some decidedly grim local weather. The fourth participant in the drama, watching from afar, and desperately hoping that the weather will allow some cricket as a washout would mean elimination for them are the Pakistan cricket team. It hosed down in Florida earlier today, though Lauderhill was less badly hit than some parts of the state. At the moment it is dry, and the sun has even been spotted, but the ground is not yet dry enough for play to proceed, although there is an inspection due in 22 minutes time if the weather hold. Ireland need a match to happen, as like Pakistan they hanging on by their fingernails, while a washout would guarantee the USA qualification, so they will be the least bothered of the three teams waiting on developments.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

An interesting bug that I spotted today.