Butterflies – aspiblog

India Dominate Historic Match

An account of how the first women’s test match to be staged at Lord’s panned out and a photo gallery.

Just after 12:30 UK time Sneh Rana bowled Sophie Ecclestone who had fought hard to complete her maiden international half century and England were all out for 186 in their second innings, giving India victory by 270 runs in a match they had dominated pretty much from start to finish. This post looks back at the developments in the later stages of the match.

THE INDIAN SECOND INNINGS

India led by 115 on first innings, and by the end of day two had extended that by a further 154 runs for the loss of Shafali Verma. Although Sophie Ecclestone toiled hard for England and was ultimately rewarded by becoming the first English woman to gain a place on the test match honours board at Lord’s India were always in control, and Yastika Bhatia became the first woman to get on the batting honours board at the ground when she reached her maiden international hundred. Later, when the only question was exactly when India would opt to declare Richa Ghosh racked up a rapid half-century. It was her getting to that landmark that heralded the declaration at 341-7, 456 ahead. This was over 200 more than any side had made in the fourth innings to win a women’s test match, and 38 more than the men’s all time record of 418. Ecclestone’s final figures deserve a mention: 33.3-4-118-5. Lauren Bell was highly economical, but Lauren Filer leaked runs at over five an over while going wicketless, and Issy Wong, also wicketless, was nearly as expensive.

TWO BADLY TIMED ANNOUNCEMENTS

This day saw two announcements that for my money should not have been made at such a time. I have some sympathy with Heather Knight’s snap decision to join Tammy Beaumont in international retirement, but the announcement of this decision was definitely mistimed. The other big announcement was inexcusably timed on the part of the ECB: they chose the penultimate day of this historic women’s test match to reveal that they had axed Brendon McCullum as coach of the men’s test side. This was an announcement that should definitely have been held back until after this match had been completed. We should have been hearing about this on Wednesday, no matter that it happened on Sunday.

THE REST OF DAY THREE

The England innings had a shocking start when Tammy Beaumont in her last international innings suffered the only golden duck of her great career, bowled by an absolute beauty from Kranti Gaud. The Indians gave Beaumont a guard of honour as she left the field for the last time in international cricket. That brought the other retiree, Knight, to the crease. It was the other opener, Maia Bouchier, who was next to go, pinned LBW by the other Indian new ball bowler Sayali Satghare for 2. Off spinner Sneh Rana clean bowled England skipper Sciver-Brunt for 11 to make it 23-3. Fourth out was Knight, caught by Ghosh off Gaud for 13. Alice Capsey and Amy Jones showed signs of fighting spirit until Satghare found a way through Capsey’s defences, bowling her for 21. That brought in Mady Villiers, whose off spin had certainly been less effective than Charlie Dean’s would have been. Villiers did bat decently, but just before the close a freak catch by Ghosh did for her. Villiers hit a ball from Rana fiercely, Ghosh, close in at mid off, grabbed at the ball as it was passing her and it stuck. That was 126-6, and by the end of day three Jones and Ecclestone had added another four runs to the score.

THE LAST RITES

The powers that be had got one thing right yesterday: they had announced that admission would be free today, which meant that decent numbers showed up for what could end up being very little cricket. That eventuality gained in probability when Amy Jones was caught by Verma off Rana for 54 to make it 135-7 very early on. Jones had scored two fifties in the match, the first keeper to do so in a women’s test match, and at the time she was out they were the only two fifties for England in the match. Wong, who had had a poor time with the ball in this match, showed some heart by holding out for 33 balls in support of Ecclestone until Deepti Sharma bowled her for 1. That was 157-8, and not very long later it was 159-9, with Lauren Bell bowled by Sharma for a ten ball duck. Lauren Filer was in serious jeopardy of losing her wicket three times in her first five balls, but settled in to support Ecclestone who was batting well. Ecclestone’s innings included that rarity, an all-run four. This meant that when she reached 50 off her 61st ball care was needed – although there were seven fours in her 50 runs only six of them were actually boundaries (veteran commentator Alison Mitchell, from whom mistakes are usually rarer than hens teeth, was caught out by this detail). Then came Sneh Rana’s match ending delivery, and it remained only to settle Player of the Match. There were three candidates: Gaud for her five cheap wickets that tore apart the first England innings plus the scalps of Beaumont and Knight early in the final innings to put England right on the back foot; Bhatia for that century and her wicket keeping, and Mandhana who had scored twin fifties opening the batting for India. It was Kranti Gaud, who, rightly in my opinion, got the verdict.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

History at Lord’s

A look at developments in the first women’s test match ever to be played at Lord’s, a video and a photo gallery.

Yesterday morning a test match between the England and India women’s teams, at Lord’s, the first time a women’s test match has been played at that ground (a mere 89 years behind the other big London ground, The Oval, which staged the final match of the 1937 Women’s Ashes). With many ex-players present for the great occasion (from former world cup winner Alex Hartley, in her 30s and part of the commentary team as well to Enid Bakewell, some five decades older and still in full possession of her faculties) England won the toss and opted to bowl first. This post looks at developments so far in this match.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

For much of the day it looked as though India were headed for big score, but in the end they were held to 285. Sophie Ecclestone took the last three wickets in the space of six balls, in the process going past Katherine Sciver-Brunt to become England’s leading all format wicket taker. She is also the leading test wicket taker among current England bowlers, and sits third in the all time all format wicket takers list behind two Indians, the retired Jhulan Goswami and Deepti Sharma, also playing in this match (contributed a 50 to the Indian cause). Goswami’s record will be going in the not too distant future to one or other of these contemporary greats. Ecclestone is the younger of the pair, 27 years old to Deepti Sharma’s 28.

THE ENGLAND REPLY

By the end of day one England had lost veteran opener Tammy Beaumont, whose last international match this will be. They started very badly today, with overnight batters Bouchier and Knight departing quickly, and being followed in short order by Capsey. Amy Jones struck an aggressive 50 before being caught by Ghosh off Sneh Rana. Then Kranti Gaud, with three wickets already to her name already pinned England skipper Natalie Sciver-Brunt plumb in front. Because of the desperate situation the decision was sent upstairs, but it was definitively out – crashing into middle stump. That was 142-6. Ecclestone was eighth out caught behind off Sayali Satghare for 11. Shortly after that Gaud was recalled to the bowling crease, and became the first woman to claim a place on a test match honours board at Lord’s when a superb catch by Shafali Verma accounted for Lauren Bell. Her figures at that juncture were Gaud 15.2-6-33-5. Had she taken the tenth wicket of the innings and conceded 12 or fewer runs doing so she would have had the best innings figures by a woman in any international match at Lords, beating the 6-46 taken by Anya Shrubsole in the 2017 ODI world cup final. As it happened the final wicket, that of Lauren Filer, fell to Deepti Sharma, so Shrubsole’s record figures stand for now (when it comes to bowling figures in cricket the number of wickets is considered paramount, and it is only when considering hauls of the same number of wickets that the number of runs conceded becomes relevant). As it was Gaud, with final figures of 17-7-37-5 had been instrumental in securing her side a first innings lead of 115, which is likely to prove a match winning lead. Kranti Gaud is 22 years old, and as recently as 18 months ago she was not even on the Indian selectors’ radar. The other England v India match today, a men’s T20 at the Hampshire Bowl near, but crucially not actually in Southampton. got underway half an hour behind schedule due heavy traffic causing the Indian team to arrive late. That match is in its early stages, but not showing any great sign of ending the Indian men’s horror tour which has seen them reach this point with five defeats and a no-result to show for their endeavours.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We start with a short video of a small hedgehog which was in the grass at Kettlewell Lane Park this morning:

Now for the photos…

A demoiselle with a slender dark blue body and wings that are half translucent and half black sits right on top of a nettle plant.

Iyer’s Insipid India

A look at the Indian men’s cricket team’s visit to Ireland and England, the latter part of which i s still in progress, a link to a chronological listing of my ‘Arisaig 2026’ posts and a photo gallery that is basically a highlights package of the last month.

I completed my series about my Scottish holiday on Wednesday, and have today created a page which lists all the posts in that series in chronological order. I now move back to the present. The Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams are both in England at the moment, with the latter playing their first ever test match, at a venue (Lord’s) whose pavilion was barred to women within the lifetimes of some of the players. I will have much to say about that match in due course, but as today is day one I look instead at the doings of the men’s side who have been playing T20Is (20 overs per side international matches) in Ireland now England.

THE EMERALD ISLE

Ireland have a bit of a tradition of embarrassing theoretically more illustrious opposition, going back as far as 1969 when they caught a visiting West Indies side on a very green pitch and rolled them for 25. They have added India to their scalp bags. Their victory in the opener might have been put down as a fluke, or to India being unfamiliar with Irish conditions, but when they repeated the dose in the second and last match to win the series it looked like India had major problems.

IN ENGLAND SO FAR

From Ireland India travelled east to England for a five match series. India had put up a good total in the first match when rain intervened and washed the rest of the match out. Three more matches have been played since then, and England have bossed all three. The most recent took place yesterday evening, and showcased most of India’s problems, with one exception – until last night Shreyas Iyer, recently promoted to the captaincy had done little with the bat since taking the reins. Last night he batted beautifully, scoring an unbeaten 80 from 49 balls. The problem was that his team mates combined to score a mere 78-7 from the 71 balls he did not face in the innings, a truly abysmal rate of scoring for this format. That total of 158 did not look likely to pose a threat to a confident England side, and in the end it was made to look an almost comically bad one. Harry Brook led the rampage with 79 not out from just 35 balls, while Phil Salt was also in brutal form. In the previous match India had bowled first, seen England score 201 and responded to a stiff challenge by slumping to 76 all out and defeat by 125 runs. With the final match of the England leg of this tour to take place at 2:30PM tomorrow India’s record for the trip stands at five defeats and one washout – and although at the time of the washout I thought they had been favourites to win that match their subsequent efforts suggest that actually England would have chased that one down as well. I have an idea as to the root cause of India’s problems on this tour: the IPL happens in (generally) small grounds on incredibly flat tracks, where scores of 250 in 20 overs are not uncommon and bowlers are seen as merely providing the deliveries to be hit for yet another succession of sixes, while the pitches in Ireland and England although good for batting have not left the bowlers completely out of things. Indian T20 batters tend to struggle in anything other than conditions tailor made for them, while the bowlers have grown unused to being significant factors.

PHOTOGRAPHS

While I have been concentrating for blogging purposes on my Scottish holiday it has been a splendid time for photography, and the gallery I now present is a highlights package spanning most of the period from 7th June, my first day back from holiday, to the present (reminder that photos can be seen at full size by clicking on them)…

A damselfly with a slender mainly black body and blue ring round the tail segment.

Upcoming Stamp and Postal History Auction

How an auction catalogue is put together and uploaded, a coda on the ‘computer is not always right’ theme and a photo gallery.

Yesterday at work I finalised and uploaded a stamp and postal history auction that will happen on June 23rd, starting at 10AM. This post describes the process of creating and uploading this auction.

CATALOGUE CREATION

Creating an auction catalogue involves the use of ExCel, and in the case of this auction involved typing up handwritten descriptions provided by our stamp expert. All the lots also had be imaged, with some requiring image galleries rather than just a single image. It is not sensible for the describing to run too far ahead of the imaging – if a catalogue ends up going live with lots of missing images the first thing that happens thereafter is a flood of incoming emails on the theme of ‘where are the pictures for x lot?’. Therefore I followed a system of doing a chunk of typing, then a chunk of imaging and so on (usually 10 lots per block, and depending on the imaging required either five or six such blocks in a day). Going into yesterday I had 460 descriptions typed up and 451 lots imaged, and because my employer decided he wanted me to upload the catalogue that day I imaged lots 451-60 and then typed up the descriptions and imaged lots 461-470 before calling a halt.

THE PROCESS OF UPLOADING

We used two online platforms, the-saleroom.com and easyliveauction and the process auction creation is different for each. On the-saleroom it is easier to copy an old auction and change the details that need changing (date of sale, category of item being sold and so on) than to start the process from scratch. To be uploadable (this applies to both platforms) the catalogue has to be in csv format and set to comma delineated), while on the saleroom the images can be bulk uploaded by way of the media manager, a long but straightforward process. On easylive the image gallery has to be compressed before it can be uploaded, and when the compression has been done the images will be processed and then uploaded. Fortunately on this occasion there were no hitches, and the catalogue was ready to go on both platforms by not long after 2PM – and it would have been a little earlier than it was but for a little detail that forms a….

…CODA: THE COMPUTER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT

On the saleroom there are never problems with image galleries – the method used to separate main images from secondary images is one we adopted at their request. However for reasons which are beyond me the easylive system is not to be trusted in this regard. I went through the easylive gallery, and as I had anticipated most of the lots with multiple images had to have the so-called primary imaged changed. If it helps the programmers at easylive then when it is a catalogue I have been involved with the primary image is always the one whose name consist of just a number, while the secondary images, usually close ups of features of particular interest, have a number, a dash, and then a letter (or on odd occasions when the lot has warranted a really big gallery two letters). Once I had sorted everything I sent out emails to bidders in our two most recent stamp auctions. Before ending this part of the post with an illustrative example of an image gallery I offer you links to both catalogue listings:

easylive saleroom

A quick reminder – click on an image to view it at a larger size.

The main image for lot 155, showing the whole lot, and just named ‘155’.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Domestic T20 Competitions Under Way

A look at the events of Essex v Warwickshire in the Women’s T20 Cup, as I prepare to listen to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s competition, and a photo gallery.

The English domestic T20 competitions get underway today. I shall shortly be listening to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s T20 cup, but this post looks back at the game between Essex and Warwickshire in the women’s competition that happened earlier this afternoon.

A ONE WOMAN SHOW

Warwickshire found themselves batting first after the home side won the toss and opted to chase. When they were 80-1 approaching halfway things looked to be going well for them, but then Aussie import Georgia Redmayne was out to eh last ball of the 1oth over, to a return catch by Sophia Smale. Thereafter no one was able to stay with Abigail Freeborn, who batted excellently, for any length of time, and it took a big finish to boost Warwickshire to a final total of 164-8, of which Freeborn’s share was an unbeaten 86 from 56 balls, while Redmayne had scored 36 from 30.

ESSEX CRUISE HOME

Essex started the chase at a racing tempo, and even though they lost Grace Scrivens for 18, caught by Mary Taylor off Phoebe Brett that merely brought Cordelia Griffith in to join Alice Macleod, and the pair added 119 together in ten overs before both were out in successive deliveries, Macleod run out for 59 off 38 balls, and Griffith bowled by Millie Taylor (the two M Taylors are twin sisters just for the record) for 68 off 37 balls. The job was effectively done by then, and it took a mere four more deliveries for Joanne Gardner to finish the job, with Jodi Grewcock, miscast as an England opener in the recent ODI series against New Zealand, at the other end not actually getting to face a ball.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Mother and child – a muntjac fawn stands right next to its mother in Kettlewell Lane Park.

County Championship Latest

A look at the latest round of county championship fixtures, now approaching a conclusion, and a large photo gallery.

Another round of county championship fixtures approaches a conclusion (indeed a number of matches have already ended), and this week marks a transition point – The T20 cup gets underway on Friday which will mean a break in the championship programme.

A WAKE UP CALL FOR SURREY

The first match I followed in this round saw the most successful of all cricketing counties, Yorkshire, taking on number two in that list Surrey. Surrey have been formidable in recent years, and in theory they have a very strong squad this year. However their results have been patchy, and this match was a horror show for them. They won the toss on the first morning, and that was about the last thing that went right for them. First they threw away the advantage winning the toss should have given them by opting bowl first in conditions that were not suitable for doing so, then a catch offered by Adam Lyth was dropped, which set the stage for a huge partnership between him and Jonathan Bairstow. Day two was heavily weather affected but Yorkshire racked up 486. It was day three (yesterday) that was the real killer for Surrey. It was only 56 from Sean Abbott, selected for his bowling, that even got them to 200, and with an advantage of 282 and just over a day and half to go Yorkshire did not hesitate to send Surrey in again. By the end of the day Surrey were 83-5 in their second innings, and any hope they might have of escape appeared to rest on the shoulders of Sibley (33 not out overnight). Just five runs had been added in the morning, and not a lot of time had elapsed when Sibley edged one from Aussie seamer Jhye Richardson into the slips and Harry Brook pouched the chance to make it 88-6. It was now a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’, with there being no one else left who could dig in for the long haul. At 90 Jack White pinned the other overnight batter Josh Blake plumb in front, and at 95 the same bowler ripped one through the defences of Jordan Clark. Sean Abbott and Matthew Fisher resisted a while, adding 25 together before Matthew Revis had Fisher caught by Root. That brought Dan Worrall, a member of the increasingly endangered species known as the ‘genuine tailender’ to the crease. The Aussie veteran, as per his usual custom, did not even bother to mark a guard. On this occasion he connected with a few lusty blows, amassing 18 before George Hill bowled him to give Yorkshire a win by an innings and 127 runs. Abbott was unbeaten on 33, giving him 89 for once out in the match, and the decidedly unusual record for a number nine of having top scored in one innings and second top scored in the other.

SOMERSET SET FOR SUCCESS

At Taunton Somerset are taking on Sussex. The weather is more likely to baulk the home side than their visitors, though it is holding good for the present. The two sides have just broken for tea with Sussex 111-7 in their second innings, after being made to follow on, a mere 162 runs short of avoiding the innings defeat (even in the most absurd of all ‘won after following-on’ matches, at Headingley in 1981, England were only the equivalent of minus 92-7 at their low water mark, when Graham Dilley joined Ian Botham at the crease). The Taunton floodlights have failed on two occasions in this match, though both times they have not been off for long. If Somerset win this, they will go second in the table, four points behind Nottinghamshire, who will soon be recording a draw against Hampshire. Somerset being behind Nottinghamshire will help to highlight the absurdity of awarding eight points for a draw – Somerst will gave won three matches, Nottinghamshire only two, but Nottinghamshire record will also include four draws, whereas Somerset have lost one match and drawn two to go with their three wins. While I have been preparing this for publication it has started raining in Taunton, so Somerset may yet be denied their win.

PHOTO GALLERY

Before sharing the gallery for this post, I have created a page containing links to all my ‘Pensthorpe 2026‘ posts. Now for my usual sign off…

A Hard Fought Opening Day

A look at day one at Trent Bridge where Nottinghamshire and Surrey are playing and a large photo gallery.

Another round of County Championship matches got underway today. My focus is on Trent Bridge, where one of the oldest and strongest of all county rivalries is happening – Nottinghamshire v Surrey.

THE STORY SO FAR

Around the time the County Championship was put on a properly organized footing these two sides were the strongest in the country. The first properly organized championship happened in 1891, at which point Surrey were dominating things after Nottinghamshire had dominated the first half of the 1880s. This then is a rivalry with a lot of history. Last season Nottinghamshire won the title, after Surrey had won in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Surrey won the toss this morning and opted to bowl. They took two early wickets, before Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett had a good partnership, ended by the dismissal of Duckett on the stroke of lunch. The afternoon belonged to Nottinghamshire, with Clarke and Jack Haynes building a substantial partnership. Post tea Surrey have come back into things with Dan Worrall bowling superbly and Sean Abbott nabbing a couple of wickets, but Clarke has found another good partner in Fergus O’Neill, and with bad light having just ended play for the day this pair are still in occupation with the score now 317-7, Clarke 129 not out and O’Neill 31 not out, Worrall 5-61, Abbott 2-63.

Nottinghamshire have probably had the better of the day given that Surrey chose to bowl, but we are all set for a cracking contest just so long as the weather doesn’t behave too badly (it is fine here in Norfolk, which I hope will hold tomorrow since that is the day of the annual WNAG trip to Pensthorpe).

PHOTOGRAPHS

The first two pictures in this gallery are from the sale I am currently putting together at work, the rest my usual sort of stuff…

This is lot 155 in the auction I am currently working on, and the full gallery for it runs to six images, but I sharing just two, this full picture…

A Switchback Ride at The Oval

A look at developments in the ‘James Southerton’ derby (Surrey v Sussex) and two photo galleries.

Another round of County Championship fixtures got underway yesterday. My attention is focussed on Surrey v Sussex (aka the James Southerton derby – that worthy, a slow bowler who also holds the record for being the oldest ever test debutant – 49 years 119 days old on day one of the inaugural test match in 1877, took advantage of a loophole in the qualification system to habitually play for both counties, one being the county of his birth and the other that of his residence), which forms the text part of this post.

DAY ONE

I missed the entire morning session due to a committee meeting of the West Norfolk Autism Group, and joined the coverage at the start of the afternoon session, with Sussex at that point on 105-7, Jordan Clark 5-16. The afternoon and evening both belonged to Sussex as the pitch flattened out and their lower order batted very impressively. Fynn Hudson-Prentice was the first star with a fluent 50, but he was to be overshadowed by Jack Carson and Oliver Edward Robinson. Carson, an off spinner who can bat, and Robinson, a medium pacer who is also Sussex’s current captain and can bat, each had one previous first class century when they came together. They over doubled the score from 167-8 to 340-9 before Carson fell for 105. Robinson took a blow and was injured, but batted on until a six took him to 100 not out and Sussex to 358-9, at which point he declared, hoping for an early wicket or two before the close. In the event Surrey got through without losing a wicket.

GALLERY ONE

This gallery comes with a preamble – I walked through Kettlewell Lane Park at about 8:30AM yesterday, and all was as it should have been. I walked back through that little park about five hours later and saw that a large number of bushes, in all of which I had previously photographed insects, had been cut down, and only a few survivors left.

The first picture showing the devastation at Kettlewell Lane Park – this wall was lined with bushes.

DAY TWO

Today so far has belonged to Surrey. At the time I started this post they had lost only one wicket, Burns bowled by Crocombe for 77. Ryan Patel has just gone to a catch by Hughes off Carson for 67. Dominic Sibley, the immovable object at the top of the Surrey order, has just completed a century, his second off the season, off 236 balls, while Ollie Pope is newly arrived at the crease. Surrey are now 264-2 a mere 94 behind Sussex’s first innings total. The weather has just become questionable down in London (it is still splendid here in Norfolk, though rain is expected tomorrow morning, just in time for GEAR (The Great East Anglian Run). I hope the weather does not do too much damage to this match.

GALLERY TWO

We finish with more photos…

James and Sons April Auction

A brief account of James and Sons’ April Auction and a photo gallery.

On Tuesday James and Sons had a small auction featuring militaria, ephemera, books and postcards.

THE AUCTION

I arrived at James and Sons at about 8:30AM and started to get the IT set up for the auction. All went comparatively smoothly, and we began exactly on schedule at 10AM. Some of the Militaria sold well, and there were occasional highlights from elsewhere in the sale as well. Even some of the books sold. The last lot went under the hammer at about 12:30, and I then spent the rest of the day flitting between helping with picking out sold items from the auction and working on the next sale, a big stamp and postal history auction that will happen at the end of June, and for which I intend uploading a full catalogue to both our online platforms in the last week of May, immediately before I go on holiday for my birthday. I won a couple of postcards, one of The Rookery, Streatham Common, and one of the fort at Margate. I worked yesterday as well, since I had an annual health check booked for today (it went very well indeed, starting with a blood pressure reading of 120/78, very healthy for a 50 year old), hence the fact that I am blogging today.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This damselfly was a most unexpected find given that I was walking along Gayton Road having got off the bus at the hospital, and was about 50 yards from crossing Queensway when I spotted it (five pics)

Round Four of the County Championship

A look at goings on in the fourth round of the 2026 county championship and a large photo gallery.

Between the games that ended early in definite results and the ones that ended with handshakes on the inevitable draw about 10 minutes ago another round of county championship fixtures is at an end. There is only one place to start, though I caught only the last few minutes of it…

DURHAM’S GREAT CHASE

Chester-le-Street has just borne witness to a remarkable turnaround. At one point Durham were 217-9 in reply to Lancashire’s 370, and in danger of not avoiding the follow-on (though Lancashire may well have chosen not to enforce in any case). Their last pair Matthew Potts and Callum Parkinson added 78 together for the tenth wicket, so Lancashire led by a mere 75 on first innings. Then, hoping to have a bowl at Durham in murky evening light, Lancashire declared on 260-9, a lead of 335. Unfortunately the light was too murky for their strategy to take effect. Even so, when Durham openers Lees and McKinney both fell cheaply and the score read 46-2 it looked dicey for Durham. However that was the end of success for the Lancashire bowlers, as Emilio Gay (159 not out) and David Bedingham (129 not out) put on an unbroken 290 together carrying their side to a remarkable eight wicket win.

SURREY v ESSEX

This game has been my main focus in this round, and at the start of today quick wickets were needed to breathe life into it. When Gus Atkinson struck in the first over it looked possible, but only one further wicket fell all day, though Surrey’s fielders let a couple of chances go begging. One quirk of this day, as Surrey realized there was no point tiring out the regular bowlers was that Ben Foakes bowled two overs near the end, with Jordan Clark standing in behind the stumps. The only Surrey players not asked to bowl were Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith.

ELSEWHERE

The only two definite results other than at Durham were both in division two, Worcestershire beating Kent by an innings and two runs in a match that did make it to the final day, and Gloucestershire beating Derbyshire by 10 wickets in a successful enforcement of the follow-on – Gloucestershire 498, Derbyshire 281 and 252, Gloucestershire 39-0. Warwickshire fared less well with the same tactic in the first division, Nottinghamshire batting through for 537-7 in their second innings to secure the draw, having built a lead of 357, but never being in a position, especially with the inflated award of eight points for a drawn match, to declare in an attempt to force victory.

PHOTOGRAPHS

	Thomas on India Dominate Historic M…
	cindy knoke on India Dominate Historic M…
	Thomas on History at Lord’s
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on History at Lord’s
	Arisaig 2026 25: Hom… on Pakistan v South Africa