Tag: Butterflies

Good in Parts for England

A look at action on day one of the test match so far (there is not likely to be any more due to the light) and a photo gallery.

The first test match of the series between the England and Sri Lanka men’s teams got underway today in Manchester. The first innings of the match has now concluded, and this post looks at what we have seen so far.

THE MORNING SESSION

Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first, as was virtually mandatory given that no side have won a test match at Manchester after putting the opposition in. Ollie Pope, stand in skipper for England in place of the injured Ben Stokes said that he would have chosen to bowl had he won. England began extremely well, reducing Sri Lanka to 6-3, with two wickets for Woakes and one for Atkinson, albeit both of Woakes’ wickets, taken in the space of four balls had the assistance of the batters – Madushka played a loose shot to be caught by Root and the veteran Angelo Mathews horribly misjudged a leave when the ball was very close to the stumps and fell LBW. Wood produced a brute of a ball that Chandimal could only fend into the hands of Brook o make it 40-4. Bashir, brought on late in the morning session, produced one that kept wickedly low to pin Dinesh Chandimal LBW (he reviewed it, probably out of disbelief that a ball in the first session of a test match in England had actually behaved in that fashion) and that was 72-5. Kamindu Mendis kept skipper Dhananjaya de Silva company until lunch, by when Sri Lanka were 80-5.

THE AFTERNOON SESSION

With the score at 92 Woakes found the edge of Kamindu Mendis’ bat, Smith took the catch and SL were six down. Prabath Jayasuriya got to to 10, before Atkinson’s pace proved too much for him – he was caught off what was called a no-ball as the third bouncer of the over but was unable to make use of the reprieve, edging through to Smith two balls later and that was 113-7. Milan Rathnayake was making his test debut, but proceeded to bat with a competence that should have shamed most of those above him in the order. Tea was approaching when the previously impeccable de Silva played a poor shot at Bashir, turning the ball straight into the hands of Dan Lawrence to be out for 74. That was 176-8, and tea was taken with the score 178-8.

THE EVENING SESSION

Rathnayake and Vishwa Fernando were now in occupation, and both batted well in contrasting ways – Rathnayake assumed control of the scoring, will Vishwa Fernando blocked. During their partnership the light became an issue, and England were able to continue only be deploying Root in partnership with Bashir. Rathnayake had set a new record for a number nine on test debut (72), and the highest score for nine years for anyone debuting at nine or lower in the order (Ashton Agar scored 98, also against England, from number 11 on his test debut in 2015) when he finally fell, holing to Chris Woakes off Bashir, whose third scalp of the day brought his test bowling average below 30 per wicket (29 at 29.86. That was 226-9, and the last pair Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando added a further 10 runs before Vishwa was run out to end the innings. 236 all out was far more than Sri Lanka could have hoped for from 6-3 or indeed 113-7, but the Bashir delivery to Chandimal notwithstanding this not actually an especially tough pitch for batting, and England will probably be pleased with their day’s work, especially if they make it to the close without loss (SL have opted to open with Prabath Jayasuriya and Dhananjaya de Silva, deciding they want to bowl this evening and accepting that to do so they must use spin only). As I prepare this for publication Sri Lanka have turned to pace and the umpires have immediately suspended play with England 22-0 after four overs, Duckett 13* and stand-in opener Lawrence 9*.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The England XI For The First Test Against Sri Lanka

A quick look at the England XI for the first test against Sri Lanka, which starts on Wednesday and a huge photo gallery.

The second part of the England men’s test summer gets underway on Wednesday at Old Trafford, against Sri Lanka. The England XI for that game has just been announced and this post looks at the selections.

THE XI

Here, courtesy of cricinfo is the XI:

COMMENTS ON THE XI

There are no absolute bolts from the blue here, which is a good thing. With Crawley and Stokes injured there had to be at least two changes. Having opted for Lawrence, although he has never done the job in red ball cricket before playing him as an opener was the least disruptive thing that England could have done in the circumstances. Some might notice that there is less batting depth than against the West indies, but I personally applaud the selections of Smith at six (he bats at number four for Surrey, so this no real gamble) and Woakes at seven, which gives the side five front line bowlers. With Potts, Woakes and Bashir there the two gun speedsters, Wood and Atkinson, can be used in short spells as would be preferable. Potts has a first class century to his name, and Atkinson can also handle a bat. Additionally, the Sri Lankan bowling attack is not exactly fearsome, and to win test matches one generally has to take 20 wickets, so again with Stokes’ absence forcing a decision between being light on bowling or somewhat lacking in batting depth it was better to go for the former. Although he would not have been my first choice pick for the role at the start of the season I am pleased to see Shoaib Bashir being given an extended run as first choice spinner – as someone who first started following England in the second half of the 1980s and witnessed the whole of the 1990s in their (in)glory I have developed a major dislike of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ selections.

I think the selectors have done the best job possible in difficult circumstances, and I expect this side to fare well against Sri Lanka.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Spirit Win The Hundred (Women’s)

A look back at the final of The Hundred (women’s), plus mention of a great finish to the Eliminator in the Hundred (men’s), and a brief mention of the One Day Cup semi-finals and a photo gallery.

The final of the Hundred (women’s) has just ended, and it has been an absolute cracker. The men’s final starts at 6PM, and last night saw a great finish in their Eliminator match – it went to a super five, with Southern Brave managing to win. Birmingham Phoenix should have won in open play – Akeal Hosein bowled a no-ball to start the final five balls, and it went for six as well, which left Phoenix needing three off five balls. Phoenix failed to finish it from there, then scored only seven from their five balls in the Super Five, and finished the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory by trusting Adam Milne to bowl their five balls, when they had Mousley who had recently won them a game by conceding just three from the last 10 balls available to do so.

THE WELSH FIRE INNINGS

Welsh Fire had won the league stage of the tournament and their reward for doing so was to progress straight to today’s final. London Spirit faced Oval Invincibles in the Eliminator yesterday (see here for details), and won that match. Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Fire struggled with the bat, but Aussie all rounder Jess Jonassen gave them some hope with 54 off 41 balls, which helped them reached 115-8. A small total, but not an absolutely hopeless one. Sarah Glenn had 2-17 from her 20 balls, Deepti Sharma 1-23 and Eva Gray 2-23.

THE LONDON SPIRT CHASE

The 12th ball of the innings, bowled by Shabnim Ismail, the fastest bowler for any side in this tournament, secured the prize scalp of Meg Lanning for just 4. Cordelia Griffith got to 10 before Georgia Davis got one to take the edge of her bat and Sarah Bryce took a smart catch behind the stumps. Georgia Redmayne and Heather Knight looked in control of proceedings until Ismail intervened again, bowling Knight for 24 (18). That was 56-3 after 56 balls, 60 still needed off 44 balls. Dani Gregory now arrived at the crease, and she played the crucial innings – 22 off just nine deliveries, before Ismail clean bowled her to make it three wickets in the innings. Sharma, for my money the Player of the Tournament, now joined Redmayne with 28 needed off 29 balls. 16 of those runs had been accrued by the time Freya Davis trapped Redmayne LBW for 34 (32). A frenetic innings by Abi Freeborn ended when she ran herself out, setting off for a single in which Deepti Sharma had no interest and which was never on. Four were needed on three balls, with Sharma on strike and Matthews bowling. Sharma launched a straight drive, which as it happened went all the way for six, and London Spirit had secured the trophy. Sharma, 16* (16) had taken her aggregate for the tournament to 212, which was also her average for the tournament as she had been dismissed only once.

ELSEWHERE

The semi-finals of the One Day Cup are taking place today. Glamorgan look like they are getting the better of Warwickshire, while Somerset are likely to beat Leicestershire, although the latter are making a good fight of it in response to a Somerset total of 334-4. Lewis Goldsworthy, a native of Cornwall, scored 115* off 86 balls for Somerset. James Rew with 71 off 57 balls was the next biggest contributor, and openers Andrew Umeed and George Thomas deserve credit for giving their side a very solid start, on which the more explosive likes of Goldsworthy and Rew cashed in.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My periodic reminder that clicking on a photograph will enable you to see it and others at a larger size. My usual sign off…

This one shows not just a caterpillar, but what those caterpillars do the leaves of this plant.

London Spirit into the Final

A look at The Hundred (women’s) Eliminator match, a correction/ clarification relating to yesterday’s post and a photo gallery.

This post is largely about the Eliminator match in The Hundred (women’s) – the equivalent in the men’s starts in an hour from now. However I inadvertently misstated how the One Day Cup works in yesterday’s post. The ‘quarter-finals’ that took place yesterday were in fact the only such matches, not the first two of four, since the winners of each of the two groups qualify direct for the semi-final, while second in one group play off against third in the other for the right to join them.in the semis. Warwickshire did win the match I covered yesterday, with Kai Smith, who had just completed his hundred by the time I finished that post ending with 130*, almost triple his previous best as a professional cricketer.

THE INVINCIBLES INNINGS

London Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Apart from Lauren Winfield-Hill (17 off 10) and Laura Harris (16 off 7) no one scored with any freedom at any stage. Alice Capsey took 33 balls to score her 30, and Marizanne Kapp’s 26 came at exactly a run a ball. Tara Norris bowled the first five balls of the match, and yielded only five runs, but was not called on again. Danielle Gibson was expensive, conceding 38 from her 15 balls but also claiming two wickets. It was the other four bowlers who really did the damage: Charlie Dean 3-24 off 20 balls, Eva Gray 2-13 off 20 balls, Sarah Glenn 2-15 off 20 and Deepti Sharma 0-17 off 20. Oval Invincibles were thus restricted to 113-9.

THE SPIRIT CHASE

The only way a total as small as Invincibles had on the board even might be defended was by taking early wickets. 35 were already on the board by the time Meg Lanning was first out, caught by Winfield-Hill off Kapp. Cordelia Griffith, in at number three, went cheaply, stumped by Winfield-Hill off Amanda-Jade Wellington. However Georgia Redmayne is one of the best uncapped players around (she is uncapped simply because as rivals for her position she has Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, the first named of whom is also Australia’s current captain) and she was now joined by England skipper Heather Knight. There were nine balls as well as eight wickets to spare when Redmayne hit the four that both completed her 50. She had played the anchor role to perfection, and Knight had provided the extra impetus, her 36* coming in just 23 balls. Marizanne Kapp had 1-19 from her 20 balls, Amanda-Jade Wellington 1-21 also from a full allocation. London Spirit will therefore face Welsh Fire in tomorrow’s final.

PHOTOGRAPHS

One Day Cup Quarter Final Action

A look at the action in the first two quarter-finals of the One Day Cup, principally the west midlands derby between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Also a photo gallery.

The first two of the four quarter-finals of the One Day Cup are approaching their respective conclusions. Both are still winnable for both teams. Leicestershire are 212-6 after 38 overs, needing 79 more to beat Hampshire. The rest of this post looks at the other match, which I am listening to on the radio.

WARWICKSHIRE V WORCESTERSHIRE

Worcestershire batted first, and made a decent fist of things. Kiwi Michael Rae claimed three wickets and left arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott two, while Jake Libby held the innings together, scoring a century which helped his side to reach 286-9 from their 50 overs.

At first it looked like Worcestershire would defend this target with ease. When Chris Benjamin was dismissed, caught behind off Ethan Brookes (younger brother of Henry who plays for Middlesex) it was 77-5, and the experienced Will Rhodes was being joined by Kai Smith, a 19 year old wicket keeper whose previous highest score in professional cricket was 44.

Rhodes has fought hard, but it has been the youngster Smith who has been the revelation. He has long since left that 44 behind and gone past the 50 mark. He has been scoring fast as well, better than a run a ball, which is highly impressive in 50 over cricket. He just reached three figures, off the 89th ball of his innings, with two sixes and 11 fours along the way. Warwickshire are 222-5, needing 65 off 7.1 overs to win. This is definitely on, though I still make Worcestershire marginal favourites to hold on, and the wicket of either of these would change things.

It is also notable that this match features two front line left arm wrist spinners (i.e. both selected on the basis of purveying this rarest form of bowling) – I have already mentioned Lintott, and Worcestershire have a youngster of the same type in Tom Hinley.

While I have been preparing this for publication Warwickshire have moved past 250. Smith has 110* off 93 balls, and Rhodes is also upping the tempo, now on to 73* (105), having been 37* (72) at one time.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Fire Qualify

A look back at the early match in the Hundred (women’s) – Southern Brave v Welsh Fire. Also a large photo gallery – a few from yesterday, the rest from this morning before the cricket started.

Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. In the early game Welsh Fire travelled to Southampton to take on Southern Brave. Brave were bottom of the table, with little to play for. Fire could guarantee qualification with a win and a big win would give them a major chance of qualifying directly for the final by finishing top (second and third place play off in a so-called ‘eliminator’ for the right to join them).

THE BRAVE INNINGS

Fire won the toss and decided to bowl. Brave have fared terribly with the bat all through this competition, and this one was no different. Wickets crashed from the start, and it looked like being a very short match indeed when Brave were 47-7. However Chloe Tryon was still there, and finally found some support, from wicket keeper Rhianna Southby. The eighth wicket partnership yielded 52, and Tryon completed a fine 50. However, once the big stand was broken the rest of the innings was quickly wrapped up, and Brave had only 103 to defend. Hayley Matthews with 4-14 was the pick of the bowlers, with Jess Jonassen 3-21, Freya Davies 2-14 and Shabnim Ismail 1-16 all also picking up wickets.

THE FIRE CHASE

Tammy Beaumont soon showed that there was little wrong with the pitch, finding her best form right from the start. With 34 on the board Sophia Dunkley fell to a fine catch by Danni Wyatt off Lauren Bell for 7. That proved to be Brave’s only bowling success, as Hayley Matthews followed her superb bowling with a fine innings. Beaumont passed 50 off 31 ball, bringing up the landmark with her ninth four. It fell to Matthews to make the winning hit, with 26 balls to spare as well as nine wickets. Matthews’ all round contribution quite rightly secured her player of the match. For the record Oval Invincibles are currently in a very strong position against Trent Rockets and may even win by a big enough margin to leapfrog Fire on net RR. Full scorecard of the early game here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Game of Two Halves for Bryce

An account of yesterday’s match between Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers yesterday and a photo gallery.

Yesterday’s second match in the Hundred ‘double double header’ was Manchester Originals against Northern Superchargers. In the Women’s match the Originals were already out of the tournament, but wanted to go down with guns blazing.

THE ORIGINALS INNINGS

The Originals won the toss and decided to bat. Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney gave the innings a fine start, scoring 60 together before Wolvaardt was out to the 47th ball of the innings for 26 (21). Mooney went on to play a truly magnificent knock, and her second wicket partner was Kathryn Bryce. They added 67 together in 43 balls, of which Bryce’s share was 13 (21). With ten balls to go in the innings Originals skipper Sophie Ecclestone instructed Bryce to retire and went out to bat herself in the hope of giving the total a final boost. Ecclestone faced five of the last ten balls and scored 6 runs. Mooney was closing on three figures, and found herself facing the last ball of the innings on 98*. She got the ball away and she and Ecclestone went all out for the two, but a direct hit throw ran Ecclestone out, leaving Originals with a final score of 151-3, and Mooney 99*. A crowd of over 12,000 gave Mooney a richly deserved standing ovation for her innings. The only wicket taker was left arm spinner Linsey Smith, who also conceded 32 from her 20 balls. Bryce was recorded as ‘retired out’, and hers was the first such tactical retirement in the Hundred (women’s). Some will consider it controversial, but for me it was perfectly legitimate, and I also note that Ecclestone did not ask anyone else to go into bat in that circumstance – she did so herself.

THE SUPERCHARGERS REPLY

Both openers for Superchargers were out cheaply. First to go was Davina Perrin, caught by Bryce off Kim Garth for 7 (9) to make it 13-1. That brought Phoebe Litchfield to the crease and she was in form from the get go. Hollie Armitage was second out, caught by Wolvaardt off Bryce for 9 which made it 45-2. Litchfield and new batter Annabel Sutherland looked capable of turning things round, but Garth produced a superb ball to bowl Litchfield for 45 and make it 86-3 after 64 balls. The moment that effectively sealed Superchargers fate came on the 80th ball of the innings, when Bryce had Sutherland caught by Eve Jones for 26 to make it 102-4. 50 needed of 20 balls, and the most likely person to score at that kind of rate just dismissed was the equation. Georgia Wareham and Bess Heath did their best, scoring 22 together off balls 81-90, which meant the ask was 28 of the final 10 balls. Off the 91st ball of the innings Heath essayed a reverse sweep against Ecclestone and succeeded only in finding the hands of Dani Gregory to 124-5. That brought Alice Davidson-Richards to the crease, and the next four balls yielded eight runs, meaning that 20 were needed off the last five balls. Ecclestone now decided that rather than give the Superchargers the chance to exploit the extra pace of Lauren Filer she would entrust those five balls to Bryce’s medium pace. Off ball 96 Davidson-Richards edged through to Mooney and that was 132-6. Kate Cross was stumped off ball 97 for a first baller, which meant that Bryce had a hat trick, having taken a wicket with the last ball of her previous set of five balls, and now with the first two of this set. Superchargers 132-7, needing 20 off three balls. Lucy Higham got a single off the 98th ball of the innings, and Georgia Wareham gave Bryce her fifth scalp of the innings, being caught by Fi Morris for 25 (18). That was 134-8 with one ball to go, and Linsey Smith managed a single, meaning that the final margin was 17 runs. Bryce’s final figures were 20 balls, of which 11 were dots, 13 runs conceded and five wickets taken – quite some way to make up for being tactically retired with the bat. Mooney who had followed her 99* with a blemish free keeping performance was named Player of the Match. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Invincibles Boss London Derby

A look back at the early game in The Hundred today and a two part photo gallery – some of my regular stuff and a lot of owl pictures, taken at a Norfolk Owls session yesterday.

The early game in the Hundred today was between Oval Invincibles and London Spirit, at The Oval. This post looks back at that match.

THE SPIRIT INNINGS

The Invincibles won the toss and elected to field first. Spirit started atrociously, and when Charlie Dean gifted her wicket to left arm spinner Sophia Smale the score was 47-7 and it looked like we were going to be in for a very short game. However Eva Gray lived up to her team’s moniker, playing a very spirited innings of 28 off 22 balls, providing excellent support to Indian all rounder Deepti Sharma. Gray was eighth out with the score at 103. Sarah Glenn scored 2*, but her main role was to support Deepti Sharma which she did excellently, and the end of their innings Spirit had 120-8 to defend, with Sharma having scored 46* (30).

THE INVINCIBLES CHASE

Invincibles started slowly, with Chamari Atthapaththu continuing to struggle for form, scoring 11 off 19 balls, and number three Alice Capsey also scored at less than a run a ball, managing 13 off 14. However Invincibles’ skipper Winfield-Hill was going well, and she now found an excellent partner in Marizanne Kapp. This pair were still together when Invincibles completed victory with nine balls to spare. Winfield-Hill had 61* (40), a performance that would win her the Player of the Match award, while Kapp with 30* (18) had also batted superbly. Invincibles are second in the table, behind Welsh Fire on net run rate. A by-product of this result was that Manchester Originals, currently in action against Northern Superchargers, were officially eliminated even before their match started.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today my gallery comes in two parts, first of all some of my regular pictures…

The second part of today’s gallery comes from yesterday early afternoon when there was a Norfolk Owls session for autistic people at the Scout Hut on Beulah Street. There were a number of different species of owl, ranging from very small (similar in weight to the mice that are its foodstuff) to gigantic (an eagle owl with a wing span of 6’4″). We were given plenty of information about owls, including the excellence of their sight and hearing. At the end of the session we got to handle two of the owls, one very small one and the eagle owl.

Trent Rockets Post Big Total

A look at development’s in the Hundred so far today and a photo gallery.

Today in The Hundred Trent Rockets are hosting London Spirit. The Women’s match has just reached the halfway point, and this post looks back at the first 100 balls.

BUILDING A BIG TOTAL

London Spirit won the toss and decided to bowl first. Bryony Smith and Grace Scrivens opening for the Rockets had an excellent opening stand, and Scrivens, who also got good support from Nat Sciver-Brunt, completed an excellent half century. She was third out, bowled by Sarah Glenn for 55, which made it 121-3 with 21 balls to go in the innings. Heather Graham played a superb late innings, and although Ashleigh Gardner didn’t have a great time, Alana King played well in the very closing stages. The innings ended with the run out of Gardner for 7 (4) which left Rockets with a score of 158-5. Deepti Sharma, the Indian off spinning all rounder, had the best figures for the Spirit, taking 2-25 from her 20 balls. This total will take a lot of chasing down. If Rockets defend successful it will mean that there is a clear gap between the top three (Welsh Fire, Northern Superchargers and Oval Invincibles) and the rest. If Spirit do somehow pull this off the split will instead be between a top four and a bottom four.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Collapse

A look at developments so far in the Hundred (women’s) match between Welsh Fire and Southern Brave, and a very large photo gallery.

Today the Hundred sees Welsh Fire taking on Southern Brave. The Women’s game is in progress as I type though it may well not be by the time I finish. This post looks at what has happened so far.

PRELIMINARIES

Welsh Fire came into this match looking to consolidate their position at the top of the group while Southern Brave were looking for their first win of this edition, in their fifth match. Fire won the toss and decided to bowl first.

A TALE OF WOE

The first ball of the match, bowled by Freya Davies, took the edge of Smriti Mandhana’s bat and went through to Sarah Bryce who took the catch. That set the stage for a procession to and from the Brave dug out. Danni Wyatt and skipper Georgia Adams added 28 together for the third wicket, but otherwise there was little hint of resistance. Adams’ 17 finished up being the top score of the innings. Wyatt managed 14, and Freya Kemp with 11 produced the only other double figure score of the innings. Highly unusually for a side batting first in this competition Brave actually failed even to bat for their 100 balls, being all out to the 92nd ball of their innings, for 84. The wickets were shared around, with only Georgia Elwiss of the six Fire bowlers used not getting at least one. West Indian ace Hayley Matthews had the best figures, with 3-16, while Davies and left arm spinner Jess Jonassen each had two wickets, Jonassen’s second being the tenth, that of fellow left arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman. Beth Langston had 1-8 from ten balls, and Georgia Davis was the only bowler to concede more than a run a ball, taking 1-22 from her 20.

THE FIRE REPLY

Sophia Dunkley became the second opener to record a golden duck, being bowled by Lauren Cheatle. However, although she struggled horribly to score Matthews followed her good bowling by lasting 16 balls, while Tammy Beaumont was going well at the other end. When Matthews was second out at 28, Bryce came in to join Beaumont and that pair are still together as I type. Beaumont is on 27, Bryce 6, and the score is 48-2 – 37 needed off 42 balls. While I have been preparing this for publication Tammy Beaumont has been dismissed, bowled by Cheatle for 34. The score is now 63-3, 22 needed of 28 balls to win.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My gallery is well varied, though there is a huge preponderance of caterpillars – there are two stretches of Bawsey Drain, separated by the width of Columbia Way, where the caterpillars can be found in spectacular abundance.

A peacock butterfly enjoying the Buddleia near Eastgate Bridge.
There are a few caterpillars near this ladybird…
…and this is the last image to feature caterpillars.