A look back at today’s Women’s One Day cup match between Lancashire and Hampshire and a photo gallery.
Today Lancashire have been playing Hampshire in the Women’s One Day Cup. I missed the Lancashire innings due to the James and Sons April auction, but I did catch the whole of the chase.
MAGNIFICENT MCCAUGHAN
The match took place at Southport, a small ground (in 1982 Geoff Humpage hit 13 sixes in an innings there, in a match that his side ended up losing by 10 wickets – Warwickshire 523-4 declared (Humpage 254, Kallicharran 230*) and 111 (McFarlane 6-59), Lancashire 414-6 declared (Fowler 128) and 226-0 (Fowler 126 not out, D Lloyd 88 not out). Lancashire scored 292-6 in this 50 overs a side match, Eve Jones scoring 107 and Emma Lamb 86. They fell away a little after a very strong start, something noted by the radio commentators, and were probably a little short in the end. Hampshire’s openers, Bouchier and McCaughan started strongly. It was Bouchier who initially forced the pace, scoring 77 off 69 balls before being stumped by Threlkeld off Morris to make it 138-1. McCaughan then moved up a gear as senior partner, and found good support from Charli Knott. Knott had reached 47 without ever looking in any trouble, but then Emma Lamb pinned her LBW and it was 259-2, McCaughan having by then passed three figures. The target was now only 34 runs away, and 8.3 overs remained to be bowled. Neither McCaughan, who finished with 133 nor out, nor new batter and Hampshire skipper Georgia Adams (20 not out off 18 including a four and six) had any difficulty with a task that had by then become very straightforward. The winning hit came off the last ball of the 47th over, with eight wickets standing. A scorecard can be viewed here.
A look at the final day of Derbyshire v Middlesex in the county championship, a harsh but justified assessment of Derbyshire’s overseas seamer and a photo gallery,
The only live cricket today was the final day of Derbyshire versus Middlesex, and this post looks briefly at the final day’s action.
ALMOST A QUIET MORNING
From the start of play at 11 o’clock until 12:56PM, four minutes before the scheduled lunch break the overnight batters for Middlesex, Stevie Eskinazi and Max Holden batted largely serenely through on a so called ‘hybrid’ pitch. A couple of hard chances went down, but few would have said that a wicketless morning was other than a fair reflection on the balance of play. Then Holden, on 94 and anxious to reach three figures before the interval had a total brain fade, essayed a huge drive at left arm orthodox spinner Jack Morley, missed and was bowled. That brought the injured Leus du Plooy, recently moved south from Derbyshire (Martin Andersson, who went the other way, will have much fonder memories of this match than him) in to bat, with Nathan Fernandes who had been out to the first ball of the innings acting as runner. Immediately there was a calamitous mix up which cost the other set batter, Eskinazi, his wicket for 61, and suddenly the door which had seemed firmly shut and all but bolted was ajar.
THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING
Derbyshire had an excellent afternoon, and had Middlesex six down at tea, but the lead by then was just over 100, and though they had work still to do, Middlesex really were within sight of victory. The two batters resuming for them, Ryan Higgins and Zafar Gohar played sensibly until, with the game virtually safe a couple of moments of silliness occurred. First Gohar, on 44, tried to get to 50 in one blow, did not quite get all of it, but got lucky when the chance was dropped, and then in the very next over Higgins, on 56, offered a chance that was accepted. However, by this stage the main question appeared to be at what point hands would be shaken on the draw, with the smart money being on with 15 overs still scheduled. Gohar got his 50, and new batter Blake Cullen played sensibly, and with the score 307-7, a lead for Middlesex of exactly 150, and 15 overs remaining to be bowled Derbyshire skipper Madsen did indeed accept that Middlesex had done enough, on a pitch that did not offer enough to the bowlers for a result ever to be likely. Middlesex had missed avoiding the follow-on by just eight runs, and had they scored those eight it is wildly unlikely that Derbyshire would have been able to create even the hope of a winning position – Madsen would probably had had to tell his side to go hell for leather until lunch, declare at that interval and then hope they bowled and fielded superbly, but he would probably not have been bold enough to take this approach. One final point: I looked up Derbyshire’s overseas seamer, New Zealander Blair Tickner and discovered that in 83 first class matches before this one he had taken 251 wickets at 34.22. The average would be on the high side for a home bowler, and for an overseas one, with the extra pay they get, it is simply unacceptable. The wicket taking rate of three scalps per match (almost exactly) is on the low side as well, a whole wicket per match below what I would consider acceptable. My own view is that if Tickner, a workaday seamer, was the best Derbyshire could do in this regard, they would have been better not to bother with an overseas signing.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
My first cranefly sighting of 2025, in the grassland near the Gaywood River path in North Lynn.
A little look at the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings which has started today’s IPL match (Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians) and two photo galleries.
Today’s IPL match is between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. It is just approaching the halfway stage as I begin this blog post.
AN ATROCIOUS START
By the time I got back from my post lunch walk the match was underway. Sunrisers Hyderabad were 9-1 when I joined the coverage. That very soon become 9-2, and then two more wickets fell before the Power Play was done. The low water mark saw SRH 13-4 after 4.1 overs. When Aniket Verma was out after 8.3 overs the score was 35-5, and SRH felt impelled to use their ‘impact sub’ to bolster the batting, which meant that Mohammad Shami, presumably their intended ‘impact sub’ would be confined to the bench.
PHOTO GALLERY ONE
An important reminder: if you click on the first image in a photo gallery you can view the entire gallery as a slide show AND see the images at a larger size than they appear in the post. I have two galleries in this post. The first features largely pictures from Monday evening and from yesterday either side of work, with a couple from today, and the second is all today. This is the first…
THE REVIVAL
Abhinav Manohar, the chosen ‘impact sub’ teamed up with Heinrich Klaasen to get SRH back into it. Klaasen was out to the final ball of the 19th over by when the score had risen to 134. Manohar has just gone, his dismissal making it 142-7. A single accrued after that and then another wicket off the final ball of the innings. This means that SRH had a total of 143-8 to defend, modest by IPL standards, but a lot more than it looked like being at the halfway stage, and we have recently seen Punjab Kings successfully defend a mere 111, bowling their opponents that day, Kolkata Knight Riders, out for just 95. The sheer awfulness of the SRH start probably means that they are on a bit of a high due to their recovery, and mutatis mutandis MI.
A look at the match between Essex and Worcestershire that is now approaching a conclusion and a photo gallery.
Another round of County Championship matches got underway on Friday. I missed the first two sessions of Friday, the beginning of Saturday and the post tea session of Saturday due to various commitments, but have been following the action when able to. My focus this round has been on Essex v Worcestershire, and it has been a fine match.
A PITCH ON WHICH NO ONE IS REALLY ‘IN’
The pitch at Chelmsford has been offering something to the bowlers all the way through this match. There were no individual 50+ scores in the first two innings (Essex 179, Worcestershire 202). By the time I had to leave at tea yesterday Paul Walter had reached the first 50 of the match and was looking as near to settled as any batter had managed on that surface. I was to find out when I checked on what had happened on my return that he had completed a century and that youngster Noah Thain (a native of Cambridgeshire, which has produced some mighty cricketers over the years, most notably Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward both of Surrey) was closing in on a 50 of his own. This morning Thain completed his half century, his first such score in first class cricket. He did not add many more, going for 54, but the Essex tail wagged more than a little, Harmer and especially Snater who got to within sight of a 50 of his own batting well for the home team. In the end Essex had amassed 317, at least 100 above par for this surface. It was expected that there would be time for two overs of the Worcestershire second innings before the lunch interval, but Porter dismissed Jake Libby with the second ball of the innings, and in the end that wicket extended the first over to a sufficient extent that Worcestershire did not have to face another before lunch. Through the afternoon session Essex kept picking up wickets. Kashif Ali did manage to become the first Worcestershire batter to reach an individual 50 but had not advanced his score from that point when Harmer, on for an exploratory over before the tea interval, got him. Brett D’Oliveira and Matthew Waite then defied the bowlers for a time, but just as I started this post D’Oliveira was caught by Walter off Porter. As things stand at the moment Worcestershire are 171-6, needing 124 more to win. Though Essex, thanks largely to Walter with that century, are heavy favourites this match has been an absorbing contest, helped to be so by the fact that batters have had to work hard for their runs and bowlers have got full rewards for doing the right things. Kasun Rajitha, the first Sri Lankan to play for Essex, took a five-for in the first Worcestershire innings. Sam Cook has been rested for this game on the advice of the ECB, which tells me that an England cap is coming for him, as it should be given his first class record (318 wickets in FC cricket at 19.77 a piece).
PHOTOGRAPHS
This gallery starts with two pictures from Friday, then a number from yesterday, and a few from today to round things out (I have several other galleries ready to go should I choose to use them)…
I spotted this red admiral on the walk home from Boal Quay Car Park after the seal trip on Friday.An example of why I like having dandelions growing in my back yard.
A look at what is happening as the second round of County Championship 2025 fixtures draws towards a close.
Those matches that have not already been decided are into the final session of play for this round of county championship matches.
HEADING FOR A DRAW
Surrey and Hampshire are still in action at The Oval. Yesterday evening saw a splendid spell of fast bowling from Sonny Baker. A combination of the fact that Surrey wanted quick runs for a declaration and the youngster nailing some searing yorkers saw him claim 5-26 in a five over spell. That gave him innings figures of 5-80, his maiden first class five-for. Surrey declared at 342-9, an overall advantage of 377. A bizarre mini-session then ensued, with Surrey chopping and changing bowlers according to the extent to which the umpires were worrying about the light. Rory Burns, with two wickets in a 203 match first class career, even gave himself an over (the alternatives at that stage with pacers ruled out were the even more comical offerings of Sibley and Pope). Hampshire, imagining that an early close due to the light was inevitable, sent Brad Wheal in to bat as a night watcher with 13 overs still scheduled. Then when he was out Hampshire then sent Baker, the bowling hero, in as a second night watcher. He too failed to make it to the close, and at that stage Surrey looked favourites. However, only one wicket has fallen today, Fletcha Middleton late in the morning session. Since then Nick Gubbins and Toby Albert have staged a very impressive rearguard action, which looks likely to save Hampshire, though the new ball has generated a little excitement.
ELSEWHERE
Yorkshire made a bit of history last night when they completed a victory over Worcestershire by the margin of 504 runs, the biggest runs margin ever in a first class county match (the overall FC record is 725 runs for a game in India, with the test record the 675 by which England beat Australia at the Exhibition Ground in Brisbane in 1928, the first test ever played in Queensland’s capital city). Somerset have been beaten by Sussex after a gallant but unavailing last wicket stand between Lewis Gregory and Jack Leach). Last week I criticized Sussex for overcaution. This week I am putting Leicestershire on blast for downright cowardice. Coming into today they were already over 400 runs ahead of Derbyshire, so an overnight declaration was surely indicated (even that looks cautious – surely they should have given themselves at least a short burst at Derbyshire last night), but no, Leicestershire batted on for almost 40 minutes, extending their advantage to 448 and more or less killing the game. Derbyshire are looking like emerging with the draw without really breaking sweat due to Leicestershire’s failure to make a serious effort to win the match when they had the opportunity to do so.
A look at developments on days two and three of this round of County Championship fixtures and a two part photo gallery.
Today is day three in the current round of championship fixtures. None of the matches have ended as yet. This post looks mainly at Surrey v Hampshire.
SIBLEY THE STAYER
Surrey are in pretty much total against Hampshire. Hampshire won the toss on Friday and opted to bowl first. Surrey reached 253, just enough for a batting bonus point. Dominic Sibley carried his bat for Surrey, scoring exactly 100 not out. Brad Wheal had 4-65, while overseas signing Brett Hampton was somewhat flattered by a return of 1-46 from 14 overs. Hampshire in reply reached 219, giving Surrey a lead of 34. It took a bit of a tail wag for them to even limit the lead to 34. Daniel Worrall and Jordan Clark took three wickets a piece for Surrey, and Lawrence, the part time spinner, nipped in at the end with 2-7 from 4.2 overs. Surrey have taken total control of proceedings in their second innings. They are currently 255-2. Sibley, still unbudgeable, is 102 not out, with Jamie Smith is 62 not out, and Ollie Pope contributed a fluent 65 to proceedings. It sums up the value of overseas signing Hampton that in an innings that is now into its 78th over he has been called upon to bowl a mere six of those overs, from which he has conceded 28 runs. Incidentally in the process of reaching his second ton of this match Sibley has ensured that his career FC average will be above 40 at the end of it. Sibley has finally gone for 105, caught by Baker off Dawson. In total across the two innings it has taken Hampshire 440 balls to find a way through him (217 without dismissal in the first jnnings, 223 in the second). Smith is really motoring now, and Hampton continues to demonstrate his inadequacy as an overseas player. Surrey are 274-3 in the 81st over, and Hampton, in his eighth over of the innings, has 0-41.
ELSEWHERE
Somerset are struggling against Sussex, though as against Warwickshire last week Sussex are showing a distinct lack of enterprise, which may yet save S0merset.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today the gallery comes in two parts. Yesterday morning I travelled to Norwich, intending to take part in a Take Down Tesla activity at the Tesla dealership on Mile Cross Lane and then visit the Millennium Library on my way home. Unfortunately I failed to locate Mile Cross Lane, and eventually have up in despair (I have subsequently been in email contact with the organizer to explain what happened, and we have had a very civilized exchange). I did get to the library, and having carefully ensured that I had no books out on loan I was able to take out a large number – the Millennium library is of course far better stocked than any other in Norfolk. The first part of the gallery shows the pictures I took during the Norwich part of the day…
The second part of the gallery is one of my regular type galleries…
The Guildhall of St George, now into its seventh century.
A look at goings on on day one of the latest round of county championship victories.
The second round of county championship fixtures got underway at 11AM today. I had a commitment which disrupted the morning session for me. This post looks at developments so far.
SURREY v HAMPSHIRE
Surrey drew at Chelmsford in the first round of matches, while Hampshire won their match, Hampshire have lost two old faces from previous years, Mohammad Abbas, who they decided was a spent force, and James Vince who has decided to go full-on cricket mercenary and to base himself in Dubai, while a third veteran, seam bowling all rounder Keith Barker is out for at least the first half of the season. Tom Prest is being given first shot at the vacated middle order slot, while Sonny Baker and Brad Wheal are both featuring as pace bowlers. Hampshire intended to have Jack Edwards as overseas player, but that has fallen through, and they have signed Brett Hampton, a 33 year old New Zealander with no international experience, instead. Hampshire won the toss and bowled, and started excellently with Brad Wheal and former Protea Kyle Abbott each taking an early wicket with the new ball. Hampton came on first change and has not been all that impressive, though he was gifted the wicket of Ryan Patel late in the afternoon session. Baker, the youngster, has been economical but has yet to take a wicket, Wheal is leading the way three wickets and Abbott has two. Dom Sibley has been batting right from the start and is currently on 82 not out in a Surrey score of 218-6. Hampshire have fared well, but they need Surrey all out before the close if they are to claim that their decision to bowl first has worked. As I type Jordan Clark has fallen to the left arm spin of Liam Dawson, edging an attempted cut through to Ben Brown behind the stumps to make it 218-7. Matthew Fisher has just given Baker has first wicket, by way of a return catch, and it is 227-8, with Sibley 83 not out. Roach has just joined the clatter of wickets, bowled by Dawson to make it 233-9. Sibley is 84 not out.
SUSSEX v SOMERSET
I also have an eye via cricinfo on the match at Hove, where Sussex, whose delayed second innings declaration against Warwickshire last time out condemned that match to be a tame draw (see this post) are taking on Somerset. Sussex chose to bat, and are currently 263-9.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This is the first of this type of butterfly I ahve seen this year. It is a woodland species, never far from the nearest tree.There is at least one orange tip in this picture – there was pair of them flying around and I got this picture.
A look back at the final day of the opening round of County Championship 2025 fixtures, my pictures of the WNAG third birthday cake and my regular photo gallery.
Monday was day four of the opening round of County Championship matches, and I was too taken up with following the action to write about it at the time. This post looks back at the events of that final day.
TO THE WIRE
At just before 7PM on Monday the penultimate ball of the only match still in action by then, Middlesex v Lancashire, was a dot ball, leaving Lancashire eight down, but with only ball left, and therefore the draw secured. It was the fourth draw in the opening round of fixtures, but of those draws only one could be accused of dullness. Sussex unaccountably batted on in their second innings until not long before tea on the final day by when they were over 380 ahead of Warwickshire. Sussex’s refusal to declare earlier when the fourth innings would have been meaningful condemned that game to a stalemate. The next match to end in a draw was the one I listened to for most of its duration, Essex v Surrey. There was almost half an hour left when the players shook hands, but Surrey had just moved into the lead for the first time of the match, meaning that Essex needed not just to complete the bowl out of Surrey, which was far from done in any case, but also would have had to do at least some batting, Sibley had batted well for Surrey in that third innings, and Foakes followed his first innings 92 with another half century second time round. When this match ended I turned my attention to Somerset v Worcestershire where Worcestershire were mounting a determined rearguard action, while spinners Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan tried to get through their defences. By the time I joined the coverage Matthew Waite was batting with number 11 Tom Hinley. With Waite being right handed and Hinley left handed they followed a policy of Waite facing Vaughan and Hinley facing Leach so that each batter faced a bowler who was turning the ball into them. Leach had a couple of vociferous LBW appeals against Hinley turned down. Somerset did well to get into position for one final over with the clock showing 17:59 (with spinners doing the bulk of the bowling they were a country mile ahead of the required over rate so the close of play was being settled by the clock, not the over count). Leach, wheeling down his 65th over of the innings (and precisely the 200th over of the innings in total), could find no way through and Worcestershire, nine second innings wickets gone and still in deficit, had escaped with a draw. Other than Leach, whose five wickets in this marathon second innings took his tally in first class cricket to exactly 500 and to a lesser extent Vaughan, who topped 50 overs for the innings, the other person who would have been especially disappointed that Somerset could not get that final wicket was Tom Banton whose new county record 371 was not rewarded with a win. Waite had faced over 300 balls in total, and finished unbeaten on 87, while Hinley, the Worcestershire number 11, had held out for 45 balls in support of him. By now, between the definite results and the accepted draws the only game still in action was Middlesex v Lancashire, so I listened to the closing stages of that game, and for the third time in a day witnessed the ending of drawn match which was nevertheless without a hint of dullness.
CAKE PICTURES
As listeners to TMS can confirm cake and cricket have something of an association. On Sunday I mentioned the cake for the West Norfolk Autism Group’s third birthday and promised pictures of it to come. Here they are…
A look at developments on day three of the county championship and a large photo gallery.
This post looks at developments on day three of the county championship. I missed the evening session as there was a bowling session at Strikes which served both as the West Norfolk Autism Group’s third birthday event and as our official World Autism Week event. The birthday cake was spectacular – the pictures will be in tomorrow’s post.
A COUNTY RECORD SCORE
Tom Banton of Somerset had already beaten the individual record for Somerset (342 by Justin Langer) by the close of play yesterday, and today he went on to a final score of 371, the third highest at Taunton (behind Archie MacLaren’s 424 in 1895 and Graeme Hick’s 405 not out in 1988. Other than these two only Brian Lara’s all time FC record 501 not out for Warwickshire v Durham and Sam Northeast’s 410 for Glamorgan against Lancashire are ahead of him in English FC cricket. Somerset declared when he was dismissed, their score being 670-7, a first innings lead of 516 over Worcestershire (nowhere near the record – Victoria led NSW by 886 on first innings in 1926 – 1,107 plays 221, and Railways led Dera Ismail Khan by 878 in 1964 – 910-6 declared plays 878). Worcestershire have batted better second time round, but at 280-5 they are still 236 short of avoiding the innings defeat.
TWO RESULTS
Although today is only day three of four two matches are already done – Kent beat Northamptonshire by 145 run early this morning, and Hampshire completed a five-wicket win over Hampshire this evening.
ESSEX v SURREY
Some brilliant bowling by Essex, especially Simon Harmer, had Surrey in deep trouble at 180-6, 402 in arrears. However a lower order fightback led by Ben Foakes (92), with significant contributions from Jordan Clark, Matthew Fisher and James Taylor got Surrey to 365, still 217 short of Essex’s score. Essex enforced the follow-on, as they pretty much had to, but Burns and Sibley survived the six overs that remained in the day unscathed. Surrey will resume tomorrow on 9-0 in their second innings, 208 adrift. Simon Harmer, on a surface that was offering little to any bowler toiled away to record first innings figures of 47-12-83-4, outstanding in the circumstances. Essex’s three top class seamers Porter, Cook and Snater all had respectable figures as well. Sam Cook should be an England bowler before the season is out, while Snater has played many matches for the Netherlands. Porter is unlikely to get the call up this late in his career, and the reason he has missed out for all his effectiveness over many years is that he lacks pace (even Sam Cook, probably the quickest od the trio, is not by any means an express bowler).
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today is apparently Dandelion Day, which is why i chose the feature image I did. There is more about these plants here. Now for the gallery…
A look at developments in the county championship, focussing principally on Essex v Surrey at Chelmsford. Also a photo gallery.
The weather continues to be ideal for cricket, although Nottinghamshire provided us with the first delay of the season, a late start due to the automated sprinkler system switching itself on in error and wetting the outfield. I have been listening, as I did yesterday, to Essex v Surrey at Chelmsford and using cricinfo to keep on eye on developments elsewhere,
CHELMSFORD
Essex have had another excellent day. Both Matt Critchley and Michael Pepper completed centuries. Noah Thain, a young all rounder who bats right handed and bowls right arm medium pace and was only playing because the plug had been pulled on an arrangement for Shardul Thakur to play for Essex scored an aggressive 26 to take Essex to a declaration at 582-6. Dan Lawrence took three of the wickets with his off spin but also went for 169 runs. Surrey lost Sibley early, and Pope was dropped early in his innings, but at the moment they are 75-1 in the 31st over. Essex are probably safe from defeat, although at Chesterfield in 1904 they lost after scoring 597 in the first innings (Percy ‘Pete’ Perrin 343 not out, the highest ever individual innings in ultimately losing cause) – Derbyshire hit back with 548 (Ollivierre 229), Essex scored exactly 500 runs fewer in their second innings than they had in the first and Derbyshire knocked off the required runs with nine wickets and a bit of time to spare, Ollivierre adding 92 not out to his first innings double century.
A DEFINITIVE ANSWER
Tom Banton of Somerset is known as great white ball batter, but there were questions about his place in red ball cricket. Events at Taunton where Somerset are playing Worcestershire suggest that Mr Banton can handle batting in red ball cricket – Worcestershire were all out for 154, and Somerset are currently 580-6 with Banton 316 not out, third on the all time Somerset individual scores list behind Justin Langer (342) and Viv Richards (322), having moved ahead of the previous leading English born Somerset scorer, Harold Gimblett with 310. He has a way to go to reach the Taunton ground record, the 424 scored by Archie MacLaren of Lancashire in 1895.
The match that is most advanced is Northamptonshire v Kent, already into its final innings. Kent have scored 231 and 171, Northamptonshire 143 and 46-2, needing 214 more to win with eight second innings wickets standing.
aspiblog 