A look at the England XI for the upcoming test match against the West indies, which was annoucned today, two days in advance of the match starting.
The England Men’s Playing XI for the test match against the West Indies that is due to start at Lord’s on Wednesday has been announced. In batting order it is: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, *Ben Stokes, +Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson. This will be Anderson’s last game for England. This post gives my thoughts on the final XI.
THE BATTING
Jamie Smith deserves his elevation to the test ranks, but I would not have made him wicket keeper, a role he does not usually play for his county. I also think that number seven is not an ideal slot for him – he is a regular number four for his county, and I would have preferred to see Stokes put himself at number seven and allow Smith to bat a place higher at number six. Woakes has a fine record in England but is an unlikely tourist, and his selection smacks more than a little of hypocrisy given that Anderson’s retirement has been effectively forced since the selectors want to look to the future.
THE BOWLING
The bowling looks thin and will look even thinner if Stokes’ knee plays up enough ton prevent him from bowling. The only member of the attack capable of producing genuinely quick deliveries is Atkinson, with Anderson for all his advanced (by international cricket standards) years probably still quicker than Woakes, and Stokes if he bowls no longer seriously quick. Bashir did well enough in India, but there is little reason to believe that he will be especially tricky to play on English pitches. Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts, both in the squad and both left out of the final XI can feel hard done by, as can left arm spinner Jack Leach, now officially confirmed as being below Bashir in the selectors pecking order. I would have placed more reliance on that powerful top seven than has actually been done and had one or other of Potts or Pennington playing in place of Woakes. The West Indies are not among the most formidable of test foes right now, and I would still expect this XI to be good enough against them, but I cannot pretend to be impressed by it.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (don’t forget – if you want to view pictures at a larger size just click on one)…
No cormorants today, but oystercatchers……and this egret.The gulls did a good job of cleaning out this discarded crab shell!Two dragonflies of different species……this green one……and this mainly dark blue one.
Yesterday, following on from the ODI series that in which England Women comfortably won all three matches the T20I series between the England and New Zealand women’s teams got underway.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
England found themselves batting first. They were given a strong start by Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier, the former being preferred in T20Is to Tammy Beaumont, who was in the commentary box instead. Bouchier’s dismissal brought Natalie Sciver-Brunt to the crease, and she immediately put the Kiwis to the sword, making even Wyatt look somewhat pedestrian by comparison. Wyatt entered the record books when she brought up her 17th T20I 50, moving ahead of Sarah Taylor to the top of the England list of makers of such scores. Sciver-Brunt was already into the 40s by then, but she finally fell just short of 50. The left handed Freya Kemp maintained the momentum. Wyatt’s innings ended for 76. England finished with 197-3 from their 20 overs.
THE NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE
New Zealand started fairly well, although they were always behind the required rate. As had been a regular theme of the ODI series it was the spinners (of whom England had no fewer than four for this match, with a series in Bangladesh coming up in the futures) who applied a chokehold from which the Kiwis could not escape. At 63-1 New Zealand seemed to be faring respectably, especially given that the only one to go, Georgia Plimmer, had been run out, her third such dismissal in four innings. Once the second wicket fell however the floodgates opened, with leg spinner Sarah Glenn claiming three scalps in a single over, and Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone picking up a wicket the score soon read 67-6. Jess Kerr, sister of leg spinning all rounder Amelia Kerr, batted in a manner that should have caused some of the more senior Kiwi batters no little embarrassment, making 38 to give the Kiwis a hint of respectability. Near the end the fourth front line England spinner, Linsey Smith, picked up a wicket. New Zealand finished with 138-9, beaten by 59 runs, which in a T20 is an absolute pummelling. Scorecard here.
PIZZA MAKING
Today there was a Pizza making session for autistic adults at the King’s Lynn branch of Pizza Express. Great fun was had by all, and my Pizza was certainly good.
The base in the tray in which the pizza would be cooked.The base loaded with toppings.The last pre-cook addition – some oregano.Dough laid out for the pizza makers.My particular piece of dough.The base, before removing the flour.
The above show stages in the preparation of the pizza, and below is the final outcome…
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off, in two parts, from yesterday and today…
Today is the final day of a round of County Championship fixtures. The tie of the round has been the top of the table clash between Surrey and Essex. This post looks at goings on there and elsewhere.
SURREY v ESSEX
Surrey scored 262 batting first with Jamie Smith, newly elevated to England’s test ranks (albeit as new keeper, rather than in his best role of specialist batter), scoring exactly 100. Essex were restricted to 180 in reply, Paul Walter top scoring with 64. Jordan Clark took 3-33, Daniel Worrall 3-40, and there were two wickets for James Taylor and one for Tom Lawes. When Essex had Surrey 127-6 in their second innings, 70 of them from Smith, it looked like they were in the contest, but Ryan Patel scored a century, enabling the last four wickets to add 151. The last two wickets added 85 of those, and Taylor at 10 and Worrall at 11 scored 3 and 4 respectively, such was Patel’s dominance and manipulation of the strike at that stage of proceedings. That left Essex needing 361 to win, and by the close of day three they were 21-2. There has been some rain today, but in the cricket that has been possible Surrey have claimed three wickets, Tom Lawes getting Matt Critchley and Tom Westley in successive balls, both caught behind by Foakes, and just recently Worrall claiming the key scalp of former South Africa test opener Dean Elgar for 60. Essex are 121-5 at present, 240 short of an always unlikely looking target, and with only five wickets left.
ELSEWHERE
There are two potential big run chases going on. In division one Somerset are 163-3 in pursuit of a target of 410 to beat Warwickshire. In division two Glamorgan were set a massive 593 by Gloucestershire, and although that still looks highly unlikely the Welsh side are 397-5 as I type, 196 short of their target. Sam Northeast has a ton to his name, a feat already achieved in the innings by Marnus Labuschagne. Supporting Northeast at the moment is all rounder Dan Douthwaite.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Three dragonflies from two species in a single shot. I have chosen this as the feature image.
A look back at the auction that happened at James and Sons earlier this week and a look ahead to the July auction. Also a bumper photo ga;llery.
Although James and Sons, for whom I work, have just had one auction, there is another ready to go, almost a month before it actually happens. This post looks back at the auction that happened this week and forward to the next one.
THIS WEEKS AUCTION
There were 427 lots under the hammer at the auction that happened this Wednesday. It was overall successful. The headline lot, a lifetime collection of real photographic postcards of Swaffham (Swaffham is a market town, more or less forming the right angle of a right angle triangle of which the three corners are King’s Lynn, Fakenham and Swaffham – the hypoteneuse of this triangle is the King’s Lynn-Fakenham side, which measures 22 miles or about 35 kilometres, so it was an item of local interest) housed in an album and all in splendid condition. This sold for £850. I got lucky with lot 611, a set of postcards made from black and white photographs of birds, missing one card, but still in its British Museum (Natural History) wallet and with the accompanying mini-guide to the cards. The designation of the museum in this lot indicates its age – it is a long time since the Natural History Museum was affiliated to the British Museum. Below are my pictures of the lot since acquiring it…
The lot laid out in full display.The wallet/ envelopeIndividual images of the cards in ascending number order.Details of the missing card from the guide (two images)The item in its assigned place in the cabinet of curiosities.
THE NEXT AUCTION
We have two auctions in late July. On Tuesday the 23rd a collection of sporting memorabilia will be going under the hammer, but I have hardly had anything to do with that sale. On Wednesday the 24th over 500 lots of collectors models, mostly trains, but some buses and lorries as well, will be going under the hammer. Imaging for this auction has been my focus for a while (the job is by no means complete, but many more have been imaged than not. The printed catalogue for this auction arrived at our premises this week, and it is already viewable on both our online platforms – links below.
This is from lot 600. My preferred platform for bidding and following the progress of auctions is easyliveauction. The train lots start at lot 501.….the other online platform we use is the-saleroom.com. This image is part of the gallery for lot 603 (almost all of these items are still in their original boxes).As before, the train lots start in the 50os.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a bumper gallery of my regular photos to end with…
A look back at the T20 World Cup semi-finals and a photo gallery.
Yesterday was semi-finals day at the T20 World Cup. This post looks back at the two matches.
AFGHANISTAN v SOUTH AFRICA
This match was played in Trinidad, starting at 1:30AM Thursday UK time (8:30PM Wednesday Trinidad time). Unfortunately it was ruined by the fact that the ground staff had failed miserably to produce a surface that was fit for cricket. Some of the pitches in New York in the early part of the tournament were difficult to bat on, but the difficulties while some moaned about them were fundamentally fair. The pitch at Trinidad for this important match was blatantly unfair, with extremely variable bounce (swing, seam movement or spin can be countered, and they do not put batters personal safety at risk, variable bounce does, and it is impossible to get in the right position to play your shots because there is no means of knowing what the right position will be). Afghanistan in the face of South Africa’s powerful pace attack subsided to 56 all out, which South Africa chased down for the loss of only one wicket. Obviously Afghanistan were well short of a defensible total, but on that track I reckon another 40 runs for them would have had South Africa sweating. For Afghanistan it was a sad end to what has been a great tournament for them. They have a good bowling unit and two batters who are indisputably of the highest class in Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. There is a suspicion of a soft underbelly to the batting – almost all their significant scores have featured major contributions from one or other of the top two. For South Africa this was the end of a miserable run of losses in semi-finals of global competitions – they had reached seven previous semi-finals across formats and never won one.
ENGLAND V INDIA
This match was scheduled to start at 3:30PM at Providence, Guyana. This would have meant that I missed a lot of it with Thursday being a work day. However the start wads delayed by rain, and there was a second rain delay part way through the Indian innings. This match did not have a reserve day, but with a 10:30AM local time start they had a lot of leeway on the one available day – 250 minutes of spare time was allotted for weather interruptions (these morning starts were chosen with little regard for local fans because they fit with peak TV viewing times in India). India put up a decent total that soon looked very impressive as England mad an absolute hash of attempting to chase it. An overly zealous devotion to the concept of ‘match ups’ led to left handers Moeen Ali and Sam Curran being promoted up the order, the problem with this being that neither is actually a good enough batter to belong high in the order. Liam Livingstone who had bowled well with his mixed spin (he can bowl both off breaks and leg breaks and varies them according to who is facing) was England’s last serious hope with the bat, but Jofra Archer failed to respond to his call, resulting in a run out that left England miles adrift and with only bowlers left. India thus won very comfortably and will face of against South Africa in Barbados tomorrow.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A damselfly on the edge of a lily pad. These are smaller and have more diaphanous wings than the dragonflies.The first of many dragonflies
A look at the semi-final line up at the T20 World Cup and at a couple of extraordinary moments in the county championship. Also a photo gallery.
This post looks back at the concluding stages of the Super Eights at the T20 World Cup.
INDIA V AUSTRALIA
India were almost certainly already qualified, while Australia having suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Afghanistan were in need of a win. In the event a spectacular 92 off 41 balls from Rohit Sharma gave India a position of control they never wholly lost, and with Arshdeep singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah all having fine evenings with the ball they duly made it three wins out of three, placing Australia in considerable jeopardy as attention switched to…
AFGHANISTAN V BANGLADESH
Any victory would be enough for Afghanistan to qualify, but Bangladesh needed to inflict an absolute hammering on Afghanistan to qualify – if they won, but not by enough, they Afghanistan and Australia would all be on one win out of three and Australia’s net run rate would see them through. Thus although this match was on at a horribly inconvenient time for me there was no way I was missing it. Afghanistan batted first and managed a moderate 115. The calculations revealed that to qualify for the semi-finals Bangladesh had to knock this target off in 12.1 overs. There were moments when it looked like they might do this, but playing with such naked aggression increases the chances of wickets falling, and that also happened. The rain also made itself felt several times, though Bangladesh only lost one over of the chase and the victory target only changed to 114. The closing stages cricket wise were a battle between Afghanistan’s bowlers and Litton Das, who fought his was to a half century for Bangladesh. While Das was highly impressive the wickets of team mates fell regularly, though it was only when the eighth went down that Afghanistan would have felt at all comfortable. There was one comedy moment when Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott shouted to his players to slow things down (there was rain about and Afghanistan were ahead on DLS), and Gulbadin Naib thinking that the instruction was to ‘go down’, rather than ‘slow down’ feigned cramp, going down as though he had been shot (it was so badly done that not even a premiership football referee would have bought it!). Eventually, with the Bangladesh score at 105, Gulbadin Naib got through Mustafizur Rahman’s defences to pin the Bangladesh number 11 LBW. He reviewed it for form’s sake, but Afghanistan were already celebrating their progression to the semi-finals, and it did not take long for the third umpire to confirm that those celebrations were justified. This means that Afghanistan and South Africa will play the first semi-final in the small hours of tomorrow morning UK time, and England and India will contest the second, starting at 3:30PM UK time tomorrow. Not very long after there was speculation that Australia might help Scotland to progress at England’s expense it is the folks from Down Under who are heading home early, while England are still involved in the tournament.
A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP
While the T20 World Cup has been going on there has been a temporary break in the T20 Blast for some County Championship action. Surrey beat Worcestershire by an innings just before 1PM today. Dan Lawrence had a superb match, leading Surrey’s progress to 490, including a 38 run over against Shoaib Malik, and taking wickets in both Worcestershire innings. That 38, assisted by a n0-ball was a joint record for English domestic cricket, shared with Andrew Flintoff who had a similar over at the expense of Alex Tudor of Surrey. However Lewis Kimber of Leicestershire in the course of almost enabling his side to chase a target of 464 rewrote the record books at the expense of Oliver Edward Robinson. The tall medium pacer who has some England experience bowled an over that yielded 43. There were three no-balls along the way. The overall record was set in New Zealand, but the bowler was complicit, being under orders to leak runs and bowling a 22 delivery over that yielded 77 in all! Incidentally that 22 deliveries is not the longest ever first class over – John Human once had a 30 delivery over, which was moreover a maiden according to the laws at that time since none of the six legal deliveries were scored off, and in those days wides and no-balls were not debited to the bowler!
A look back at the last round of County Championship fixtures and a massive photo gallery.
There was another round of county championship fixtures from Friday to Monday. This post looks back at the action, starting with…
SURREY V WARWICKSHIRE
Surrey won the toss and put Warwickshire in to bat. The first day ebbed and flowed, with Ed Barnard batting well for Warwickshire, reaching the close on 96* in a score of 318-8, which looked eminently respectable for a side that had been put in to bat. Barnard completed his century early on the second morning, and Warwickshire ended on 343. The Surrey innings seemed to be going on similar lines, with Jamie Smith the main scorer, until Craig Miles injured himself while celebrating his fifth wicket of the innings. A big ninth wicket stand between Smith and Sean Abbott (batting a place lower than scheduled due to the unsuccessful use of Kemar Roach as nightwatch, and in any case better with the bat than most county number nines) took the game right away from Warwickshire. Abbott completed a fine hlaf century, and Smith, in a magnificent display, scoring at close to a run a ball even in the first innings of a championship match, went on to 155. Surrey finished with 464 all out, a lead of 121. Miles’ injury prevented him from batting, though he probably wouldn’t have done much in the face of a magnificent performance by Kemar Roach, who took 6-44 as Warwickshire just barely scraped past 200, leacing Surrey only 89 to get in the final innings. By the end of day three Surrey were 31-0, a mere 58 short of the target. Warwickshire’s choice of bowlers to start day four – Rob yates and Jacob Bethell – was tantamount to running up the white flag, and although Rory Burns got himself out along the way, Warwickshire were in the end flattered by the final margin of nine wickets. Ed Barnard had a magnificent match for Warwickshire, with three first innings wickets to set alongside his century, and had the match been remotely close, even if Warwickshire had lost it I would have had him as Player of the Match. However, in the end it was very one sided, so my own reckoning makes it a joint award to Jamie Smith and Kemar Roach. Surrey now sit 21 points clear at the top of division one, having played the same number of matches as second placed Essex. Essex may have the stronger best possible XI, but Surrey have by far the greater depth – injuries would trouble Essex to a much greater extent if and when they happen, as would an England call up for Sam Cook, which is on the cards.
ELSEWHERE
The county of my birth, Gloucestershire, recorded their first win in the competition since 2022. Lancashire suffered an embarrassing defeat which left them looking more than ever like relegation fodder (incidentally I suspect their new coach Dale Benkenstein will not be getting another coaching engagement any time soon – it was he who oversaw Gloucestershire’s winless 2023 campaign, which raises the question of just why Lancashire hired him). Kent v Worcestershire was the last match to end, when Worcestershire decided that 16 overs weren’t enough for them to take the last six wickets (Kent were still in arrears, so not able to shorten proceedings further by declaring).
A look at developments in today’s Rachael heyhoe-Flint Trophy match between Diamonds and Blaze and a large photo gallery.
After a busy morning (a visit to the library, a visit to the bank to make a payment to the West Norfolk Autism Group and a visit to Well King’s Lynn on Loke Road for my spring Covid vaccination) I am enjoying the afternoon listening to commentary on the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy match between Diamonds and Blaze. This post looks at developments in that game so far.
THE DIAMONDS INNINGS
The Diamonds started appallingly and it took a late flourish from number nine Abigail Glen, who followed the maiden 50 she scored last time out with a robust 38 today, to boost their score even as high as 188, a total which on the face of it should not be defensible in a 50 overs per side match.
THE BLAZE REPLY
The Blaze started reasonably well, but it was the Diamonds spinners, Erin Burns of Australia and the vastly experienced Katie Levick, possibly the best female bowler in terms of documented domestic success to not have appeared at international level, who put the skids under the Blaze. Levick’s figures are barely credible for a professional limited overs match in the 2020s – she has bowled her full allocation and ended with 10-2-13-1. Burns has two wickets, Abigail Glen one, Jessica Woolston one, and Diamonds skipper Hollie Armitage has pulled of a direct hit run out. Blaze at 117-6 after 38 overs, needing 72 off the last 12 to win are definitely in some trouble. While I have been preparing this for publication three further overs have elapsed and Blaze are on to 135-6, needing 54 off nine overs to win.
PHOTOGRAPHS
With the arrival of the month of May some nice properly springlike weather has already arrived, so I have had plentiful opportunities to take photographs…
This pic and the three that follow were taken while performing an errand of mercy – in between taking the pictures I was ushering the wasp towards a window I had opened to enable it to escape into the outside where it belongs.My first Holly Blue of the year (two pics)
A look at goings on in the county championship, with the focus on Surrey v Somerset. Also a bumper photo gallery, including some interesting butterflies.
The second round of county championship matches is reaching its conclusion, and this post looks at what has been going on, with the focus principally on Surrey v Somerset.
A GREAT FIGHTBACK BY SOMERSET
Surrey led by 143 on first innings, and when Lewis Goldsworthy’s brave resistance ended yesterday the score was 162-6, a mere 19 runs ahead. However Lewis Gregory, supported first by the highly impressive youngster Kasey Aldridge and then by Craig Overton looked to have saved Somerset time ticked on (some bad weather which took the first hour out of the day’s play also helped Somerset). His dismissal for 80 was the first of three very quick wickets to end the innings, as Migael Pretorius played a truly awful shot, and Shoaib Bashir was pinned LBW. All three of these wickets went to Cam Steel, giving hjim five for the innings, nine for the match, 14 for the season and 51 in all first class cricket. That left Surrey needing 209 in 20 overs, however the start of the Surrey second innings has been delayed by more bad weather. Surrey clearly intend to have a go when the innings is allowed to start – Jamie Smith and Dan Lawrence opening the batting.
ELSEWHERE
Between the weather and the tall scoring almost every other game is either confirmed as a draw or soon will be. However Essex still have a chance of outright victory in the Thames Estuary derby (Kent will be delighted to escape with a draw if they manage it). Gloucestershire and Yorkshire are also still duking it out, with the latter just about in with a chance of winning, although four wickets is a good many to take in not much time.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This heron took wing as I was preparing to photograph it, but I did manage tio capture it.A closer crop of the flying heron.This small blue butterfly was moving too fast for me to zoom in really closely.This white butterfly with a black body has a very intricate veining pattern on its wings.An orange tipViewed close up (next pic is even clser) the tips that give it its name segue from orange to brown at the extreme edge and there is the faintest hint of blue in the head area.A large brood of ducklings.
While I was preparing this for publication Surrey scored 50 off the first five overs of their innings – the weather may stop them, but it doesn’t look like Somerset can.
A look at goings on in the second round of the 2024 County Championship with the main focus on Surrey v Somerset. Also a short section on the Kookaburra experiment, and of course a photo gallery.
We are at the halfway stage of the second round of County Championship matches for 2024. My main focus is on Surrey v Somerset, but I will also mention other games.
DAY ONE
Surrey won the toss and elected to bowl first. At 196-1 with Renshaw and especially Lammonby going very well it wasn’t looking great for the home side. However a run out accounted for Renshaw for 87, and Lammonby fell immediately after reaching three figures (a bit of an issue for him – he now has a double figure tally of FC hundreds but has yet to go on even as far as 120). That got Surrey on a roll, and Somerset soon found themselves 216-8. A bit of a revival, spearheaded by Lewis Gregory, boosted the final total to 285, which looked at least 100 below par given the flatness of the pitch and the fact of the Kookaburra ball being in use. Cam Steel, treated by his first county, Durham, as a specialist batter claimed four wickets to follow his five against Lancashire, and ended the innings with an FC bowling average of below 30 for the first time in his career. Gus Atkinson had 3-57 from 19 overs, proving that not all seamers are completely emasculated by the Kookaburra (see also Sam Cook’s cheap 6-for v Nottinghamshire in the first round of fixtures). Surrey reached the close on 42-0, with no Somerset bowler posing a threat, and both Burns and Sibley looking comfortable.
DAY TWO
Surrey batted sensibly, and never had anything approaching a collapse. Gregory looked an unthreatening medium pacer, Craig Overton was decent but not massively threatening and it was the two youngest Somerset bowlers, Bashir with his off spin and right arm fast medium bowler Kasey Aldridge who by far the most impressive. Sibley reached three figures, Burns just missed that mark, Jamie Smith played a little gem of an innings and Foakes made a solid half century. Dan Lawrence’s first innings for his new county was a failure, but Cam Steel followed his good bowling by settling in nicely with the bat, and Surrey closed day two on 358-6, 73 runs to the good with four wickets standing (and Jamie Overton is probably the best number nine batter in current county cricket while number 10 Gus Atkinson is far from being a mug with the bat).
DAY THREE SO FAR
There is no sign of any early trouble for Surrey as yet, and they have added six to their overnight total for no loss.
ELSEWHERE
Durham, after not getting on the field at home for their opening game, had a deeply chastening experience at Edgbaston, putting their hosts into bat and watching them amass 698-3 declared, with all of the top three passing 150 (skipper Alex Davies leading the rampage with 256). Middlesex also suffered horribly at Northamptonshire, the home side’s 552-6 declared meaning that the two first innings that Middlesex have bowled through so far have a combined aggregate of 1172-9. Derbyshire and Glamorgan are locked in a low scoring battle which proves that wicket taking is possible with the Kookaburra. Off spinning all rounder Alex Thomson has a 10 wicket match haul for the home side. The Thames Estuary derby between Essex and Kent looks like being a high scoring draw, but the Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire and Hampshire v Lancashire games look less batter dominated. The county of my birth, Gloucestershire, are currently having somewhat the worse of their match against Yorkshire. While I have been typing this Aldridge has claimed a thoroughly deserved third wicket of the Surrey innings, dismissing Jordan Clark. We are about to witness twin against twin – Craig Overton bowling to Jamie Overton.
THE KOOKABURRA EXPERIMENT
Many are bemoaning the absence of seriously low scoring April games which used to be a feature of the championship with the Duke ball in use. I am not among them, and nor am I rushing to judgement on the experiment. The purpose of using the Kookaburra in place of the Duke at the extremes of the season is to lessen the influence of those who have been making a living nipping the Duke around at 75mph – such bowlers will never succeed at test level, and increase the variety of bowling on show. The efforts of Sam Cook, Gus Atkinson and Kasey Aldridge shows that high quality seamers can still do it with the Kookaburra (only Atkinson of this trio is capable of touching the sort of speeds that would be considered genuinely fast, and even for him that kind of pace is the exception rather than the rule), while spinners never used to feature this early in the season, and the performances of Thomson, Steel and a few others are showing that these bowlers now get a look in early in the year. One season is not enough to form a definite judgement, so even I was unimpressed with the Kookaburra experiment I would want it to continue. As it is I see no reason to believe that it cannot work, and I hope it is persevered with.
aspiblog 