Butterflies – Page 9

County Championship Race Going to the Wire

A look back at the top of the table County Championship clash between Somerset and Surrey at Taunton, and a huge photo gallery.

A round of county championship fixtures took place this week, starting on Monday and ending on Thursday. Days two and four were thus work days for me, limiting what I actually got to hear about at the time. The big tie of the round was between second place Somerset and leaders Surrey. In county championship fixtures there are 16 points for a win, eight points for a draw and no points for a loss, with each side able to earn up to eight bonus points. These points, awarded in the first 110 overs of each team’s first innings are slightly lopsidedly awarded, five for batting and three for bowling. The bowling points are awarded for taking three, six and then nine wickets, the batting points for reaching scores of 250, 300, 350, 400 and 450. This post now looks back at the Taunton summit meeting with these extra details in mind.

THE FIRST TWO INNINGS

When Surrey arrived in Taunton they were 24 points clear of Somerset, meaning that a win would effectively close the deal on their third successive title, a draw would still leave them firm favourites and a defeat would open the race right up, though unless Somerset took a maximum of 24 points (16+8 as described in the introduction) and Surrey 0 the visitors would still be at the top of the table. Somerset batted first, and their first innings was precisely contained within the first day, their last wicket falling on the stroke of time with their score at 317. Tom Banton made a superb 132 and there were useful supporting contributions from Tom Abell, Archie Vaughan (son of Michael, and there will be much more about him later in this piece) and James Rew. Shakib Al Hasan, at Surrey on the most temporary of temporary contracts, claimed four wickets and Daniel Worrall three. This, since the innings was done inside 110 overs, meant that Somerset took two batting points and Surrey a full haul of three bowling points.

When I was able to join the coverage on day two it looked like Somerset were headed for a big first innings advantage – Surrey were almost 100 adrift and had only three wickets standing. However at this point Tom Curran, playing his first first class match in almost two years (he is a white ball specialist, and has played plenty of high level limited overs cricket in that period) proceeded to swing things back towards Surrey, ending with a score of 86 off 75 balls, and getting Surrey to 321. Archie Vaughan had 6-102 with his off spin, and veteran left arm spinner Jack Leach had 4-105, having wheeled through 48.2 overs. Although Surrey had faced over 110 overs in total they had passed 300 before the end of the 110th, and Somerset had got them nine down by the end of the 110th, so with the game now a one innings shoot out each side had claimed a total of five bonus points. This meant that there were now three possible final points scenarios at the end of the match: Surrey lead by 40 if they win, Surrey lead by 24 in the event of a draw and Surrey lead by eight if Somerset win.

THE SECOND HALF OF THE MATCH

Tom Banton was injured and not expected to bat for Somerset in their second innings. Surrey worked their way through the Somerset second innings. At 153-9 it looked like they had a decent chance, but then to general surprise (and not a little criticism on social media) the injured Banton hobbled out to the middle to join Craig Overton. By the end of a truncated day this pair had extended the Somerset score to 194. I was to find out that they had added a further 30 on the final morning before Banton was out for 46, leaving Overton unbeaten on 49. Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan set to work on getting through Surrey for a second time. When I checked in on the score at Fakenham library it looked like time was Somerset’s enemy – Surrey were three wickets down at that point, with Sibley and Foakes batting together, and only two hours or thereabouts left. By the time I got home Surrey were nine down and desperately trying to bat out time for the draw. With the final ball of the 78th over, and almost certainly time only for one more over after it had the wicket not fallen, Leach got one on to Worrall’s pads and the umpire raised the finger to confirm that it was LBW. County Championship games are not generally televised, and this one wasn’t, so even if it might have saved him Worrall had no recourse to DRS and Somerset could start celebrating as soon as that finger went up. Surrey were all out for 109, giving Somerset victory by 111 runs. Jack Leach had 5-37 for that final innings, and young Archie Vaughan had the other five, for only one run more, giving him 11-140 in the match as well as that first innings 44. This was a classic match, and even as someone who grew up in south London, a short trip along the Northern line from The Oval, I say without hesitation that the final result was a good one not just for Somerset, but for the County Championship, which is now a genuine contest at the top, and indeed for the game of cricket. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Hubris and Nemesis

A look back at the England v Sri Lanka test match at The Oval which Sri Lanka won by eight wickets at lunch time on Monday, and a photo gallery.

My second most recent post here was titled “England in Control in Spite of Themselves” This post brings that story up to date.

THE END OF DAY TWO

The light closed in with Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis still in residence. Pope continued to treat the occasion lightly, using Root in partnership with Bashir when the light was too bad for pacers. This approach would have been justified for five or six overs just to see if anything good happened, but Pope kept it going for 17 wicketless overs which yielded 69 runs.

DAY THREE

This was Heritage Open Day (see here), so I missed the early part of the day. England had done well with the ball in the morning, claiming a first innings lead of 62, and had lost Duckett by the time I joined the coverage. Lawrence made his highest score to date as an opener (35), but it was an incredibly unconvincing innings, and his name is absent from the squad to tour Pakistan, with Crawley fit again. However, this was where phase one of England’s punishment for their earlier lackadaisical approach began, and only one score higher than Lawrence’s would be registered in the innings, as Sri Lanka found their bowling mojo with a vengeance. Jamie Smith did his best for the cause, with a magnificent 67, the last 50 of which, with tailenders in at the other end, came in 17 balls. Even with this performance to lift it the whole innings mustered a mere 156, the lowest total England have ever scored in a home match v Sri Lanka (previously 181, also at The Oval, in 1998 when Muralidaran weaved his webs to the tune of 9-65). That left Sri Lanka needing 219 to win. Pope started out as though he had 400 to defend rather than just over 200, and runs were soon coming at an alarming rate. Woakes took a return catch to dismiss Karunaratne for 8, but that was the only scalp for England that evening, and Sri Lanka scored 94 runs before the light closed in, with Pathum Nissanka completing his second 50 of the match, both of them at better than a run a ball.

DAY FOUR

England never looked like getting back into things, and the game was done on the stroke of lunch, Nissanka hitting a four which took his share of the spoils to 127 not out, to give Sri Lanka an eight wicket win. Kusal Mendis fell to a superb catch by Bashir off Atkinson for 39, but Angelo Mathews provided excellent support for Nissanka, who was simply majestic. He showed England how to score rapidly AND safely – the split between boundaries and running between the wickets was almost 50/50 – 13 fours and two sixes = 64 in boundaries, and therefore 63 out of 127 actually run, but he was adept at picking gaps and getting back for twos. Nissanka was Player of the Match for his performance, absolutely rightly. Root was Player of the Series, and Kamindu Mendis was named Sri Lanka’s Player of the Series. Match details here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first genuine signs of autumn – fallen leaves and…

England in Control in Spite of Themselves

Yesterday morning the third and final test match of the series between England and Sri Lanka got underway at The Oval. This post looks at developments so far.

DAY ONE

The biggest news selection wise was the debut of 20 year old left arm pacer Josh Hull, a very controversial selection given his lack of first class experience. However Hull’s bowling was delayed as Sri Lanka won the toss and put England in to bat, as they virtually had to with an all seam attack and grey skies overhead. Unfortunately for them they did not bowl well, and Duckett and Pope certainly batted well. Duckett threw a century away when he holed out for 86, but Pope did reach three figures. There had been one stoppage for bad light already (it is long past time that they had a stock of pink balls at test venues to allow play to continue under the lights in these circumstances – ball changes are so frequent anyway that swapping a red ball for a pink one would hardly even raise an eyebrow), and with England 221-3 after 44.1 overs the light intervened once again, this time ending the day’s play.

DAY TWO

Brook and Pope resumed at 11 o’clock on a rather brighter day. Brook never suggested permanence, benefitting from a truly awful drop by Asitha Fernando early on, but failing to make use of it. Smith looked to be playing more patiently but fell cheaply in the end. Thereafter, with the shining exception of Pope who went on to pass 150, the England batting became increasing feckless and irresponsible. They were all out for 325, leaving Sri Lanka one over to negotiate before lunch. All ten England wickets were out to catches, and even the one that went behind the wicket (to gully) was an attacking shot that went wrong rather than a bowler finding the edge.

Sri Lanka got to lunch without loss, and enjoyed their best opening stand of the series so far. The end of it was entirely self-inflicted, Nissanka going for a run that was never there which resulted in his partner Karunaratne being out by two yards or thereabouts. This was particularly unfortunate for Karunaratne since he was on 6,999 test career runs at the time. Kusal Mendis helped Nissanka add 34 more for the second wicket before he edged Woakes to Brook, the 12th wicket of the match and the first to be an authentic seamer’s dismissal, the grey skies notwithstanding. Angelo Mathews never looked comfortable at the crease, and with his own score on 3 and Sri Lanka on 86 he was third out, caught by Pope off Stone. Five runs later Josh Hull claimed his first test scalp, having Nissanka caught at extra cover for 64. Two runs later Stone pinned Chandimal plumb in front (Chandimal reviewed, and the replay showed that it was indeed stone dead). That was 93-5. Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, the latter of whom has been Sri Lanka’s best batter this series have batted sensibly, and tea has just been taken with the score 142-5. To all appearances England are in full control, but few sides can have looked less impressive while getting into such a position.

Overlapping with this match is a match at Belfast between the Irish and English women’s sides, Kate Cross’s first international match as captain. Ireland are fighting hard, but Cross (who already celebrated her elevation by recording her best ever international bowling figures in any format – 6-30) is currently proving an excellent partner for Bess Heath. England need 31 more to win, so it is not done yet.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Three Days of Auctions

A look back at an auction week at James and Sons and a photo gallery.

This week James and Sons had auctions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This post looks back at those days.

MONDAY – TOYS

The Monday auction was the smallest of three, just 150 lots going under the hammer. It was very successful. The fun started as early as lot 4, some Scalextric stuff which was expected to fetch 50-60 and ended up going £170!

Lot 9 went very cheaply to me.

Lot 43 might also have been of interest to me, being four model London Underground 1959 tube stock carriages, had it not been going way beyond my means. It was estimated at 25-35, but actually went for an eye popping £130!

These trains were still in service into the 1990s by the way.

There were other notable successes, but I will settle for highlighting just one further lot, number 96, which had a modest estimate of 15-20 and ended up going for £48!

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a work day for me, so I did not get to see what happened in that day’s auction, though there was some interesting stuff going under the hammer. Lot 667 went to me (I placed a bid online, and it was knocked down to me). While the auction was going on I was one floor up, using the scanner rather than my usual camera to image football programmes and team sheets which will be going under the hammer near the end of September.

WEDNESDAY – STAMPS

The stamp sale featured more lots than either Monday or Tuesday had, but was also quieter than either day. A Tanzanian railway stamp went to me cheaply, while the only notable success was lot 1430, which I did not image. Here is my stamp:

In its new display location, alongside a Djibouti banknote

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Go 2-0 Up Over Sri Lanka

A look at the closing stages of the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, and a photo gallery.

Just after 5PM on a sunny Sunday (the first day of meteorological autumn) Lahiru Kumara hit a catch to Olly Stone off the bowling of Chris Woakes and the second test match between England and Sri Lanka was over, with England comprehensive winners. This post looks the final stages of the match (see here and here for previous posts about the development of this match).

BAD LIGHT AND CUNNING PLANS

Sri Lanka lost the first wicket of their second innings just as I was preparing yesterday’s post for publication. Karunaratne and Nissanka resisted for a time, but Stone had Nissanka caught by Root to make it 43-2. The light was dodgy by then, and although there was potential an hour and 41 minutes before the final cut off time Sri Lanka sent in Prabath Jayasuriya, hoping that the light would close in quickly. This strategy had the disadvantage that it would mean that Kamindu Mendis, Sri Lanka’s best batter of the series to date would be coming in at number eight, and it could have backfired far worse than it actually did, though it cannot honestly be accounted a success. The light did close in as Sri Lanka were hoping, and they went in to today needing precisely 430 more with eight second innings wickets standing.

ATKINSON TO THE FORE

Jayasuriya did not last massively long before Woakes had him caught by Brook to make it 60-3. Angelo Mathews joined Karunaratne and they put on 55 together, in the course of which Karunaratne become the first batter in positions 1-3 on either side to top 50 in an innings in this series. Unfortunately Karunaratne, a left hander who featured in my all time Ks XI and has moved his test average to the right side of 40 since then, did not go on much beyond 50 on this occasion. He had reached 55 when a ball from Stone took his glove on the way through to keeper Smith and it was 115-4. Chandimal now joined Mathews and proceeded to bat as though he was looking for a quick win, rather than facing a target that was still over 350 runs away. It was Mathews who was the first of the pair to go in the end, inexcusably for so experienced a player he allowed a sequence of dot balls to get to him, essayed a lofted drive against Shoaib Bashir and picked out Woakes to make it 174-5. Not long later the final instalment of the Atkinson show began, when Chandimal turned a ball from him round the corner, straight into the waiting hands of Dan Lawrence to make it 192-6. He had scored 58, but it was not the sort of innings that Sri Lanka needed in that situation. Kamindu Mendis, who should have been further up the order rather than a place down on his usual number seven, played his worst test knock to date, surviving a mere five balls and scoring four before he edged Atkinson to Duckett at third slip to make it 200-7. The effect that the promotion of Prabath Jayasuriya had on him is the main reason I rate the move a failure overall. Dhananjaya de Silva and Milan Rathnayake now shared the best Sri Lankan partnership of the match, making merry against an old ball that was doing precisely nothing on a pitch that never displayed any demons. The coming of the new ball was always likely to change things, and it did. The first ball of the fourth over with it, bowled by Atkinson found its way into the stumps by way of Dhananjaya de Silva’s bat, dismissing the Sri Lankan skipper for 50 and making it 273-8. Rathnayake hit some impressive shots, including successive boundaries off Atkinson, but the ball after thex second of those shots, the third of the 86th over found the edge and Smith did the rest to make it 288-9, and give Atkinson his fifth wicket of the innings, his seventh of the match and his 33rd in the five test matches he has played to date. It was the first time an England player had combined a century and a five-for in a test match since the last of Ian Botham’s five such games, at Wellington in 1984. Four more runs accrued before, like a ham actor stealing the last line from an Oscar winner, Woakes got the wicket of Kumara as described in the introduction and England had won by 190 runs. Atkinson was named Player of the Match, correctly in my view – he and Root both had outstanding matches, but Atkinson’s was the more impressive, and Root’s copybook was blotted by a couple of dropped catches. A shared award between Atkinson and Root would have been acceptable, but I would have been annoyed had it gone to Root on his own. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Poised For Victory

A look at developments in the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, including a history making innings by Joe Root.

This post is mostly concerned with goings on at Lord’s where England and Sri Lanka are engaged in a test match. It follows on from the post I put up yesterday.

YESTERDAY

Sri Lanka lost their eighth wicket as I was preparing yesterday’s post for publication. The final two wickets offered a little more resistance, but Sri Lanka were all out for 196 in the end, giving England a lead of 231. Each of the four seamers had two wickets, Bashir one and there was a run out. England could have enforced the follow on, but even though they had not spent that long in the field and the chance of two shots at Sri Lanka, overnight and this morning, offered extra reasons for going for the quick kill they followed standard 21st century practice and declined to do so. Lawrence was out in the mini-session of batting they gave themselves. To his credit Pope did not shelter behind a nightwatcher, he came in himself. England were 25-1 at the close, 256 ahead overall.

TODAY

Duckett was first to go this morning, caught by Mathews off Rathnayake for 24 to make it 36-2. That brought Joe Root to the crease, and he carried on where he had left of in the first innings. Pope was third to go, to a really terrible dismissal, playing a ball from Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Prabath Jayasuriya. Brook and Smith each played well briefly, making 37 and 26 respectively. Woakes made just 5. Atkinson made 14 before suffering what was easily the most bizarre dismissal of the match, reverse swishing (the only way the shot he played can be described) Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Lahiru Kumara. Root was approaching the century that would move him into sole possession of the record for test hundreds for England, but he lost another partner, Matt Potts for just 2 before the landmark approached. Appropriately when the historic moment came it arrived with considerable style – no snatched single for Root to reach this ton – he stroked a four through the covers to move from 98 to 102. A declaration at that moment would have attracted little criticism, but England batted on rather purposelessly (if ever the cliche ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ is justified it is for this period of play) until they were all out for 251, setting Sri Lanka 483 to win with time not a factor, since there are still two full days to play. Only once has 400 been scored in the fourth innings of a Lord’s test and that was in a losing cause, though there have been two huge run chases at this ground in the past – Cambridge University chased down 507 v MCC in 1897 and four years later in the marquee fixture of the season (no tests that summer) The Players chased down 501 to beat The Gentlemen. Sri Lanka have just lost their first wicket, with Root taking a catch off Atkinson to get Madushka for 13 and make it 19-1.

FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP

A round of county championship fixtures is in progress (except for Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire, abandoned by order of the umpires on ground of a dangerous pitch and Warwickshire v Kent, where the visitors, already pretty much nailed on for relegation, have surrendered by an innings margin), and I have been using cricinfo to keep tabs on Nottinghamshire v Surrey. Nottinghamshire are making a decent fight of it, largely thanks to 19 year old left hander Freddie McCann, who came in at number three after the loss of an early wicket, and in only his third first class innings scored 154.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Dominant

A look at developments in the England v Sri Lanka test match at Lord’s to date.

Yesterday morning a test match got underway at Lord’s between the England and Sri Lanka men’s teams. This post looks at the developments so far (and there have been plenty).

DAY ONE

Yesterday being a work day I missed most of the action. Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and put England in to bat under cloudless skies and on a pitch that looked flat. At first he looked like getting away with it, assisted by England’s front line batters. Lawrence and Pope’s innings were both over before they had really begun, Duckett scored 40 before playing a loose stroke, and Brook and Smith both also played poor shots. When Smith fell it was 192-5, and 24 runs later Woakes was also out. Root however had been playing beautifully, equalling Alastair Cook’s England record of 33 test centuries. Gus Atkinson now joined him and played brilliantly. The seventh wicket stand was still in progress when I was finally able to tune in, and it kept going merrily on for a while after. Root finally gout, essaying a reverse scoop, for 143 to make it 308-7. Potts and Atkinson continued to bat well, Atkinson reaching a 50 at virtually a run a ball. By the close the stand was worth 50 and England were 358-7, Atkinson 74*, Potts 20*.

DAY TWO

Initially the question was whether Atkinson could score the 26 he needed to complete a century and claim his place on all three Lord’s honours boards (in his debut match, against the West Indies, he had accounted for both the five-wicket innings haul and the ten-wicket match haul). He was on 82 when Australian umpire Paul Reiffel upheld an LBW appeal against him. he reviewed it instantly, and the replay showed it going well down the leg side. That was the only alarm along the way. Soon he was on 95*, and two successive boundaries then saw him to three figures, his maiden FC ton (his previous best was 91 in a Surrey v Lancashire development XI game in 2022) as well as his maiden test ton. He had got there at precisely a run a ball – 103 balls* off 103 balls with 11 fours and four sixes. There was no slogging involved – this was a proper innings, and when it began England had been in some trouble. Potts was eighth out, but Olly Stone, playing his first test match in three years after a horror run of injuries kept Atkinson company and showed that he is far from being a rabbit with the bat. Atkinson was finally out caught behind off Asitha Fernando for 118 to make it 420-9. England were all out for 427, Asitha Fernando 5-102.

Sri Lanka started better than in either innings at Manchester, but when the wickets started to fall they fell in clumps. Both openers played balls into their own stumps, Pathum Nissanka at number three played a really poor shot, straight to Matthew Potts who had been placed there for it, off the bowling of Stone. Mathews and Chandimal each got into the 20s, but then came another clatter of wickets, Mathews being absolutely done by Potts to be clean bowled for 22, Dhanjanaya de Silva going a few balls later for a duck, edging Potts to Brook, and then Chandimal suffered the worst dismissal of the match to date (even in a field as well contested as this it was a definite winner) when he hit a ball from Atkinson straight to Dan Lawrence moments after Pope had placed him there precisely for that shot and that was 87-6. Sri Lanka have recovered somewhat from that nadir. Kamindu Mendis and Milan Rathnayake took the score to 118 before Rathnayake was caught behind off Woakes, and Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya are still in residence together having taken the score on to 152-7, but they are still in absolutely dire straights, being 275 adrift. Woakes, Stone and Potts each have two wickets, and Atkinson received that gift wicket from Chandimal. While I have been preparing this for publication Bashir has produced an absolute jaffa to bowl his fellow spinner Prabath Jayasuriya to make it 153-8.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The England XI For Tomorrow

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

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

THE ENGLAND XI

The above comes courtesy of cricinfo.

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

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE XI

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

PHOTOGRAPHS

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

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

Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy Action

A look at the action from Southern Vipers and the Blaze in the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy and a photo gallery,

This August bank holiday the only professional cricket action is in the women’s game, with four Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy matches (the RHFT is the women’s 50 overs per side domestic competition in England – the longest format most of them get to play on any sort of regular basis). There is live radio coverage of the match at Arundel (in West Sussex but for centuries owned by the dukes of Norfolk) between Southern Vipers and The Blaze (the latter are midlands based) and I have thus been following that game.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

For some unfathomable reason radio coverage of the match was due to start at 10:38AM, eight minutes after play itself started. Technical issues then intervened meaning that it was a further ten minutes, and thus 18 minutes (and five overs – the women are not slow getting through the overs) after the scheduled start that coverage was actually available.

BLAZE STRUGGLE WITH THE BAT

Vipers had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. With the notable exception of Marie Kelly (40 off 37 balls) Blaze struggled with the bat all the way through their innings. Lucy Higham tried to marshal the lower order, scoring 29. Vipers’ two off spinners, Ava Lee (4-51 on her 19th birthday) and Georgia Adams (2-32 from 8.5 overs) were the best of the bowlers, a fact that Higham, whose bowling stock in trade is off spin will surely have noted.

THE VIPERS REPLY SO FAR

Ella McCaughan and Rhianna Southby opened for the Vipers, McCaughan being their regular opener, while Southby is the sixth opening partner they have tried alongside her (shades of finding a partner for Alastair Cook in the England’s men’s side after the retirement of Strauss).

Vipers made it to 33 before Irish star (recent player of the series for them against Sri Lanka) Orla Prendergast, who had fared badly with the bat, trapped McCaughan LBW for 9. Vipers have just past 50, in the 13th over, but significantly Prendergast has also just struck for a second time, removing Adams with the aid of a catch by Josie Groves. This is looking like a decent contest. While I have been preparing this for publication Vipers have moved on to 72-2 after 16 overs. Southby is 30*.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a splendid gallery for you…

Until I saw this (four pics) I was wondering which dragon/ damselfly would be the feature image.

England in Control in Manchester

A look at developments in the England v Sri Lanka test match at Old Trafford and a photo gallery.

The test match between England and Sri Lanka is into the final session of the third day. England have fared very well. I covered events of the first day here, so what follows will look at days two and three.

DAY TWO

Yesterday was a work day, so I missed most of the play. Almost all of the England front line batters (Pope being the exception) got some sort of start, but they also got out without going on to really big scores, with the exception of Jamie Smith who batted superbly and ensured that England were well placed. England were 259-6, 23 runs ahead on first innings when rain and bad light halted the action, with Smith 72 not out.

DAY THREE

The morning session gave the lie to those who had worried that England’s decision to play five front line bowlers with Woakes at number seven had left them with too long a tail. It was over an hour before England lost a wicket, Atkinson being the one to go for 20. By then Smith had completed his maiden test century, and England had moved past 300. At 315 Smith himself fell, for 111. However Potts, Wood (22 off 13 balls) and Bashir added a further 43 entertaining runs for the last two wickets before England were all out. In the run up to lunch things got better still for England as Woakes and Atkinson bagged a wicket a piece in the mini-session Sri Lanka had to negotiate before the interval. The second session of the day was better for Sri Lanka, although they lost the wickets of Karunaratne and their captain Dhananjaya de Silva, and also saw Chandimal suffer an injury when a ball from Wood struck his thumb, which was serious enough to at least temporarily remove him from the action. Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis got Sri Lanka to the tea interval, though they were still in arrears at that point. That pair are still together as I type, with Sri Lanka now 146-4, 24 runs ahead overall. There was a bizarre outcome to a review of an LBW appeal by England when TV replay Umpire Joel Wilson requested a split screen showing bowler and wicket keeper at the time the ball was delivered to check whether the wicket keepers gloves were wholly behind the stumps, as required by law 27.3.1 – and they were not, leading to a call of no-ball and an extra run to the SL total, but fortunately for Smith the replay showed that even had this offence not happened the not out verdict wouldn’t have been overturned – it was umpire’s call on whether it was hitting the stumps.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on All Time XIs – Detective…
	All Time XIs –… on The Museum Detectives
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on The Museum Detectives