Tag: Comma

MI London Eliminated

A look back at this afternoon’s match between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s teams, which confirmed the elimination of the former. Also a photo gallery.

Today has been a double double header in The Hundred. This post looks back at the game between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s sides earlier this afternoon.

AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT STARTED

Sometimes when looking back at an ultimately losing batting performance one can point to a slow start, sometimes to a falling away at the finish. On this occasion everything about the MI London innings was wrong. The dominant figure was Sophie Ecclestone, the tall left arm spin bowler. Ecclestone bowled the first ten balls of the match straight through, and in that period dismissed both openers for the total cost of a single. When a catch by Grace Ballinger off Ryana MacDonald-Gay accounted for MI London skipper Hollie Armitage for 18 the score was 37-4 from 48 balls. Kira Chathli actually did score at above a run a ball, but she was fifth out with the score at 60, caught by Ecclestone off Kathryn Bryce. Nicola Carey got to third top score of 17, but her dismissal, to another catch by Ecclestone, this time off Macdonald-Gay made 78-6 from 82 balls. Chinelle Henry briefly offered hope of a late revival but her dismissal to a catch by Lanning off Brown ended even those modest hopes, and in the end MI London were all out for 92 from the 99th ball of their innings. Only a two off the last ball of her allocation denied Ecclestone the cheapest figures for a full 20 ball allocation in the history of The Hundred (women’s) – those two runs were the sixth and seventh she conceded in the innings, leaving Lauren Bell’s 4-6 still in possession of the palm. As well as two wickets and the two catches already detailed it was Ecclestone’s throw that ran out Tara Norris for a duck.

A FORMALITY OF A CHASE

The Manchester Super Giants opening pair of Meg Lanning and Smriti Mandhana kicked off with a rapid opening stand of 73 that exposed just how utterly abject the MI London innings had been. Although there was a mini-clatter of wickets once this stand was ended, the back of the chase had long since been broken. It fell to Mady Villiers to make the winning hit, a boundary of the 72nd ball of the innings that gave MSG the win with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. MI London came into this match ensconced in the last chance saloon, with last orders having been called, and the barmaid being busy wiping down those tables not yet in use, and their horror-show performance confirmed the end of a challenge that had never really begun. It is ironic given how the involvement of IPL people and money has been hyped up that the first side officially eliminated is one that has been IPL-rebranded. There was only one candidate for Player of the Match/ ‘Match Hero’, Sophie Ecclestone, who was duly so named. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A small green beetle in a very pale pink flower not far from the train station.
I have never previously seen starlings on what I call ‘Cormorant Platform’, but yesterday a vast number of them took a mid-flight pause there, and this picture and the next two are a result of that.
A female house sparrow ensconced in the branches of a buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge.
A pied wagtail prospecting for insects at Loke Road Rec – the state of the grass tells you how little rain we have had here recently.
Five insects here – four, the three on the right as you look and the one on the left are some species of yellow and black beetle. The small one in the centre I cannot work out at all.
I am not sure of the species but this is a butterfly of the ‘leaf mimic’ type, looking passably similar to a withered brown leaf.
A comma butterfly visiting my garden (two pics) at just the right time to become part of this gallery!

All Change at the Top for England Women

A look at who could/ should be appointed to the recently vacated roles of coach and captain of the England women’s team, plus a photo gallery including a splendid comma butterfly.

Two announcements have come out in recent days, neither remotely surprising to any follower of cricket. John Lewis has been fired as coach of the England Women’s team after overseeing the disastrous recent women’s Ashes tour, and the captain of nine years, Heather Knight, has resigned that role. This post looks at possible replacements.

THE COACH

This is a short section since Charlotte Edwards, who has established an outstanding record as a coach since the ending of her own legendary playing career, is apparently interested in the job. If those recruiting have their heads screwed on the process should thus be very straightforward – “name your price, Charlotte” or words to that effect.

THE CAPTAIN

There is no immediately obvious successor here. Natalie Sciver-Brunt, the current vice-captain, is of similar vintage to Knight, and cannot be considered a long term option. Similarly Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt-Hodge are both too old to be considered anything other than short term fixes. I can see two candidates who have enough experience while also being likely to be around for years to come, and both of whose places in the side as players are beyond question. Charlie Dean, off spinner and useful lower order batter, would be my choice for the role. The other candidate who I consider to be in the mix is Sophie Ecclestone, the best in the world at what she does and clearly possessor of a good cricket brain.

PRELUDE TO PHOTO GALLERY – COMMA

I was nearing the end of my morning excursion when a glance at the giant buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge over the Gaywood River was rewarded with the sight of a comma butterfly basking in the sun (today is the first official day of northern hemisphere spring, and by that point I was warm enough that my jumper was in my bag and I was in short sleeves).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Now for the full gallery…

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s Spectacular Finish

A look at the game in the Hundred (women’s) between London Spirit and Trent Rockets that happened earlier today, with special emphasis on the spectacular finish provided by Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Earlier today London Spirit took on Trent Rockets in the Hundred (Women’s). The game was a good one although it came to a premature end due to an amazing display of hitting from Nat Sciver-Brunt for the Rockets.

THE SPIRIT INNINGS

London Spirit never really got into top gear. Danielle Gibson scored 36 off 27 balls at the top of order and Kiwi all rounder Amelia Kerr scored 36*, but took 30 balls to score them and these were the best innings for the Spirit. The best bowlers for the Rockets were their spinners, Kirstie Gordon 2-19, Alana King 1-18 and Bryony Smith 1-19, all bowling their full allocations of 20 balls. The end result was an indifferent total of 124-4 from 100 balls.

THE ROCKETS CHASE

For most of the second innings things were going the way of the Spirit, although Nat Sciver-Brunt was singlehandedly keeping Rockets hopes aloft, reaching a classy 50 off 32 balls. With 20 balls left Rockets were five wickets down and had 35 runs still to score. There then followed a truly extroardinary sequence of seven balls. First Scrivens hit Gardner for a four and six, then a single brought Sciver-Brunt on strike. Sciver=Brunt concluded the set by hitting the next two balls for sixes, reducing the ask to 12 off 15 balls. It took one legal delivery. The 86th ball of the innings, bowled by Danielle Gibson, saw Sciver-Brunt hit a third successive six, thrashed over midwicket. The next delivery was smashed baseball style even further over midwicket, and just to make things worse for poor Gibson it was called a no-ball, meaning that her final spell was officially 0.1-0-14-0! This sequence of four successive sixes took Sciver-Brunt’s score from a splendid 57* (37) to a stupendous 81* (41). In addition to the blitz that ended the match with 14 balls to spare Sciver-Brunt had hit nine fours along the way. Carlos Brathwaite once won a T20 World Cup by hitting four successive sixes, and Kapil Dev once saved India from following on with a similar sequence (Lord’s 1990), but England managed to win that one anyway. For the first time this season Rockets finished up looking more like Apollo 11 than Apollo 1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

For the feature image I have done an experiment. I could not pick between two of my photos so I have endeavoured to combine the best features of both. Otherwise this is my usual sign off…