Tag: Cormorants

History at Lord’s

A look at developments in the first women’s test match ever to be played at Lord’s, a video and a photo gallery.

Yesterday morning a test match between the England and India women’s teams, at Lord’s, the first time a women’s test match has been played at that ground (a mere 89 years behind the other big London ground, The Oval, which staged the final match of the 1937 Women’s Ashes). With many ex-players present for the great occasion (from former world cup winner Alex Hartley, in her 30s and part of the commentary team as well to Enid Bakewell, some five decades older and still in full possession of her faculties) England won the toss and opted to bowl first. This post looks at developments so far in this match.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

For much of the day it looked as though India were headed for big score, but in the end they were held to 285. Sophie Ecclestone took the last three wickets in the space of six balls, in the process going past Katherine Sciver-Brunt to become England’s leading all format wicket taker. She is also the leading test wicket taker among current England bowlers, and sits third in the all time all format wicket takers list behind two Indians, the retired Jhulan Goswami and Deepti Sharma, also playing in this match (contributed a 50 to the Indian cause). Goswami’s record will be going in the not too distant future to one or other of these contemporary greats. Ecclestone is the younger of the pair, 27 years old to Deepti Sharma’s 28.

THE ENGLAND REPLY

By the end of day one England had lost veteran opener Tammy Beaumont, whose last international match this will be. They started very badly today, with overnight batters Bouchier and Knight departing quickly, and being followed in short order by Capsey. Amy Jones struck an aggressive 50 before being caught by Ghosh off Sneh Rana. Then Kranti Gaud, with three wickets already to her name already pinned England skipper Natalie Sciver-Brunt plumb in front. Because of the desperate situation the decision was sent upstairs, but it was definitively out – crashing into middle stump. That was 142-6. Ecclestone was eighth out caught behind off Sayali Satghare for 11. Shortly after that Gaud was recalled to the bowling crease, and became the first woman to claim a place on a test match honours board at Lord’s when a superb catch by Shafali Verma accounted for Lauren Bell. Her figures at that juncture were Gaud 15.2-6-33-5. Had she taken the tenth wicket of the innings and conceded 12 or fewer runs doing so she would have had the best innings figures by a woman in any international match at Lords, beating the 6-46 taken by Anya Shrubsole in the 2017 ODI world cup final. As it happened the final wicket, that of Lauren Filer, fell to Deepti Sharma, so Shrubsole’s record figures stand for now (when it comes to bowling figures in cricket the number of wickets is considered paramount, and it is only when considering hauls of the same number of wickets that the number of runs conceded becomes relevant). As it was Gaud, with final figures of 17-7-37-5 had been instrumental in securing her side a first innings lead of 115, which is likely to prove a match winning lead. Kranti Gaud is 22 years old, and as recently as 18 months ago she was not even on the Indian selectors’ radar. The other England v India match today, a men’s T20 at the Hampshire Bowl near, but crucially not actually in Southampton. got underway half an hour behind schedule due heavy traffic causing the Indian team to arrive late. That match is in its early stages, but not showing any great sign of ending the Indian men’s horror tour which has seen them reach this point with five defeats and a no-result to show for their endeavours.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We start with a short video of a small hedgehog which was in the grass at Kettlewell Lane Park this morning:

Now for the photos…

A demoiselle with a slender dark blue body and wings that are half translucent and half black sits right on top of a nettle plant.
A robot in Morrison’s yesterday (two pics)
The pontoon jetty being well used – eight boats, of which two are survey boats that are regularly there and one is the old cockling boat the Baden Powell, but five are bona fide visitors.
This cormorant has secured itself a decent breakfast (it was about 9AM when I took this one).
The gallery ends with the hedgehog (five pics)

Arisaig 2026 10: The Isle of Muck

Continuing my account of my Scottish holiday with a look at the Wednesday, when we visited the Isle of Muck.

I have completed my coverage of the events of the Tuesday of my Scottish holiday (May 30th – June 6th), so now turn my attention to the Wednesday. On that day we visited the Isle of Muck, which entailed catching a boat from Arisaig.

THE ISLE OF MUCK

The Isle of Muck is one four small isles very close to one another in the Inner Hebrides. It is the third of the four I have visited, having visited Eigg on a previous holiday, and Canna, as detailed in recent posts, earlier in this holiday. The odd one out is the mountainous Isle of Rum which I saw from Muck in the course of this day. The weather let us down on this day – the forecasts had indicated that the Thursday was due to be vile and we had planned accordingly, but it was actually the Wednesday that was the worst day of the week weather wise.

We did at least time our activities on the island well, going walking first and then sampling the pub later, which meant we were outside for the only dry spell of the day, and under cover for the very worst of the wet stuff.

It was worth making the journey, though unlike Canna, which I saw less of than I would have liked to, I would not particularly want to go again.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photos from this trip…

A slightly unfortunate spelling of this name – had they gone ‘Shearwater’ they would have shared their name with a sea bird.
A wildlife guide on the boat.

Maiden County Ton for Mousley

A look at goings on on day two of Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.

Today is the second day of the county championship season. This post looks at events at Edgbaston where Warwickshire and Surrey are playing.

YESTERDAY EVENING

Surrey continued the fightback I reported on yesterday, eventually reaching 328, of which 128 came from the bat of Ben Foakes. The last wicket fell right on the stroke of time, meaning that Warwickshire did not have to bat in the evening session. They would have been disappointed to let Surrey off the hook from 65-6, but would also have noted that the pitch was definitely easier to bat on than it had been at the start.

TODAY

Today has belonged to Warwickshire. They have moved into a first innings lead for the loss of a mere two wickets. All four batters to have gone to the crease for them so far (Alex Davies, Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain) have topped 50. Mousley reached his first ever county century (he has scored an FC hundred for The Lions, England’s ‘understudy’ squad) just before the light got bad enough for the umpires to take the players off. With Sam Hain unbeaten on 80 at the other end Warwickshire were 330-2, two runs ahead of Surrey’s 328. With the pitch now playing very easily Warwickshire can and should leave Surrey with only a draw to play for – it would be advisable for Warwickshire to give themselves a bowl at Surrey tomorrow evening if they are not already all out by then, but they can certainly afford to bat for two whole sessions tomorrow, and possibly for another hour after tea just to render their lead insuperable.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The WNAG 4th birthday cake.
Pictures of my new trophy and medal (six in total).
Today’s pictures start here.

Past, Present, Future Combine as Australia Women Crush India Women

A look at happenings in the test match between Australia Women and India Women at the WACA that concluded earlier today, focussing on a reminder of past glories from Ellyse Perry, a command performance from star of the moment Annabel Sutherland and a hint of future greatness from teenager Lucy Hamilton. Also a photo gallery.

Early this morning UK time Australia Women completed an emphatic ten wicket win in their test match against India Women at the WACA in Perth. This post looks at the three principal contributors to that result (with apologies to 35 year old Ellyse Perry, who I hope has a few more years left in her, for classing her for the purposes of this post as ‘past’).

ELLYSE PERRY

The veteran (who started as a bowler batting at number eight) was not called upon with the ball in this match, but she contributed a splendid 76 with the bat, an innings that saw her move to the top of the Australian Women’s all time test career run scoring list with 1,006 runs in the format.

ANNABEL SUTHERLAND

At the age of 24 Annabel Sutherland is well established as one of the game’s great all rounders. Even by her standards her performance in this match was incredible. In the first Indian innings she took 4-46, a test career best with the ball. Then she dominated the Australian reply, scoring 129, her fourth test century (a new Australian record, putting her behind only Jan Brittin of England who amassed five such scores in a career spanning almost two decades), which ensured that Australia had a big first innings lead. Remarkably she has now converted four 50+ scores in test cricket out of four into centuries. Three of those centuries have come in Perth. She added a further 2-15 in the Indian second innings to her earlier contributions, and was not required to bat in the second Australian innings.

LUCY HAMILTON

19 year old Lucy Hamilton was on debut, having shown herself to be a fine left arm pace bowler who can bat. She bowled superbly, taking 3-31 in the first Indian innings and 3-32 in the second, and in between times played a very useful little innings of 23, which helped move Australia from 79 ahead at the fall of the eighth wicket to their final advantage of 125. Her emergence onto the international scene has confirmed that Australia have unearthed yet another star. Hamilton hails from Bundaberg, a small sugar growing, rum making town which long ago produced Don Tallon, named by Don Bradman as the best keeper he ever saw in action. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

South Africa Finnished as Allen Power Proves Key for New Zealand

An account of an extraordinary semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and a photo gallery.

The first semi-final of the 2026 T20 World Cup took place today at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. New Zealand faced South Africa, who had looked the most impressive team at the tournament prior to today. This post looks back at the match.

THE SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS

South Africa lost two early wickets before staging a bit of a revival. They reached 77-3 before Dewald Brevis and David Miller were both out at that score. Marco Jansen, the very tall left handed seam bowling all rounder, breathed some life into South Africa by hitting an undefeated 55 from 30 balls. He received support from Tristan Stubbs (29), but was starved of strike in the final over of the innings. South Africa in the end had a score of 169-8, much better than had looked on when they were 77-5, but probably not good enough.

THE NEW ZEALAND CHASE

Finn Allen and Tim Seifert opened the batting for New Zealand, and right from the word go they made the Proteas score look downright risible. By the time Kagiso Rabada bowled Seifert for 58 (33) the score was 117-1 from 9.1 overs, and the match was a good as settled. Remarkably it took a mere 3.4 overs more for New Zealand to seal the victory, with nine wickets and 7.1 overs to spare. The architect was Allen. At the start of the 13th over New Zealand were 149-1 with Allen 76 not out from 28 balls. The next five deliveries, bowled by Jansen, were dispatched for 4,4,6,6,4 to take Allen to 100* (33 balls, 10 fours, 8 sixes). Jansen only just escaped conceding as many with the ball as he had scored with the bat – his figures were 2.5-0-53-0. Kagiso Rabada, 3-0-28-1 for an ER of 9.33, was the only Protea bowler to go for under 11 an over. New Zealand have served due notice that they will pose a serious threat to whoever wins tomorrows match between co-hosts India and England. England are the likelier of the two sides in action tomorrow to be really dangerous – they have got to the semi-finals without ever finding peak form but somehow doing enough. For the Proteas this will be a sickeningly familiar feeling – they have a long history of being very impressive in the early stages of tournaments and then coming unstuck on a big ‘winner takes all’ day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

The weather continues to be pleasant here in Norfolk, and I have big photo gallery to end with…

On Radagast The Brown

A brief look at Radagast the Brown and his role in events at the end of the third age of Middle Earth. Also a photo gallery.

Here in Norfolk spring seems to have arrived. Certainly the photo gallery at the end of this post, which other than the first four pictures all comes from today suggests as much. In this post I look at a minor character in “The Lord of the Rings”, the wizard Radagast.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTARI

The Istari were five of the Maiar, beings who rank above elves but not quite as divinities, sent into Middle Earth by the Valar (gods) to combat Sauron. They were Olorin (known in various parts of Middle Earth as Gandalf, Mithrandir, Tharkun and Incanus), Curumo (Curunir/ Saruman), Aiwendil (Radagast) and the two blue wizards Alatar and Pallando who seem never to have acquired names in Middle Earth. Of the five Olorin clearly fulfilled his brief to the letter, Curumo equally clearly failed badly (to the extent that the Valar allowed him to die in Middle Earth), while there is nothing to go on regarding Alatar and Pallando though the likelihood is that any part they played in the events at the end of the Third Age of Middle Earth was on the side of Sauron, since all we are told of them is that they went straight into the uttermost East. That leaves only…

AIWENDIL/ RADAGAST

Radagast played no direct part in the War of the Ring, and it is often considered that his fondness for the birds and the beasts was such as to amount to an abrogation of his duties in Middle Earth. However, it is quite clear that Radagast’s heart was always in the right place – although he inadvertently sent Gandalf into Saruman’s trap by causing him to head to Isengard to visit Saruman he also heeded and acted on Gandalf’s request that he ask those of the birds and beasts that were friends of his to help by reporting on events, which brought Gwaihir, lord of the eagles, to Isengard to rescue Gandalf from his confinement at the top of the tower of Orthanc. There is no hint of a suggestion that Radagast ever intentionally aided evil or that he ever sought any position of power in Middle Earth (as Saruman, the several times over traitor, certainly did). One final aspect of Radagast’s role needs to be presented: he was the choice of Yavanna, whose personal area of responsibility was precisely the birds and the beasts. Thus it was right that he should be fond of those birds and beasts.

In an English or Welsh court where the only verdicts that can be rendered are ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ I would, though unhappily, find even the blue wizards ‘not guilty’, since there is no actual proof of guilt. A Scottish court, with the additional verdict of ‘not proven’ would offer a way out in their case. Even in a Scottish court I would happily acquit Radagast.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first butterfly of 2026 – a tortoiseshell.
a bee (three pics)

Sri Lanka Slump Ushers England into Semifinals

A look at today’s events at the T20 world cup and a photo gallery in two parts, including the first bumblebee of 2026.

The second stage of the men’s T20 world cup of 2026 is well underway. Today saw Sri Lanka facing New Zealand.

A NEW ZEALAND INNINGS IN THREE PARTS

New Zealand started well, and were 76-3 at one stage, before then slumping to 84-6. With 7.5 overs to to go at that point New Zealand looked out for the count. However Mitchell Santner and Cole McConchie, helped by some poor Sri Lankan bowling came back strongly, and by the time Santner was caught off the final ball of the innings he had scored 47 from 31 balls, while McConchie had 31 not out from 23 balls, and with the assistance of extras the pair had doubled the score, giving New Zealand a final total of 168-7.

PHOTOGRAPHS 1

A NON-CHALLENGE

Sri Lanka never looked remotely like challenging the total they had allowed New Zealand to get away with. At low water mark they were 29-4 after 8.2 overs. 140 off 11.4 overs is doable if you have plenty of wickets in hand, but that was not the case here. In the event it was only a mini-revival of their own that even got the Sri Lankans to three figures. The final margin was 61 runs. Mitchell Santner had taken 1-19 from his four overs, but missed out on Player of the Match because Rachin Ravindra, scorer of 32 off 22 balls in the New Zealand innings, had produced figures of 4-0-27-4. This result officially eliminates Sri Lanka from the tournament of which they are co-hosts and confirms that England are in the semi-finals. England have not been super impressive so far, but there is an old saying that “you can only beat what is put in front of you” – and by and large England have managed to do that.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I sign off with the second half of today’s photo gallery…

The first bumblebee of 2026, getting nectar from a little purple flower – this was on Monday (two pics).

Stories From the T20 World Cup

A look at developments in the men’s T20 world cup, including a major elimination and a great individual effort by a Canadian.

The first stage of the 2026 men’s T20 world cup is now well advanced. This post looks at a couple of major stories.

ADIOS AUSTRALIA

Australia having already been beaten by Zimbabwe faced Sri Lanka on Monday. When the folks from down under passed the hundred mark in eight overs they looked unstoppable. However Sri Lanka fought back, and as wickets fell Australia’s scoring faltered. In the end Australia managed 181, and were all out just before the end of the 20th over. That total was on the face of it still defensible, but now Pathum Nissanka, well supported by Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake proceeded to play an absolute blinder of an innings, racking up 100 not out from 52 balls with 10 fours and five sixes. Sri Lanka won by eight wickets with two whole overs to spare, and the mighty Aussies were looking straight at the exit door from the tournament. This was officially confirmed yesterday when the match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was washed out without a ball being bowled. The truth is that after the two defeats they had sustained, both of which were strictly merited Australia would have needed a massive helping of good fortune to qualify and they deserved not to receive such good fortune. I also reckon that a really big name falling at the first hurdle is good news for the tournament.

A GREAT INNINGS

When the first match yesterday, between Canada and New Zealand got under way, no one playing for an associate nation had ever score a century at a T20 world cup. Yuvraj Samra, named in honour of former India international Yuvraj Singh, and like him a left handed batter, scored 110 off 65 balls with 11 fours and six sixes for Canada to become the first such player. Unfortunately for him he did not receive enough support from his team mates – Canada still only managed 173 from their 20 overs, and they then bowled so appallingly that New Zealand reached the target with 4.5 overs and eight wickets to spare.

TODAY SO FAR

Pakistan battered Namibia by 102 runs in the first game of the day to secure their qualification, and South Africa beat the UAE by six wickets with almost seven overs to spare to finish this stage of the tournament with a 100% record – played four, won four. India and the Netherlands are currently doing battle, and an upset does not currently look terribly likely.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

London Underground to King’s Lynn?!

A whimsical exercise inspired by a fairly newly constructed path in King’s Lynn, assessing how the real roundel might be brought here.

This is an exercise in purest whimsy, provoked by a recently constructed set of paths in Hardings Pits near King’s Lynn that I have dubbed ‘Roundel Path’ for their collective resemblance to London Underground’s classic symbol. Here is a photograph:

Roundel Path – I hope this photo, taken this morning illustrates the reason I have so named it.

Before moving in to the main body of this post I re-emphasise that this a purely whimsical exercise, and not even I would actually recommend the adoption of these schemes.

TWO POSSIBLE METHODS

These suggestions are listed from most to least fanciful with even the least fanciful still fairly so.

  1. Over a decade ago I did a personal survey of the Piccadilly line, which among other things recommended a northwards extension from Cockfosters to Welwyn Garden City. Welwyn Garden City is a station that trains from London to King’s Lynn pass but do not stop at en route. Extending all the way to Lynn would require a lot of adjustments at every station that the line would stop at – ideal platform heights are very different for surface and tube stocks which is why I consider this possibility even more unrealistic than the other.
  2. The slightly less ridiculous possibility makes use of the fact that the older subsurface London Underground lines are built to standard railway specifications and would at least not require any platform adaptations. It would require one completely new section of track, from King’s Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith&City and Metropolitan line shared platforms) to Finsbury Park or some point further north, with an intermediate station at Highbury& Islington, giving some useful connections, joining the existing tracks as soon as it is practical for it to come to the surface. That leaves one further question…

WHICH OF LINE SHOULD RUN THE NEW ROUTE?

There are three possibilities:

  1. The Metropolitan line once extended over 50 miles out into the countryside, and is still much more like a mainline railway than other lines. The disadvantage of the Metropolitan getting this route is that from Baker Street onward trains would heading northwest, having come from basically due north (with a tiny fraction of east).
  2. The Hammersmith and City line, which could abandon the Farringdon to Barking part of its route, all of which is served by other lines.
  3. The Wimbledon-Edgware Road section of the District line could add the stations as far as King’s Cross to its existing route and take over the new route.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I state once again that the foregoing has been a piece of whimsy, not anything serious, before applying my usual sign off…

A new bird sighting for me, tentatively identified as a grey wagtail.
This cormorant has evidently developed a taste for this particular tree canopy – I have seen it up there before.
Roundel Path

All Time XIs – Detective Fiction

An all time XI of players who have namesakes in detective stories and a photo gallery.

Today I select an XI of players who are namesakes of characters in detective fiction.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). In most eras other than the one he played in he would have been one of the first names on the England team sheet, especially given what a great partnership he formed with Herbert Sutcliffe. As it was he generally missed out due to the presence of Jack Hobbs. His record for Yorkshire was outstanding, and at the time of his retirement included five of the ten highest individual scores made for the county. His fictional alter ego is of course the one and only Sherlock Holmes.
  2. Herbert Sutcliffe (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). One of the greatest opening batters ever to play the game, and shared 69 first class century opening stands with Holmes. He gets in by way of Magda Josza’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Femmes Fatales”, which features among others Lady Elizabeth Sutcliffe and her uncle Sir Vincent Sutcliffe.
  3. Fred Bakewell (right handed top order batter, Northamptonshire and England). By the time a car crash brought his career to a premature close he had done more than enough to establish himself as a great batter. His fictional equivalent is Diana Bakewell, heroine of the Rachel McLean/ Millie Ravensworth series of London cosy mysteries of which I have read three thus far.
  4. Jack Ryder (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). One of the finer batters of the 1920s, his credits include a test match double century. He was also a useful enough bowler to occasionally be entrusted with the new ball. His namesake is James Ryder, villain in “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”.
  5. *Warwick Armstrong (Australia, right handed batter, leg spinner, captain). A magnificent all rounder, and a ruthlessly effective leader. The eight successive Ashes match victories he presided over (a 5-0 sweep in Australia in 1920-1, and the first three matches of the series in England in 1921) remains an all time record. His alter ego is Superintendent Armstrong from the Museum Detectives series.
  6. Vallance Jupp (Sussex, Northamptonshire, England, right handed batter, off spinner). In the 1920s he achieved the double feat of 1,000+ runs and 100+ wickets in FC matches eight times in consecutive seasons. I have slipped him in by means of a small piece of sleight of hand – one of The Railway Detective, inspector Robert Colbeck’s colleagues is an inspector Vallence, and by altering one letter I got in a link to my favourite of all detective series.
  7. +Adam Gilchrist (Australia, wicket keeper, left handed batter). |One of the all time greats of the game, although his legacy could be considered tarnished by the fact that a number sides nowadays blatantly sacrifice keeping quality for better batting from the keeper. One of the three students in the Holmes story of that title is named Gilchrist.
  8. Gus Atkinson (Surrey, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). He has had a superb start to his England career, though like too many of his team mates he had a poor time on the recent tour of Australia. Gus the cat is a character in the London cosy mysteries that also gave us a Bakewell.
  9. Don Wilson (Yorkshire, England, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). Though his England record was not great he took his first class wickets at 21 a piece. His alter ego is of course Daniel Wilson, one half of the Museum Detectives.
  10. Ted McDonald (Australia, Lancashire, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One half of the first great fast bowling pair to operate at test level along with Jack Gregory, he later became one the spearheads of Lancashire’s most successful ever period. Though I have to add a letter to his surname to do it, I have two very different alter egos for him: Alec MacDonald, one of the few Scotland Yarders Holmes actually treats with respect (see “The Valley of Fear”) and Kylie MacDonald, one of the pair of detectives in the elite NYPD Red unit that features in a series of books with that title, the first six by James Patterson and Marshall Karp, and the seventh by Marshall Karp.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Took over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece in his career. With one Holmes brother sharing his name with an opening batter this XI ends with the other, Mycroft, sharing his name with an opening bowler.

This side has a more than adequate batting line up, and a stellar array of bowling talent – McDonald, Mycroft and Atkinson as front line pacers, with Ryder available as fourth seamer if needed, and Wilson, Jupp and Armstrong covering all the spin bases. I will not do honourable mentions for this one – there are a vast range of possibilities. Feel free to comment with your own ideas.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…