Cormorants – Page 2

England 0-2 Down in Ashes

A look at the events in Brisbane today, Player Ratings and a some suggestions for Adelaide. Also a photo gallery.

When play started on day four in Brisbane England were in as big a man-made hole as you could find outside Kimberley, South Africa. This post looks at their efforts to escape, makes suggestions for changes for Adelaide and provides player ratings for both sides.

THE REST OF THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England resumed on 134-6, 43 short of making Australia bat a second time. Many were probably not betting on the game being in progress even until the first interval, but in the event England did not lose a wicket in the whole session, Ben Stokes and Will Jacks knuckling down and batting sensibly, marking a welcome change of policy from England. The pair kept going after the interval, and it took a brilliant piece of fielding by Steve Smith to break the partnership, catching Jacks for 41 off Michael Neser. Stokes reached 50 before Neser also got him, with a good ball that produced an edge to Carey. Gus Atkinson’s dismissal was disappointing, taking on a hook shot with seven fielders stationed on the leg side. Unsurprisingly he picked one of them out. Carse and Archer added a few runs before Carse became Neser’s fifth victim of the innings, caught by Steve Smith who passed Rahul Dravid’s all time record for test catches as a fielder (Dravid’s overall tally is still ahead of Smith’s because he played a few matches as wicket keeper). England had reached 241, an advantage 20 runs less than had ever been successfully defended in a test match fourth innings (The Oval 1882, the match that led to the creation of The Ashes, when England were 77 all out to lose by seven runs), but rather better than had looked possible when wickets were being thrown away willy-nilly yesterday.

THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE

Gus Atkinson managed to account for Head and Labuschagne before the inevitable happened. Steve Smith played an explosive cameo at the death, recording 23 not out from nine balls to finish the job for Australia. Jofra Archer was the other bowler used by England, and while quick he was not terribly effective. He also got into a verbal tussle with Steve Smith, which given how the match had gone can only be considered to be as ill-judged as it was unappealing.

PLAYER RATINGS

Zak Crawley – 6. Two decent contributions, but two poor dismissals, and for a test match opener 76 and 44 cannot be considered stellar.

Ben Duckett – 2. Two poor scores, two chances dropped in the field but he was the only one of the six English batters dismissed yesterday to get a good ball rather than tossing his wicket away.

Ollie Pope – 3. A duck in the first innings, 26 in the second, both dismissals quite appalling, and the second triggered a batting collapse in which 90-1 (immediately before he was out) became 128-6.

Joe Root – 8.5. A magnificent undefeated century in the first innings seemed to have given England real hope, but he gets debited for being part of the collapse in the second innings.

Harry Brook – 3. He scored 31 in the first innings and 15 in the second, but both his dismissals were disgraceful.

Ben Stokes – 6. He was England’s best bowler in the first Australian innings and scored a gritty 50 in the second to salvage a measure of respectability after the collapse. On the debit side his captaincy did not merely fail to prevent the Australian first innings from getting away from England, it actually contributed to it doing so.

Jamie Smith – 3. Failed twice with the bat, and though he performed competently with the gauntlets he was quite clearly and obviously the second best keeper in this match.

Will Jacks – 5. Failed in the first innings, his bowling was of little relevance to England, but he battled hard in the second innings after many of those above him had thrown their wickets away.

Gus Atkinson – 4. Did not bowl well in the first dig, his second innings dismissal was a disgrace, even for someone who is primarily a bowler, but he did take two wickets in the final innings, and was good value for them.

Brydon Carse – 3. Emerged from a dire first innings bowling performance with a largely undeserved four-for. At one stage he was leaking runs at a rate that would have been unacceptable in T20 cricket, and though he was tighter later in the innings that is partly because the Aussies at that stage were playing for time, wanting the England second innings to begin under lights.

Jofra Archer 4. Although he was impressively quick in the final innings the best thing he achieved all match was his cameo with the bat in the first innings.

Travis Head – 4. Scores of 33 and 22 cannot be considered good work for an opener.

Jake Weatherald 6. He scored 89 runs for once out in the match (72 and 17*).

Marnus Labuschagne 5. One of many Aussies to score well in the first innings (65) but failed in the second.

Steve Smith 6. A match aggregate of 84 (61 and 23*) and some excellent fielding, but his spat with Archer in the closing stages reduces his score slightly.

Cameron Green 5. Scored 45 in the first innings, but was a bit part player with the ball.

Alex Carey 8. Batted very well for his 63, and was excellent with the gloves.

Josh Inglis 3. Selected as a specialist batter rather than a keeper, he managed 23 from number 7 before being bowled by Stokes.

Michael Neser 7. Five second innings scalps, and a solid bowling performance in the first dig as well.

Mitchell Starc 9. Eight wickets in the match, and the highest individual Australian score, 77. Given the extent to which his side bossed the match there was only one candidate for Player of the Match. He, along with the entire England batting line up for their poor play in both innings in Perth and for much of the second innings here, is the chief reason Australia head to Adelaide 2-0 up and in the box seat.

Scott Boland 7. Bowled better than his figures suggest.

Brendan Doggett 7. In statistical terms the least impressive of Australia’s specialist seamers, but he was asked on several occasions to pound the ball in short which is not the approach that won him his baggy green, and I have marked him generously in consequence.

SUGGESTED CHANGES

Ollie Pope has to go – he averages 18 against Australia, and his batting this match can only have been the product of a scrambled mind. In Adelaide extra bowling will be needed, so I would suggest that Stokes promote himself to number three. The other candidate for that slot is Jacob Bethell, but it is a big ask for a youngster to make his Ashes debut in that pivotal slot. I also cannot see how Carse can play in Adelaide, and would bring in Matthew Potts – a skilled fast-medium in support of outright quicks Archer and Atkinson, with Bashir in as spinner, and Jacks probably at six, possibly at seven with Smith moving up to six – England do not have an official reserve keeper on this tour, so he cannot be dropped. Thus my probable XI for Adelaide would be Z Crawley, BM Duckett, *BA Stokes, JE Root, HC Brook, WG Jacks, +J Smith, AAP Atkinson, M Potts, JC Archer, S Bashir. England have a huge mountain to climb – only one side has ever won a five match test series from 0-2 down, Australia in 1936-7, when Donald Bradman came up trumps in spectacular fashion, scoring 270 not out in the third match, 212 in the fourth and 169 in the fifth.

PHOTOGRAPHY

My usual sign off…

A squirrel with an item of food in its mouth.

An English Side “Win” In Australia

A look at the second and final day of The Prime Minister’s XI v An England XI at Manuka Oval, Canberra and a large photo gallery.

This post looks back the second and final day of the match at Manuka Oval, Canberra between The Prime Minister’s XI and An English XI. The reason for the quote marks in the title should become apparent during the rest of the post.

A BATTING DAY

An England XI resumed overnight on 30-0 in reply to the Prime Minister’s XIs 308-8 declared. Tom Haines and Emilio Gay continued to bat well, with Gay in particular impressing. Their stand was only broken when soreness in the hamstring area induced Gay to retire hurt (this after all is not a match that counts towards anyone’s career record). The only disappointment of the day followed, when one of the most overhyped young talents in the game, Jacob Bethell, contributed a mere 16 before getting out. That brought James Rew, who at the age of 21 already has 11 first class hundreds to his name (11 more than Bethell’s current tally, and he scored his tenth FC century at a younger age than anyone since Denis Compton) to the crease. Rew never really looked other than the high class player his record shows him to be (and according to his county, Somerset, his younger brother Thomas, also playing in this match, is even better), and although Haines fell for a fine 77, Asa Tribe, a Jersey born Glamorgan batter who has also played for his native Island, joined Rew and also played well. By this stage it was obvious that only two questions remained to be resolved – would the English side go ahead on first innings, and would Rew reach three figures? The answers proved to be ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Rew and Tribe were still together when An England XI moved to 309-2, Rew 93 not out, Tribe 53 not out, and immediately declared, which was followed equally quickly by handshakes on the final result. An England XI thus won on first innings, and secured for themselves such credit as could be taken from a match of this nature. However it is not properly speaking a win, since by the stated playing conditions (as opposed to the agreement that the sides had clearly come to) this was supposed to a be a two innings match, and neither side officially forfeited an innings, and therefore it is officially a drawn match. Various bowlers had moments for the English side, and Gay, Haines, J Rew and Tribe all impressed with the bat. One of the first two named should have good chances of swift elevation, with Crawley surely close to exhausting even his super-feline stock of test lives, and while Rew have may longer to wait England should be looking for ways to include him.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I am not entirely sure as to the species of this magnificent raptor which I saw flying overhead earlier this afternoon, but I have had a suggestion of buzzard for it. Update I have just been told that it is a Red Kite.

Thunder v Scorchers

A look at Sydney Thunder v Perth Scorchers in the WBBL and a lot of photos.

Today’s match in the Women’s Big Bash League saw Sydney Thunder hosting Perth Scorchers. The home side had been consistent in the wrong way, losing three out of three, while the visitors had been inconsistent. This post looks back at the match.

THE SCORCHERS INNINGS

Sydney Thunder won the toss and opted to bowl first. The first two overs were economical, but then Georgia Voll was entrusted with the third and Katie Mack hit the first three balls of the over for fours. By the end of their four over opening Power Play the Scorchers were 26-0, a modest tally in spite of Voll’s expensive over. The key reason for this was left arm spinner Samantha Bates, who bowled two of those four overs and conceded a mere eight runs. Katie Mack was in splendid form, while Beth Mooney hung in there. The first ball of the eighth over saw the 50 come up, and a strong finish to the first half of the innings saw the Scorchers go to drinks on 76-0 from 10 overs. The drinks break, as it quite often does, brought the wicket, Mooney falling immediately on the resumption. The young English left hander Freya Kemp came in at three and was briefly impressive before a run out ended her stay at the crease for 11 (6) to make it 90-2. Another Englishwoman, Paige Scholfield, followed Kemp to the crease, and hit her first ball for four, before being pinned LBW by her second and burning up a review in an attempt to overturn it. The great Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine was next and on this occasion failed to make it 98-4. With wickets tumbling the Scorchers delayed to Power Surge until overs 16 and 17. Samantha Bates, having already bowled two of her overs in the opening Power Play, now bowled her fourth and final over in what was both a Power Surge over and a death over. She did so superbly, and emerged with figures of 4-0-18-1, with three of those four overs bowled in the toughest periods of the innings. Scorchers just brought up the 150 before the end of their innings, the last ball of which saw the dismissal of Mack, who had batted on a different plane from most of her team mates, scoring 79 off 57 balls in all.

THE THUNDER REPLY

Although Sixers had very comfortably defended a smaller total than Scorchers’ 150 on this same ground a few days earlier there was still a suspicion that the Perth side had not done enough in their innings.

By the end of the opening Power Play that impression was reinforced as Thunder were 36-0 at that point, ten runs better than Scorchers had been. By the halfway stage Thunder had reached 80-1, only four runs better and one wicket worse than Scorchers. However, while Scorchers had struggled in the second half of their innings Thunder did not. At the 15 over stage it was 114-1, 37 needed off the last five overs with nine wickets standing, and now Phoebe Litchfield stepped on the gas for Thunder. No further wickets were taken, and it was Litchfield who ended proceedings by hitting the second ball of the 19th over for the only six of the match, a shot that took her to 50* (35), while at the other end Tahlia Wilson was 55* (44), with Georgia Voll having redeemed her poor bowling by contributing 43 from 31 balls at the top of the order. The only remaining question was Player of the Match. I regard the actual choice of Wilson as a clear-cut mistake – she scored at slower than the required rate, meaning that her team mates needed to do more than she was, which they managed easily enough. I would have been happy enough had it gone to Litchfield, whose late acceleration sealed the deal, but my own choice would have Bates for her bowling performance, which played a huge part in limiting the Scorchers to that 150 – her team mates conceded an average 8.25 from each of the 16 overs they bowlers, while she went for 18 from four, an ER of 4.50, and she bowled three of those four overs at tough stages of the innings. Had she matched the ER of her team mates, which would still have made it a good effort given when she bowled Scorchers would have had 165 to defend rather than 150, and those extra 15 runs may well have been enough.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Sixers Smash Scorchers

A look at Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers in WBBL11 and a photo gallery.

The 11th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) is now under way. Today there was live commentary on game three, between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers at the WACA. This post looks back at the match.

THE SCORCHERS INNINGS

Perth Scorchers won the toss and chose to bat. They started reasonably well, being 27-1 after four overs, and 37-1 after 4.3 overs. The fourth ball of that over saw the end of Beth Mooney just as she was starting to look really dangerous. From that point the game changed, as Sixers applied considerable pressure. First there was a period of 2.3 overs immediately after the dismissal in which a mere seven runs were scored, and then came catastrophe for the Scorchers. First Sophie Devine suffered a barely credible dismissal, officially stumped by Emma Manix-Geeves off Ash Gardner, when a) the ball hit the stumps by way of the keeper rather than due to any good work on her part and b) the wicket keeper gloved the stumps herself without possession of the ball, but the ball had hit the stumps before her gloves did. That eventually brought Paige Scholfield to the crease, she immediately hit her first ball straight back to Gardner to make it 44-4. Freya Kemp now came in, and in company with Mikayala Hinkley seemed to be steadying the ship. Then Hinkley, who had made her to 31, was well caught by Coimhe Bray off Ellyse Perry (a transgenerational dismissal, Perry being 35 and Bray 16) to make it 83-5, which became 83-6 when DRS confirmed that Chloe Ainsworth’s pad was indeed in front of the stumps when her first ball thumped into it. Five balls later Freya Kemp became the third player dismissed with the score on 83 when Gardner bowled her for 16 with a peach of a yorker. That left Lilly Mills and Alana King together at the crease. Mills batted busily and effectively for a time, until Gardner struck yet again. First Mills was caught behind for 13, and then after Amy Edgar had scored a single off the next ball Alana King fell to a return catch for 5 to make it 102-9 and give Gardner her fifth wicket of the innings. The over ended without further incident, but Gardner, captaining the Sixers for the first tine, had recorded figures of 4-0-15-5, the best ever for the Sydney Sixers. Edgar and number 11 Ebony Hoskin did manage to take the Scorchers innings into the final over, before a second fine catch of the innings by Bray accounted for Edgar to make it 109 all out. On this occasion Bray’s seamers were surplus to requirement, but she had been worth her place purely as a fielder.

THE SIXERS INNINGS

A total of 109 was miles short of anything remotely defensible on a good surface (which this was), and an upset never looked likely. Sixers opening pair of Ellyse Perry and Sophia Dunkley made an easy task look quite ridiculously so. It took the pair a mere 12.5 overs to take their side to a ten wicket victory. Dunkley scored 61 not out from 40 balls with five sixes and four fours and Perry had 57 not out from 37 balls with nine fours. It remained only for Gardner, skipper and record breaking bowler for the Sixers, to be named Player of the Match as she duly was.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A ‘waning gibbous’ moon in the morning sky.

All Time XIs: England in Australia

An all time XI of England players whose finest hours came in Australia, and a photo gallery,

With an away Ashes series approaching I offer a variation on the all-time theme – an England side picked specifically with achievements IN Australia in mind (yes, sceptical Aussie readers, I can find 11, and that without too much difficulty).

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

*Len Hutton (right handed opening batter, captain). England’s successful skipper both at home in 1953, when he was the first professional to lead England in a home Ashes series, and away in 1954-5, also recorded a series batting average of 88.83 on the unsuccessful 1950-1 tour.
Alastair Cook (left handed opening batter). 766 runs at 127.67 in the 2010-11 triumph, including 235 not out at Brisbane, 148 at Adelaide and 189 at Sydney. He also scored an unbeaten at 244 at Melbourne eight years later.
Ken Barrington (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). The Surrey stalwart had racked up nine test centuries on various overseas tours, including 1962-3 in Australia, when he fared magnificently, before scoring one in a home test match (256 versus Australia at Old Trafford in 1964).
Wally Hammond (right handed batter, occasional right arm medium fast bowler). Almost a century after he set it his 905 runs at 113.125 in the 1928-9 Ashes remains a record for a series in Australia, and second on the all time list behind Don Bradman’s 974 at 139.14 in England in 1930. He was also joint leading run scorer four years later with 440 at 55.00, an aggregate an average exactly duplicated by Herbert Sutcliffe, and his scores in 1936-7 included an undefeated double century.
David Gower (left handed batter). Four Ashes tours in all (1978-9, 1982-3, 1986-7 and 1990-1), with two of them in winning cause. In 1978-9 at Perth he came in on the first day with England in trouble at 41-3 and proceeded to score his maiden Ashes ton, with Boycott blocking at the other end. England won that match, still the only time they have ever won a test match in western Australia, and took the series 5-1. He scored centuries on all four of his Ashes tours, including an innings on the last of them that Bradman rated among the top five he ever saw in Australia.
+Matthew Prior (right handed batter, wicket keeper). England’s keeper in the successful 2010-11 tour, and he was a big part of the reason for that success.
Ian Botham (right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). Crucial to England’s 1978-9 triumph, and the 1986-7 trip saw the last of his 14 test centuries, and a five-for later in the series.
Frank Foster (left arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). A splendid all rounder until a motorcycle accident ended his career early, he was one of two bowling stars (the other is also in this XI) of the 1911-12 tour, when England lost the opener but won all four of the other test matches, with 32 wickets in the series.
Hedley Verity (left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). One of the greatest masters of his craft ever to play the game. and a useful lower order batter. His role in the 1932-3 triumph was acknowledged by his skipper Douglas Jardine. He was the only bowler Donald Bradman admitted to facing as an equal, and I had very little hesitation in selecting him for the spinners slot.
Frank Tyson (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One of two choices for this slot, it was pretty much a coin toss as to who should get the nod. I went for his 1954-5 heroics over those of Larwood two decades previously.
Sydney Barnes (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 77 test wickets in Australia, in 12 matches in that country. At Melbourne in the 1911-12 series on a good track he had the top four Aussie batters back in the pavilion for a single between them in his new ball burst. England won that series 4-1, with Barnes claiming 34 wickets in the series.

This side has a very powerful top five, a keeper/ batter who succeeded down under, a legendary all rounder and four great and well varied bowlers. A bowling unit of Barnes, Foster, Tyson, Verity and Botham, with Hammond and Barrington available as back up options should be capable of functioning well on any surface.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

There were three main rivals to my chosen openers: Andrew Strauss, who opened and captained on the 2010-11 tour and the old firm of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. I wanted a right hander to go with Cook, which ruled out Strauss, and the need for a captain gave Hutton an additional advantage over the other contenders. Archie MacLaren had a great series in 1897-8, but that was a bit of a flash in the pan given his overall record, and England lost that series.

Eddie Paynter had a superb record against Australia and could have had David Gower’s slot. Among right handed players who might have featured in the middle order were KS Ranjitsinhji, Kevin Pietersen (whose test best of 227 was scored at Adelaide) and Ted Dexter, who electrified crowds in 1962-3. Colin Cowdrey made six tours of Australia, an England record, including answering an SOS call at the age of 42, 20 years after first travelling down under. I regretted not being able to include the left hander Frank Woolley. Denis Compton was never the player in Australia that he was elsewhere and had to be excluded. If Joe Root rights the one wrong on his stellar CV, the lack of a ton in Australia, he will merit consideration.

Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s only visit to Australia in 2006-7 was a personal nightmare for him and ruled him out of consideration, while Ben Stokes has not yet fully delivered down under.

Among the keepers who could have been considered were LEG Ames (1932-3), Alan Knott (1970-1, and in defeat in 1974-5) and Bob Taylor (1978-9).

Derek Underwood performed a similar role in 1970-1 to that of Verity in 1932-3, and Johnny Wardle and Bob Appleyard both fared well in 1954-5. Graeme Swann fulfilled his brief of bowling economically in 2010-11, but flying home halfway through the 2013-14 tour tells against him.

Among the faster bowlers there are three honourable mentions: Harold Larwood in 1932-3 did what Frank Tyson did a couple of decades later and might well have had that slot. John Snow had a phenomenal tour in 1970-1. In 2010-11 James Anderson had a wonderful series, and had his moments on other tours as well.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I suspected that this series of cormorant/ heron pictures would provide today’s feature image…

Warm Spell Brings Out the Insects

November in England is not generally noted as a prime time for insect sightings, but a combination of warmth and sun brought them out today.

I mentioned yesterday that it was unseasonably warm. The trend continued today, and unlike yesterday, which was virtually unremittingly grey, it has been sunny for much of today. The combination of sun and warm temperatures has brought the insects out in some force.

THE FIRST SIGN

The very first picture I took this morning was a portent of things to come…

A blurry picture of an insect on a green leaf. The tree, to which this leaf is still attached, is on the private road that runs behind my house.

THE FIRST HUGE SURPRISE: A BUMBLEBEE

It was during my second walk of the day, in the early afternoon that things really became strange for an English November (which month we are now into remember). In the Kettlewell Lane woods I spotted a large bumblebee, not a creature that one normally sees at this time of year in England.

A large bumblebee at rest on a big green leaf. In the bottom left of the picture as you look is a fly, large by the standards of such creatures but significantly smaller than the bee.

A RED ADMIRAL

Walking on the path alongside Bawsey Drain (the section between Losinga Road and Columbia Way) I was given another way off-kilter sighting – a Red Admiral Butterfly. Given its physical state it may possibly be a freakishly long lived survivor, but to see such a creature around in November is frankly ridiculous, and more than a little disturbing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first of three good pictures I got of last night’s half moon.

India Men Flop in Melbourne

A look back at today’s T20I between Australia and India men’s teams at Melbourne and a large photo gallery.

There is no women’s world cup cricket on at the moment – yesterday saw the second semi-final of which I was unable to catch a single ball due to being at work. It must have been a classic game, with India chasing down 339 with nine balls to spare. This morning UK time there was a T20I between the Australia and India men’s teams and this post looks back at that match.

INDIA FAIL IN MULTIPLE WAYS

India were in trouble early, crashing to 32-4, and never really recovered. India also showed a chronic lack of game awareness and tactical nous. The only Indian batter to play with real fluency was Abhishek Sharma, who produced a gem of an innings, but also only had the strike for one-third of the deliveries bowled during his innings (37 balls faced out of 111 bowled). As an indication of how much this cost India he scored 68 off those 37 balls, while the rest of the batters managed 57 from the other 74. The innings lasted one ball after his dismissal – Bumrah wanted a run off the ball in question, Varun Chakravarthy failed to respond, and that kind of mix-up leads to only one result, which duly happened here – J Bumrah run out 0 (1). Thus India had a beggarly 125 to defend, which was never going to be enough on a pitch that offered bounce but could not be described as difficult to bat on.

Although Bumrah took two late wickets to lend the match a veneer of closeness, reducing that side of the margin to a mere four wickets the truth of the scale of the home side’s win is better illustrated by the fact that they took a mere 13.2 overs to chase down the runs, thus doing the job with exactly one-third of their innings to spare. Being English I have to note that if the test pitches in a little while offer a bit of bounce then England, with the phalanx of express bowlers they have named in their party, will be delighted.

PHOTOGRAPHS

This is a large gallery, and reflective of weather that cannot quite seem to make its mind up. Today, though mainly cloudy and with odd spots of rain has been almost absurdly warm for the end of October in England – the outside temperature is still officially 15 Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) at 5PM…

Before today I had only ever seen gulls making use of this discarded tyre, but this old Grey Heron clearly found it a useful vantage point.

Role Reversal in Guwahati

A look back at the world cup semi-final between England and South Africa at Guwahati today, and especially at an astonishing display from Laura Wolvaardt. Also lots of photos.

Today saw the first semi-final of the 2025 women’s cricket world cup, between England and South Africa. These two sides played their first match of the tournament at this same venue, and on that occasion South Africa were bowled out for 69 and England won by 10 wickets. In South Africa’s last group match, after a superb middle phase of the competition they fell victim to Alana King’s amazing one-woman show and were again all out for under 100. Thus England probably thought they had little to fear.

THE EARLY STAGES

Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits led off with a century stand, but then England took three wickets in next to no time. Marizanne Kapp then provided fine support for Wolvaardt, scoring 42 from 33 balls before being caught by Charlie Dean off Sophie Ecclestone, who was looking something close to her best with the ball after sustaining a shoulder injury last time out. Many have suggested that Sinalo Jafta, the Proteas keeper, is too high in their order at number six, and 1 off four balls before Lauren Bell bowled her did nothing to alter that impression. Ms Jafta has now played 46 ODIs, with an average of 12.59 and a best score of 29, not the stuff of which top six batters are made. With the first ball of the 41st over Ecclestone claimed her fourth scalp of the day, her 16th of the tournament, making her leading wicket taker thereof, and her 37th world cup wicket in all, by bowling Annerie Dercksen for 1 to make it 202-6…

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

THE MATCH TURNS

…Laura Wolvaardt had survived all the carnage, and reached three figures off 115 balls. Now, starting from that 202-6 after 40.1 overs, and with Chloe Tryon her main remaining supporter she turned a high class ton into the sort of innings that settles matches and possibly even tournaments. Wolvaardt’s acceleration in the final phase of the innings was so dramatic that her third 50 took a mere 21 balls, including four sixes when she had none in her first 100 runs. In the end a catch by Capsey off Bell got her for a magnificent 169 off 143 balls, including 20 fours and five sixes, with 62 off her last 69 runs being in boundaries – eight fours and five sixes in that period. The innings catapulted her to the top of the scoring charts for the tournament, moved her past 5,000 ODI runs in all and moved her ODI batting average north of 50. Her dismissal made it 291-7 after 48 overs. Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk completed a remarkable last 10 overs for the Proteas by scoring 28 off the last two overs between them for a final total of 319-7, 117 of them in the last ten overs. Off the 40 overs not bowled by Ecclestone (10-1-44-4) South Africa scored 275-3. This innings has caused a backdated change to my team of the tournament – on Monday I had Alyssa Healy as Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner and Wolvaardt as reserve opener, but after today I have changed my mind, Wolvaardt opens with Mandhana and Healy is reserve opener and keeper, with Beth Mooney taking the gloves: S Mandhana, L Wolvaardt, +B Mooney, S Devine, A Sutherland, D Sharma, A Gardner, Shorna Akter, A King, S Ecclestone, Marufa Akter, with the reserves now N Sciver-Brunt, A Healy, L Smith and K Gaud.

The England innings began in spectacular fashion, of the wrong sort for them, with the top three of Amy Jones, Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight all departing for ducks, with the only run accrued in the seven balls of mayhem in which this happened being a wide. After that beginning it was miracles required territory, and although Sciver-Brunt batted very well and Alice Capsey scored her maiden ODI 50 England never looked like getting on terms. When Linsey Smith was last out, caught by Luus off de Klerk for 27, England were all out for 194, beaten by 125 runs, a remarkable turnaround from that opening group fixture at this same venue. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Women’s World Cup 2025 Team of the Tournament

I pick my team of the 2025 Women’s World Cup. Also two photo galleries.

There is no cricket today – the group games are done and the semi-finals happen on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. Therefore, as the first of two posts I am doing today (the third to last image you will see in this one provides a hint as to the subject matter of the second post) I shall be naming my team of the tournament.

SELECTION CRITERIA

I am picking chiefly based on what has happened at this tournament, and as usual I am considering overall balance as well as player quality. Also, although I could probably have safely done the lazy thing and just named Australia en bloc I have not done so.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

Smriti Mandhana (India, left handed opening batter). The stylish left hander has had an excellent tournament, including a magnificent century against new Zealand that helped India to seal their spot in the semi-finals.
+Alyssa Healy (Australia, right handed opening batter, wicket keeper). Before injuring her calf she had been in superb form, twice making run chases, one large and one not so large, look absurdly easy by scoring commanding and rapid centuries at the top of the order.
Beth Mooney (Australia, left handed batter). Australia were deep in trouble against Pakistan, and it was Mooney, helped first by some defiance from Kim Garth and then a sparky 50 from Alana King, who dug them out of it with a century.
*Sophie Devine (New Zealand, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer, captain). Although bowing out of ODI cricket in a blaze of glory has not happened for the Kiwi legend it is not any fault of hers, she has personally had a very good tournament.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). The leading wicket taker of the tournament, and although she has done less with the bat a 98 not out when her side had been reduced to 68-4 chasing 245 against England was a crucial effort in that department.
Deepti Sharma (India, left handed batter, right arm off spinner). She has had a superb tournament, being second on the wicket taking list and having scored some useful runs.
Ashleigh Gardner (Australia, right handed batter, off spinner). Two centuries (one from number six, one from number seven), both made with her team initially in a bit of trouble, and has bowled well.
Shorna Akter (Bangladesh, leg spinner, right handed batter). Two cheap three-fors with the ball and a maiden ODI 50 with the bat. I have placed her lower in the order than she has been batting for Bangladesh because they are a weak batting side and my view, that 50 notwithstanding, is that at the moment she is actually a bowling all rounder, rather than the batting all rounder that her position in the Bangladesh order suggests.
Alana King (Australia, leg spinner, right handed batter). Even if she had done nothing else all tournament, which is far from the case, her destruction of South Africa when she rewrote the record books with her figures of 7-2-18-7 would have earned her a place in this XI.
Sophie Ecclestone (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). The fact that she is England’s joint leading wicket taker, with 12 scalps, in spite of missing one match due to illness and bowling only four balls in another due to a shoulder injury speaks for itself.
Marufa Akter (Bangladesh, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). Has shown herself to be an extremely skilful operator in conditions in which most teams, including her own Bangladesh, have gone in spin heavy.

This side has great batting depth and a wealth of bowling options – only the top three in the order won’t be used as bowlers, and everyone down to Ecclestone, scheduled to bat at ten (who might be promoted and sent in to swing for hills if it was close to the end of the innings) could offer something with the bat.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

RESERVES/ HONOURABLE MENTIONS

My first reserve, on the grounds that she can replace anyone other than one of the openers without weakening the XI is England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer and shrewd captain. I also want a reserve opening batter, and my choice there is Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa, a right hander. My third choice of reserve is Linsey Smith of England, left arm spinner and brilliant fielder. Her ability to take the new ball, which she has shone doing this tournament counts in her favour. To round out the squad I name a reserve seamer, Indian right arm medium fast bowler Kranti Gaud, who with the one exception of taking a pounding at Australia hands has had a very fine tournament.

The only rival to Mandhana for the left handed opener’s slot was Phoebe Litchfield, but she has not been quite as good as the Indian at this tournament. As well as Wolvaardt who I actually named as a reserve, the other South African opener Tazmin Brits deserves a mention. Marizanne Kapp has shown no signs of fading powers at this tournament, but I could not name her ahead of either Sutherland or Devine.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This Ghost Ship was part of Sunday lunch, at the Bank House immediately prior to setting off the activity that forms my next post.

The Annabel and Ashleigh Show

An account of today’s match at the cricket world cup between the Australia and England women’s teams and two photo galleries.

Today’s match at the women’s cricket world cup saw a revisit to international sport’s oldest continuously maintained rivalry, that between Australia and England. This post looks back at the match.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Both sides were already qualified for the semi-finals but:

This match could easily be a dress rehearsal for bigger match later in the tournament.
Whoever emerged victorious from the encounter would temporarily displace South Africa from top spot in the table and
No game between this particular pair of opponents can ever be described as meaningless.

Australia were missing Alyssa Healy with a calf strain, and her place at the top of the order went to Georgia Voll, while Beth Mooney took over the wicket keeping gauntlets and Tahlia McGrath assumed the captaincy (Mooney and McGrath are absolute regulars in the XI, so Voll for Healy was only the change in personnel). England were unchanged from the side that just prevailed over India at this same venue last time out. Australia won the toss and chose to put England in to bat.

England started fast, with Tammy Beaumont in particular playing impressively. However Australia soon adapted to the conditions, realizing that pace off was the way to go. Annabel Sutherland, the fastest of Australia’s bowlers was expensive early on, but once she worked the surface out and focussed on slower balls she bowled very well, and emerged with 3-60 from her 10 overs, her 13th, 14th and 15th wickets of the tournament, putting her two clear of Deepti Sharma at the top of the wicket takers list. Ashleigh Gardner fared well with her off spin as well, claiming 2-39 for the innings. Beaumont’s 78, which fizzled out after a blazing start, was the only innings of real substance for England, though a spirited partnership between Capsey and Dean, numbers seven and eight in the order, somewhat revived England in the closing stages. England ended their innings on 244-9.

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE

With a modest total on the board England needed a good start, and they got it. Lauren Bell bowled Phoebe Litchfield with the third ball of the inning, Linsey Smith accounted for the other opener Voll in the fourth over and for Ellyse Perry in the sixth over at which point the score was 24-3. When Nat Sciver-Brunt took a catch off Ecclestone to dismiss Mooney for 20 it was 68-4, and Ashleigh Gardner was joining Annabel Sutherland. Their partnership turned the game, slowly at first, and then very rapidly. By the closing stages the only questions where whether both batters would reach three figures, and if so who would get there first. Gardner did reach three figures, off the 70th ball of her innings, and in the end Sutherland just missed out, though Gardner had tried to create the opportunity for her team mate to get there. In the end after the 41st over had start with a two and a single that took Sutherland to 98 not out but left her off strike, Gardner, who had blocked the last three balls of the 40th over to give Sutherland a shot at the landmark, straight drove the third ball of the 41st over for the winning runs, ending with 104 not out from 73 balls, including 16 fours, while Sutherland’s 98 not out took 123 balls and included nine fours and a six. Their stand was worth an unbroken 180 from 24.4 overs. England had their moments during the match, but against this Australian combination having one’s moments from time to time is simply not good enough. Sutherland’s 3-60 and 98 not out earned her Player of the Match, by a short head from Gardner (2-39 and 104 not out).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	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