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.
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.
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.This Great Bustard provides the clue to the subject of my next post.Three egrets together by the Nar Outfall, this morning.
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
Fungi at Fakenham ChurchFungi near QEH (13 pics total)
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…
This morning was a sunny one, and I spent a lot of it walking. This Egret was directly across the Great Ouse from Harding’s PitsThis pair of Egrets were near the Nar outfall.This heron with two cormorants for company was on a concrete block just off the west bank of the Great Ouse, more or less opposite Purfleet QuayA freight locomotive in the siding near my house this morning.A particularly elegant little fungus, with a long thin stem and a parasol like cap. I revisited the site of that fungus later and it was still there.
A look back at the England Women’s cricket team’s luckiest ever day, escaping with a point from a match in which they were utterly outplayed, and a lot of photographs.
Today’s match in the women’s cricket world cup saw England facing Pakistan in Colombo (this tournament is officially being held in India, but the Indian government refuse to allow Pakistanis, even Pakistani international cricketers, into their country, so Pakistan are based in Colombo). Such action as there was took place in three stanzas. The photos in this post will come in three parts, in natural breaks in the format of the post.
INSWING FLOORS ENGLAND
Pakistan won the toss and put England in to bat. England had two changes, both caused by illness. Em Arlott replaced Lauren Bell while leg spinner Sarah Glenn was in for the world’s number one ranked ODI bowler Sophie Ecclestone.
Pakistan bowled beautifully, albeit with quite a few bad balls thrown in. England scored rapidly, but lost wickets even more rapidly. Both openers went cheaply, and so too did Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver-Brunt. At 39-4 England were in deep trouble, and it would get deeper. Emma Lamb, an opener in domestic cricket, has barely been able to buy a run since England crowbarred her into their middle order, and she failed again today. Sophia Dunkley tried to play left arm spinner Sadia Iqbal off the back foot and was LBW for 11 to make it 57-6. Charlie Dean dug in with typical determination, but with the score having inched up to 78 Alice Capsey was LBW – she reviewed it in desperation, but it was pretty much plumb. One more run came before with the completion of the 25th over rain forced the players from the field. England at this juncture were 79-7, and unlike Australia who had had a similar score line against Pakistan but had escaped there was no frontline batter left to play the Mooney role in any turnaround.
A MINI-REVIVAL AND DLS
When play was finally able to resume the match had been reduced to a 31 over per side match, meaning that England had six overs left to bat. Those six overs were England’s best period of play by far. They scored 54-2 from those six overs, giving them a final total of 133-9 from 31 overs. Quite rightly in view of the calamitous early part of their innings and the fact that only having six overs to bat had definitely worked in their favour this target was adjusted downwards. Pakistan would resume after a 10 minute innings break needing 113 to win. Charlie Dean with 33 from number eight in the order was the only English batter to even get as far as 20. Sarah Glenn with 18 from number nine was joint second top scorer alongside Knight.
These fungi (and I could have taken many more pictures of them than I actually did) are growing in St Peters Garden outside the church of St Peter and St Paul in Fakenham
PAKISTAN START WELL
Pakistan’s openers, Muneeba Ali and Omaima Sohail, started well. Not only were England not taking wickets as they needed to, they were not really threatening to do so. However with Pakistan 34-0 from 6.4 overs and in cruise control the rain returned and this time it did not let up, and the match was abandoned. That meant one of the most undeserved points you will ever see for England, official confirmation of Pakistan’s elimination, and a bad taste in the mouth of any genuine cricket fan who was following proceedings. I am English, but my sense of justice prevails here. The only emotions the England players should be feeling about today are shame and embarrassment – there have been few teams in any sport I would suggest who have been this humiliated and still emerged with a share of the spoils.
I spotted this enormous patch of fungi near a tree in The Walks, not too far from the Red Mount Chapel.With their slender stalks and the shape of the caps these fungi put me in mind of little umbrellas.
OTHER LUCKY ESCAPES
England do not stand quite alone in escaping with a share of the spoils after being thoroughly humiliated – few events in the history of a sport as old as cricket are truly unique. In the 1992 men’s world cup Pakistan were bowled out for 74 in a group match against England, and then it rained and the points were shared. Pakistan pulled their socks up after that shocking performance against England and went on to win the tournament.
In 1907 Northamptonshire probably suffered the worst humiliation of any side to escape with a share of the spoils in professional cricket. They were playing Gloucestershire in Gloucestershire in a heavily rain affected match. Gloucestershire totalled 60 and 88, with Gilbert Jessop managing 22 and 24, a performance at least as valuable as twin tons on a good batting pitch, while Northamptonshire were all out for 12 in their first innings (George Dennett 8-9, that man Jessop 2-3) and 40-7 in their second innings (Dennett 7-12 including a hat trick) when the rain made its final intervention.
A brief look back at happenings at the Women’s cricket world cup on Thursday and yesterday, and account of today’s match in Colombo and two photo galleries.
Although today’s match dominates this post I make mention of a couple of others as well.
THURSDAY AND YESTERDAY
Tuesday and Wednesday both saw threats of upsets, but in each case the big side came good in the end. On Thursday we finally saw an upset. For most of the chase it looked like India were in charge, but then Nadine de Klerk, batting at number eight, came to the party. An astounding display from the spin bowling all rounder saw four sixes in the space of 2.5 overs (the first two balls of the 47th over, the third and fifth of the 49th). That last six, de Klerk’s fifth in all, took South Africa to victory with seven balls to spare. In total de Klerk scored 84 not out from 54 balls. Remarkably the innings that seemed to have given India enough to defend, Richa Ghosh’s 94, was also scored from number eight, though I cannot comment on that innings other than the bare detail since I was at work while it was being played.
Yesterday I missed the New Zealand innings (see my previous post) but got to hear most of the Bangladesh reply. This match was a familiar tale for Bangladesh and Pakistan at this tournament – a respectable bowling performance but the batters were simply not up to the task. Chasing 225 Bangladesh were at one point 33-6, and although they fought back somewhat from that nadir the final margin was over 100 runs in the Kiwis favour.
GALLERY ONE
SRI LANKA v ENGLAND
The start was slightly delayed by a wet outfield, but both sides stuck to their spin heavy selection plans. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl, which did not worry Natalie Sciver-Brunt and England in the slightest since they would have batted first in any case.
Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones began brightly before a combination of an over-optimistic call by Beaumont and a hesitation on the part of Jones cost the latter her wicket. Sri Lanka fared well once they had broken this partnership, but they made a crucial error when a catch offered by Sciver-Brunt, then on 3, went to ground. While no one else made a major contribution the England skipper batted through, cautiously at first, and finally blazingly aggressively in the closing stages of the innings. Her 117 off 117 balls with nine fours and two sixes was the highest individual score of the tournament so far and got England to 253-9, which looked enough.
With 18 runs on the board Sri Lanka lost Chamari Athapaththu to a calf issue – she left the field on a stretcher, but after treatment it was confirmed that she would be able to resume her innings. Vishmi Gunaratne was bowled by Charlie Dean for 10 (9) to make it 37-1, but then for a time Sri Lanka prospered. It was Sophie Ecclestone who changed all that. A high water mark of 95-1 degenerated to 103-4 in the space of 2.2 overs, with the tall left armer dismissing Hasini Perera with the aid of a catch by Alice Capsey, Harshitha Samarawickrama to a fine running catch by Lauren Bell and Kavisha Dilhari clean bowled. There was the merest hint of a revival after that, but 13 runs later Ecclestone effectively terminated Sri Lanka’s interest in proceedings by clean bowling the restored Athapaththu with a beauty for her fourth wicket of the innings (at this stage she had 4-5). In the process of spinning this web from which Sri Lanka could not extricate themselves Ecclestone reached 30 wickets in ODI world cup matches, in just her 12th such game, five matches fewer than the previous quickest to that mark. Sri Lanka resisted with sufficient determination that their last wicket fell with only 4.2 overs of their allocation left, but the margin of 89 runs tells a truer story of this one-sided match. Sciver-Brunt picked up a couple of wickets in this phase to go with her century, and was the last player to touch the ball in the match, holding the catch off Linsey Smith that dismissed Udeshika Prabodhani.
An account of England’s start at the Women’s ODI World Cup, against South Africa in Guwahati. Also a large photo gallery.
The latest edition of the women’s ODI world cup got underway this week. India beat Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, Australia beat New Zealand in the second match, which was harder fought than the eventual 89 run margin suggests – Australia were at point struggling at 127-5, and it was only their immense depth that enabled them to escape from there. Yesterday Bangladesh beat Pakistan by seven wickets. Bangladesh in that game opted for only one front line seam option, with five recognized spinners in their line up. That sole seamer, Marufa Akter, was named Player of the Match, having struck twice in her first over, a start from which Pakistan never recovered. Today saw England in action against South Africa, meaning that all sides have now played one match. The rest of this post looks back at that match.
ENGLAND v SOUTH AFRICA
This match took place in Guwahati in the far north-eastern corner of India. England won the toss and opted to bowl first. They pretty much followed the Bangladesh pattern of selection, going spin dominant, with Lauren Bell the only specialist seamer in the XI, though they also had Natalie Sciver-Brunt’s medium pace available to them, though giving her a full allocation given her recent injury issues would probably have been ill advised in game one of a long tournament. There was little sign of things to come in the first over, bowled by Bell, from which nine runs accrued. That was the last time anything really went South Africa’s way. Linsey Smith took the new ball at the other end to Bell, and her second ball accounted for Laura Wolvaardt, who essayed a drive and succeeded only in sending the ball straight back to Smith who took the return catch. The other opener, Tazmin Brits, was bowled by the first ball of the fourth over, Smith’s second, with the left arm spinner still yet to concede a run, and it was 12-2. South Africa could not come to terms with losing both openers so cheaply. In the fifth over Bell clean bowled Sune Luus to make it 17-3. Three balls later Linsey Smith clean bowled Marizanne Kapp for 4 and it was 19-4. Anneke Bosch and Sinalo Jafta managed a 12 run stand before Sciver-Brunt’s first ball as England skipper (she had been unable to bowl all summer) pinned Bosch so plumb in front that even with the dismissal making the score 31-5 the South African did not bother to go upstairs. Exactly two overs later Chloe Tryon was caught by Capsey off Sciver-Brunt for 2 and it was 38-6, and record books were being consulted for all time low scores in the format. The seventh wicket added 10 careful runs before the first ball of the 14th over saw Nadine de Klerk drive loosely at Sophie Ecclestone and succeed only in edging to slip where Heather Knight held a sharp catch to make it 48-7. Masabata Klaas managed to bat a little time (13 balls in total), but only accrued three runs before Charlie Dean bowled her and it was 60-8 in the 18th over. Sinalo Jafta, the only Protea to reach double figures, had got to 22, and batted pretty well, when she essayed a wild hoick against Ecclestone, missed and was bowled to make it 60-9. When those who are supposed to be able to bat have failed this epically one cannot expect a great deal from numbers 10 and 11, with no batting pedigree whatsoever, and in the circumstances Ayabonga Khaka (6 not out, a slight overachievement compared to her career batting average) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (3) did as well as anyone could have expected. It was Dean who took the final wicket, bowling Mlaba to make it 69 all out from 20.4 overs. Every England bowled who got on claimed at least one wicket, Linsey Smith finishing with 3-7 from four overs, while Sciver-Brunt, Dean and Ecclestone each took two wickets and Bell one. With only 70 to get the question was exactly how comprehensively would England end up winning. Tammy Beaumont never really got going but was not going to miss out on an opportunity to boost her batting average with a ‘not out’ – such opportunities are rarely granted to openers and she has been around a long time. Amy Jones did get going, and her unbeaten 40 from 50 balls put the South African collapse into perspective. Beaumont was 21 not out from 35 balls and South Africa gave away 12 extras (as compared to 8 by England). England won by 10 wickets with 35.5 overs to spare, and will go into their second match with a net run rate of +3.773.
A look back at the Vitality Blast quarter finals and a photo gallery.
The Vitality Blast is England’s original domestic T20 competition, and although it has to an extent been usurped in the pecking order by The Hundred it remains a high quality tournament. The last few days have seen the four quarter-finals. This post looks back at those matches.
HOW THE QUARTER-FINALISTS ARE DECIDED
The Vitality Blast is a county competition involving the 18 first class counties. They are split into two groups of nine, a North Group and a South Group (these designations are a little woolly – Northamptonshire, just about into the midlands, is designated north, while Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, both probably further north than Northamptonshire, are designated south). These groups play what is not quite a full league format – 14 group games, which is two fewer than would be a full league. The quarter-finalists are the top four teams in each group and they face off as follows: first in group one at home to fourth in group two, second in group one at home to third in group two, second in group two at home to third in group one and first in group two at home to fourth in group one.
THE MATCHES
The first match between Surrey and Northamptonshire was reduced by rain to 14 overs a side. A combination of this and an amazing innings from 40 year old Ravi Bopara for Northamptonshire did for Surrey. Bopara hit a century at almost two per ball, which was the chief reason Surrey were set a target of 11 per over to win. Surrey were never really in the hunt in the chase, and after two successive years of the south providing all four semi-finalists a northern side had booked a slot on Finals Day (Edgbaston on Saturday).
The second match saw Hampshire face Durham. Durham won the toss and opted to chase. The wheels instantly came off for them, Chris Lynn playing a brutal innings. By the end of the six over Power Play 86 were on the board and Dirham’s fate was pretty much sealed. Durham hauled things back somewhat from there, but Hampshire still amassed 221 from their 20 overs, and Durham were always well behind the rate, ending up beaten by 26 runs.
Lancashire v Kent was an absolute thriller. Kent only managed 153, but they took wickets regularly enough that at no stage could Lancashire be said to be cruising. The one wicket they could not get was that of Livingstone, and he scored the winning run with nine balls and three wickets left.
Somerset against Bears (Warwickshire, in anticipation of a move to a franchise type system, which in the event became a whole new tournament, The Hundred, adopted a new name for the T20 squad, and though the tournament remains a county T20 event they still use the new designation) did not look being a thriller until the final over. Sean Dickson kept Somerset officially in the hunt for their target of 191, but with 19 needed off the final over it did not look likely. However Dickson proceeded to score 2,6,6,4,1 to take Somerset home with a ball to spare. Dickson’s final score was 71 not out off 26 balls, meaning that his team mates managed 120 from 93 balls, equivalent to a full innings score of 155, or defeat by 35 runs had Dickson done no more than match his colleagues.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The Heritage Open Day brochure.The map showing (most of) the sitesThe text about the site where I shall be stewarding.An interesting little fungus, seen beside the section of the Gaywood that flows past the Red Mount Chapel.A Little Egret with its catch.
A look at the problems England men are having in their ODI series against South Africa men and a very large photo gallery.
There is an ODI series in progress between the England and South Africa men’s sides. This post looks briefly at what has happened so far.
MATCH ONE: SO BAD I MISSED ALL THE ACTION
The first match of the series happened on Tuesday, a working day. It was a day/night fixture so I was expecting to catch the second innings after I got home from work. Unfortunately England were so atrocious that I missed all the action. First they crashed to 131 all out, then it took South Africa only just over 20 overs to knock this derisory target off. Sonny Baker, making his first appearance in England colours after some great successes in domestic cricket, including The Hundred, leaked 76 runs from seven overs.
MATCH TWO: BETTER BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH
The second match, at Lord’s, was also a day-nighter. This one did go the distance, and in theory was a close one. However, save for when Bethell (58 off 40 balls) was firing on all cylinders England were always behind the rate, and there was never any great feeling that a successful chase was a likely outcome. The closeness of the final result (five runs in it) was largely down to a bat fling by Jofra Archer with all pressure eased because the game was to all intents and purposes already done. The Barbados born fast bowler scored an unbeaten 27 from 14 balls to reduce but not close the gap between the sides. All rounder Corbin Bosch, whose bowling stock in trade is right arm fast medium, was allowed to bowl his ten overs with figures of 1-38, which with a victory target of 331 was indefensible from England. The other thing to note here is that Lord’s is well known for being a hard ground on which to chase, and if England had any confidence in their ability to set a respectable target they would surely have opted to do so. The disaster in the first match meant that Brook apparently did not even consider batting first when the coin fell his way.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A cormorant pretending to be a black duck, overlooking the sculpted part of the Gaywood in The Walks (two pics).Common sandpiper, spotted near the mouth of the Nar while on my way to a WNAG committee meeting this morning.Some King’s Lynn townscapes from various vantage points, starting with the centre of the bridge linking West Lynn to South Lynn (further north there is only a ferry crossing available).Two planes flying together.The focus here is on the pontoon jetty.This one comes from earlier this evening – the particular buddleia plant overlooking Bawsey Drain.
A look back at today’s final of The Hundred (women’s), a showcase of the cockling boat, the Baden-Powell and an image gallery.
Today is Finals Day in the Hundred. The men’s match between Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets will be underway shortly. I was out yesterday attending a christening, so only found out after the fact about what had happened in the Eliminator matches. This post is mostly focussed on today’s final.
PRELIMINARIES
Southern Brave came into the final having won all of their group matches, while Northern Superchargers were coming off the back of an amazing Eliminator match. Davina Perrin, 18 year old opening batter for the Superchargers, scored a century off a mere 42 balls, as Superchargers set a new competition record score of 214-5, winning by 42 runs over London Spirit. Both sides were unchanged, which meant that Southern Brave had gone through the competition using only 11 players – no changes to the team at any stage. Northern Superchargers won the toss and chose to bowl first.
THE BRAVE INNINGS
Grace Ballinger (left arm medium) opened the bowling and bowled ten balls straight through for only six runs, but no wickets. Kate Cross conceded six from the next five balls. Balls 16-20 were bowled by Annabel Sutherland, and an economical first four were spoilt when the fifth was dispatched for six, the first of the match. The 23rd and 24th balls began to swing things Superchargers way. Of the first of them Bouchier mishit an attempted drive and was caught by Armitage at extra cover, and then the second was an absolute beauty and clean bowled number three Laura Wolvaardt for a first ball duck. The hat trick ball was a wide, and a single came off the 25th legal delivery of the innings. The Power Play ended with Brave 30-2 from 25 balls, Cross 2-15 from 15 of those deliveries. The diminutive Aussie medium pacer Nicola Carey came on immediately the Power Play was done and her first ball went for four. Just as Wyatt-Hodge seemed to assuming control of proceedings Sutherland got one through her defences to make 43-3 from 40 balls, Wyatt-Hodge out for 25 (20). Sophie Devine, one day short of her 36th birthday, and Freya Kemp carried Brave to the halfway stage of their innings with the score 55-3. Devine was fairly sedate given the format, but Kemp started to look threatening, hitting several boundaries as the three-quarter way mark approached. One ball before that landmark Devine was dismissed for 23 to make it 90-4, which was still the score at the three-quarter way point. Progress had been remarkably even – 30 from the 25 ball Power Play, 60 from the middle 50 balls, with two wickets lost in each section of the innings. Freya Kemp had reached 26 when she was caught by Carey off Sutherland to make it 92-5. Two runs later Brave skipper Georgia Adams pushed a ball straight down the pitch, set off and was hopelessly run out to make it 94-6 after 86 balls. Four balls later Kate Cross had finished her day job, with 2-23 to show for her 20 balls, and with ten balls to go the score was 95-6, meaning that in 16 balls a mere five runs had accrued and three wickets had fallen. Mady Villiers, in at number eight for Brave provided some late impetus, striking three boundaries in the closing stages, as Brave scored 25 from the final ten balls of their innings. A score of 115-6 looked modest even on a pitch that was not all that easy to bat on, but if anyone could defend such a score Brave could.
THE SUPERCHARGERS CHASE
Davina Perrin could not repeat her heroics of the previous day at The Oval, but she did score 17 off 11 balls before Bouchier took a catch off Devine to dismiss here. That was 28-1 from 24 balls, and it brought Phoebe Litchfield, Superchargers number three, and my chosen number three when I picked my team of the tournament to the crease. She started superbly, making the struggles of others look like the match was happening on two different surfaces. 40 balls into the innings rain forced the umpires to take the players off briefly. At that point Litchfield was going at better than two per ball. The interruption was not long enough for any balls to be lost from the match, but it was enough to disrupt Litchfield, who never got going on the resumption, going caught by Bell having top edged an attempted sweep against Tryon for 26 (13), making the score 59-3 from 44 balls. Carey joined Sutherland, and got busy from ball one. By the three-quarter way stage Superchargers were 97-3, needing 19 off 25 balls to win. They suffered no stutters, though Sutherland had one moment of great good fortune when Lauren Bell’s last ball of the tournament brushed one of the bails but did not remove it, the bail lighting up briefly to indicate that it had been hit but settling back into its groove atop the stumps. That freakish non-wicket meant that Bell went wicketless for the only time of the tournament – 0-19 from 20 balls. Off the 88th ball of the chase, bowled by Brave skipper Adams, Sutherland hit a six down the ground and Superchargers had won by seven wickets with 12 balls to spare. Sutherland had scored 28 not out from 25 balls, and her compatriot Carey finished 35 not out from the same number of balls. Carey was named player of the match, and Litchfield’s 292 runs for the tournament saw her named Player of the Tournament. An official attendance (calculated at the midpoint of the match to deal with the “they were only there for the men’s match” chauvinists) was 22,542, a record for any fixture in the history of The Hundred (Women’s), and brought the attendance for the tournament to 349,000. Full scorecard here.
THE BADEN-POWELL IN ACTION
This is by of an aperitif to the image gallery that ends this post. The Baden-Powell is an old cockling boat, and this morning while I was out walking it went out on the Great Ouse. I have two videos and six still images to share.
aspiblog 