World Cup Warm Up Matches

Accounts and predictions relating to today’s cricket world cup warm up matches, a health/fitness update and some photographs.

INTRODUCTION

Two Cricket World Cup Warm Up matches are under way – both at the halfway stage. They form the main part of this post.

WORLD CUP WARM UP MATCHES

There are two games today:

South Africa v Sri Lanka – South Africa 338-7 from 50 overs.
A respectable total for South Africa at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff. 88 from Du Plessis and 65 from Amla were the main batting contributions. Left-arm medium pacer Isuru Udana was economical, taking 1-42 from his 10 overs, while Lakmal and Pradeep each took two wickets, though expensively, going for 140 from 19 between them. This is a tough one to call, but looking the way everyone other than Isuru got treated in this innings I am going to predict that Sri Lanka chase these down.
Afghanistan v Pakistan – Pakistan 262 all out from 47.2 overs.
This match, at Ashley Down, Bristol, has all the makings of a classic. A century from Babar Azam was at the heart of the innings – and on recent evidence Babar Azam scoring a century is not necessarily good news for Pakistan. Mohammad Nabi had 3-46 from his 10 overs and Rashid Khan 2-27 from nine, while fast bowler Dawlat Zadran took 2-37 from 5.5 overs. Nabi and Khan will probably be very economical in the world cup, as opponents look to avoid losing wickets to them and hope to cash on the other less good bowlers. Today I am predicting that Afghanistan will chase down this target to put down a marker for the tournament.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND FITNESS

Today I broke new ground in my slow regaining of fitness and health post cancer. I managed to extend this morning’s walk to just opposite The Hob in The Well, which is close to King’s Lynn town centre. I am hoping to develop sufficient fitness to reach King’s Lynn Library unassisted in time for an NAS event there on June 14th, so that I do not have to rely on some kind person being able to gave me a lift. I finish with my usual sign off…

Cricket World Cup, Six Nations Rugby and Other Stuff

Some excellent links at the top os the post. Then some comment on the cricket world cup, then some cool pics, then the Six Nations and finally some more pics.

As with my last post I am going to start with a links section before moving to the main meat of the post…

LINKS

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/03/what-we-told-the-school-district/ An inspiring account of a meeting between parents of autistic kids and education authorities.

http://autisticeyes.com/?p=1012 A post about aspies and difficulties with handwriting.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/muslim-woman-veil-hijab A sensible article about the veil.

http://www.cosmosup.com/meet-james-webb-space-telescope/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cosmosup+%28CosmosUp%29

http://www.cosmosup.com/over-million-young-stars-are-forming-in-a-mysterious-dusty-gas-cloud-in-nearby-galaxy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cosmosup+%28CosmosUp%29

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/school-children-banned-from-watching-the-solar-eclipse-for-cultural-and-religious-reasons-10122964.html An outrageous story of a headteacher who banned children from watching the eclipse for “cultural and religious reasons” Ivor Johnstone, the headteacher concerned failed miserably to justify this decision. He compounded the failure by saying that cloudy weather probably meangt they had not missed anything anywway – wrong, as the desktop background on my work computer testifies.

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/03/21/tory-education-secretary-is-right-she-should-be-held-responsible-for-the-mess-in-our-schools/ A rattling good article about Nicky Morgan

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/03/21/broxtowe-do-you-really-want-anna-soubry-as-your-mp/ Anna Soubry gets the Mike Sivier treatment.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-minister-esther-mcvey-accused-5375040 More trouble for McVile.

https://dankeeling1.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/political-centre/ This is the post that signposted the survey below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31973051 No surprise where I came out!

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/21/grant-shapps-dean-archer-legal-action-michael-green?CMP=share_btn_tw – Bad news for the downright dishonourable Mr Shapps/ Green/ Fox is good news for us ordinary folk!

http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/anger-after-reeves-tells-benefit-claimants-labour-is-not-for-you/ – Is Rachel Reeves the Kim Philby of this election campaign? Stories such a this suggest that it is a possibility.

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/03/was-grant-shapps-trading-as-a-corporation-which-didnt-actually-exist/ – More bad news for the Tory chairman!

CRICKET

The last of the quarter-finals of the cricket world cup ended earlier today UK time. New Zealand obliterated the West Indies in a match dominated by Martin Guptill’s amazing 237 not out (the last 137 off 51 balls if I remember rightly). The semi-final line up is thus India v Australia (head and heart both say India to win that one) and New Zealand vs South Africa, neither of whom have ever got further than the semis (impossible to predict, heart says NZ). South Africa’s potential bete noire is their lack of an all-rounder, which means either playing only four front-line bowlers as they have so far, or dropping a batsman to make way for a fifth bowler. For more details about the Guptill knock, and the records he rewrote in the process check out www.cricinfo.com. Before moving on to the rugby section, some pics…

This is the edited but not cropped version that now serves as the desktop background on my work computer!

The Fakenham cinema viewed from top deck of an X8

SIX NATIONS

Today has been an amazing day in the Six Nations. First of all Wales thrashed Italy to become favourites for the trophy. Then Ireland won by a sufficient margin at Murrayfield to move into pole position to retain their title. England who had the toughest assignment of the three contenders need to beat France by 26 or more to take the title on points difference. At the moment it is not looking good for England. France have just scored and converted a try to move within five points of England – looking more and more like the trophy is staying in the emerald isle. England nine points to the good (34-25) – another 17 needed to take the trophy. Another try for England – moves them within 12 with possibly two more to come. Conversion successful – England need 10 unanswered points for the trophy. James Haskell in the sin bin – not looking good for England. France have just scored the try that surely ends England’s hopes of the trophy – England 41 France 30 with a French conversion to come. Conversion missed – England need 15 unanswered points. Another try – England 46 France 30. A successful conversion for England and it is 48-30 – eight more points for England and they win. France have just scored again – England now need 13 points – conversion to come. The equation is now that England need to find 13 more points and they have 13 minutes in which to do it. Jack Nowell has scored another try – reducing the ask to eight points. Conversion by George Ford – England 55 France 35 – a converted try will win them the Six Nations. The whistle has gone and an amazing final day at the Six Nations is over – Ireland retain the title and England are runners-up for the fourth time in succession. Wales in spite of scoring 61 points in Rome earlier today finish third. I will now finish this post with a few more pics…

Bellerive Brings More History

The match between Scotland and Sri Lanka at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart is at the halfway stage and has already seen a record set and another equalled.

Kumar Sanggakara kept his appointment with a century, becoming the first to achieve the feat in four successive ODIs. His century was matched by one from Tillekaratne Dilshan and the main course was followed by an explosive 51 from Angelo Matthews as Sri Lanka ran up 363 from their 50 overs. In amongst this carnage Josh Davey took three wickets, taking him up to 14 for the tournament and temporarily leading wicket taker, one ahead of Trent ‘the conductor’ Boult. That figure of 14 wickets for the tournament also ties Eddo Brandes of Zimbabwe for most wickets ever taken by a bowler for an associate member at a world cup (in 1992 Zimbabwe had yet to be promoted to full member status).

The Bellerive seems to be a serendipitous ground for great things to happen at – it was here that Ireland edged out Zimbabwe in a thriller just a few days ago. The word serendipitous derives from the wondrous island encountered by Sindbad the Sailor in his sixth voyage, the Arabic name of which is rendered in English translation as Serendip, Serendib or Sarandib. The name by which this island is now known? Sri Lanka.

I do not see this game developing into a Zimbabwe v Ireland style thriller, especially with Kyle Coetzer, the Aberdonian with a South African surname having gone to the second ball of Scotland’s reply.

As those familiar with this blog know I never leave you without sharing some pictures…

Work on what will be the Northbound exit from the new bus station.

Gaywood Clock through the window of an X8.

A lacewing on the inside window of an X8 on the return journey.

A new dawn (something English cricket needs) breaking over King's Lynn — A new dawn (something English cricket needs) breaking over King’s Lynn

My new bathroom window - I also have secondary glazing on the High Street side of the flat. — My new bathroom window – I also have secondary glazing on the High Street side of the flat.

A glimpse into the Jewish Cemetery, Millfleet, King's Lynn — A glimpse into the Jewish Cemetery, Millfleet, King’s Lynn

These swans, swimming in the Nar, were a trifle uncooperative.

Moorhen about to take the plunge... — Moorhen about to take the plunge…

...And now happily swimming. — …And now happily swimming.

Qualification Process for the Next World Cup

This post is provoked by England’s elimination from the 2015 World Cup (see https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/england-out-of-the-cricket-world-cup/ for details) and the arguments are based in part on the formula I suggested for running a cricket world cup in this post.

Given my suggestion for a 16 team competition, I reckon that the eight quarter-finalists should qualify automatically for the next world cup and everyone else regardless of historic status or otherwise within the cricket world should have to earn the right to be in the tournament by going through qualifying. Also, before anyone asks, I do not believe that host nations should qualify automatically – they too should be me made to earn the right to take part in the competition.

Bellerive Blockbuster

The best match of the 2015 Cricket World Cup so far took place at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart this morning GB time. Ireland, with a century from Ed Joyce and 97 from Andrew Balbirnie reached 331-8. In reply Zimbabwe fought brilliantly, and at various times, not least when they took 19 from the 49th over, bowled by Kevin O’Brien, to leave themselves needing seven of six balls, they looked like favourites for what have been the largest successful chase in World Cup history. Alex Cusack kept a cool head, and put the finishing touches to a fine bowling performance by capturing the two remaining Zimbabwe wickets for the addition of a single, in three balls. A full scorecard can be viewed by clicking here. Having set the scene with this opening account I will share some pictures before moving on…

This device appears above Paper Klip, the Fakenham stationers.

Not only was that match a classic, featuring quality performances from many players, but the eventual result means that Ireland have now won three matches at this tournament, and are very well placed to progress to the quarter finals. The only disappointment to me was that the Player of the Match Award went boringly (and in my opinion wrongly) to Ed Joyce for his hundred when the key to Ireland’s victory was the cool head under pressure displayed by Alex Cusack. Having witnessed this amazing match I am more convinced than ever that the ICC would be utterly wrong to reduce associate nation involvement in the World Cup. My response to Aakash Chopra who gets to publicise his ideas on www.cricinfo.com and who believes that the World Cup should be reduced to ten teams and that the associates should concentrate on getting to play more matches against full members outside of world cups is twofold. First he is guilty of presenting a false dichotomy: it is not a case of either or – i would like to see both more matches between full members and associates outside of world cups and greater associate participation in World Cups. Whether he is guilty of any offence beyond sloppy logic I am not prepared to say, but it is only in cricket that anyone argues for a smaller world cup. My thoughts on how the Cricket World Cup should be formatted can be viewed by clicking here.

Congratulations to Ireland on a magnificent performance. Before sharing some more pictures I will comment on nations who first entered the world cup as associates and are now full members:

Sri Lanka – played 1975 and 1979 as associates before being granted full membership – Won in 1996 (a feat never achieved by England), Runners up in 2011.

Zimbabwe – made world cup debut in 1983 as an associate,promoted to full membership in 1992 – beat Australia in their first ever world cup match, nearly beat India (eventual champions), later in that competition, and in 1999 when England were ejected from their own party embarrassingly early came with an ace of qualifying for the semi-final.

Bangladesh – No great highlights yet, but are going fairly well this time, and there is at least one person who would not be in the least surprised were they to end up progressing further than England.

Now for the second batch of pictures…

I was delighted to see cormorants back on the structure I have dubbed Cormorant platform as for some weeks due to nearby roadworks they had not been in evidence.

A Difficult Day at Work

I spent today imaging items for a Timed Bid auction which will go live on Monday (check out http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/search-filter/auction-catalogues?AuctionType=3 at that time). I managed to get everything I needed to do done in spite of the fact that my work computer was functioning at about the same level as the West Indies batting had been when I listened to commentary from the cricket world cup before setting off for work!

The items covered a variety of categories. This set of Royal Doulton plates was the very first lot I imaged today…

While these could appeal either to pottery enthusiasts or lovers of railwayana, they were beaten for breadth of appeal by lot 2085, which has stamps, postal history, medals and art (at least) covered…

This French medallion (lot 1502) came out well…

I finish this eclectic selection of images with some stamp album lots where I decided rather than photographing whole pages to focus on smaller quantities of stamps…

The Sutcliffe Formula for a Cricket World Cup (and Some Cool Pictures)

There has been much talk at the Cricket World Cup about how the tournament should be formatted, especially given that there are those who would reduce it to a ten team tournament (so utterly harebrained a notion that I do no more than mention it). Several of the associate nations at this world cup have given good accounts of themselves, with Ireland having a strong chance of progressing to the quarter finals.

My formula for a Cricket World Cup would be as follows:

16 teams to play in the tournament. Stage one would involve two groups of eight teams, the top four from each group progressing. Each group would play its matches in sets of four (hence two groups of eight), making seven rounds of matches for each group, to played on alternate days (i.e. this stage would span two weeks, with each side having a day off between matches.

After the group stage would be a three day break before the quarter-finals, which would be played all on one day. After a two day break the semi–finals would take place. Then following another two day break the final would take place. This would mean that the tournament would be played in a period of three and a half weeks (a sensible length for a global tournament).

As for the TV people: If they don’t like it they can lump it.

Now for some pics…

Developments at King's Lynn bus station. — Developments at King’s Lynn bus station.

These magpies played a good game of hide and seek with me - but as this picture proves I emerged the winner! — These magpies played a good game of hide and seek with me – but as this picture proves I emerged the winner!

Yesterday’s #SaveOurNHS action in King’s Lynn

A good turnout helped ensure the success of yesterday’s signature collecting session in King’s Lynn. Although it was grey with the King’s Lynn ‘lazy wind’ (cannot be bothered to go round you so goes straight through you) blowing the response was excellent. Even I, though I rarely fare particularly well gathering signatures (this is one area where having an Autistic Spectrum Condition does make things difficult), collected over 20, and received some kind comments even from some of those who did not sign. The total number of signatures gathered in central King’s Lynn yesterday will certainly be in the high hundreds.

Here some pictures from yesterday’s activities, some of them taken for me by the photographer from the Lynn News who took team pics for that publication…

Team Pic in Frame

There has been a lot of sporting action this weekend. In the six nations there have been wins for Wales against France and for Italy against Scotland. Italy should have won by more than three points but Kelly Haimona had another shocker with the boot. Likewise, the principal difference between France and Wales was that Camille Lopez had a poor game with the boot whereas Leigh Halfpenny was up to us usual stratospheric standards for Wales. The Frenchman who kicked Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip in the back has deservedly been banned for the rest of the tournament – if he ever plays international rugby again he will luckier than he deserves to be.

In the cricket world cup, England suffered another humiliating defeat, this time at Sri Lanka’s hands. Having tallied 309 from their 50, England should have been capable of putting up some sort of defence of that total, but Sri Lanka had nine wickets and three overs to spare at the end. In the battle of the co-hosts New Zealand emerged victorious. The margin was only one wicket, but with more than half of their overs unused! Australia’s batting having done a passable impression of a house of cards, their bowlers fought back well to make a contest of it.

I have some other pics from yesterday…

This clock adorns one of the towers of King's Lynn Minster — This clock adorns one of the towers of King’s Lynn Minster

This is in between those two towers.... — This is in between those two towers….

...And this adorns the second — …And this adorns the second

KLASS and the Cricket World Cup

A week today is the date of the next meeting of the Kings Lynn Asperger Support Society. We will be meeting at the Lattice House on Chapel Street from 6PM. Our April meeting will be a week later than usual, on the second Monday of the month, because April 6th is Easter Monday. We will be moving to our summer venue of the quayside near the Lower Purfleet, which gives us the back up option should the weather decline to co-operate of ducking into Marriott’s Warehouse (what – British weather decline to co-operate – surely not!). I have produced an information sheet using Word, which I have then turned into a JPG for online usage (already shared with my twitter followers)…

KLASS

This is the original photo of the Lattice House used in the document.

This is the original photo of Marriott's used in the document. — This is the original photo of Marriott’s used in the document.

The Cricket World Cup is still in full swing. Recently we have witnessed India thrashing South Africa, Sri Lanka just sneaking home courtesy of a magnificent innings from Mahela jayawardene against Afghanistan who continue to do the associate nations and themselves proud and England finally demonstrating that they have not completely forgotten how to play the game they invented. On that last however, a victory over a Scotland team whose bowling had about as much venom as an earthworm is nothing to be shouting about. I for one would not be prepared to put money (even had I such a commodity) on England getting the better of Afghanistan and Bangladesh as they need to to progress. In many ways actually, falling at the first hurdle would be better for England than a reprise of 1996 where they reached the quarter finals having beaten the non test playing nations in their group and not looked remotely like beating any test playing opposition and were then thoroughly humiliated by Sri Lanka in the quarter final. An elimination at the first stage cannot be window dressed so it would mean reality having be looked squarely in the eye. A few final pics…

Guist post office (approx 5 miles from Fakenham), viewed through the window of an X29 bus

St Ann's House - directly opposite St Nicholas Chapel — St Ann’s House – directly opposite St Nicholas Chapel

Where 38 Degrees members will be meeting on Saturday for NHS related action.

The flag flying from the Guildhall on Saturday.

Similar size and shape to mallard drake but very different colouring.

Chelsea’s Shame and More From the Cricket World Cup

Racist Chelsea fans pushed a black man off a train not once but twice after their match against Paris St Germain. The culprits then followed this up with some vile racist chanting. Given the nature and seriousness of the offences and Chelsea fans’ long and dishonourable history of racism I think a severe example needs to be set. My suggestion would be that Chelsea be disqualified from this year’s European competition and banned from all supra-national competitions for a period of five years.

Before moving on to the second part of this post, here are some pictures from today…

Bangladesh achieved a comfortable victory over Afghanistan in the cricket world cup, although Afghanistan bowled fairly well to restrict Bangladesh to 267 a disastrous start to their reply saw them tumble to 3-3 from which there was no recovery. I believe that for a competition to be genuinely global some ‘minnows’ must be present. The problem with the cricket world cup is that by diktat of television there is only one match per day because if matches were played in parallel there would be less advertising revenue as only one match each day can be televised in full. Personally, i think that the interests of cricket should outweigh those of the TV moguls and that matches should be played in parallel so as to concertina the competition.

The fact that Afghanistan managed to qualify for this world cup shows that rapid improvement is possible even in very difficult circumstances. Similarly impressive stories may be emerging from Nepal and Papua New Guinea in the not too distant future.

England, as has been the case in every world cup since 1992 when they reached the final, have been decidedly under-impressive so far, and if it is at their expense that one of the minnows gains a quarter-final place I for one will be unequivocally celebrating on behalf of the minnow!

A second selection of pictures to end…

	GP on A Cornish Christmas 1: A Curat…
	Renegades Blown Away… on England Fightback Comes Too…
	The First Two Days i… on A Successful Auction
	Marizanne’s Mastercl… on From Victory to Rout in Two…
	From Victory to Rout… on An Extraordinary Opening …