A look back at the final stage of Gloucestershire’s defeat at the hands of Worcestershire on Sunday and an account of a great bowling performance by Kate Cross today.
The Hampshire and Lancashire women’s sides are currently locked in battle in a one day match which I am listening to. That will feature later in this post, but first I look back to Sunday and a happening that may just have ensured that the county of my birth, Gloucestershire, will finish as wooden spooners in this year’s county championship.
A BIZARRE FAILURE
Gloucestershire were in dire need of a win in this match, and when they declared their second innings at 395-7, an advantage of 278, in a match in which the ball had predominated they may well have reckoned on getting it. By the time I joined the coverage of this match, Somerset having disposed of Essex, Worcestershire were about halfway to the target and had not lost a wicket. Daniel Lategan, a young opener who was still looking for his maiden first class hundred going into this innings was going superbly, and he duly reached the landmark. He went on after reaching the landmark, and by the time he was out, caught by Joe Phillips of young leg spinner Ed Middleton the score had reached 244, of which his share was 144, and the match was as good as over. Middleton added Beyers Swanepoel, a South Africa who Worcestershire had sent in at number three in spite his batting average only being 25 to his scalp bag, taking a return catch to get him for 22. That was the end of Gloucestershire’s successes. Adam Hose at number four was unbeaten on 4 at the end, with Lategan’s opening partner, veteran Jake Libby, unbeaten on 107 in an eight wicket win. The single worst feature of a horrible innings for Gloucestershire was the performance of Sai Kishore, an Indian international left arm spinner. Kishore should have been his team’s most dangerous bowler on the final afternoon and evening of a four day fixture, but his actual figures were 18-2-79-0 – wicketless and costing four and half runs an over.
CROSS PUTS LANCASHIRE IN CONTROL
Kate Cross has recently announced that she will be retiring from professional cricket at the end of the season. Today she reminded those who needed just what a fine player the game will be losing. She soon had Hampshire three down cheaply, her share of the damage being 3-11 midway through her fourth over. She added another wicket at the end of the Hampshire innings. The south coast side had a meagre 223 from 48.4 overs, and Cross had 4-33 from 9.4 overs. Lancashire are handling the chase well as I write this and I expect that they will win quite comfortably.
A look back at the portion of Somerset v Essex that I was able to follow after the test match concluded so early, and a photo gallery.
Today is the final day of a round of county championship fixtures. With the test match at Headingley between England and Pakistan failing to go the distance (see here) I have been focussing instead on Somerset v Essex at Taunton.
AN INTERESTING DECISION
I started to follow this match when Somerset, having produced a mighty first innings score, were bowling Essex out cheaply in their first innings. As always when such a possibility arises there was speculation over whether or not the follow-on should be enforced. I felt, as did veteran Somerset commentator Anthony Gibson, that they should do so. I thought their best chance of winning was to bowl Essex out again, and I did not think that Essex with a deficit of 311 to overturn were remotely likely to be able build a winning lead and have time to bowl Somerset out a second time. In the event Somerset themselves also reckoned that putting Essex back in was the right thing to do.
A HUGE PARTNERSHIP
Essex lost their third wicket at 127, still 184 short of avoiding the innings defeat. At that point Charlie Allison and Matt Critchley joined forces for what proved to be a very long partnership. At the close of day three Essex were 314-3, three runs ahead overall, with the pair still in occupation. Although Essex had done superbly to get into that position I still felt only two results were on, a draw if Essex kept batting well and a win if they did not. In the event Jack Leach had a magnificent morning for Somerset, gaining the reward that his hard graft through the Essex innings had earned him. By lunch he had figures of 53-21-77-5, four of those wickets in the morning session. Essex were 394-7, 83 ahead, and their best remaining hope was Simon Harmer, mainly an off spinner but also a very useful lower order batter.
THE CLOSING STAGES
Leach, the hero of the fourth morning, left the field injured early in the afternoon, but young off spinner Archie Vaughan claimed the last three wickets, clean bowling Shane Snater, having Harmer inside edge one into the stumps for another ‘bowled’ in the scorebook and finally pinning Porter, a genuine number 11 (FC batting average 6.39) LBW to end the Essex second innings on 412, a lead of 101. Smaller totals than that have been defended over the years – way back in the 1930s Essex themselves once defended 54, bowling Yorkshire out for 33, to give just one example, but Essex would need to strike hard and early to win. They got one thing right, giving Harmer, their best hope on this fourth day pitch, the new ball. However their field setting for their star off spinner was awry – the fielder on the boundary square of the wicket on the offside was wasted, since they could only come into play if Harmer bowled short, which he was never likely to do. Harmer himself should probably have insisted on that fielder being deployed elsewhere. Somerset started the chase very brightly, having 50 on the board before the end of the seventh over. Harmer did pick up the wickets of Josh Thomas for 31 and Lewis Goldsworthy for 6 but Kiwi international Henry Nicholls ensured that there would be no nonsense, scoring an unbeaten 18 and staying with Tom Lammonby (39 not out) while the winning runs were scored. Scorecard here. This very impressive win means that Somerset are now third in the table behind Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
You will need to look close due to excellence of the camouflage, but there is a small green creature on the leaf. A Little Egret with its wings fully spread out in flight, low over the Nar outfall.The Egret, now wading in the water of the Nar Outfall.Possibly a Ruddy Darter or possibly some other species of damsel or dragonfly perched on a big green leaf overlooking the Gaywood river.
An account of the test (mis)match between England and Pakistan at Headingley that ended in a crushing victory for the home side before tea on day three, and a photo gallery.
Just after 3:30PM today Mohammad Abbas, a true bunny with the bat, miscued a drive against Jofra Archer and Dan Lawrence took the catch. That meant that England had won the first match of Joe Root’s second term as test captain by an innings and 103 runs. This post looks back at a match that was propelled as far as day three only by the weather.
THE FIRST INNINGS
Joe Root won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat. Salman Agha, standing in as captain due the absence of the injured Babar Azam, perpetrated the classic and pathetic toss loser’s ploy of saying he would have batted first anyway (particularly unimpressive since his rival skipper probably knows as much about conditions at Headingley as anyone currently playing the game). Pakistan lost two wickets almost before the match had started, but Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique had a good partnership for the third wicket, the first and only time of the match when Pakistan looked decent. Imam-ul-Haq was out with the score at 97, which brought Saud Shakeel, who has a fine test record but has never yet batted convincingly outside Asia. He never really got going, and his dismissal for a tortured 5, followed closely by that of Shafique for 61 heralded a horrendous collapse, which saw a high water mark of 117-3 turn into 171 all out. Josh Tongue had 5-46 from 9.1 overs, and Ollie Robinson 5-51 from 18 overs.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Neither England opener particularly distinguished themselves, though Emilio Gay played nicely for his 33 until his dismissal which was a shocker. Jordan Cox and Joe Root batted well and took England to the close of day one still only two down, and not very far short of a first innings lead. Their efforts were followed on day two by fine innings from Harry Brook, who, while still scoring fast (almost a run a ball), was not at any stage guilty of the kind of craziness that has too often marred his efforts of late, and Dan Lawrence, who showed that, given the opportunity to bat in the middle of the order as he does at county level, he is capable of producing the goods at a higher level. Pakistan had plenty to worry about, with their seam attack looking toothless and their fielding being frankly slipshod. I did not keep count of the number of times that a Pakistan fielder effectively escorted the ball to the boundary rather than actually chasing it but it was substantial. The only bright spot for them was left arm spinner Ali Usman who took 5-95, but even he bowled rather too many bad balls alongside the good ones – only one of the 24 overs he bowled in the innings was a maiden. Yorkshire at one time had a production line of left arm spinners, with the county producing over the years Edmund Peate, Bobby Peel, Wilfred Rhodes, Alonzo Drake, Roy Kilner, Hedley Verity and Johnny Wardle (of the seven players listed only Drake, baulked by a combination of the outbreak of WWI and poor health – he took 85 first class wickets in the last two months of the 1914 season and was dead from a weak heart by the time cricket resumed in 1919 – did not play for England). England ended up with a score of 409, a first innings lead of 238.
THE PAKISTAN SECOND INNINGS
By lunch on day three (today) Pakistan were 59-3, needing 179 more to avoid an innings defeat. That soon became 76-6, with Tongue adding the scalps of Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel (14 this time round) and Salman Agha to his five first innings victims. The rest of the innings boiled down to tail enders attempting to stay with Mohammad Rizwan while the Pakistan keeper did most of the scoring. Rizwan had scored 41 and batted reasonably impressively when Gus Atkinson bowled him, which made the score 131-9. Mohammad Abbas, whose position at number 10 is devastatingly revealing of the batting (in)capacities of his team mate Mohammad Ali, the number 11, hit one four before suffering the dismissal referred to in the introduction. Pakistan in their second innings had survived only 37.3 overs, and had batted only 85.4 overs in the match. England’s sole innings occupied 89.5 overs. These details mean that but for the rain that interrupted both the first two days there would not even have been a day three.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I start my usual sign off with a composite picture…
On the left of this image is a black and white Edwardian era postcard showing the west door of Fakenham Church, which I imaged at work, and on the right is a photograph of the same door taken by me after work yesterday. The door itself has been changed at some point in the last 120-odd years, but there is not much change otherwise.
Now for the image gallery…
This is the earliest confirmed date I yet have for a postcard – the postmark reveals it as being sent on June 20th 1899.Another one with a late Victoria stamp.An impressively large snail, drawn into the open by rainfall.As the epic rain of Thursday afternoon gave way to sunshine in the early evening this appeared over North Lynn (five pics, the last a close-up of one section).
A look back at yesterday’s finals of The Hundred and a photo gallery.
This years edition of The Hundred came to an end yesterday with a pair of finals that apart from the presence of Trent Rockets sides in both matches were about as different as could be. This post looks back at the day.
TOTAL DOMINATION
In the Women’s match Trent Rockets won the toss and told Sun Risers Leeds to bat first. Sun Risers were 24-3 after 19 balls. Then Annabel Sutherland and Deepti Sharma hinted at a revival, before Sharma fell at the exact halfway point of the innings, bowled by Charley Phillips for 12, to make it 56-4. Four balls and two runs later Sutherland was on her way back to the dugout, stumped by Mooney off Adams for 25. Jess Jonassen negotiated her first two balls carefully, but was then run out, Georgia Adams’ fine throw being well gathered by Georgia Elwiss who broke the stumps to make it 58-6. Samantha Bates clean bowled Darcey Carter for a duck to make it 62-7. Dani Gibson and Kate Cross fought hard, but shortly after skipper Gibson had become only the second player to cross 20 in what was turning into a horror show of a batting performance, she gave Kim Garth a catch off Ash Gardner to make it 82-8. With no recognized batters left run scoring became very slow, and eventually Cross had a wild cross-batted swipe at one from Georgia Adams, missed and was bowled to make it 88-9 from 87 balls. Four balls and three runs later an innings that barely got started was at an end, Cassidy McCarthy pinned LBW for 2 by Samantha Bates to make it 91 all out from 91 balls. Sophia Dunkley at the top of the Rockets order continued her majestic form this tournament, moving her aggregate past 300 in the course of the innings, well supported by Beth Mooney. Mooney by her own stratospheric standards had had a quiet tournament with the bat, but she has a habit of delivering when it really counts, and being well aware that the only way her opponents could win this was by taking ten wickets she settled in to bat through at one end. Although Dunkley and number three Natalie Sciver-Brunt were out in the space of four balls, the game was as good as done by then. Dunkley had scored 41 from 23 balls, with four fours and two sixes, while the current England captain had 4 from two balls. The score at her dismissal was 74-2 from 43 balls. Gardner joined Mooney, and the two Aussies were absolutely ruthless in executing the last part of the job, taking 11 more balls to score 18 runs needed for the win. Rockets had won by eight wickets with a barely credible 46 balls to spare. They have been the best team at this tournament, and have improved as it went along. Full scorecard here.
A BATTLE ROYAL
In the men’s match Manchester Super Giants won the toss and told Trent Rockets to bat first. Rockets made a blistering start, lost wickets in the middle of their innings, and were then given hope by some big hitting from Lewis Gregory (32 from 16 balls) and Craig Overton (11 from five balls). They tallied 158-8, a fine but not unassailable score. Tim Seifert was in tremendous form for the Super Giants. He and Paul Walter kicked off the chase with a stand of 66 in 31 balls. Jos Buttler, the leading career run scorer in T20 history, then weighed in with 23 off 14 balls, his dismissal making the score 100-2 from 55 balls. Third to go was Seifert, caught by Billings off Aamir for 72 (38) with the score at 136 from 78 balls. 23 off 22 balls is normally considered a walk in the park in this format, but Super Giants made hard work of it. In the end Liam Dawson hit the 98th ball of their innings for six to get them over the line. Scorecard here. In their own ways both these matches were well worth following, the first because although it took any suspense out of the occasion the sheer brilliance of the Trent Rockets women, who did just about everything right and controlled their final from beginning to end was compelling of itself, and the second because it was a grand fight between two strong sides neither of whom would yield an inch.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This small butterfly is not familiar to me. Its colouring is very distinctive and impressibe.This was a huge fungus or piece of fungus floating on the Gaywood river.
A look back at yesterday’s Hundred Eliminator matches and a photo gallery.
Yesterday afternoon and evening at The Oval saw the Eliminator matches in T he Hundred. This post looks back at both matches.
SOUTHERN BRAVE V SUN RISERS LEEDS
Brave had tailed off after a superb start to the season, while Sun Risers had qualified at the last gap, by winning their final group match. Brave had the best bowling unit in the tournament but their batting had largely not fired. This match encapsulated their season. They managed only 114 from their 100 balls, and although they got both their opponents Australian superstars, Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland, cheaply they never looked like defending an inadequate total. Thus it will Sun Risers Leeds taking on Trent Rockets at Lord’s tomorrow.
MANCHESTER SUPERGIANTS V SUN RISERS LEEDS
Manchester Super Giants were put into bat, and responded brilliantly. ‘Tall Paul’ Walter who began his career as a bowler who could bat but has morphed in the last couple of years into a highly proficient opening batter who only bowls occasionally played a superb innings, and found explosive support from Heinrich Klaasen. Walter with 80 off 46 balls including three fours and eight sixes was the rock on which a massive score was built, while Klaasen with 63 from just 26 balls, with six fours and four sixes had at one point put them in a position from which 200+ was a possibility. In the end they managed 186-4, a formidable total in this format. ‘The Bison’, also known as Mitchell Marsh, and Zak Crawley were both out cheaply in reply, but Ryan Rickelton and Harry Brook had a fine partnership. Once Brook was out for 49, pinned LBW by Sonny Baker no one else really threatened, though Liam Patterson-White and Tom Lawes each produced entertaining cameos with the match already lost. Patterson-White, sixth out, was the fourth victim of Josh Tongue, to go with Marsh, Crawley and Dan Lawrence. Super Giants had used their seamers to effectively terminate the Sun Risers challenge, and now Liam Dawson, not used at all in the first 90 balls of the innings, bowled all of the last ten. He claimed the wicket of Brydon Carse, and conceded 13 runs. Sun Risers ended on 166-7, beaten by exactly 20 runs. In a massive scoring match Josh Tongue’s 4-26 from 20 balls was a deserving winner of ‘match hero’. It will therefore by Manchester Super Giants v Trent Rockets (Rockets won both the women’s and men’s league stages and thus qualified direct into both finals) in the men’s final at Lord’s tomorrow evening.
A look at the league stage of The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
Welsh Fire have just been MI London in the last group match of the Women’s Hundred, a result that meant that MI London were left holding the wooden spoon.
THE STANDINGS
The Hundred is an eight team league with a mini-knockout phase at the end. To qualify for the knockouts you have to finish in the top three, which I agree with for an eight team league. The group winners go straight into the final, while second place will host third place in The Eliminator. Some eight team leagues allow the whole top half of the table to qualify for KOs, and there was a brief period when one franchise league that I won’t name and shame even had five teams out of eight qualify for knock outs, meaning that a team with an overall losing record could still be playing KOs after the league stage, clearly ridiculous. A full table can be viewed here.
Manchester Super Giants, relegated to fourth place yesterday, have been a little unfortunate – one game at this tournament was rained out without a ball being bowled and it so happens that this sole ‘no result’ of the tournament involved them. Trent Rockets, runaway winners, with seven wins from their eight games, have absolutely earned their progress straight into the final. Southern Brave started brilliantly but have floundered at the finish, and in the end have had to settle for third, pipped at the post by Sun Risers Leeds, who have the same playing record but a better net run rate. Welsh Fire, victorious against London Spirit in today’s first match took fifth place, with Spirit sixth. MI London managed a mere 120 against Birmingham Phoenix, and although Phoenix struggled early on a big stand between Ellyse Perry (the matchwinner with an unbeaten 62 from 39 balls) and Fatima Sana put the matter beyond doubt.
Focussing specifically on the three teams whose season is not over, Rockets lost their first match but have peeled off seven straight wins since then and looked better as the tournament has progressed. Sun Riser Leeds came good at the right time, while Southern Brave have had a late tournament dip. Brave have an excellent bowling unit but a workaday batting unit, and their relative weakness in this department may cost them in the KOs.
Overall this has been a pretty good tournament, though I have concerns about the way some of the non-international English players are being treated. Lucy Higham of London Spirit, a fine off spinner, has been effectively treated as a specialist fielder. Today they fared so poorly with the bat that she actually got an innings, but her bowling, her strong suit, remained unused.
PHOTOGRAPHS
On Heritage Open Day (September 13th) I will doing the 2-4PM shift at The Secret Garden, Hampton Court, a site I know pretty well. My usual sign off…
A look back at London Spirit v Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
Today has been a double double header day in The Hundred. I missed most of the first match due it also being a WNAG adults pizza making session. The second between the London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix women’s sides has just ended. This post looks back at that match. In the other game the most noteworthy contribution came from Phoebe Litchfield, who reached 50 off 22 balls, the joint second quickest in the competition’s history behind her own 20 ball 50 described here.
THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS
London Spirit achieved a respectable score largely thanks to Marizanne Kapp. Amy Jones scored 39 at the top of the order, but it was Kapp who provided the vital acceleration, her 57 not out coming from 28 balls and propelling Spirit to 140-4. Of the London Spirit players who were in the XI but did not get to bat two, Deandra Dottin and Lucy Higham would end up not bowling either. Higham is an excellent fielder, but it was rough on her that she was not used for anything else – she is a fine bowler and can handle a bat. Dottin should probably not have been picked at all for this one – with both sides already eliminated this was a prime opportunity to give some of the squad players some game time.
THE PHOENIX REPLY
Phoenix barely got going at all, and at no stage did they even look like being up with the rate. We were treated to the bizarre spectacle of Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont, both at their best opening the innings, and that in longer format games than 100 balls per side, forming a middle order partnership with almost two per ball needed when they joined forces. In the end Phoenix limped to 108-8, beaten by 32 runs. Charlie Dean 3-17 from 20 balls, but it was Kapp, with 1-10 from 15 balls to set alongside her blazing half century who was rightly named ‘Match Hero’. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A hummingbird hawkmoth (two pics)This unfortunate muntjac was in the stretch of the Gaywood between Highgate and Wyatt Street, the second time I have recently seen a muntjac carcase in that stretch of water. The pizza pics start here – this shows the dough in the early stages – I have just started to work it and it looks a bit like a fried egg.The final pizza – and it was splendid.
A look back at yesterday’s match in The Hundred (women’s), a link to a quiz and a photo gallery.
Yesterday in The Hundred Birmingham Phoenix were in action against Sun Risers Leeds. Neither match went well for the Birmingham outfit. This post looks back at the women’s match.
AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT GOING
Only two members of the Birmingham Phoenix XI reached double figures. The worst aspect of a sorry display was what happened in the final 20 balls. After 80 balls Phoenix were a not very impressive 89-4, but with Emma Lamb going well, and Annerie Dercksen at the crease with her they were not yet in a hopeless position. A strong finish could have got them to 125 or thereabouts, which would at least have meant that the run chase was not a complete formality. They actually managed 18-5 from those 20 balls, ending on 107-9, which was never going to be enough.
PHOENIX INCINERATED LITCHFIELD STYLE
The only setback Sun Risers Leeds suffered was the loss of Bryony Smith for 12 which made it 24-1 from 15 balls. Thereafter Phoebe Litchfield played a quite brilliant innings, with sensible support from the vastly experienced Lauren Winfield-Hill. By the time Sun Risers won, by nine wickets with a massive 31 balls to spare Litchfield had amassed 71 not out from 33 balls, with 13 fours and one six, overshadowing all else in the match in the process, while Winfield-Hill had scored 26 not out from 27 balls never looking in any trouble. Scorecard here. This hammering not only eliminated Phoenix, it also ensured that London Spirit would make no further progress in the competition and dotted the Is and crossed the Ts on MI London’s elimination, which in most minds had been confirmed for some days. Southern Brave and Trent Rockets are duking it out for top spot, with the latter now favourites to take to it, while Manchester Super Giants, Welsh Fire and Sun Risers Leeds are battling for the third qualifying spot, with the first named currently holding the advantage, though that could change fairly soon if Southern Brave manage to chase down their total of 139-4.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before I present my gallery I have a quiz I created for funtrivia.com to share with you – it is a photo quiz about King’s Lynn landmarks (and you do not have to sign up for the site to play it – many play as guests).
A look back at today’s early game between the Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire women’s sides, a contest that was very intriguing because both sides played badly. Also a photo gallery.
Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. The early women’s match featured Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire in action at Old Trafford. This post looks back at that match.
MANCHESTER SUPER GIANTS INNINGS
Manchester Super Giants started badly and got worse. With one ball of her allocation to go Irish medium pacer Orla Prendergast was on for the best figures in this year’s Hundred (women’s), with 4-14 against her name at that point. Had that last delivery been a wicket, a dot or a single she would have displaced Ashleigh Gardner’s 4-16. As it was the delivery was edged for four, somewhat unjustly depriving her of this landmark, leaving her with 4-18 overall. The innings ended with number 11 Bex Tyson showing up her more renowned colleagues by hitting a four over cover and then scoring a single. Manchester Super Giants had limped to 85-9, which should never have come close to being a defensible total…
MAKING A BANQUET OF AN EASY TASK
Welsh Fire were barely any more impressive than their opponents had been with the bat. At 64-4 from 68 balls and with Ecclestone, Super Giants’ most dangerous bowler having only two balls left Fire looked in control, unimpressive as their efforts had been. Then, off Ecclestone’s penultimate ball Georgia Wareham let fly and was caught by Meg Lanning for 17 (12). Had she played Ecclestone out the match would have been effectively settled. Ecclestone ended with a dot ball and figures of 3-14 from her 20 balls. Scoring was now painfully slow, and when Grace Thompson was run out in bizarre fashion, setting off for a run only for bowler Kathryn Bryce to pick the ball up and return it to the keeper for her to be run out, and then two balls later Niamh Holland was out bowled by the Scot for a duck it was 76-7 from 83 balls and there was just a hint that Fire could somehow contrive to lose this one. Rhianna Southby, the Fire keeper, who had been impeccable in her main role, including a very smart stumping to account for Ecclestone, now came in and hit a four to ease the pressure. After two dots balls she added another, and though the match had limped into its final 10 balls only two runs were now needed for the win. Heather Graham now struck a boundary off Mady Villiers to finish things with nine balls and three wickets to spare, but Fire had done it the hard way. Prendergast’s 4-18 got her the ‘Match Hero’ award, though personally I would have honoured Southby for a blemish-free keeping performance and her sensible batting when it looked her side were making a Horlicks of the chase. Few if any of the other 21 players involved could point to an unblemished performance. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This insect, which I believe to be a ‘leaf miner’ was on the topside of the leaf when I spotted it and moved to the underside while I was preparing to photograph it. This either a very large wasp or a small hornet.
A look back at this afternoon’s match between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s teams, which confirmed the elimination of the former. Also a photo gallery.
Today has been a double double header in The Hundred. This post looks back at the game between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s sides earlier this afternoon.
AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT STARTED
Sometimes when looking back at an ultimately losing batting performance one can point to a slow start, sometimes to a falling away at the finish. On this occasion everything about the MI London innings was wrong. The dominant figure was Sophie Ecclestone, the tall left arm spin bowler. Ecclestone bowled the first ten balls of the match straight through, and in that period dismissed both openers for the total cost of a single. When a catch by Grace Ballinger off Ryana MacDonald-Gay accounted for MI London skipper Hollie Armitage for 18 the score was 37-4 from 48 balls. Kira Chathli actually did score at above a run a ball, but she was fifth out with the score at 60, caught by Ecclestone off Kathryn Bryce. Nicola Carey got to third top score of 17, but her dismissal, to another catch by Ecclestone, this time off Macdonald-Gay made 78-6 from 82 balls. Chinelle Henry briefly offered hope of a late revival but her dismissal to a catch by Lanning off Brown ended even those modest hopes, and in the end MI London were all out for 92 from the 99th ball of their innings. Only a two off the last ball of her allocation denied Ecclestone the cheapest figures for a full 20 ball allocation in the history of The Hundred (women’s) – those two runs were the sixth and seventh she conceded in the innings, leaving Lauren Bell’s 4-6 still in possession of the palm. As well as two wickets and the two catches already detailed it was Ecclestone’s throw that ran out Tara Norris for a duck.
A FORMALITY OF A CHASE
The Manchester Super Giants opening pair of Meg Lanning and Smriti Mandhana kicked off with a rapid opening stand of 73 that exposed just how utterly abject the MI London innings had been. Although there was a mini-clatter of wickets once this stand was ended, the back of the chase had long since been broken. It fell to Mady Villiers to make the winning hit, a boundary of the 72nd ball of the innings that gave MSG the win with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. MI London came into this match ensconced in the last chance saloon, with last orders having been called, and the barmaid being busy wiping down those tables not yet in use, and their horror-show performance confirmed the end of a challenge that had never really begun. It is ironic given how the involvement of IPL people and money has been hyped up that the first side officially eliminated is one that has been IPL-rebranded. There was only one candidate for Player of the Match/ ‘Match Hero’, Sophie Ecclestone, who was duly so named. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A small green beetle in a very pale pink flower not far from the train station.I have never previously seen starlings on what I call ‘Cormorant Platform’, but yesterday a vast number of them took a mid-flight pause there, and this picture and the next two are a result of that.A female house sparrow ensconced in the branches of a buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge.A pied wagtail prospecting for insects at Loke Road Rec – the state of the grass tells you how little rain we have had here recently.Five insects here – four, the three on the right as you look and the one on the left are some species of yellow and black beetle. The small one in the centre I cannot work out at all.I am not sure of the species but this is a butterfly of the ‘leaf mimic’ type, looking passably similar to a withered brown leaf.A comma butterfly visiting my garden (two pics) at just the right time to become part of this gallery!
aspiblog 