cricket – Page 10

South Africa Champions at Last

A look back at the three and a bit days over which the South Africa men’s cricket team finally and decisively shed the chokers tag they had carried for over quarter of a century, and a photo gallery.

At 12:46 today, Saturday 14 June, Kyle Verreynne scored the single that completed a win by five wickets for South Africa over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s. This post looks back at the match.

DAY ONE

Both sides were stronger in bowling than in batting, so even though there was potential trouble ahead from Lyon getting to use a fourth innings pitch it was no great surprise that South Africa opted to bowl first when they won the toss. South Africa provides probably the best conditions in the world for fast bowling, and that was reflected by the presence in their ranks of Rabada, Jansen and Ngidi plus Wiaan Mulder as fourth seamer, with Keshav Maharaj the only front line spinner, with Markram a part time off spinner. Rabada in particular bowled superbly on the opening day, and when Australia were all out for 212 it looked like South Africa were well placed. However, they had a tricky session of batting to navigate before the close, and did not do so very well. By the end of the day they were 43-4 and most of the good work of their bowlers looked to have been undone.

DAY TWO

I missed almost the whole of this day due to being at work. However, I know that Cummins was in particularly fine form, and that South Africa were all out for 138, a deficit of 74 on first innings. South Africa hit back hard by reducing the Australian second innings to 73-7. However the character of the match changed from this point – the eighth wicket stand yielded 61. By the close Australia were 144-8, an overall advantage of 218, and it was already known that South Africa would need the largest total of the match in the final innings thereof.

DAY THREE

I missed the first part of this day’s play as I was attending a first aid training course in the dockside area of King’s Lynn, somewhere I have never previously had occasion to visit. A long final wicket partnership between Starc and Hazlewood had left South Africa needing 282 to win. Ryan Rickelton was out very cheaply, and Wiaan Mulder once again suggested that he was miscast as test match number three, and should probably swap batting positions with David Bedingham, managing 27 on this occasion. However, from 70-2 at the dismissal of Mulder, Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma, the South Africa captain, took complete control of the day and indeed of the match. There were precious few moments of vulnerability for either as they batted on through a sunny afternoon and evening. Markram reached his hundred just before the close, as valuable a test knock as has ever been played for South Africa, and with Bavuma solid in support the Proteas closed the day on 213-2, needing a mere 69 more to win. Markram had 102 not out to his name, Bavuma 65 noy out.

DAY FOUR

Bavuma did not last long on this morning, adding just one to his overnight tally before Cummins elicited an edge, and Carey took the catch behind the stumps. Tristan Stubbs, next in, never looked comfortable. At 241 came two big moments. First Starc appealed for LBW against Stubbs, and when it was turned down acceded to Carey’s suggestion that it be sent upstairs. Fine cricketer though he is, Carey has to be regarded as one of the worst judges of a review the DRS era has ever seen. Here, in an echo of Headingley 2019, though their opponents were rather more strongly placed than England back then, it was duly confirmed as being sufficiently clearly not out for Australia to have burned their last review. Stubbs did not benefit much personally, as Starc’s next delivery hit his stumps to make it 241-4, 41 needed. Bedingham settled in quickly, and he and Markram seemed to be heading toward the target quite serenely. The main question by now looked to be whether Markram was going to reach 3,000 test runs before the end of the match. With Markram on 136, and his career tally on 2,993, and South Africa needing just a further six he flicked a ball from Hazlewood into the on side and was caught by Travis Head. Australia unsurprisingly did not celebrate the dismissal. Wicket keeper Kyle Verreynne now came in to join Bedingham. This pair saw it home for the last few runs, with Verreynne as mentioned in the intro scoring the winning run. It has been 26 years since South Africa acquired the chokers tag. Then, in the 1999 ODI world cup a win in their last ‘Super Six’ match would have consigned Australia to an early flight home, put Zimbabwe in the semi-finals and left the tournament at the Proteas mercy. Allan Donald was the victim of a panic run out with the scores level, which meant that Australia and South Africa met again in the semi-final, and Australia did not grant South Africa an opportunity to redeem themselves, and went on to dominate the final as well. In the intervening years they have had other close calls, including in the 2024 T20 World Cup, when they need 30 from the last five overs with five wickets standing and failed to get home, largely because of some magnificent bowling by Jasprit Bumrah. Thus this is not merely a match and a trophy won for South Africa, it is much needed healing balm for some deep psychological wounds they have acquired over the years. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

One small bit of housekeeping first: I have created a page listing my series of posts about my 50th Birthday Holiday in far western Scotland in chronological order. As you may imagine I have a fairly rich trove of unused photos since my return to King’s Lynn, so today’s offering is in the nature of a highlights package…

No, this is not a carelessly discarded boiled sweet, it is a metallic shieldbug.

50th Birthday Holiday 13: Portuairk Walk

Continuing my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around my 50th birthday with the first of two posts about the day itself.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday. We have arrived at the day itself, the last full day of the holiday.

THE BIRTHDAY MORNING

Saturday May 31st started with heavy rainfall. I had brought my sister’s present to me with me so I would have something to open on the day, and my mother had brought a card from an aunt. This card is splendid, and now has its place in my collection of railwayana. The present from my sister was an incomplete scorecard from the legendary 1926 test match at The Oval, where England secured their first Ashes series win since before WWI. From the parts of the scorecard that were pre-filled in and the additions by its original owner I deduce that whoever it was attended days two and three in person but was not there for Australia’s final collapse on day four, though they definitely knew about it since at the bottom of the scorecard there is in big red characters (probably by way of a marker pen) the result: England won by 289 runs. There is a detailed account of this match written pretty much contemporaneously since England chairman of selectors at the time Pelham Warner wrote a book about the 1926 Ashes, “The Fight For The Ashes 1926”, a copy of which is in my cricket library.

PORTUAIRK

In the afternoon the weather cleared up, and we walked to Portuairk and did some exploration of the seaside there. This helped us work up an appetite for the birthday meal, which will be the subject of the next post in the series.

PHOTOGRAPHS

To view pictures at full size click on them/ If you open the first picture in the gallery you can view all of them, including an option to do so as a slide show. Here are the photographs that relate to this post…

Humiliation at Hove

A look at last night’s T20I between the England and West indies women’s teams and a photo gallery.

Last night the England and West Indies women’s teams assembled at Hove for the second match in a three match T20 series. This post tells the story of what happened.

HOW NOT TO HANDLE A T20I INNINGS

England won the toss and chose to bowl first. They named an unchanged XI, while for the West Indies Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle returned to action after injuries. As early as the fourth over it was possible to forecast the final result. With the second ball of that over Em Arlott clean bowled Hayley Matthews, and such is the extent to which West Indies depend on her for runs that that really did feel like it had pretty much settled the match. England bowled well, had moments of brilliance in the field, and West Indies played like a beaten team. The bowling figures for England, who relied entirely on their front five, since at no stage was enough pressure being applied to even suggest that Capsey or the skipper Sciver-Brunt would be needed were reflective of just how little the West Indies batters did. I present them in full below:

Bell 4-0-28-3
Arlott 4-1-14-3
Smith 4-0-15-0
Dean 4-0-12-2
Wong 4-0-10-1

Arlott bowled her four overs straight through at the start of the innings, leaving West Indies in the toils. Smith’s figures are for me the key indicator of where West Indies were lacking. She is an excellent bowler, but it should not be possible for someone who is not taking wickets to go for only 15 in four overs in a T20. If you are going to bat in a T20I you have to be able to keep the scoreboard ticking even if you cannot hit boundaries on a regular basis, and West Indies blocked far too many balls.

A total of 81-9 was never going to challenge England, and even with Danni Wyatt-Hodge falling to first ball of their innings it never looked anything but straightforward. Natalie Sciver-Brunt who had had a quiet first outing as skipper now came to the fore with an unbeaten 55 off 30 balls, while Dunkley played the support role ending with 24 not out from 25 balls. England won by nine wickets and required only 9.2 of a possible 20 overs to reach the target.

Should England win the toss again in the third match I would say they should choose to bat first this time round, as with the series won this is a fine opportunity to get some practice at doing what they don’t want – no side wins every toss after all.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Going Well in Nottingham

A look at the events of the first two days of England v Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge and a photo gallery.

The second match of the Womens T20I series between England and West Indies has just got underway at Hove. Today has been the second day of a four day test match between England and Zimbabwe men’s teams at Trent Bridge. I missed most of yesterday’s play for various reasons.

MISJUDGEMENTS AT THE TOSS

Zimbabwe won the toss and inserted England. Allegedly Ben Stokes would also have bowled first had he won the toss. Whatever the reasoning behind Zimbabwe’s decision, and the one England would possibly have made, bowling first did not work out well for Zimbabwe. By the close of day one England had piled on 498-3 from 88 of a supposed minimum of 90 overs. I only caught one fairly brief passage of this day’s play, but I did get to hear Pope’s century (the third of three scored for England that day), Root’s 13,000th test run (only four others have ever reached this milestone – Dravid, Kallis and Ponting will be all in Root’s rear view mirror by the end of this season, but Tendulkar’s tally of 15,921 remains a long way off) and Pope’s 150 (he was going ballistic by this stage of proceedings, and that third 50 took only 33 balls). England continued scoring quick runs on the second morning. It was the dismissal of Brook for 58 off 50 balls, which made the score 565-6 that prompted Stokes to declare. The Zimbabwe first innings was a one man show, that man being 21 year old right handed opening batter Brian Bennett, who reached three figures off a mere 97 balls. He did not get a great deal of support from the rest of the order. He was reprieved on 89 when Root dropped a catch in the slips off Ben Stokes. Stokes was not long delayed – he took a wicket in his next over, and added a second in the course of what was a fairly brief spell. At 139 Josh Tongue had him fending a short ball into the hands of Pope at forward short leg but a call of no-ball saved him. In Tongue’s next over the same sequence of play – short ball, fend, catch by Pope, ensued and this time it was a legal delivery. Bennett’s dismissal made it 246-6, and with Richard Ngarava having injured his back while bowling and not being fit to bat it did not take terribly long to wrap the innings up. The final score was 265 all out, giving England a lead of precisely 400. In view of it being a four day match, and tomorrow’s forecast being a little dodgy Stokes had no hesitation in sending Zimbabwe in again. Bennett could duplicate his first innings form, being pinned LBW by Atkinson for 1 (it was given not out on the field, but Atkinson sent it upstairs and was proven right). Tongue then intervened with the wicket of Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine, caught by Pope at forward short leg. Sean Williams batted impressively to reach 22 not out by the close, but at 30-2 Zimbabwe are still 270 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Tale of a Launch

A look at the start of the new era of England Women’s cricket and a photo gallery.

Yesterday the new era of England Women’s cricket with Charlotte Edwards as head coach and Natalie Sciver-Brunt as captain had its first practical test in the form of a T20I against West Indies Women at Canterbury.

A NEW TEAM FOR A NEW ERA

While Heather Knight, who had resigned as skipper in the wake of her team’s disastrous tour of Australia, kept her place as a player there were some new and some returning faces in the England squad. The final line up chosen at the toss was: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, *Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight, +Amy Jones, Alice Capsey, Em Arlott (her international debut), Issy Wong, Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith and Lauren Bell. With batting all rounders at numbers 3 and 6, a wicket keeping all rounder at 5, a genuine all rounder at 7 and bowling all rounders at 8 and 9 there was depth and variety in both batting and bowling. With Dean and Smith to bowl spin (Dean off spin, Smith left arm orthodox), and Bell, Wong and Arlott to bowl seam/swing plus Capsey (off spin) and Sciver-Brunt (rightarm medium) all bases save leg spin were covered. Ecclestone is returning from a knee injury and was not picked in this squad on the ground of managing her return to full fitness, while leg spinner Sarah Glenn was in the squad but did not make the final XI. Also watching from the side lines were veteran opener Tammy Beaumont and young batting all rounder Paige Scholfield. Sciver-Brunt won the toss and put West Indies in to bat.

The pitch looked good for batting, the conditions were excellent, and there was good batting on show from Hayley Matthews, the West Indies skipper. Sadly none of her team mates were able to offer her decent support. Until wicket keeper Mandy Mangru scored a sparky 17 late in the innings no one save Matthews had managed double figures. Sciver-Brunt showed imagination in her handling of her bowlers, putting Dean on for the second over and Smith for the third, and carefully not introducing Arlott until the Power Play was done. Matthews played a magnificent innings, reaching her hundred off the final ball of the innings. As for her team mates the final West Indies tally of 146-7 sums up their efforts with no need of further comment.

This total was soon put in perspective by England, for whom Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley led off with a 50 opening stand in quick time. Sciver-Brunt kept the momentum going in partnership with Dunkley, who batted superbly. Knight, playing her first innings back in the ranks after nine years as skipper, played with wonderful freedom, outscoring even Dunkley. England won by eight wickets with 3.3 overs to spare, Dunkley 78 not out from 54 balls, Knight 43 not out from 27 balls. There will be tougher tests ahead than this West Indies side, but it was a defeat in a T20 (their last group fixture of the T20 World Cup) at West Indian hands that set the stage for the disastrous visit to Australia, in which England were whitewashed and deserved that fate. My Canterbury Tale is told and it remains only to provide…

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Concatenation of Classic Finishes

A look back at a remarkable day of cricket, including three (count ’em) classic finishes to county championship matches. Also a photo gallery.

Just over an hour and a half ago Jack Morley, Derbyshire’s number 10, kept out the fifth ball of the final possible over of the match, and with Derbyshire eight wickets down, but a long way adrift, Lancashire accepted that they were not about to capture two wickets with one legal ball left and the latest round of County Championship matches had officially ended. This was the third splendid finish to a match in very quick succession. This post looks back at the stories of this merry Monday.

THE PATTERN OF MY DAY

My morning was to a certain extent tailored around the fact that I had arranged to get myself vaccinated against the current variant of Covid-19 at 10:00. The venue for this jab, Well King’s Lynn, is on Loke Road, only a few minutes from my home by the quickest walking route, though I extended it both ways, on the way there because I also had a few things to purchase at Morrison’s, and on the way back because I was in the mood to do so, and as has always been the case with me and covid vaccinations, I did not feel so much as a hint of an unpleasant side effect. I decided that my first port of call cricket wise would be the Women’s One Day Cup match between Hampshire and Warwickshire, while also having cricinfo tabs open to follow progress in other matches, and that I would revert to the championship after this match was done. I missed the ending of Surrey versus Yorkshire, which followed a predictable course, ending with victory for Surrey by an innings and 29 runs.

A TOPSY TURVY MATCH

At first it looked like Hampshire were in charge. At one point they had reduced Warwickshire to 93-6. Abigail Freeborn was batting well, and now for the first time she found genuine support from the other end. Charis Pavely, a 20 year old who also bowls left arm orthodox spin, actually outscored Freeborn, contributing 55 to their seventh wicket stand of 97. Warwickshire captain Georgia Davis now came in and helped Freeborn to boost the final Warwickshire total to 243, and Arundel Castle is not especially noted for high scores. Freeborn just missed out on a century, being 94 not out at the end of the innings. The Hampshire openers fell cheaply, but then Charli Knott and Hampshire skipper Georgia Adams shared the biggest partnership of the match, and although Warwickshire then pegged Hampshire back once more, Mary Taylor played a little gem of an innings in the closing stages to get her side over the line with four balls to spare.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S WIN

To say that Gloucestershire have been unconvincing at Bristol in recent years is to err on the side of generosity – before today they had not won a red ball match at county HQ since 2022. They need 162 in the final innings to beat Kent, and given their poor record at Bristol in recent times they would have been quaking when their seventh wicket went down at 138. That brought Zaman Akhter in join Cameron Green. This pair picked their way towards the target, and in the event got there for no further loss. After 970 days Gloucestershire had finally won a red ball match at county HQ.

CLOSING STAGES IN PARALLEL

Glocuestershire’s triumph left two matches still in progress. At Chester-le-Street Durham had managed to get through Nottinghamshire’s second innings quick enough to leave themselves a chase of 92 in 18 overs to take the win. At Old Trafford Derbyshire had initially been looking at a potential chase against Lancashire but were by this stage hanging on grimly for the draw. By the time the Gloucestershire match finished there were under 10 overs left in both games, and Durham after being temporarily rocked back by Mohammad Abbas striking twice in the opening over were well on course for the win. Derbyshire were eight down, with Anuj Dal and Jack Morley defending gamely. Durham were 10 short of victory when Alex Lees was out, both bowler and keeper trying to get under the catch, and the latter, South African Kyle Verreynne finally claiming it. Durham promoted Brydon Carse to number five, and although Colin Ackermann reached a 50 before the end, it was Carse, like a ham actor stealing the Oscar winner’s line, who made the winning it, a straight driven four with 10 possible balls remaining. That left Derbyshire’s rearguard as the last cricket action of the day. They were into the final over there by then. Anuj Dal had clocked up 100 balls survived in the innings just before the end of the Gloucestershire match, and his score was 12 not out at the time. By the time Morley, 0* off 36, had played out the final few balls to secure the draw Dal’s final innings figures were 13* (115) – even more self denying than Hashim Amla’s 37* (273) for Surrey v Hampshire a few years ago. Ben Atchison, Derbyshire’s number nine had also contributed a 21 ball duck to the resistance act.

The three county championship match finishes described in this post illustrate just what is best about this, the oldest of all organized professional cricket competitions. At 135 years of age the County Championship is in splendid health.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This splendid beetle attracted my attention during my extended walk back from being vaccinated.

County Championship Current Round

A look at the current round of county championship fixtures, with the focus on the battle of the behemoths – Surrey v Yorkshire. Also a photo gallery.

Another round of fixtures in this year’s county championship got underway on Friday (there is one more round, some of which I will unavoidably miss) before the Vitality Blast, One Day Cup and Hundred are played, with the second half of the championship season happening after these competitions are done. This post looks at events on the first two and a half days of the current round.

SURREY v YORKSHIRE

These are the two most successful clubs in the county championship’s long history, with Surrey dominating the current era. Surrey won the toss and opted to bowl first. Yorkshire had somewhat the better of the morning session, Surrey definitely the better of the afternoon session, but what still looks getting on for two full days later like the decisive tipping point of the contest occurred midway through the evening session. Yorkshire at 237-6 were still holding their own when Bairstow, previously majestic, played a very poor shot at Dan Lawrence’s part time off spin to be caught by Tom Lawes for 89. The Yorkshire first innings folded rapidly thereafter, with only a further 18 runs accruing. Burns and Sibley made it through to the close without loss, making it definitively Surrey’s opening day.

Day two went meltingly in Surrey’s favour, and by end of it they were 384-7. There were no centuries, but both Aussie recruit Kurtis Patterson, batting at number three, and Ben Foakes at number five topped 80. Foakes was 7th out for 86, with the score at 351, but unlike Yorkshire who folded from the point their seventh wicket fell, Surrey were far from done. Jordan Clark, far better with the bat than most county number eights, now assumed control of the innings, and New Zealander Nathan Smith also played competently.

The Surrey innings lasted for slightly more than a standard length morning session on day three (as they were nine down at the scheduled interval time an extra half hour was playable in the session, and about 10 minutes thereof were actually needed. Surrey scored 512 in total, for a first innings lead of 257. They were already well ahead when their seventh wicket fell, but whereas Yorkshire had added only 18 more from that point Surrey’s last three wickets piled on 161 between them. Bean fell early in the Yorkshire innings, to the bowling of Nathan Smith. Jordan Clark, scorer of 69 in the Surrey innings, made the big breakthrough when he had Adam Lyth caught by Patterson. Since then James Wharton and Jonathan Tattersall have batted well together, and at the moment Yorkshire are 81-2, 176 runs short of avoiding the innings defeat. Given how far adrift they still are Yorkshire probably need to bat until tea time tomorrow before they can even begin to feel safe. Tattersall has just lost patience and played a loose drive at Clark resulting in a catch to Sibley. Tattersall batted 82 balls for his 12. Yorkshire are 83-3, still 174 short of avoiding the innings defeat. Bairstow, the first innings top scorer is now at the crease.

ELSEWHERE

Somerset are playing Sussex, and it is just possible that a decision to enforce the follow on when they could reasonably have gone in again (it was the afternoon of day two, and their advantage was 186, so they could justifiably have opted to bat till lunch on day three, and have five sessions in which to wrap up the Sussex second innings). As I type they need another 109 with seven second innings wickets standing. I will not condemn them even if their decision to enforce does end up backfiring, because I think too many sides have a knee-jerk aversion to going for the quick kill in these situations, often citing a need to rest the bowlers. Lancashire are in action against Derbyshire, and Lancashire’s Sir James Anderson collected three cheap wickets in his first first class bowl since being accorded that status.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Yesterday, I included a picture of a pair of butterflies that I had not been able to identify on a flower head. I have been given what I believe after checking online to be a correct identification: Large Blue or Phengaris arion. As you will see today yielded another new butterfly find…

Excitement at Exmouth

A look back at the T20 match that took place between the Somerset and Durham women’s teams and a photo gallery.

Last night in the Vitality Women’s T20 Cup Somerset Women entertained Durham Women at Exmouth. This post looks back at the second half of that match (I missed the first half, joining the action after the county championship match I was following had ended for the day).

MORE UPS AND DOWNS THAN A YO-YO

Durham Women had been restricted to 124-9 from their 20 overs with England off spinner Charlie Dean underlining her class by taking 4-12 from her four overs. This did not seem likely to test Somerset unduly, especially when Bex Odgers started like a train. Odgers scored 39 off 18 balls, of which she hit nine for fours, in an opening stand of 54 that Somerset well ahead of the rate. Odgers’ innings would prove to be the only 30+ score of the match. Once Odgers was out Somerset hit the buffers, and at low water mark were 107-9, needing 18 from two overs, with Alex Griffiths batting in company with the Somerset number 11, 19 year old Croatian Erin Vukusic. Vukusic had not a good evening, leaking 24 from two overs in a low scoring affair. However, while she did not score any herself, she partially redeemed her poor bowling by running well in support of Griffiths, who almost took Somerset home. In the end a quickly run two off the final ball levelled the scores – 124-9 for each side. As this competition is knockout one there had to be a super over. For this Somerset batted first, and former England skipper Heather Knight emerged alongside Odgers. Knight scored five off the first two balls of the over, but then Odgers was out first ball. Somerset ended with only eight from their super over. Unsurprisingly given her figures in the full match Charlie Dean took the ball for Somerset. Durham opted to trust their regular openers, Hollie Armitage and Bess Heath, and it took just three balls for this pair to punish Somerset for failing to win in regular play.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

From this picture on are highlights from today’s lunch time walk – there will be more pictures from that walk in my next post.

Beckenham Blast

An account of a remarkable match between Surrey and The Blaze at Beckenham in the Women’s One Day Cup, and a photo gallery.

On Wednesday the Women’s One Day Cup saw Surrey entertain The Blaze (I am not sure why they have been allowed to continue under that name while all other such names disappeared in the close season reforms to women’s domestic cricket in England and Wales) at Beckenham. This post looks back at a remarkable day.

AN UNUSUAL VENUE

Shrewd observers may have already noted that the ground at Beckenham is officially known as The Kent County Ground, making this not in actuality a Surrey home game. Beckenham is only just Kent rather than Southeast London, and I presume Kent raised no objection to the venue being used for a Surrey home game.

TWISTS AND TURNS

The Blaze batted well, though no one made a really massive score. There was a fluent 80 from Amy Jones opening the batting, 56 from Scotland all rounder Kathryn Bryce, 82 off just 67 balls from Georgia Elwiss, and a rapid 34 from Scotland wicket keeper batter Sarah Bryce. They racked up 346-9 in total, a fine score, but at Beckenham, with its flat pitch and lightning fast outfield not necessarily a winning one. Ryana McDonald-Gay was the most economical Surrey bowler with 1-53 from her ten overs. Leg spinner Dani Gregory was the most penetrative, with 3-63 from eight overs.

Surrey lost Dunkley for 20, but then Capsey played a superb innings. The problem was she did not get enough support. Danni Wyatt-Hodge scored an aggressive 43 off 40 balls, while Paige Scholfield was even more aggressive for her 37off 31 balls, 24 of those runs coming in the form of sixes. After Scholfield’s dismissal Davidson-Richards, Chathli, Franklin and Moore all went fairly cheaply (Franklin’s 17 was the best score by any of these four). At 227-7, with McDonald-Gay, definitely more bowler than batter coming in to join Capsey, and only Alexa Stonehouse and Dani Gregory, the second as close to a genuine number 11 as you will see in 21st century professional cricket still to come it looked like the Blaze had secured the points. McDonald-Gay helped Capsey to add 65 for the eighth wicket. Stonehouse also offered support, but at 307, with Surrey still 39 adrift Capsey’s great knock ended for 125. Gregory rose to the occasion and batted above her usual station, but the real revelation was Stonehouse from number 10 in the order. By the time the final over started not only were the last pair still there, they had somehow reduced the runs needed to nine. Stonehouse hit the first ball of that final over for four and the heist looked on. The next four balls saw five needed off five balls turn into two needed off one, or one for a tie (there are no ‘super overs’ in this competition, so a tie would mean a share of the points), with Gregory, the number 11, on strike. In the event Gregory managed the single that split the points, and since each side had scored 346-9 from their 50 overs. This was the highest scoring tie in the history of women’s List A cricket. I suspect that Elwiss, who had followed her 82 with the bat by taking 3-35 from seven overs and taking the catch that dismissed McDonald-Gay would have been named Player of the Match for her all round contribution, though Capsey’s innings also deserves credit. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHY

My usual sign off…

I thought this picture of three green insects on the head of a daisy was going to be my feature image…

A Result Unique to Cricket

A look at the draw in cricket (some other sports also use that term for a result but none use it in the way cricket does), with two very different examples from the most recent round of county championship fixtures. Also a large photo gallery.

While cricket is not the only sport to use the word ‘draw’, the way that word is used in cricket is different from in any other sport. In cricket the draw covers any situation in which neither team has been able to win within the allotted time. Ties are rare in cricket because to be a tie the side batting second has to lose its final wicket with the scores level – if times runs out with scores level, as happened in the “We flippin’ murdered ’em” test match between Zimbabwe and England, when then coach David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, exasperated by Zimbabwe getting away with bowling deliberately wide because the umpires obtusely stuck to test match rules regarding wides, flipped his lid in the immediate aftermath of the result being confirmed. This post looks at two very different draws from the last round of county championship fixtures by way of illustrating the sheer range of match situations that can come under the heading of ‘drawn’ in the game of cricket.

EDGBASTON – THE ULTIMATE IN STALEMATES

Warwickshire hosted Surrey, winners of the last three county championships, in this round of fixtures, and as far I am concerned the surface the Edgbaston ground staff offered up for the occasion tells its own story about Warwickshire’s level of ambition for this match: they wanted a high scoring draw, from which each side would accrue a respectable haul of points, since they did not believe they could beat Surrey. Rory Burns won the toss for Surrey but then put Warwickshire in to bat. Warwickshire batted for the first five sessions of the match, piling up 665-5 declared. By the end of the third of the four scheduled days Surrey were nine down, with Ben Foakes and Matther Fisher together at the crease. Had Warwickshire got the final wicket early on the fourth morning they may have been able to make life hard for Surrey in the follow-on. In the event, even with the half hour extension permitted when a side is nine down at the lunch interval, Warwickshire did not get the wicket at all that morning. By the time Fisher was finally last out for 40 Foakes had gone to a career best 174 not out, and Surrey had topped 500, having batted 178 overs. They had not quite done enough to avoid the follow on, which Warwickshire enforced as they had to. The Surrey second innings was barely underway by tea time, at which point Jupiter Pluvius, clearly as unimpressed by the pitch and the farce of a match that resulted as I was, intervened, enabling a game that had pretty much been DOA to be officially put out of its misery. I hope that Warwickshire get a points deduction for preparing such a surface – it was blatantly unfit for a four day game, since it would have taken eight days at a minimum to generate a result on it.

CHELMSFORD – ALIVE TO THE LAST POSSIBLE BALL

When Essex resumed overnight on 64-4, 456 adrift of a gargantuan victory target this match did not look like being a great one. However, the overnight pair of Critchley and Pepper held the fort until the stroke of tea when Pepper was out. Two more wickets immediately post tea, Thain and Critchley, left it up to South African Simon Harmer, mainly noted for being the best off spinner currently playing county cricket, but also a very useful lower order batter to shepherd the tail if Essex were to escape with a draw. When Rajitha was out just in to the last hour (and we were dealing in time by then because a combination of Essex being committed to defence and spinners bowling for Yorkshire meant that way more than the scheduled minimum number of overs was being bowled) Jamie Porter, with a career batting average of six, joined Harmer for the last stand. The last over of the match, which Yorkshire just managed to sneak in, getting it underway at 17:59 on day four, one minute before the scheduled close, Dom Bess’ 38th of the innings, the 133rd in all, and the 106th that Yorkshire bowled on that final day began with Porter on strike, but the Essex number 11 managed a single, just the second run of his innings, off the first ball thereof which meant that Harmer was back on strike. Harmer played out the remaining five balls, and Essex, 273-9 and still 247 short of the winning target had held out for the draw in a very exciting finish. Yorkshire might have been less cautious about their second innings declaration, but when they had Essex four down overnight it looked as though they had more than made up for any overcaution about that declaration, and Essex deserve credit for the way they fought through to that draw.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on All Time XIs – Detective…
	All Time XIs –… on The Museum Detectives