Tag: dragonflies

England in Command at Lord’s

A look at what is happening in the test match at Lord’s when the rain relents enough for anything to be happening, and a photo gallery.

The second test match of a three match series between the England and Pakistan men’s teams is in progress at Lord’s. Today is the third day, and even with some quite significant disruption by the weather it is against the odds that this game will reach day five. This post looks at what has happened so far.

DAY ONE

I had expected to miss pretty much the whole of day one due to work, but weather interruptions meant that I got to hear some of it once I was home from work. England reached 248-9 in difficult conditions, which looked pretty respectable especially given the known frailty of the Pakistan batting.

DAY TWO

Yesterday began with the last England pair, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue, batting entertainingly. They advanced the score by 42 at pretty much a run a minute before Atkinson was last out for 45. Imam-ul-Haq had picked up a calf strain, and somewhat surprisingly did not bat at all. With the exception of Azan Awais, who fought hard, and got into the 40s, no one batted at all well for Pakistan in the face of some excellent England bowling. Ollie Robinson was almost unhittably accurate, recording figures of 13-6-11-4, while Jofra Archer bowled with lightning speed to record 11.2.-1-26-3. Josh Tongue picked up a couple of wickets, while Atkinson was wicketless. Pakistan had managed a beggarly 110 all out giving England a first innings lead of 180. By the close England were 81-3, 261 ahead, and the match already looked beyond Pakistan’s reach.

TODAY

Rain against disrupted things, and it was not until 2:20PM that play that could underway. Emilio Gay, unbeaten on 30 overnight, got an unplayable ball from Mohammad Abbas – it shot straight along the ground to pin him LBW. Abbas has since then added the wickets of Brook for 34, and Jamie Smith for 7, but Lawrence is batting well on 37, and Atkinson has just started his innings, on 7 not out, with a nice four off Abbas. England are 162-6, a lead of 342 overall, and certainly more than they are likely to need. England will be hoping there aren’t too many more interruptions, while Pakistan need something Noachian to save them. As I type rain has just intervened again.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I saw this dead fish in the pond nearest to my house.
A ruddy darter
A ‘hornet hoverfly’.
A painted lady
A close up of a ruddy darter

A Comprehensive Win for Somerset

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.

A Tale of Sophie and Sophia

A look at the women’s match between Manchester Super Giants and Trent Rockets in The Hundred today and a photo gallery.

Today in the Hundred the Manchester Super Giants are playing Trent Rockets. The women’s match has already happened, and this post looks back at it.

THE TRENT ROCKETS INNINGS

The home side won the toss and as everyone always seems to in this competition they chose to bowl first. Although the legend that is Beth Mooney failed on this occasion, bowled by Grace Ballinger for 2 that early setback was followed by a superb partnership between Sophia Dunkley and Sophie Luff who each topped 50. Luff went for 51, from just 26 balls, to a catch by Smriti Mandhana off Maitlan Brown. Dunkley scored 57 from 33 balls, falling to a catch by Ryana Macdonald-Gay off Sophie Ecclestone. The Super Giants bowlers arguably had the better of what was left of the innings, though Georgia Adams managed an unbeaten 20 from 13 balls to lift the Rockets score past 150. Most of the Rockets bowlers fared pretty poorly overall, though Ecclestone managed 2-24 from her 20 balls, and Ballinger had 1-21 from her full 2o balls.

THE MANCHESTER SUPER GIANTS RESPONSE

Manchester Super Giants never looked remotely like chasing that Rockets total down. Meg Lanning scored at the required rate, but could not get enough of the strike – she was out to the 72nd ball of the innings, which was her 24th, meaning that as an opening batter she had managed to face just one third of the number of balls bowled while she was at the crease. Kathryn Bryce hit successive fours to bring up the 100, making the ask 54 off 24 balls, but she was out to the very next ball and thereafter, apart from a couple of defiant sixes from the bat of Maitlan Brown it was one-way traffic, with the end coming when Ashleigh Gardner clean bowled Ballinger for a two ball duck to make it 122 all out from 93 balls, a win for Rockets by 31 runs. Sophia Dunkley was named Match Hero having pouched three catches to set alongside her score of 57. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A common darter (four pics)
a red dragonfly near the Gaywood River (I am not sure enough of my dragonflies to give the species of this one).
This was discounted – £7 for a 750ml bottle, which is very cheap for olive oil in a British shop.

A Nailbiter in Manchester

A look back at this afternoon’s match between the Manchester Originals and London Spirt women’s teams, and a photo gallery.

Today’s round of The Hundred featured Manchester Originals playing host to London Spirit. Allegedly for next year the Manchester franchise will be the Manchester Super Giants, with the owners of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants having bought the name change. The women’s match happened first as is standard in this tournament, and this post looks back at it.

THE ORIGINALS INNINGS

The Originals started slowly, and lost two early wickets as well. Kathryn Bryce was caught behind off Tara Norris, and then Amelia Kerr fell victim to some terrible judgement from Beth Mooney. The previous delivery had been a no ball, so this one was a ‘free hit’ ball, off which the only way one can be out is run out. Mooney went for a second with Kerr running to the danger end. The call was bad enough that although Eva Gray’s return was not world beating Kerr was barely even in the frame when the bails were taken off. Mooney now batted well, with Seren Smale playing the support role. However, just as Originals were thinking in terms of recovery Mooney was out, caught by Norris off Charlie Dean to make it 45-3. Scoring now virtually ceased, and although only one had been added to the score eight balls had elapsed since the Mooney dismissal when Smale was bowled by Sarah Glenn for 5 off 12 balls. Deandra Dottin top scored with 36, while Fi Morris and Alice Monaghan supported her. A final total of 122-6 looked inadequate.

THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS

For much of the chase Spirit looked to be falling short. They were given a chance when Deandra Dottin had a nightmare sequence, first a n0-ball hit four four, for a total of six runs, and then another six off the free hit ball. Suddenly Spirit were on terms. Grace Harris, who had struck those blows off Dottin reached a 32 ball half century off the 92nd ball of the innings. However, she had taken a single to get there and was thus at the wrong end. There were nine needed from eight balls at this point. Then Issy Wong was pinned LBW, and referred it upstairs, burning her side’s review when it was shown to be plumb. The 94th ball of the innings did for Dean in the same fashion. Sarah Glenn edged the hat trick ball past the keeper for four and that was five needed off five balls. The veteran Dottin was entrusted with the bowling at this crucial juncture. Two runs came off the 96th ball, and for the first time runs required were lower than balls left – three off four balls. The 97th ball was a yorker which Glenn could do no more than dig out for a dot ball. However the leg spinner then rose to the occasion on the 98th ball (the antepenultimate scheduled ball of the match), driving it through the off side for four to finally get London Spirit over the line. A quirk of the Originals deployment of their bowlers was that leg spinner Dani Gregory had 1-4 from five balls – she bowled one superb set and then was not used again. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Fall Short at The Oval

An account of an extraordinary hour of cricket this morning to end an extraordinary series, plus a look ahead to England’s winter tour and a photo gallery.

Play resumed today at The Oval with England needing 35 runs to win and having four wickets left. This post describes a crazy hour of cricket this morning.

THE END OF A GREAT SERIES

The weather had closed in after two balls of a Prasidh Krishna over yesterday evening, so he started proceedings this morning. Jamie Overton hit the first two balls of the day for fours, the first a superb shot, a pull that sent the ball in front of square for four, and the second an edge. Then came a huge moment, when Jamie Smith, the last front line batter remaining for England, was out caught behind. Overton and Gus Atkinson advanced the score to 354, 20 to win, 19 for the tie that would be enough to give England the series. Then Overton was given LBW, a very slow decision by umpire Dharmasena (so slow that Overton was actually at the bowler’s end having run an intended leg bye by the time the finger was raised). Overton reviewed it, and it was umpire’s call on wickets, just brushing the outside edge of leg stump. Some might argue that if it taken Dharmasena as long as it did to assess the situation there had to be doubt in his mind and therefore he should not have given it. That brought Josh Tongue in join Atkinson. Three runs later Krishna bowled Tongue to make it 357-9, and Woakes, his left arm in a sling (he dislocated a shoulder in a fielding attempt on day one, and was on the field for the first time since that injury) made his way to the middle, following in the footsteps of the likes of Lionel Tennyson, Colin Cowdrey, Paul Terry and Malcolm Marshall in batting one-handed in a test match (Tennyson actually scored 63 and 36 one-handed in the face of Aussie speedsters Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald). Atkinson did his best to advance the score, and Gill twice refused to alter his deep set field on the last ball of overs, allowing Atkinson to take the strike when India could have given themselves an over at the injured Woakes. On the second of those occasions the score ticked to 367-9, one big hit away from levelling the scores and winning the series for England. Siraj, who had bowled his heart out and must by this point have been pretty much out on his feet, took the ball for yet another over. With the first ball of the new over he hit Atkinson’s stumps, and just before midday India had won the match by six runs. The turning point that enabled all this drama, and England’s eventual failure by so slender a margin was Harry Brook’s crazy dismissal yesterday with England 301-3 and India looking every inch a beaten side. For the record Siraj’s marathon bowling efforts secured him the Player of the Match, while Shubman Gill was India’s player of the series for his 754 runs across the five matches and Brook England’s, with 481 runs in the series. A scorecard of the match can be seen here.

LOOKING AHEAD

This winter England travel to Australia to renew test cricket’s oldest rivalry. Australia hold The Ashes, and the last time an England side regained the urn down under was in 1970-1 when Ray Illingworth skippered the side to victory in the series that ended Bill Lawry’s playing career (England sides retained the urn down under in 1978-9, 1986-7 and 2010-11 as well). Can this England do the almost impossible? Possibly, though it will be incredibly difficult even for such a confident England outfit as this one. If the likes of Wood, Archer and Atkinson are fit on a consistent basis rather than the odd match here or there that will be a big help. Woakes will almost certainly not be able to tour, but I would probably not pick him for an Australian tour anyway – even fit he would be unlikely to make much of an impact there. More worrying is that England’s pig headedness has left them with an opener averaging barely more than 30 in test cricket and a number three averaging a little over 35 in test cricket (an a series in Australia is not the time to be blooding newcomers to the test scene). Although a little under five runs an innings separates these players there is another difference – Crawley’s test average is a near duplicate of his first class average meaning that he is quite simply not good enough at the job. Pope however has a magnificent record in first class cricket and has failed to translate that to consistent success at test level. I would like to see Rehan Ahmed’s form for Leicestershire recognized with a place in the squad. If England want to attempt to equip themselves with something approaching a replacement for Stokes the player (Stokes the captain and Stokes the talisman are irreplaceable) then Jordan Clark has a lot going for him. In all probability, if England are to prevail Stokes will to be both the Brearley and the Botham of the squad.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Advantage Surrey

A look at goings on in the county championship, a link and two photo galleries.

A new round of county championship matches got underway yesterday. Surrey, leaders by four points going into this round, are playing away at relegation threatened Durham. Second place Nottinghamshire meanwhile are at home to third place Somerset. This post looks at what has happened in those two matches.

DURHAM v SURREY

I missed most of yesterday’s play, being at work. However, I can tell you that Durham won the toss and opted to bat, and that they were all out for 153. Dan Worrall claimed four wickets, Sam Curran three and Indian spinner Sai Kishore two. Surrey reached the close of play yesterday on 182-5, 29 ahead already. Thus the task for Durham this morning was to wrap the Surrey first innings up before the lead became unmanageable. Unfortunately for Durham not only did they take the entire morning session (literally – the tenth Surrey wicket fell on the stroke of lunch, just as Durham’s first innings had ended onn the stroke of tea yesterday) to get through Surrey, they also conceded 140 runs in the process. Dan Lawrence scored 88 and Jordan Clark 82. Durham are batting better second time round, but at 127-2 they are still 42 runs in arrears as I type. Emilio Gay is currently 73 not out. The bonus points in this match (awarded during the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings are Durham 3 (a full haul of bowling points, 0 for the miserable batting effort), Surrey 5 (a full 3 for bowling, 2 for batting).

GALLERY ONE

I have opted to split today’s gallery…

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V SOMERSET

All that I know of this match comes via cricinfo. Nottinghamshire won the toss an opted to bowl first. They began well, reducing Somerset to 25-3. However at that point they were baulked by James Rew and Tom Abell, who put on 313 for the fourth wicket, Rew making 166 and Abell 156. There was not a huge amount thereafter, the next biggest contribution being 31 not out from Craig Overton. Somerset tallied 438 in the end, taking 132.3 overs to get there. The bonus points for this innings (awarded only for the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings) were 3 to Somerset for batting and 2 to Nottinghamshire for bowling. Craig Overton got Ben Slater early in the Nottinghamshire reply but Haseeb Hameed and Freddie McCann are currently holding the fort for the midlanders.

KOOKABURRA BALLS

This round is the last of this season (and I hope ever) to be played with Kookaburra balls. There has been plenty of high scoring around as is usual when the Kookaburra is used in England. This leads to make a suggestion, just to help the ECB reach the right conclusion about the ghastly things: when this round of matches is done and dusted each county should ceremonially burn their remaining stock of Kookaburra balls.

GALLERY TWO

Just before I apply my usual closure to this post I have a link to share. A new species of dinosaur has been unearthed in Argentina. The site from which I share this is Argentine, which means that it is written in Spanish, but they do have a translate button that I have made use of. Click here to read the full article.

Time now for my usual sign off…

A new butterfly sighting today – this is one of the smaller ones.

Record Breaking from England

A look at developments at Old Trafford since yesterday, including Ben Stokes joining not one but two elite clubs this morning. Also two photo galleries of very different types.

Yesterday, as Root went past Ponting to second place in the all time list of test match run scorers I put up a post about England’s progress in the fourth test of their series against India, at Old Trafford. Since then things have moved forward, largely in England’s favour, although KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are currently batting well for India.

STOKES JOINS TWO ELITE CLUBS

Stokes and Root shared a big partnership, ended not by a dismissal but by a retirement due to cramp on Stokes’ part. Eight runs after Stokes’ retirement Root was finally out for precisely 150. That was 499-5. Neither Jamie Smith nor Chris Woakes did a huge amount with the bat, but between them they lasted long enough for Stokes to feel able to resume his innings at the fall of the seventh wicket. Stokes and Liam Dawson saw things through the close of day three, by when Stokes had advanced his score to 77. England at 544-7 were 186 ahead by then.

Dawson was eighth out at 563, but Carse now provided Stokes with good support. Two landmarks came in quick succession – when Stokes reached three figures he was only the fourth England men’s player to score a century and take a five-for in the same test match, the others being Tony Greig, Ian Botham (five times) and Gus Atkinson. Then when he struck a six to move from 108 to 114 that also took his career tally from 6,999 to 7,005 making him one of only three to have achieved the test career treble of 7,000+ runs, 200+ wickets and 100+ catches, the other two members of this club being Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, the most multi-skilled cricketer ever, and Jacques Henry Kallis, the South African superstar. By now Stokes was in full rampage mode. The fun ended for Stokes when on 141 he holed out to Sudarsan off Jadeja. That was 658-9, already a record test score at this ground, and a lead of precisely 300 on first innings. However, Stokes kept England batting, and Carse and Archer accrued 11 further runs before Carse holed out just short of what would have been his second test 50.

GALLERY ONE: AUCTION PURCHASES

James and Sons had an auction this week, which went reasonably well after a very quiet start. I was successful on two items, lot 293, a small barometer in the shape of a helmsman’s wheel and lot 359, an early (1902) set of railway themed cigarette cards. The images I took of these yesterday morning form this gallery…

The first of four images of the barometer taken in my kitchen
The barometer in its new location, atop my Czech sculpture, which is working admirably as a support for it.
Not only did I image all five sleeves of this set, I imaged every locomotive bar one individually.

INDIA’S SECOND INNINGS SO FAR

There was time for a brief burst at India before lunch, and Woakes struck twice in the first over, removing Jaiswal and Sudarsan for ducks. Since then India have had their best period of the match, not having lost a wicket between lunch and tea, nor any since tea as yet. They are scoring fairly slowly, but holding out. At the moment India are 104-2, needing 207 more to avoid the innings defeat. India probably need to bat until at least tea time tomorrow before they can feel safe, and a victory for them from here is as close as anything in red ball cricket can be to impossible.

GALLERY TWO: GENERAL

My usual sign off…

Delayed Gratification for England Women

A look back at yesterday’s rain reduced second ODI between the England and India women’s teams and a large photo gallery.

Yesterday the second ODI of a three match series between the England and India women’s team took place at Lord’s. This post looks back at the match.

RAIN STRIKES

The match was supposed to start at 11AM and be 50 overs per side, but it rained and for a long time did not let up. Play was eventually able to start at 3PM, with the match reduced to 29 overs per side (there is some flexibility built into the playing hours for poor weather). England won the toss, and with overs reduced and further reductions possible they opted to bowl first. India struggled, especially against Sophie Ecclestone, who seems to back to something close to her best after a brief layoff earlier in the season. The tall left arm spinner had 3-27 from her six overs, and her wickets were those of Harleen Deol (number three), Harmanpreet Kaur (number four) and Richa Ghosh (number six). Harmanpreet Kaur has a had a miserable time with the bat on this tour, and with an ODI world cup in India next up and her being already 36 years old she may well opt to bow out of international cricket in front of a home audience. India’s woes were compounded by some poor game management from Deepti Sharma in the closing stages of their innings – she did not manage to face anything like enough of the bowling herself, exposing tail enders to far too much. There was one particularly bizarre seven ball sequence in which she first refused a single so as to be on strike at the start of an over (sensible), then took a single off the first ball of the over anyway, and then at the end of the over did allow her much less skilled batting partner the strike by going through for a single on the last ball of the over. India ended their 29 overs with a score of 143-8. Beaumont and Jones made a rapid start to the chase, and after Beaumont was out Nat Sciver-Brunt, fit enough to bat but not to bowl, maintained the momentum. More rain came with England 102-1 from 18.4 overs. England, well ahead on DLS, needed there to be eight more balls for it to constitute a match. Eventually the weather cleared in time for a resumption at 7PM, with England’s innings now reduced to 24 overs and their target adjusted down from 144 to 115. India were deliberately slow to take their places in the field, and one of their further efforts to delay things in the hope of the rain returning before the 20 over mark arrived and sealed their doom saw them send an appeal for caught behind off a delivery signalled wide upstairs, even though keeper Ghosh had said (heard by everyone courtesy of the stump mic) that there had been no edge. The review was of course confirmed as a burn, and the 20 over mark came and went with no sign of further rain. Amy Jones did reach the highest score of the game, 46 not out, but then got herself stuck at the wrong end, and Sophia Dunkley, who had come in after the second ball on the resumption had got rid of Sciver-Brunt, drilled the last ball of the 21st over straight down the ground for four to take England to the adjusted target with eight wickets and three whole overs to spare. Ecclestone’s three crucial wickets earned her the Player of the Match award, and the teams will reassemble on Tuesday for what is now a decider. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (still a generous gallery, though yesterday in particular was not the best day for photography)…

England Women in Euro Semis by the Barest of Margins

A look back at events in Switzerland last night, where England just got past Sweden and into the semi-finals of the women’s football European championships. Also a video, and a photo gallery.

I rarely write about football, but at the moment the women’s european championship, being defended by England, is in progress in Switzerland. Last night saw a quarter-final match between England and Sweden. This post looks back at what happened.

BEHIND, BEHIND, AHEAD

Sweden took a 2-0 lead fairly early on in proceedings, and held that lead for a decent span of time. However, England clawed their way back to equality. It was 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes. It was still 2-2 after 30 minutes of extra time. Thus it went to a penalty shoot out. Sweden had marginally the better of the early stages of this, and when their fifth penalty taker stepped up she knew that if she was successful Sweden would be through. She failed to score, which took the teams into a sudden death situation. Another miss by England, and Sweden had a second opportunity to close it out, and again they failed to take it, meaning that there would be at least two further spot kicks. England’s seventh penalty taker was veteran right back Lucy Bronze, who had scored one of their two goals in open play. She kept her head and suddenly after having seen two attempts at victory fail Sweden’s seventh penalty taker had to score to keep her side in the tournament. She sent her shot over the bar and England were through. It was rough luck for Sweden, who have made a habit of reaching quarter-finals and then not managing to go any further in that the moment that the Swedish kicker missed that final penalty was just about the only time of the entire evening that England were in front, and they had been behind for long periods. For England and their coach Sarina Wiegman it keeps the possibly of retaining the trophy (and for Wiegman, who coached her native Netherlands to success two tournaments ago a third straight success at the European Championship). Ultimately however it came down to a battle of nerves and the only non-goalie to keep a cool head in the closing stages of that shootout was Bronze.

PHOTOGRAPHS (AND VIDEO)

Before the photographs, here is the longest video I have ever filmed (just under two minutes, and it shows the train on the Lynnsport Railway being given a test run with no passengers aboard):

My usual sign off…

I have previously been guilty of mislabelling this – it is not a Cinnabar Moth, it is a six-spot Burnet Moth.
This picture and the next, a close up focussing on the insects (two six-spot Burnet moths and one large buff tailed Bumblebee) have already had some success on Mastodon.
A dragon fly balanced on a leaf overlooking one of the sections of the Gaywood in The Walks.
A precarious resting spot – this reed is entirely surrounded by the waters of the Gaywood, near Eastgate Bridge.

An Attritional Contest at Lord’s

A look at developments in the test match between England and India at Lord’s so far and a huge photo gallery.

The third test of the series between England and India got underway at Lord’s yesterday. This post looks at what has happened so far.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Each side had made changes from Edgbaston. For India Jasprit Bumrah replaced Prasidh Krishna. For England Jofra Archer was in the XI for the first time in four and a half years. Josh Tongue was the player to miss out. The coin was kind to Ben Stokes, and given the heat not even he was about to bowl first (here in Norfolk the temperature has officially not quite hit 30, but it feels exceedingly hot), so England were batting.

THE PLAY

I missed most of day one due to work. I got the closing stages, which featured a bizarre stoppage when Stokes, who had already taken time out of the game by having cramp attended to, decided that he couldn’t bat with ladybirds flying around him, and that play could not continue until the insects (entirely harmless) had been made to fly away, and Root have to overnight on 99 not out. It was an old school type of day, and thus not surprising that the most old school type of player in the line up came to the fore. England had reached 251-4, very slow by their recent standards, but losing only four wickets in the day was good for them. Seven overs had disappeared from the game due to the various delays (the over rate was, as it has been today, very much new school).

Root reached three figures of the first ball of the new day, with a somewhat airy shot which flew away for four. Then Bumrah got busy. accounting for Stokes, and then Root and Woakes in consecutive balls. That was 271-7 and Bumrah had four of the wickets. Jamie Smith was now joined by Brydon Carse, not a good enough batter to called an all rounder, but the possessor of two first class centuries and a career average at that level in the high 20s. They shared a good partnership, which featured an early moment of history. When Smith reached 3 he also reached 1,000 test runs, which meant that for the first time since the Adelaide test match of 1947 England had three batters in their line up who had all scored over 1,000 test runs at an average of over 50. By lunch they had taken England not merely beyond 300, which had looked in doubt when they joined forces, but the 350 as well. Smith had clocked up 50, and even on this pitch and in a largely attritional innings it had taken him only 52 balls to get there. Carse would also go on to top 50, the first time in his test career that he has done so. Bumrah secured his place on the honours board when he clean bowled Jofra Archer, the ninth wicket of the innings and his fifth. Of those scalps four had been clean bowled and Jamie Smith had been caught by the wicket keeper. England scored 387 in total, and Bumrah, the only bowler ever to have taken over 200 test wickets at under 20 runs a piece, had 5-74.

Chris Woakes bowled the first over of the reply, and it was a shocker, conceding 13 including three boundaries, all hit off properly bad balls. Then it was time for Archer from the pavilion end. His first two balls were dots, his third took the edge of Jaiswal’s bat and flew to Harry Brook at second slip – India 13-1, Jaiswal C Brook B Archer 13. Archer bowled five overs in that spell and ended it with 1-16. India have now moved on to 61-1. Karun Nair has 33 not out and KL Rahul 15 not out. Nair’s last four was a little lucky – had Carse placed a fielder at gully it would have been catching practice, but there was no gully and it flew away for four.

PHOTOGRAPHS

There has been a lot to photograph lately – this gallery is a huge one, and that is after I pruned it a bit (and I have another ready to go, and more pictures on my camera)…