A look back at today’s Hundred (women’s) match between Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets, with special focus on the final ten balls. Also a photo gallery.
Today the Hundred has matches between Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets. The men’s match will be starting in a quarter of an hour. This post looks back at a the women’s match.
THE MANCHESTER ORIGINALS INNINGS
Manchester Originals have come in for considerable stick over the make up of their squad. They have an overload of opening batters – todays playing XI featured four regular openers (Emma Lamb and Eve Jones being the two to come in down the order). Today however Eve Jones went a long way to addressing such concerns with a fine innings from number 5. Originals skipper Sophie Ecclestone hit 13 off just five balls to give the total a late boost. Even so, a total of 137 didn’t look exactly mountainous.
THE FIRST 90 BALLS OF THE ROCKETS CHASE
The Rockets lost three wickets fairly early in the chase, but then Nat Sciver-Brunt and Ash Gardner settled into a stand that looked to be moving things in their favour. With ten balls to go in the chase Rockets needed 22 to win, with Sciver-Brunt and Gardner still in residence.
THE LAST 10 BALLS
Lauren Filer was given responsibility for bowling balls 91-95, and she did an excellent job. Even with her final ball going for four the equation was 13 needed off the last five balls. Filer had 2-26 in total from her 20 balls. Kathryn Bryce was given responsibility for bowling the last five balls of the match. Gardner hit the first two of these balls for four to reduce the ask to five runs off three balls, and that point it looked like Rockets had done the job. Gardner went for glory off the 98th ball but hit it too high and Beth Mooney was able to get round underneath it, which meant the ask was now five off two balls with a brand new batter to face the first of them. Heather Graham, the new batter, did the sensible thing and grabbed a single, bringing Sciver-Brunt with an undefeated half century to her name down on strike with the task of hitting a four to win the match. Sciver-Brunt whipped the final ball towards midwicket, but while the shot had power it lacked for placement, failing to located a big enough gap in the field and Rockets only managed two runs of the final ball, meaning that Originals had hung on to win by one run. Filer was named Player of the Match for her bowling, and deservedly so. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This may look a bit like a boiled sweet, but it is actually what is known depending on your source either as a ‘jewel bug’ or a ‘metallic shield bug’.An ultra close-up of one of these bugs.
An account of England’s victory over West Indies at Edgbaston and resultant 3-0 series triumph, plus a photo gallery.
Yesterday I put up a post just as England were moving into a first innings lead over West Indies in the third test match of the series at Edgbaston. This post looks at the events that have unfolded since that one.
ENGLAND SURGE AHEAD
Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes extended England’s lead at a rapid rate. Smith just missed out on a maiden test century, but his 95 was a command performance, beginning with England still very much in jeopardy and ending with them in complete control. The scoring was not quite done even then – Gus Atkinson belted a couple of sixes coming it number ten, and England ended with a first innings lead of 94, and West Indies had an awkward mini-session to get through with the bat.
EARLY WICKETS FOR ENGLAND
West Indies did not make as much of a Horlicks of this mini-session of batting as the 1994 England side had in Trinidad, but the experienced Kraigg Brathwaite fell early, and Kirk McKenzie completed a truly miserable series (33 runs at 5.50 in six innings from a supposed number three) by doing likewise.
WOOD WASTES WEST INDIES
The West Indies had a respectable morning, though they needed far more. Mikyle Louis who had previously produced a succession of scores in the 20s completed a maiden test 50, and Kavem Hodge also reached 50. However, the lunch time score of 151-5, with da Silva batting in company with Hodge held out little hope for them, being a lead of only 57. The end of the West Indies innings was swift and brutal as the pace of Mark Wood was simply too much for them. Joshua da Silva had been somewhat fortunate to survive two LBW appeals from Wood when he was given out at the third time of asking and did not review it. Six runs later Alzarri Joseph had his stumps comprehensively shattered, and then at 171 came the killer blow for such hopes as West Indies retained, Hodge edging one through to Smith who made no mistake with the catch. Three balls later Jayden Seales’ off stump was sent cartwheeling. Number 11 Shamar Joseph creamed a four through the off side but the second ball of his innings was fast, full and straight, took the edge of his bat and flew to Brook in the slips. West Indies were all out for 175 and Wood had figures of 5-40 for the innings.
STOKES SLAMS HOME ENGLAND’S SUPREMACY
Zak Crawley was having a scan on an injured finger, which means that England needed someone else to open. However with a target of only 82 (three runs fewer than has ever been successfully defended in the fourth innings of a test match, and that match in 1882 was incredibly low scoring – the highest of the four individual innings was Australia’s second innings of 122) this was unliekly matter much. Rather than ask anyone else to do the necessary Stokes donned the pads himself and opened the innings with Duckett – two left handers answering to Ben opening the innings together. It was soon apparent that Stokes intended the match to be over before the tea interval – before the innings was two overs old he had struck four boundaries, and he continued in that vein, overshadowing Duckett, not generally noted for being a shrinking violet with the bat. Stokes reached 50 off just 24 balls, the quickest ever for England in test cricket (four balls quicker than Botham v India during the 1981-2 series), and two balls outside the all-comers record by Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan. Stokes finished things by belting the second ball of the eighth over for six to give England victory by ten wickets with two days and a little more than a session to spare. Wood’s blistering spell to terminate the West Indies second innings saw him named Player of the Match, while Gus Atkinson with 22 wickets at 16.22 each in the three matches was named Player of the Series. The West Indies have a promising bowling attack, but their batting is indubitably weak and lacking in depth. Playing Holder at six and da Silva at seven requires a much stronger top five than West Indies currently possess – Louis batted well today, Brathwaite is experienced but no ones idea of a great test opener and Hodge has been impressive, but Athanaze has played only one innings of note in this series, and I have already mentioned Kirk McKenzie’s shocking series. A full scorecard for this match can be seen here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A little bit of a preamble to today’s gallery, relating to the first picture in it: one of my fairly recent library finds is Rachel McLean’s ‘Dorset Crime’ series, several volumes of which I have now read. I highly recommend this series, in which I have read books 1,3,4,5,6 and 7 to date. The seventh book, “The Blue Pool Murders” features a map showing all the locations (LJ Ross in her Northumbrian crime series does the same thing, as does Rebecca Tope in both her Lake District and Cotswold series). Preamble done here is my usual sign off…
A look at developments son far in the third test match between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston
Yesterday morning the third test match of the three match series between England and the West Indies got underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England named an unchanged XI, logical but a little disappointing – one would have like to see Potts and/ or Pennington in action. West Indies showed one change – Motie who had missed the second match due to injury returning in place of Sinclair, who had stood in for him. West Indies won the toss and chose to bat first. Putting England in on a surface like the one at Edgbaston would have reeked of fear, so this was a positive sign.
DAY ONE
West Indies began well, with the opening stand yielding 76. However one wicket produced a clatter, and at 115-5 West Indies looked in deep trouble. Jason Holder and Joshua da Silva then had an excellent partnership for the sixth wicket. The lower order also contributed a little, and in the end West Indies posted 282 all out. Kraigg Brathwaite scored 61 opening the batting, Holder 59 in the middle of the order, and Gus Atkinson had the best bowling figures with 4-67, giving him 20 wickets one innings in to his third test match. England had a mini-session to negotiate before the close, and made rather a hash of doing so, losing both openers and nightwatcher Mark Wood to end the day on a precarious 38-3.
DAY TWO (SO FAR)
The day started as the previous one had ended, with England losing wickets rapidly – first Pope and then Brook departed cheaply, at which point it was 54-5. Root and Stokes began the recovery, putting on 115 together before Stokeshit a short ball from Alzarri Joseph straight to Kraigg Brathwaite at forward short leg. Root and Jamie Smith continued the good work before Motie trapped Root LBW 13 short of a century. In the course of this innings Root passed Lara’s career aggregate of test runs, took his own tally past 12,000 and in the process assured himself of ending the innings with his average above 50 – the sixth time in his career that he has moved his average above 50. That was 231-7, with Woakes joining Smith. Smith completed his second test fifty, and when the tea interval arrived England were 274-7, just 8 runs short of first innings parity. A rain delay has extended the tea interval but they are now back underway. While I have been preparing this for publication England have moved into a first innings lead, with Smith and Woakes still together.
A look back at the test match at Trent Bridge between England and West indies. and a fine photo gallery.
I did not actually get to follow a great deal of the match that unfolded at Trent Bridge between Thursday and Sunday (scheduled for five days, but four proved enough). Thursday was a work day, so I got only the closing stages of England’s 416, and as documented in my previous two tests I was busy over the weekend.
A HISTORIC MATCH
England amassed 416 on the opening day, but had, as opening batter Ben Duckett admitted, “left a few runs out there”. The West Indies response was led by two batters from the tiny island of Dominica (also birthplace of pace bowlers Norbert Philip of the West indies and Phillip DeFreitas of England) Alick Athenaze (82) and Kavem Hodge (120, the first test century by a Dominican), and at the end of day two they were 351-5 in response to that 416 by England. In the end, assisted by England trying to be too clever against the tailenders, West Indies led by 41. During the bit of listening I got in on the Saturday in between concerts Brook and Root batted beautifully after Pope had completed a 50 and then got out. Both players would get hundreds, but for the second time in the match England didn’t maximise their opportunity, suffering a collapse late on. They did however pass 400 for the second time in the match, the first England team to do so (though it has been done against them at least once – Headingley 1948, England 496 and 365-8 declared, Australia 458 and 404-3 to win by seven wickets). Part of the reason that occurrences are rare (there have been 12 in all of test history) is that sides putting up big totals used to expect only to bat once – declining to enforce the follow-on was much rarer than it has recently become. Also scoring rates were less rapid in test cricket in days gone by, which mean that topping 400 twice would almost certainly not have led to victory (the extraordinary Headingley 1948 match aside). West Indies thus need 385 to win – fewer than had been scored in any of the first three innings of the match. By the time I got to catch up on the action on Sunday after Norton Hill the West Indies second innings was already underway, and it did not initially look promising for England. However, with 61 on the board Woakes had Mikyle Louis caught behind and a dramatic collapse set in, including off spinner Shoaib Bashir entering the record books by taking wickets in each of his first three overs – before this only one spinner had taken wickets in each of their first two overs in a test innings at Trent Bridge – Shane Warne, when he almost bowled Australia to victory in 2005 with England needing only 129 to win. When Wood dismissed Sinclair courtesy of a catch by Crawley West Indies had tumbled to 93-6. They were still six down when I left for my evening engagement, but England, with the aid of the extra half hour got the job done that evening. West Indies were all out for 143 in the end, Bashir 5-41, including the final wicket, Shamar Joseph clean bowled for 8. Pope was named Player of the Match for his scores of 121 and 51. England had underachieved with the bat in the first innings on their own admission, had arguably done the same in the second, and had still emerged victorious by the huge margin of 241 runs.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A Red Admiral looking rather the worse for wear.In contrast this Comma looked in perfect health.
A look at England’s selections for the upcoming second test match of the three test match series against the West Indies and a huge photo gallery.
England announced their playing XI for the test match starting on Thursday yesterday afternoon. I have now had time to process my thoughts, which are actually pretty straightforward.
THE PROBLEMS WITH THE XI
The top seven is precisely as expected, and I don’t see many changes there at present. Of the remaining four Atkinson of course had to retain his place after that stellar debut, and the selectors appear to have decided that Bashir is the first choice spinner, so again it makes sense that he retains his slot. However the remaining two places are the cause for concern – Woakes having done precious little at his favourite venue retains the number eight slot, and Mark Wood, in his mid-thirties and injury prone, has been given the slot freed up by the enforced retirement of James Anderson. I do not believe that either of these players should be playing, and I think Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington, in the squad, and Sam Cook, now recovered from the injury that cost him a place in the squad for the first two tests, are all entitled to feel aggrieved. Anderson’s retirement was enforced allegedly because the selectors wanted to look to the future, and Wood hardly represents the future, and Woakes is also at the veteran stage of his career and has the additional strike against him that he has never had any test success overseas.
I also don’t buy the notion that Woakes provides ballast at number eight for two reasons:
against this opposition England should not require ballast at number eight.
If England are genuinely concerned in this regard then rather than select a veteran who is an unlikely tourist they could drop Bashir and play either Rehan Ahmed or Matthew Critchley at number eight as the spin option, with Atkinson and two out of Cook, Potts and Pennington rounding out the order.
I understand the stated reasons for forcing Anderson’s retirement but I regard naming Wood as his replacement as an act of rankest hypocrisy, out of keeping with looking to the future as it is. I consider this selection as utterly senseless.
A look at developments so far on day one of the England v West Indies test match, dominated by an extraordinary debut performance from Gus Atkinson. Also a photo gallery.
Today is day one of the opening test match of the series between England and West Indies, which is happening at Lord’s. This post looks at the action so far.
THE PRELIMINARIES
Both playing XIs were known in advance, England’s on Monday, West Indies’ yesterday. England had gone for batting depth, with Woakes at number eight, while the West Indies had opted for extra bowling strength, and both Holder at number six and da Silva at number seven looked to be a place too high in their order for comfort. England won the toss and elected to field first.
THE MORNING SESSION
James Anderson in his final test match took the new ball in partnership with Woakes. West Indies got through 10 overs without losing a wicket, at which point Gus Atkinson came on for his first bowl in test cricket. Atkinson immediately showed the extra pace that had been the reason for his selection, and struck with his second ball, Kraigg Brathwaite dragging it on to his stumps. West Indies got through the rest of the over, but Atkinson avoided conceding any runs. Atkinson’s second over was also a maiden, and in his third he struck again, having Kirk McKenzie caught by Crawley. By the end of this over his figures were 3-3-0-2. Harry Brook held a sensational catch off Ben Stokes to get debutant opener Mikyle Louis, the first ever test cricketer to hail from St Kitts, although its sister island of Nevis has produced a few, for 27. That was 44-3, and Alick Athenaze and Kavem Hodge saw things through to lunch, with the score 61-3.
POST LUNCH
After the interval this pair advanced the score to 88 before Atkinson’s already impressive debut became a truly great one. He got Athenaze and Holder in successive deliveries, and although da Silva prevented the hat trick he was out second ball to make it three in four for Atkinson and a five-for in test debut. In the next over Kavem Hodge donated his wicket to an umimpressive Woakes, basically giving Pope catching practice, and that was 88-7 with four wickets having gone at the same score. Alzarri Joseph had a bit of fun before trying one aggressive shot too many and holing out to Woakes off Atkinson for the debutant’s sixth scalp. That was 106-8, and it was soon 106-9 as Shamar Joseph played the worst shot of the innings to give Pope his second catch. Atkinson at this point had 7-36 and was on for setting a record for the best bowling figures by an England debutant, but a combination of Gudakesh Motie scoring runs off him with a mix of luck and skill and James Anderson pinning Seales LBW to end the innings at 121 left him with 7-45, second best behind Dominic Cork’s 7-43 in 1995 (also against West Indies). However Cork’s effort had come in West Indies second innings, so Atkinson did have the best ever first innings figures by an England debutant. Ben Duckett has fallen cheaply, playing a loose shot at Seales and edging to keeper da Silva. However Crawley and Pope are going well together at the moment, with the score currently 58-1. While I have been preparing this for publication England have moved on to 71. An appeal for LBW against Pope has just been upheld, but has gone for review. However the replay shows the ball missing the wicket. England 71-1, already within 50 of first innings parity.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
I wasn’t sure about the highlight of this gallery until while I was out walking during the lunch interval I saw this hedgehog near Kettlewell Lane.I got closer, while taking care not to cause stress.
A look at the England XI for the upcoming test match against the West indies, which was annoucned today, two days in advance of the match starting.
The England Men’s Playing XI for the test match against the West Indies that is due to start at Lord’s on Wednesday has been announced. In batting order it is: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, *Ben Stokes, +Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson. This will be Anderson’s last game for England. This post gives my thoughts on the final XI.
THE BATTING
Jamie Smith deserves his elevation to the test ranks, but I would not have made him wicket keeper, a role he does not usually play for his county. I also think that number seven is not an ideal slot for him – he is a regular number four for his county, and I would have preferred to see Stokes put himself at number seven and allow Smith to bat a place higher at number six. Woakes has a fine record in England but is an unlikely tourist, and his selection smacks more than a little of hypocrisy given that Anderson’s retirement has been effectively forced since the selectors want to look to the future.
THE BOWLING
The bowling looks thin and will look even thinner if Stokes’ knee plays up enough ton prevent him from bowling. The only member of the attack capable of producing genuinely quick deliveries is Atkinson, with Anderson for all his advanced (by international cricket standards) years probably still quicker than Woakes, and Stokes if he bowls no longer seriously quick. Bashir did well enough in India, but there is little reason to believe that he will be especially tricky to play on English pitches. Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts, both in the squad and both left out of the final XI can feel hard done by, as can left arm spinner Jack Leach, now officially confirmed as being below Bashir in the selectors pecking order. I would have placed more reliance on that powerful top seven than has actually been done and had one or other of Potts or Pennington playing in place of Woakes. The West Indies are not among the most formidable of test foes right now, and I would still expect this XI to be good enough against them, but I cannot pretend to be impressed by it.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (don’t forget – if you want to view pictures at a larger size just click on one)…
No cormorants today, but oystercatchers……and this egret.The gulls did a good job of cleaning out this discarded crab shell!Two dragonflies of different species……this green one……and this mainly dark blue one.
Yesterday, following on from the ODI series that in which England Women comfortably won all three matches the T20I series between the England and New Zealand women’s teams got underway.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
England found themselves batting first. They were given a strong start by Danni Wyatt and Maia Bouchier, the former being preferred in T20Is to Tammy Beaumont, who was in the commentary box instead. Bouchier’s dismissal brought Natalie Sciver-Brunt to the crease, and she immediately put the Kiwis to the sword, making even Wyatt look somewhat pedestrian by comparison. Wyatt entered the record books when she brought up her 17th T20I 50, moving ahead of Sarah Taylor to the top of the England list of makers of such scores. Sciver-Brunt was already into the 40s by then, but she finally fell just short of 50. The left handed Freya Kemp maintained the momentum. Wyatt’s innings ended for 76. England finished with 197-3 from their 20 overs.
THE NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE
New Zealand started fairly well, although they were always behind the required rate. As had been a regular theme of the ODI series it was the spinners (of whom England had no fewer than four for this match, with a series in Bangladesh coming up in the futures) who applied a chokehold from which the Kiwis could not escape. At 63-1 New Zealand seemed to be faring respectably, especially given that the only one to go, Georgia Plimmer, had been run out, her third such dismissal in four innings. Once the second wicket fell however the floodgates opened, with leg spinner Sarah Glenn claiming three scalps in a single over, and Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone picking up a wicket the score soon read 67-6. Jess Kerr, sister of leg spinning all rounder Amelia Kerr, batted in a manner that should have caused some of the more senior Kiwi batters no little embarrassment, making 38 to give the Kiwis a hint of respectability. Near the end the fourth front line England spinner, Linsey Smith, picked up a wicket. New Zealand finished with 138-9, beaten by 59 runs, which in a T20 is an absolute pummelling. Scorecard here.
PIZZA MAKING
Today there was a Pizza making session for autistic adults at the King’s Lynn branch of Pizza Express. Great fun was had by all, and my Pizza was certainly good.
The base in the tray in which the pizza would be cooked.The base loaded with toppings.The last pre-cook addition – some oregano.Dough laid out for the pizza makers.My particular piece of dough.The base, before removing the flour.
The above show stages in the preparation of the pizza, and below is the final outcome…
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off, in two parts, from yesterday and today…
Today is the final day of a round of County Championship fixtures. The tie of the round has been the top of the table clash between Surrey and Essex. This post looks at goings on there and elsewhere.
SURREY v ESSEX
Surrey scored 262 batting first with Jamie Smith, newly elevated to England’s test ranks (albeit as new keeper, rather than in his best role of specialist batter), scoring exactly 100. Essex were restricted to 180 in reply, Paul Walter top scoring with 64. Jordan Clark took 3-33, Daniel Worrall 3-40, and there were two wickets for James Taylor and one for Tom Lawes. When Essex had Surrey 127-6 in their second innings, 70 of them from Smith, it looked like they were in the contest, but Ryan Patel scored a century, enabling the last four wickets to add 151. The last two wickets added 85 of those, and Taylor at 10 and Worrall at 11 scored 3 and 4 respectively, such was Patel’s dominance and manipulation of the strike at that stage of proceedings. That left Essex needing 361 to win, and by the close of day three they were 21-2. There has been some rain today, but in the cricket that has been possible Surrey have claimed three wickets, Tom Lawes getting Matt Critchley and Tom Westley in successive balls, both caught behind by Foakes, and just recently Worrall claiming the key scalp of former South Africa test opener Dean Elgar for 60. Essex are 121-5 at present, 240 short of an always unlikely looking target, and with only five wickets left.
ELSEWHERE
There are two potential big run chases going on. In division one Somerset are 163-3 in pursuit of a target of 410 to beat Warwickshire. In division two Glamorgan were set a massive 593 by Gloucestershire, and although that still looks highly unlikely the Welsh side are 397-5 as I type, 196 short of their target. Sam Northeast has a ton to his name, a feat already achieved in the innings by Marnus Labuschagne. Supporting Northeast at the moment is all rounder Dan Douthwaite.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Three dragonflies from two species in a single shot. I have chosen this as the feature image.
Over the weekend I followed the whole of one classic T20 match and the first innings of a very one sided One Day International (I missed the second innings as there was a family get together happening in Wells Next The Sea which I wanted to be part of). This post looks at both games.
THE MENS T20 WORLD CUP FINAL
This match would see history made whoever won it – India and South Africa, the two teams to make the final were both undefeated, and no side had ever gone through a Men’s T20 world cup undefeated. India batted first and their innings had its up and downs. The dominant feature was Virat Kohli’s one and only major innings of the tournament. They ended up with 176 to defend. South Africa batted well in their turn. They seemed to have settled the matter decisively when the 15th over, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav was butchered for 24 runs reducing the requirement from 54 off six overs to 30 off five overs. This virtually forced Indian skipper Rohit Sharma to turn to his best bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. The 16th over was economical, but no wickets fell, so South Africa still looked favourites. The 17th over kept India in contention, and saw them claim the vital wicket of Heinrich Klaasen. For the 18th over Sharma rightly opted to use Bumrah’s last over, hoping to close things out then. Bumrah not only kept it tight as always, but also got rid of Marco Jansen, which meant that with the required rate starting to become genuinely alarming for them the South Africans had only David Miller of their recognized batters left. Arshdeep Singh bowled the crucial 19th over, and by the end of it South Africa needed 16 off the last over, though Miller was at the strikers end. Hardik Pandya bowled the final over, and off the first ball thereof Miller went for a big shot down the ground and Suryakumar Yadav took a brilliant running catch to all but seal the match. Number nine Kagiso Rabada did his best, but another catch by Suryakumar Yadav off the penultimate ball of the match accounted for him, and South Africa needed nine off one ball to win. Nortje scored a single off the final ball and India won by seven runs (176-7 plays 169-8). In spite of South Africa’s reputation in global tournaments it has to be stated that THIS WAS NOT A CHOKE – India bowled superbly in the closing overs, and held a couple of excellent catches. This match was settled by good Indian cricket, not bad South African cricket. Scorecard here.
NEW ZEALAND WOMEN IN A SPIN
This was the second match of a three match ODI series between the England and New Zealand women’s teams, taking place at New Road, Worcester. New Zealand found themselves batting first as they had in the first match in which they were thoroughly hammered. At 114-3 with Amelia Kerr set and Maddy Green looking impressive as well they had a chance of a competitive total, but then the world’s number one and two ranked Women’s ODI bowlers, Sophie Ecclestone (left arm orthodox spin) and Charlie Dean (off spin) made their presences felt. Dean started the rout by pinning Green LBW, then Ecclestone got Brooke Halliday for six and Lauren Down for a duck, both clean bowled. Dean then got the big wicket of Amelia Kerr, caught and bowled for 43. Then a catch by Natalie Sciver-Brunt off Ecclestone accounted for Kiwi keeper Isabella Gaze for a duck, and three balls later Ecclestone clean bowled Molly Penfold for another duck to secure her fifth wicket, and 114-3 had become 124-9. Jess Kerr hit her way to 14, boosting the final total to 141 in company with Fran Jonas, before a second Sciver-Brunt catch, this time off the off spin of Alice Capsey ended the innings. Ecclestone has taken at least one wicket in each of her last 30 bowling innings across formats, a run going back to the start of 2023, and overall in those 30 innings she has taken 68 wickets at 14.75 a piece.
I missed the England run chase, but I do know that it was such an utter formality that Natalie Sciver-Brunt was able to engineer things at the end so that Maia Bouchier scored her first senior century (she has previously reached three figures in a U13s match). Scorecard here.
aspiblog 