A piece of bizarreness from the IPL and a win for the good guys in Wisconsin, plus a large photo gallery.
My main reason for posting is that I have a large photo gallery to share. However I have a couple of small things to share as well.
AN UNBEATABLE RECORD
I was at work yesterday and by the time I was in a position to tune in to the commentary on the IPL match (Lucknow Super Giants v Punjab Kings) there was no real point doing so as it was obvious which way the match was going and there could be no big finish. However, I did keep a cricinfo tab open. Thus I was able to see with my own eyes the calling of officially the most pointless ‘strategic time out’ ever, and while it might be equalled and I can be certain that will not be surpassed: LSG had scored 171-6 from their 20 overs, and at the end of the 16th over of the reply PBKS were 171-2 – scores level, the chasers with eight wickets standing and four whole overs available in which to get that run! It actually took until the second ball on the resumption for PBKS to complete the job.
WINNING IN WISCONSIN
Ordinarily I probably would not even have been aware of an election of a new judge in Wisconsin, but Elon Musk had been putting huge amounts of money behind one particular candidate in the hope of altering the political balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. As far as I am concerned a defeat for Elon the Execrable counts as a win, so I am pleased to be able to say that Musk’s candidate has been defeated.
A brief look at Ashwani Kumar’s extraordinary IPL debut and a photo gallery.
Today’s IPL match features Mumbai Indians in action against Kolkata Knight Riders. To say that things are going MI’s way would be a major understatement of the case. This post however looks at one particular player involved in the debacle (from their point of view) that was the KKR innings.
“WE HAVE A DEBUTANT PLAYING FOR US TODAY”
The title of this section refers to the way in which Hardik Pandya, skipper of Mumbai Indians, introduced Ashwani Kumar, a left arm medium pace bowler. After today I do not think either Pandya or anyone else will be in any further danger of struggling to recall the young man’s name. Before he had been called on to bowl he had pouched a catch to make his first mark as an IPL player. It was with the ball, partly because KKR tried to target him and failed miserably, that he made what looks like being the decisive contribution to this match. He started by having KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane caught by Tilak Varma. He added the wickets of Rinku Singh (caught by Raman Dhir), “impact sub” Manish Pandey (a desperation move brought on by the KKR collapse – it would be more normal for a side batting first to use this to bring in an extra bowler) and West Indian legend Andre Russell (both bowled). His final figures were 3-0-24-4. KKR were not only all out for a beggarly 116, they only lasted 16.2 overs – in other words 22 deliveries were not utilised at all. MI are cruising towards a massive win as I type.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before I present my full photo gallery I am showcasing a couple of unlucky candidates for the feature image. First up, and the closest contender othe rthan the chosen one is this…
“Four in One” Four bees in a single frame – three flying around and one on a flower head.
The other candidate was this one…
“Egret photobombed by flying gull” An Egret at the edge of the Nar outfall with a flying gull with wings at full stretch in the foreground.
Now for the full gallery…
The chosen feature image “In Formation” – two bees flying exactly parallel to one another, seemingly with a cluster of white flowers as the target.The Egret did also manage to get undivided camera space!A song thrush
A look at yesterday’s Women’s Six nations clash between Wales and England and a photo gallery.
Yesterday in the women’s Six Nations rugby England travelled to Cardiff to take on Wales at the Principality Stadium. England has won comfortably in their opener against Italy, but the Italians had given a good account of themselves in the second half, albeit one not reflected by them scoring many points of their own. Thus they went to Cardiff looking for a complete performance, not just another win.
THE FIRST HALF
Wales started fast, with Jenni Scoble scoring the first try of the match, which was duly converted. England hit back hard with three tries in the next ten minutes, the first from Meg Jones, not merely possessed of a Welsh surname but an actual Welsh speaker. The second try was scored by Sarah Bern, by dint of sheer power. With 27 minutes on the clock Feaunati scored her second try of the match and England’s fourth to secure the bonus point. That was it for first half scoring, but it was clear that holding England at bay was the limit of Welsh capabilities.
THE SECOND HALF
If the first half had been impressive the second half was downright frightening from England, as they absolutely steamrollered the home side. First Ellie Kildunne showed why she is rated by many as the best female rugby player on the planet right now by scoring a hat trick of tries in the space of about ten minutes. Abby Dow was the next to make her presence felt, scoring England’s eighth try. Try number nine came from Abi Burton, who has been through health problems of sufficient magnitude that at one point she was in an induced coma. Dow scored her second, which took England to 60 points. Then in the dying embers of the match Burton, only on the field for seven minutes, scored the second try of an astonishing international debut, with the conversion ending the match. The final score was Wales 12 England 67, and England were not especially flattered by that score line. This tournament, at least for England, is really a warm-up for the upcoming world cup, of which England are hosts. On the evidence of this performance few would dare to bet against the home side lifting that trophy.
A look back at the ending to the test match between Australia and India at the MCG and a large photo gallery.
This post is a few days late – between the Christmas Panto and work I have been busy in the early part of this week. In it I look back at the final day of the Australia v India test match at the MCG.
A RASH SHOT AND A DRS CONTROVERSY
When India reached tea on day five only three wickets down in their second innings, and with Yashavsi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant having batted through the afternoon session without too many signs of difficulty a draw looked likely. Immediately on the resumption Pant was tempted into a rash shot against a short ball and was caught in the deep, the second time he had tossed his wicket away in the course of this match. This dismissal was not quite as appalling as his first innings one, but he should have taken care to play the ball down in to the ground – India were looking to bat through for a draw, so safety first should have been the guiding thoughts. That opened the door for Australia, and when Ravindra Jadeja and first innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy both fell cheaply the door was practically off its hinges. The moment that effectively sealed India’s doom came via the Decision Review System (DRS). Yashavsi Jaiswal, on 84 and playing beautifully was given not out in response to an appeal for a catch. The Australians sent it upstairs. The replay appeared to show a deflection from either bat or glove, but the snickometer did not pick up any sound. Nevertheless, knowing that it was effectively handing the match to Australia, the third umpire, faced with conflicting evidence decided to go with the visual clue rather than the lack of a noise and told the on-field umpire to reverse his decision and give it out. That left Washington Sundar and three tail enders with a long time still to bat, and they did not come close.
Over the five days some 373,000 spectators watched at the ground, a record for a test in Australia, beating one that had stood since the 1936-7 Ashes when the star attraction was a certain DG Bradman.
Pat Cummins, with 90 runs across the two Australian innings and six wickets across the two Indian ones, was awarded the Mullagh Medal for Player of the Match (Johnny Mullagh was part of the all-aboriginal party that toured England in 1868, and showed himself to be a fine all rounder on that tour).
Australia won by 184 runs in the end, and as well as Pant’s two batting errors, the second of which opened the way for India’s final collapse, India were poor in the field, at least four clear cut chances being dropped. Australia now lead the series 2-1, meaning that so long as they do not lose in Sydney they regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, which has been in Indian hands for a decade. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Most of these are from the back end of 2024, but I have included some from today…
The venue for the Pantomime.The first 2025 picture I have posted.
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.
A look back at the non-events in Florida yesterday and a thankfully eventful Vitality Blast game between Surrey and Gloucestershire. Also a large photo gallery.
In this post I look back at events of yesterday (as well the Florida situation I will be mentioning a domestic T20 that most definitely did see some action).
INSPECTION AFTER INSPECTION
Lauderhill, Florida was hit by rain in the run up to the USA v Ireland match that was due to take place yesterday. By the time the match should have started the rain had stopped, but the outfield was thoroughly soaked, and the question was whether a match would take place at all. The players had to be on the field by 2:16PM local time (7:16PM UK time) for there to be time for a five overs per side match to take place. The situation around this match was that USA needed either a win or a wash out to secure qualification for the next stage of the competition and in the process eliminate both Ireland and Pakistan. A series of inspections, first at half hourly intervals and then with a gap of an hour took place with the outfield simply not dry enough for play to happed. Finally an inspection was called for 6:15PM UK time, which was going to be ‘do or die’. The umpires were in prolonged discussion as to whether they could get the match on after all when more rain came, and that ended any possibility of proceedings starting. Thus the USA are in the Super Eights, Ireland and Pakistan are out, and in qualifying for the Super Eights the USA have also ensured that they will be at the next T20 world cup as of right, which also means their region will have an extra slot, which is big news for Bermuda. Do either Ireland or Pakistan have any cause for grievance? Not for my money – USA beat Pakistan, having already beaten Canada, and acquitted themselves honourably against India, and there was to put mildly no certainty that Ireland would have won the match had it taken place – they had already lost to Canada, and had contributed very little to the tournament. Today India and Canada are supposed to be playing at the same venue, and although things are looking more hopeful than yesterday there has as yet been no sign of play. At 6PM UK time an important match gets underway – England v Namibia at North Sound, where the sun is shining, with England needing to win and then needing Australia to beat Scotland (that one starts at 1:30AM tomorrow UK time). Official confirmation that today’s game at Lauderhill has gone down the plughole without a ball bowled.
HONOURS EVEN IN LONDON
At 6:30PM yesterday Vitality Blast match between Surrey and Gloucestershire got underway. This match did go over the full course. Gloucestershire started superbly, then lost wickets, then got away again in the closing stages. They scored 170-6 from their 20 overs, a respectable but by no means invincible total.
Surrey also started well with the bat. At various stages each side looked favourites. The final over started with Surrey needing seven to win, which made them favourites. David Payne, Gloucestershire’s best bowler, had the ball for that crucial over. He bowled a very fine over, and although Surrey levelled the scores off the penultimate ball, the final delivery was excellent, and Jordan Clark could only hit straight back at Payne, resulting in a run out. Surrey ended on 170-9, and since unlike some T20 competitions the Vitality Blast allows ties in group matches the points were shared.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
I received an item of post with some old stamps used, and decided that a couple were worth keeping including this one.A well chosen birthday card, which I have decided to preserve.An egret in Bawsey drain – photographed today.Larvae (three images)Another larva of something else, which I managed to get closer to than the others.
A look at the first two days play between Australia and Pakistan at the MCG and a splendid photo gallery.
The Boxing Day test match between Australia and Pakistan at Melbourne has now seen two days play, albeit one of them disrupted by the weather, and is beginning to take shape.
THE AUSTRALIAN INNINGS
Pakistan won the toss and elected to put Australia in to bat. A truncated opening day ended with the hosts 187-3 after a “curate’s egg” bowling and fielding effort by Pakistan. At 226-4 Australia still looked very well placed, but then Pakistan fought their way back into things, and Australia eventually tallied a mere 318, respectable after being sent in but by no means formidable. Marnus Labuschagne with 63 had the only half century off the bat in the innings, but Pakistan may well come to regret the fact that they allowed Extras to tally a half century as well (52, including 15 wides). Debutant Aamer Jamal claimed three wickets, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali each had two, and Agha Salman, brought on to bowl the last over before lunch on day one, was gifted the wicket of David Warner.
THE PAKISTAN RESPONSE TO DATE
Pakistan began well, and at 124-1 it looked like things were going their way, but then came a passage of play that completely changed things. Pat Cummins removed Abdullah Shafique for 62, hanging on to a hard return chance. Then he widened the breach by bowling new batter Babar Azam for 1. Lyon got Shan Masood for 54, Hazlewood produced a beauty to get through the defences of Saud Shakeel for 9, and Pakistan were 151-5 and in a lot of trouble. Cummins claimed a third scalp of the innings when he got one to take the edge of Salman’s bat to make it 170-6. However Jamal defended stoutly, while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, who had performed better behind the stumps than 20 byes and 15 leg byes might suggest, batted well. When the cut off time arrived Pakistan were 194-6, with Rizwan 29*. Much rests on him on day three – it will largely by his further contribution or lack of it that decides whether Australia will have a really commanding lead or not. At the moment Australia are in the box seat, but many worse positions than the one Pakistan are currently in have seen sides emerge victorious.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Yesterday morning was bright and sunny, and I got out for a long walk while the weather was pleasant. I was well rewarded, including sightings of an egret and a couple of cormorants among other things…
An egret in the mud on the west side of the Great Ouse, opposite Hardings Pits (features in six pictures)Cormorants at one of their most regular perching spots (10 pictures)
A look at developments in the England v Ireland ODI so far and a large photo gallery.
The one-day series between England and Ireland should have started on Wednesday at Headingley, but not a single ball was bowled in that game. Today, officially the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere, is a much pleasanter day than Wednesday was, and the second scheduled match, at Trent Bridge, is proceeding with no weather related problems.
FOUR ENGLAND DEBUTANTS
England are not using any of their selected world cup players (tournament gets underway in early October, in India, with a replay of the 2019 final – England v New Zealand) in this series. The XI selected for this match includes four debutants, Sam Hain (batter, ridiculous given his domestic white ball record that he has waited this long), Jamie Smith (batter/ keeper, hugely talented youngster), George Scrimshaw (pace bowler, again very talented, though alsob very inexperienced, and the first Derbyshire player since Dominic Cork in 2002 to feature for England) and Tom Hartley (left arm spinner, decent limited overs record, but a surprise for me to see him in the side).
ENGLAND’S INNINGS
Ireland put England in, and Phil Salt and Will Jacks opened up for England. Salt made a rapid 28 before he and stand-in skipper Crawley fell in the space of three balls. Then Jacks and Duckett had an excellent stand before Duckett fell for 48. That brough debutant Sam Hain to the crease, and he and Jacks proceeded to share a superb partnership, ended only when Jacks holed out on the boundary trying to bring up his century with a six. Jacks’ 94 was still the third best ever score for England by someone with first two initials WG behind WG Grace’s two test tons – 152 on debut at The Oval in 1880 and 170 at the same ground six years later. Debutant number two, Smith, managed only nine but a fluent 32 from Carse at number seven maintained the tempo. The closing overs featured a race against the clock for Hain to reach a debut century, but four balls from the end he too holed out with the landmark just about in sight – 89 in his case, off 82 balls. England ended up with 334-8 from their 50 overs.
IRELAND’S REPLY TO DATE
George Scrimshaw was given the new ball, and he had a traumatic start as an international bowler, conceding a number of wides and no-balls. However, with the last ball of his second over he claimed the wicket of Andrew Balbirnie, and then Matt Potts got Stirling with the first ball of the next over. Scrimshaw’s third over was then a massive improvement, going for just a single – 2-0-35-1 becoming 3-0-36-1. Ireland are currently 53-2 in the seventh over, well and truly up with the rate, but already two wickets down.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off, courtesy of an evening walk yesterday and more importantly a long walk on the first autumn morning of the year today…
A ruddy darter at rest (two pics)
While I have been preparing this for publication the game has moved on. Potts has dismissed Campher to make it 69-3 in the ninth over.
A look back at yesterday’s finals of the Hundred and a huge photo gallery.
The final matches in this year’s Hundred took place yesterday. This post looks back at both matches.
SOUTHERN BRAVE V NORTHERN SUPERCHARGERS
Southern Brave recovered well from the loss of two early wickets, with Danni Wyatt playing a superb innings for them. They eventually managed 139-6 from their 100 balls, respectable rather than outstanding. Northern Superchargers struggled badly in reply. They didn’t hit very many boundaries, and they did an appallingly bad job of rotating the strike – Indian opener Jemimah Rodrigues, whose dismissal basically ended their hopes of success was out to the 73rd ball of the innings, and so badly had Superchargers failed at rotating the strike that she faced only 14 of those 73 balls. She was the only Superchargers batter scoring quickly enough to give her side a shot at chasing down the total, but her team mates simply could not get her enough of the strike. In the end Brave won by 34 runs, sending their skipper Anya Shrubsole into retirement on an appropriately high note. In 2017 Shrubsole was the star of the show when England won the World Cup final at Lord’s, where this match also took place. On that occasion Shrubsole took six Indian wickets to win England a game that looked to be going the other way for much of its duration. This time she was part of an excellent team bowling performance, and her team rarely looked anything other than 100% in control of the match. One other Brave player deserves special mention: wicket keeper Rhianna Southby, who was, as she has been for most of the tournament stellar behind the stumps. Highlights of her performance this match included three stumpings, at least one of which would have beyond most other keepers in this tournament. She is that increasingly rare player in the modern era – someone who gets picked specifically for her keeping skills – she was officially down to bat at number 10 had Brave lost that many wickets. Danni Wyatt’s sparkling 59 earned her Player of the Match, while Marizanne Kapp was named Player of the Tournament for the 147 runs and 11 wickets she managed.
OVAL INVINCIBLES V MANCHESTER ORIGINALS
This match featured one of the more astonishing turn arounds seen in a game of such short duration (long form cricket offers much more scope for truly spectacular turn arounds – check out Warwickshire v Hampshire in 1922 for a classic example). Invincibles were put into bat, no surprise given that Originals had made a chase of 196 look trivially easy only a day previously. The Invincibles were soon looking decidedly vincible, with the score reading 34-5. At that point Tom Curran joined Kiwi James Neesham and the turnaround began. This pair were still together at the end of the 100 balls, by which time they had put on 127 together, raising the total to 161-5. Tom Curran had 67* (34) to his name, and Neesham, only marginally less brutal, 57* (33). Originals made a bright start, but Invincibles’ three contrasting slow bowlers, Briggs (left arm orthodox), Sowter (leg spin) and Jacks (off spin) proved extremely hard to score off and picked up a number of wickets. Max Holden and Jamie Overton put on a good partnership for the sixth wicket, and then Tom Hartley continued the resistance in partnership with Overton, but Originals were hopelessly behind the required rate, and ended up 14 runs adrift. Tom Curran was Player of the Match, while Jamie Overton’s all round contributions (208 runs and 3 wickets across the tournament) saw him named Player of the Tournament.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a massive photo gallery today – I have been on two substantial walks today, and both proved bountiful sources of pictures…
Continuing my mini-series about my long weekend in Cornwall with an account of the centrepiece of the visit, a family meal in Looe.
Welcome to the penultimate post in my series about my long weekend in Cornwall. This post deals with the main event of the weekend, although we actually visited the town of Looe twice, on the Saturday to pick up my nephew who had travelled to Cornwall with my aunt but could stay in Looe due to tghe fact that the house my aunt was staying on along with two of her sons, their wives and the two young children (one for each couple), and they had been told that only seven people could stay at the house, so he would be staying with us at Fort Picklecombe.
LOOE
Looe straddles a river, and is divided officially into East Looe and West Looe. Before the reforms of 1832 East and West Looe were separate parliamentary constituencies and each returned two MPs, so this tiny place had four MPs, while big cities such as Birmingham and Manchester had none. The bridge – there is only one – remains a very prominent landmark.
SUNDAY LUNCH
We had a table booked for 11 people at The Sardine Factory, a predominantly fish restaurant, for 12:00 on Sunday (the earliest possible booking at that establishment, arranged due to the babies daily routine – both would be having an afternoon nap immediately after the meal). We had a zoom call on the Sunday morning with various other relatives, then had to visit the allotment on the way to Looe, but we got there in good time and walked in unhurried fashion from the main car park to the restaurant, arriving a few minutes early. They opened on the dot of 12 and we were seated not much later. I found what was obviously going to be a good beer on the drinks list (it was indeed), though the food was less satisfactory at first glance (as someone who is not fond of fish I seemed limited to the burger, as the sirloin steak, which I would have liked to order, was ludicrously overpriced, causing me to rule it out. Then we were shown the specials, one of which was roast beef with all the trimmings and was priced far more sensibly than the steak. I therefore ordered that, and it was excellent.
AFTER LUNCH
While the babies were taken for their post-lunch nap my family group made a brief return to our car to pick up the pots that the plants we had transferred to the allotment that morning had been in (one at least, which I carried, was quite an expensive pot) to return them to my aunt. Then we visited the house where the others were staying for teas and coffees, which were accompanied by a home made gluten-free ginger cake. Then it was time to return to Fort Picklecombe.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
At the Sardine Factory (as you will see I took a good few pictures inside).This pic and the next two (one original edited three different ways) represent by far my best capture of the view from Maker Heights.
aspiblog 