Tag: England v South Africa

England Off to Winning Start at Women’s ODI World Cup

An account of England’s start at the Women’s ODI World Cup, against South Africa in Guwahati. Also a large photo gallery.

The latest edition of the women’s ODI world cup got underway this week. India beat Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, Australia beat New Zealand in the second match, which was harder fought than the eventual 89 run margin suggests – Australia were at point struggling at 127-5, and it was only their immense depth that enabled them to escape from there. Yesterday Bangladesh beat Pakistan by seven wickets. Bangladesh in that game opted for only one front line seam option, with five recognized spinners in their line up. That sole seamer, Marufa Akter, was named Player of the Match, having struck twice in her first over, a start from which Pakistan never recovered. Today saw England in action against South Africa, meaning that all sides have now played one match. The rest of this post looks back at that match.

ENGLAND v SOUTH AFRICA

This match took place in Guwahati in the far north-eastern corner of India. England won the toss and opted to bowl first. They pretty much followed the Bangladesh pattern of selection, going spin dominant, with Lauren Bell the only specialist seamer in the XI, though they also had Natalie Sciver-Brunt’s medium pace available to them, though giving her a full allocation given her recent injury issues would probably have been ill advised in game one of a long tournament. There was little sign of things to come in the first over, bowled by Bell, from which nine runs accrued. That was the last time anything really went South Africa’s way. Linsey Smith took the new ball at the other end to Bell, and her second ball accounted for Laura Wolvaardt, who essayed a drive and succeeded only in sending the ball straight back to Smith who took the return catch. The other opener, Tazmin Brits, was bowled by the first ball of the fourth over, Smith’s second, with the left arm spinner still yet to concede a run, and it was 12-2. South Africa could not come to terms with losing both openers so cheaply. In the fifth over Bell clean bowled Sune Luus to make it 17-3. Three balls later Linsey Smith clean bowled Marizanne Kapp for 4 and it was 19-4. Anneke Bosch and Sinalo Jafta managed a 12 run stand before Sciver-Brunt’s first ball as England skipper (she had been unable to bowl all summer) pinned Bosch so plumb in front that even with the dismissal making the score 31-5 the South African did not bother to go upstairs. Exactly two overs later Chloe Tryon was caught by Capsey off Sciver-Brunt for 2 and it was 38-6, and record books were being consulted for all time low scores in the format. The seventh wicket added 10 careful runs before the first ball of the 14th over saw Nadine de Klerk drive loosely at Sophie Ecclestone and succeed only in edging to slip where Heather Knight held a sharp catch to make it 48-7. Masabata Klaas managed to bat a little time (13 balls in total), but only accrued three runs before Charlie Dean bowled her and it was 60-8 in the 18th over. Sinalo Jafta, the only Protea to reach double figures, had got to 22, and batted pretty well, when she essayed a wild hoick against Ecclestone, missed and was bowled to make it 60-9. When those who are supposed to be able to bat have failed this epically one cannot expect a great deal from numbers 10 and 11, with no batting pedigree whatsoever, and in the circumstances Ayabonga Khaka (6 not out, a slight overachievement compared to her career batting average) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (3) did as well as anyone could have expected. It was Dean who took the final wicket, bowling Mlaba to make it 69 all out from 20.4 overs. Every England bowled who got on claimed at least one wicket, Linsey Smith finishing with 3-7 from four overs, while Sciver-Brunt, Dean and Ecclestone each took two wickets and Bell one. With only 70 to get the question was exactly how comprehensively would England end up winning. Tammy Beaumont never really got going but was not going to miss out on an opportunity to boost her batting average with a ‘not out’ – such opportunities are rarely granted to openers and she has been around a long time. Amy Jones did get going, and her unbeaten 40 from 50 balls put the South African collapse into perspective. Beaumont was 21 not out from 35 balls and South Africa gave away 12 extras (as compared to 8 by England). England won by 10 wickets with 35.5 overs to spare, and will go into their second match with a net run rate of +3.773.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

More Record Breaking from England

A look back at last night’s carnage at Old Trafford and a photo gallery.

The ODI series between the England and South Africa men’s teams ended with a record breaking win for England. The T20I series between the same two teams started with a narrow win for South Africa in the first match. The second match took place last night…

A REMARKABLE BLITZ

England batted first, and they got off to a flier. Jos Buttler reached 50 off 18 balls, Phil Salt took only one ball longer. The hundred was on the board before the six over Power Play was done. Buttler was first out, for 83 off 30 balls. Salt went on to a century, his fourth in T20 internationals, putting him behind only Rohit Sharma (five) on the all time list. Salt reached that mark off his 39th ball, an England all time record. The runs continued to amass at a ridiculous rate, and in the final over England became the first side ever to take a top tier (i.e. test playing) nation for 300 in a T20I. They ended up with a score of 304-2, pg which Salt’s share was 141 not out from 60 balls. South Africa had swelled the number of balls England actually faced by bowling a number of wides and no-balls. Bjorn Fortuin, a left arm spin bowling all rounder who had replaced Corbin Bosch, a right arm medium pace bowling all rounder, in the XI fared as well as anyone, taking 2-52 from his four overs. Kagiso Rabada, an all time great of the game, was left nursing figures of 4-0-70-0. With that kind of score on the board there could only be one result, and in the end the final margin was 146 runs. Sam Curran had 2-11 from two overs, varying his pace superbly (one of his slower balls was clocked at 47mph, similar to the stock pace in her playing days of world cup winning left arm spinner turned commentator Alex Hartley), and at the end, with the result long since confirmed (at the end of the 16th over South Africa needed 147 from four overs, and were down to tail enders only) Will Jacks picked up 2-2 from a single over of off spin.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England’s Record Breaking Day

A look back at yesterday’s ODI between England and South Africa and a photo gallery, including the story of my pizza making sessions yesterday.

Yesterday England played the third and final match of an ODI series against South Africa. South Africa had already won the series. I missed the early part of the action due to being at a WNAG Pizza Making event at Pizza Express. This post looks back at an extraordinary day.

TWO BRILLIANT AND CONTRASTING CENTURIES

South Africa won the toss, which was about the last thing to go right for them on the day. They put England in to bat. Smith and Duckett led off with a rapid stand. Smith was second out with 117 on the board, and 16.2 overs gone. That brought Jacob Bethell, still looking for his first professional hundred, in to join Joe Root, to whom such scores are nothing new. It was this partnership that took the game away from South Africa. In 24 overs in the middle part of the innings, usually the quietest period, the pair put on 182 together. Bethell reached that first professional century off 76 balls, hitting 11 fours and three sixes along the way. He was England’s second youngest ever ODI centurion, just a few days older than another left hander, David Gower, had been when he scored his maiden ODI ton. Bethell hit two more fours after reaching the landmark, before being out for 110 to make it 299-3. Brook made an unusual contribution – he was run out for 3 off two balls to make it 302-4. Buttler joined Root, and during their fifth wicket stand Root reached a century that had rarely if ever looked anything other than inevitable. It had taken him 95 balls, and he had hit a mere six fours along the way, indicating just how large a proportion of those deliveries he had managed to score something off. This was Root’s 19th ODI ton. Root was fifth out in the 47th over, not advancing beyond 100. The score by then was 371, and with Will Jacks joining a well set Buttler England would have been seriously disappointed not to cross 400 from there. In the event they had something to spare, ending on 414-5, Buttler 62 not out off 32 balls and Jacks 19 not out off 8 balls.

A HORROR SHOW FOR SA

Jofra Archer led the bowling onslaught on the proteas, who were weakened by an injury to skipper Temba Bavuma. At one point South Africa were 24-6, with only Dewald Brevis of the top six managing double figures (C Jacks B Archer 10). Archer had four wickets and Brydon Carse two. Corbin Bosch and Keshav Maharaj offered a little resistance before Maharaj hit one from rival spinner Adil Rashid straight into the hands of Root to go for 17 and make it 49-7. Codi Yusuf, a medium pacer who had not distinguished himself in his main department, reached 5 before Rashid got through his defences to make it 57-8. Nandre Burger joined Bosch for what was barring miracles going to be the last stand, Bavuma having said he would bat only if needed, and South Africa were so far adrift that it would have been plumb crazy, as well as plain cruel, to have sent him in to the breach in these circumstances. A catch by Carse off Rashid got Bosch for 20 and made it 72-9. Bavuma, as expected, did not emerge, and England were confirmed as winners by 342 runs, a record runs margin for any ODI. It is not the first time that this particular record has belonged to England – in 1975 a 202 run win over India in a 60 overs per side match had given them the record. That match looks bizarre to modern eyes – England scored 334-4 from their 60 overs, Amiss leading the way with 137, a scoring rate that would not be considered especially daunting these days, and India replied with 132-3, Sunil Gavaskar settling for an extended net that yielded him 36 not out from 174 balls! Scorecard for yesterday’s match here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The start of pizza making – a lump of dough and some flour.
Which becomes by various processes this – a flat, roughly circular sheet of dough.
The next stage is making sure the dough sits correctly in the pan – the outside edge of the dough needs to be a little bit raised to keep the toppings in.
Tomato spreed over the base ready for toppings.
Olives and mushrooms added.
Pepperoni added.
cubes of mozzarella distributed across the pizza.
A fine dusting of oregano to bring out the full flavour of the pizza.
The end product (and I can tell you it was excellent).
Last night’s full moon. At the time the blood moon should have been visible yesterday it was still daylight in King’s Lynn, and a bit cloudy to boot

England Men’s ODI Side Struggling

A look at the problems England men are having in their ODI series against South Africa men and a very large photo gallery.

There is an ODI series in progress between the England and South Africa men’s sides. This post looks briefly at what has happened so far.

MATCH ONE: SO BAD I MISSED ALL THE ACTION

The first match of the series happened on Tuesday, a working day. It was a day/night fixture so I was expecting to catch the second innings after I got home from work. Unfortunately England were so atrocious that I missed all the action. First they crashed to 131 all out, then it took South Africa only just over 20 overs to knock this derisory target off. Sonny Baker, making his first appearance in England colours after some great successes in domestic cricket, including The Hundred, leaked 76 runs from seven overs.

MATCH TWO: BETTER BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

The second match, at Lord’s, was also a day-nighter. This one did go the distance, and in theory was a close one. However, save for when Bethell (58 off 40 balls) was firing on all cylinders England were always behind the rate, and there was never any great feeling that a successful chase was a likely outcome. The closeness of the final result (five runs in it) was largely down to a bat fling by Jofra Archer with all pressure eased because the game was to all intents and purposes already done. The Barbados born fast bowler scored an unbeaten 27 from 14 balls to reduce but not close the gap between the sides. All rounder Corbin Bosch, whose bowling stock in trade is right arm fast medium, was allowed to bowl his ten overs with figures of 1-38, which with a victory target of 331 was indefensible from England. The other thing to note here is that Lord’s is well known for being a hard ground on which to chase, and if England had any confidence in their ability to set a respectable target they would surely have opted to do so. The disaster in the first match meant that Brook apparently did not even consider batting first when the coin fell his way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A cormorant pretending to be a black duck, overlooking the sculpted part of the Gaywood in The Walks (two pics).
Common sandpiper, spotted near the mouth of the Nar while on my way to a WNAG committee meeting this morning.
Some King’s Lynn townscapes from various vantage points, starting with the centre of the bridge linking West Lynn to South Lynn (further north there is only a ferry crossing available).
Two planes flying together.
The focus here is on the pontoon jetty.
This one comes from earlier this evening – the particular buddleia plant overlooking Bawsey Drain.

Bin-gland

A look at the state of the England Men’s ODI team. Also a large photo gallery.

England’s participation in the Champions Trophy is at an end, and they have been the worst team at the tournament, being the only side in either group not to record a single point. This post looks briefly at yesterday’s match and then at the problems with this England Men’s ODI side.

EXITING WITH A WHIMPER

England’s elimination was already confirmed before yesterday’s match began, but the question was whether they would depart with a bang or a whimper. Afghanistan were hoping for it to be an almighty bang, since a victory by 207 or more runs would push South Africa’s net run rate below Afghanistan and mean that the latter made the semi-finals. In the event England exited with the tamest of whimpers. The match started in familiar fashion, with Phil Salt (no 1 in the England batting order) and Jamie Smith (no 3) both departing cheaply, both to terrible shots. That once again brought Duckett and Root together with a rebuilding operation to perform. This time round we got an illustration of the fact that if you keep on needing rescue operations you don’t always get them – Duckett made 24 and Root 37, which would remain England’s top score. Brook, officially next in line for the captaincy vacated by Buttler, managed 19. Buttler, attempting to provide some stability, a role for which he is not well suited, managed 21 off 43 balls, while Jofra Archer ended up second top scorer with 25 off 31 balls, and the comparative ease with which he was able to bat was a damning indictment of his alleged betters in that department. All of this added up to 179 all out from 38.2 overs – a scoring rate of below five an over and 11.4 overs left unused. Marco Jansen took 3-39, and was outdone figures wise by Wiaan Mulder who had 3-25. No South African bowled badly, with Kagiso Rabada’s 1-42 from seven overs being the worst figures of any of their five bowlers. Rassie van der Dussen, 72 not out off 87 balls, and Henrich Klaasen, 64 off 56 balls before perishing in the moment of victory were the chief performers responsible for making England’s total look as pathetic as it was, South Africa winning by seven wickets with 20.5 overs to spare – in other words they had more than the length of a T20 innings to spare.

ENGLAND’S PROBLEMS

England personnel wise (for the moment we will ignore questions of the domestic schedule) have four main issues, of which only the first is definitely being dealt with:

  1. They have the wrong captain. Buttler has stepped down, which starts to address this, but my own feeling is that they need to do something more radical than merely turn to ‘next cab in the rank’ Brook. Perhaps Liam Dawson, who playing skills would help to address other problems could be brought straight in as captain.
  2. Numbers one and three in the order need replacing. You cannot expect to win matches when losing two early wickets on an absolutely regular basis, and the dismissals of Salt and Smith against South Africa suggest that neither learned anything from their failures in the first two matches.
  3. Lack of all rounders. This, with five bowlers required to be used in every innings, creates issues of balance – you either pick five proper bowlers, relying on the top six to do the bulk of the scoring, or you pick four front line bowlers only and rely on part timers to bowl the fifth allocation of ten overs. England have opted for the latter approach, and their lack of either depth or variety in the bowling department has cost them at this tournament, which leads to…
  4. Too much similarity in bowling. England have not a left armer of any type at this tournament (look up the bowling half of the package offered by Dawson the player), the fast bowlers used have all been very similar, making it easy for opposing batters to take them on. The one trustworthy component of the England bowling attack at this tournament, Adil Rashid, is now 37 years old, and the endurance of James Anderson notwithstanding probably has a fairly limited remaining shelf life at the top level.

England have not been struggling in ODIs for nearly as long as they had been when they crashed out of the 2015 World Cup, but a reset of a similar type to the one that took place then is required.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (with a reminder as we start a new month that images can be viewed at a larger size by clicking on them)…

England In The Last Chance Saloon

A look back at today’s events at the cricket world cup including England’s shameful capitulation to South Africa which leaves their hopes of progressing beyond the group stage in tatters and a photo gallery.

This post looks at happenings in today’s two matches at the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup. England came into the day with an opportunity to go third in the group if they recorded a big win over South Africa. As you will see things panned out somewhat differently from that scenario.

HORS D’OEUVRE – NETHERLANDS V SRI LANKA

At 6AM UK time the minor match of today’s double header got under way. The Netherlands won the toss, and mindful of how they had managed to beat South Africa in their previous match correctly chose to bat first. They managed to make 262, after being 91-6 at one point. There were moments when it looked possible that they were going to win a second in a row, but in the end Sri Lanka got home at the end of the 48th over.

THE MAIN COURSE – ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA

Some sports fans had dubbed today ‘super Saffaday’ because it is Saturday and it featured two big matches between teams representing England and South Africa, in the cricket world cup and in a semi-final of the rugby world cup. The former was reckoned to offer the better chance of a good result for England.

Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, who have proven valueless in this tournament, were quite rightly dropped, Gus Atkinson and David Willey taking their places. More debatably Ben Stokes replaced Liam Livingstone, which with the Durham man not able to bowl meant that England’s sixth bowler and second spinner would be Joe Root. For South Africa Temba Bavuma was ruled out by illness, and Reeza Hendricks was named as his replacement as player, while Aiden Markram took over the captaincy.

Jos Buttler won the toss and promptly had a brainstorm. Here are the salient points:

  1. The side that bowled first would have to cope with the blistering afternoon heat of Mumbai.
  2. England ideally needed to get the full ten overs out of all five of their front line bowlers.
  3. South Africa had recorded two big victories batting first and lost the only game in which they had batted second.
  4. England had lost their last game, to Afghanistan, after choosing to bowl first.
  5. A fistful of teams had already opted to chase and had that decision blow up in their faces.

In the face of this compelling evidence that batting first and getting a score on the board was imperative Joseph Charles Buttler, in a decision that could serve as an example of Einstein’s famous definition of insanity, “doing the same thing and expecting a different result”, with one extra dimension of South Africa being unquestionably a stronger side than Afghanistan, opted to bowl in the broiling heat.

There was further bad news for England when Adil Rashid did not initially take the field. It turned that he had an upset stomach, though he did take his place on the field and bowl his full allocation. Quinton de Kock fell to the second ball of the match, having hit the first for four. Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen then settled into a good partnership. Reece Topley suffered an injury to his bowling hand after bowling 3.5 overs and had to leave the field for repairs. Joe Root bowled the remaining ball of the incomplete over. All of England’s bowlers struggled badly, and a huge total looked on the cards. England hauled things back a little between overs 30 and 40, with South Africa being 256-5 at the latter point. The last ten overs were pure carnage, with Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen both going on the rampage. Even with the 50th over only going for five runs South Africa had posted a total of 399, the largest England have ever conceded in an ODI, meaning that the last 10 overs had been plunder for no fewer than 143 runs.

England batted very nearly as dreadfully as they had bowled and Buttler had captained, being 24-3, then 68-6, then 100-8. Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson then handed South Africa back a little of the rough treatment that England’s bowlers had endured, putting on 70 together, which with Topley unable to bat was just enough to save England for the moment from being bottom of the group – England are one of a group of teams with two points, and their net run rate is -1.248, a mere 0.002 better than that of Afghanistan. It says everything worth saying about the efforts of England’s genuine batters that Wood with 43* and Atkinson with 35 were the only two members of the side to top 20, and that while they scored a combined 78 at 78.00 the other eight who batted plus extras scoring 92 at 11.50. The scorecard can be viewed here.

Where do England go from here? Well, they keep Buttler and Mott in post until England’s elimination is mathematically confirmed just to ensure that neither captain nor coach can find a way to wriggle out of blame for this debacle of a world cup tournament, the worst by an England team in the 21st century (both 1999 on home soil and 1996 in the subcontinent bear comparison with this showing). When the elimination confirmed Buttler should be sacked as skipper and a caretaker skipper appointed for the remaining group games. Once hands have been shaken after England’s last group game is complete Mott should be handed his P45 (if he offers his resignation it should be refused IMO – he should not be allowed to say he left of his own volition) as the first step in what needs to be a complete overhaul of England’s 50 over setup.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Inclement weather has limited opportunities for hobby photography, though I have some good pics. I am therefore including a few more model locomotive pics to start my gallery…

789 (five images)
Lot 790 (five iamges)
Lot 792 (five images)

Some Sporting Stories

A couple of sporting stories, news of a bold new plan for London City Airport and an important petition.

INTRODUCTION

This is going to be a blog post of many parts. As well as the sporting stories in the title I will be sharing some other stuff that I have come across recently. I will cover the sporting stories first…

CRICKET

Two different stories from South Africa. First…

HAVING LOST THE WAR SOUTH AFRICA
LOOK LIKE WINNING THE FINAL BATTLE

England’s victory in the third test match gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four match series, so the fact that they took two sessions (SA 220-1 in 1st innings) to wake up in this match and have never been on terms is less of a worry than it might be. Going into the final day, extended to make up for time lost to the weather, England have 98 overs to bat and with seven wickets in hand need what would appear to be a purely nominal 330 more to win.

Kagiso Rabada who took seven wickets in the first innings already has another two, and one more would make him the youngest ever bowler to take 10 in a test match. Hashim Amla was one good blow short of completing twin centuries in the match and two South African debutants made centuries in the first innings, Cook (like his English namesake an opening batsman) and De Kock (wicketkeeper and middle order batsman).

Barring cataclysmic weather the final outcome of this series will be a 2-1 win to England.

My second cricket story concerns a rather graver matter…

MATCH FIXING

Gulam Bodi has been banned from any cricket related activity except attending anti-corruption programs for a period of 20 years for contriving or attempting to fix matches in the 2015 Ram Slam T20 series. A full account, by Cricinfo’s South African correspondent Firdose Moonda, can viewed here.

While I am pleased to see that a severe punishment has been dished out I can only concur with the thoughts voiced by Michael Vaughan on Test Match Special today – this is not tough enough. Anyone caught engaging in this kind of behaviour should be banned outright for life.

TENNIS

We are deep into the second week of a grand slam tournament (the Australian Open), and Andy Murray is not the sole remaining Brit in the main singles draws (he is of course still there). He has been joined in reaching the last eight by 24 year old Johanna Konta, the first British woman since 1984 to make a grand slam quarter-final.

SOME OTHER BITS AND BOBS

I have a few other items to share, starting with…

FAREWELL TO LONDON CITY AIRPORT (HERE’S HOPING)

I have already given this some coverage on my London transport themed website. Sian Berry (Green party candidate for London mayor) and her team have come up with an excellent alternative usage proposal for the site of London City Airport. Full details can be read here, while the original of the picture I  reproduce below can be viewed here.

LCY

DON’T CUT BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE
LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

First, a petition which I introduce by way of a piece of text designed for use in emails:

I just signed the petition “Don’t cut benefits for people living with disabilities” and wanted to ask if you could add your name too. 

This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign the petition here: 

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/don-t-punish-the-sick-and-disabled-with-benefit-cuts 

Can you also take a moment to share the petition with others? It’s really easy – all you need to do is forward this email or click these links: 

Share on Facebook 

Share on Twitter 

Thank you! 

For more detail please view this post from disabilitybenefitsconsortium.