Tag: frost

Women’s Ashes Underway

A look at the opening match of the Women’s Ashes and at the Melbourne derby in the BBL. Also a large photo gallery.

This post is actually a two parter – the first part mentions the opening match of the Women’s Ashes series now underway in Australia, while the second looks at the Melbourne Derby in the BBL.

A BAD DAY FOR ENGLAND

The Women’s Ashes is a multi-format series – three ODIs worth two points each, a test match worth four points and three T20Is worth two points each. Australia as holders will retain the trophy if the series is drawn, meaning that England need to win it outright. The first ODI took place overnight UK time at the North Sydney Oval. There were no great selection surprises. Australia won the toss and put England in. England did not bat well – a number of players got starts but no one managed a really big score, and in the end they only just topped 200. Off spinning all rounder Ashleigh Gardner took 3-19 and also held two catches. England bowled a lot better than they had batted, but the damage was done. Alyssa Healy led the way with 70 off 78 balls, and Gardner also batted well. Ecclestone just failed to complete a catch to dismiss Gardner which would have had Australia 183-7. There were no further chances, and Gardner was 42 not out when Australia completed victory with 11.1 overs to spare. Full scorecard here.

STARS’ LAZARUS ACT

The title of this section has a double meaning – referring to both today’s match and the Melbourne Stars season.

When Stars lost their first five group matches no one would have imagined that they would be anywhere near claiming a knockout slot come the business end. Three successive wins took them into this Melbourne derby still down but not necessarily out. At 75-7 at the end of the 11th over they looked doomed to end their revival, going down to neighbours Renegades. Glenn Maxwell was still there, and was their sole remaining hope. He proceeded to turn the game upside down with a brutal display of hitting. With nine balls remaining in the innings Usama Mir fell an five ball duck – but the 40 balls that Maxwell had faced out of their 45 balls had seen the score advance by 81! Four balls after Mir was dismissed Maxwell’s extraordinary innings came to an end, bowled by Kane Richardson for 90 off 52 balls, including ten sixes and four fours. Peter Siddle, 40 years of age, helped Stars to add a further seven runs before being out to the last ball of the innings. Stars thus had 165 to defend. Every time Renegades looked even vaguely like getting anything going in reply a wicket fell. Renegades took their two over Power Surge for overs 13 and 14, and those two overs seemed certain to settle it one way or another. They did indeed – Renegades had a disaster, accruing a mere seven runs from those two overs and losing three wickets. The required rate was now climbing alarmingly, and by the time eight balls were left in the match Renegades needed 54 to win. They managed to scrape up 11 of those runs, giving Stars victory by 42 runs and a huge net RR boost. Stars now have a long wait for their tenth and final group match, but with the knowledge that if a few intervening results help them they will have a chance to qualify for the knockouts at the last gasp.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A BBL Double Header

Brief accounts of todays BBL matches and two photo galleries.

Greetings from a chilly King’s Lynn (officially the outside temperature is just into positive figures right now, which is a rarity this last week). This morning there were two Big Bash League games. The early game saw Perth Scorchers in action against Sydney Sixers and the later game saw Adelaide Strikers face Brisbane Heat.

SIXERS v SCORCHERS

The Perth Scorchers won the toss and put Sydney Sixers in. At first this move looked like working well – at the end of their four over opening Power Play the Sixers were 19-1. However, the Sixers would compensate for their slow start with a vengeance. By the end of the 10th over Sixers had recovered to 80-2. The Sydney innings was ignited by their Power Surge, which they took for overs 13 and 14 of the innings. They belted those two overs for 35 in total without losing a wicket. They topped 150 off the last ball of the 16th over. Even then Scorchers might have had a chance in the chase, but the last four overs were absolute carnage – 70 runs in total came off them. Sixers thus ended up with 220 to defend. The chief architect of their huge total was Steve Smith, who had been dropped early in his innings, scoring 121 off 64 balls. Moises Henriques scored 46 off 28 balls, and Ben Dwarshuis gave the total a final push into the stratosphere with 23 not out off seven balls at the end. The worst sufferer among the Scorchers bowlers was Andrew Tye, 4-0-62-0.

Scorchers were never in the hunt, and even a seventh wicket stand of 76 between Ashton Turner and Matthew Spoors only reduced the margin of defeat. In the end there were only 16 runs in it. Sean Abbott took 4-43.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

I am splitting today’s gallery because it is very large…

STRIKERS v HEAT

Heat won the toss, and just as Scorchers had earlier on they opted to bowl first. In their case there was never even a moment of doubt as to just how appallingly that decision had backfired – by the end of their four over opening Power Play the Strikers were 62-0. The field dropping back did not massively slow them,, the opening stand reaching 121 in 8.5 overs before Chris Lynn fell for 47 off 20 balls. Matthew Short continued to blaze away, ultimately scoring 109 off 54 balls. Alex Ross contributed 44 not out off 19 balls, and D’Arcy Short 16* off 10 balls. Strikers had 251-5 from their 20 overs, the second highest total in the history of the BBL. Heat, batting second, under floodlights and with their opponents bowling and fielding in less hot conditions then they themselves had endured earlier fared well in normal terms, but such was the magnitude of the challenge that they never looked remotely capable of surmounting it. A collapse from 146-3 to 158-9 merely underlined the hopelessness of the position in which they had put themselves. The last pair raised that score by 37, though the target had long since become a distant dream, and midway through the 19th over the asking rate went beyond six per ball. D’Arcy Short had 4-15 from three overs of left arm wrist spin and also held two catches in the field, but it was the other Short, Matthew, who was named Player of the Match for his ton and some clever captaincy. Strikers had won by 56 runs, and moved off the bottom of the table. Heat are now in serious trouble, hitting poor form at the wrong time, and probably about to be deprived of Colin Munro due to injury – he batted well down the order today for that reason, while Strikers, for all that are firmly in the last chance saloon even after this win look better placed to grab a qualifying spot, as they are finding form at the right time of the season. It seems to me, following from afar, that too many BBL skippers who win the toss put their opponents in without thought, and today the policy resulted in two losses, both in games that realistically speaking were settled by the end of the first 20 overs.

PHOTO GALLERY TWO

This picture was taken from west of the Great Ouse – yesterday morning was a West Norfolk Autism Group committee meeting in our office space which is just west of the river.
I had had a lift to the meeting, but walked home, after a false start which I corrected just after taking this picture.
The Great Ouse from the western edge of the road bridge across it.
A mute swan briefly taking wing.
This was my first picture of yesterday’s second walk.
These last six pictures starting with this one are from today.
It was misty down by the Great Ouse…
…but overall the sky was clear enough that the moon was visible. Many years ago in a one day match that finished very late umpire Arthur Jepson dismissed an appeal against the light with “you can see the moon – how far do you want to see?”