Hapless Heat Remain Winless

A look back at today’s WBBL clash in Drummoyne between Sydney Thunder and Brisbane Heat, a note about future posts and a photo gallery.

Today in the Women’s Big Bash League Sydney Thunder were hosting Brisbane Heat at Drummoyne. Neither side could qualify, but a win for Thunder if they managed it would condemn Heat to the wooden spoon (even if Heat had won they would need another win in their final game, another loss for Thunder and a substantial change in net run rates to avoid this fate).

THE THUNDER INNINGS

Thunder, batting first, had a slow start, and were 24-1 after their four over Power Play. That took a turn for the worse in the fifth over when English leg spinner Sarah Glenn making her debut for Heat struck twice in successive balls, bowling Voll with a ball that went straight through, and then bowling Knight round her legs with the next ball. Anika Learoyd and young all rounder Lucy Finn both also fell for single figure scores, and when veteran Laura Harris was LBW for 13 it was 93-6. Phoebe Litchfield, who had survived this carnage, had been dropped twice in the early stages of her innings, and these lapses would prove crucial, as she now found an excellent partner in Em Arlott. At 120 Litchfield’s innings ended for 61, but now, having played the support role for Litchfield, Arlott took control, in a partnership with Taneale Peschel that yielded a further 33 runs off the last 3.5 overs of the innings. Thunder thus had 153 to defend.

THE HEAT RESPONSE

The Heat innings began with Samantha Bates bowling to Charli Knott. The first three balls were all dots, and then Bates took a magnificent return catch to get Knott off the fourth ball. Lauren Winfield-Hill came in at number three, but never got going at all, and the fourth ball of the third over, bowled by Voll, pinned her LBW for 2 (5). In the next over Georgia Redmayne, batting at number four, was caught behind of Shabnim Ismail for 1. At the end of the four over opening Power Play the Heat were 10-3 and the game was effectively done. When Lucinda Bourke had reached 18 she fell to a catch by Voll off Peschel to make it 30-4. West Indian all rounder Chinelle Henry now joined Sianna Ginger, and they fared well for a time, until Henry was hit and retired hurt with the score at 53. Ten runs later Ginger who had scored an impressive 28 was caught and bowled by Arlott. The sixth wicket pair of Annie O’Neil and Mikayla Wrigley more than doubled that total, but were never on terms with the runs rate, and Thunder ran out winners by 23 runs in the end. Heat thus remain winless after nine games, and also remain without an individual 50+ score in this year’s tournament (Litchfield’s innings today was the fifth such score for the Thunder by comparison).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before the main purpose of this section a note for the future: I intend to write about yesterday’s auction on Friday – one of two posts I intend to write that day, with the other being about what is happening in the second Ashes test in Brisbane (in over 2,600 test matches to date there has never been a definite result in one day’s play, though MCC v Australia at Lord’s in 1878 was done and dusted in a day – MCC 33 and 19, Australia 41 and 12-1 won by nine wickets – and I do not see this one being done in a day either, even with Stokes’ England being involved!). Now it is time for my usual sign off…

Last night’s moon was approaching fullness…

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.

The 2023 Ryder Cup So Far

The Ryder Cup is a golf tournament played every two years between teams representing Europe and the USA (used to be GB & Ireland v USA). It features three match play formats: Foursomes, where the players hit alternate shots, fourballs, where each player plays their own ball and the hole is won the best score out of the four players, and singles, which is head to head between two players. This latter is the only format in which every player is guaranteed to play barring injuries. The first two days each see four foursomes matches in the morning and four fourball matches in the afternoon, while day three features the 12 singles matches.

YESTERDAY

I was too busy following the end of the County Championship cricket season to catch any of yesterday’s action, but Europe ended up with a commanding 6.5 – 1.5 lead (a win scores one point, and a half half a point).

THIS MORNING

Europe continued to dominate. Match two saw Hovland and Aberg for Europe set a new all time competition record when they hammered Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka 9 and 7 (nine holes up with only seven left to play), the biggest margin of victory in the history of the tournament (beating the 8 and 7 by which Paul Broadhurst once lost a singles match). Koepka could do nothing right, and by the end Scheffler, dragged down by his partner’s bad play and worse attitude, was also playing some very shoddy golf. McIlroy and Fleetwood in match one and Rahm and Hatton in match four each recorded 2&1 victories for Europe. Max Homa and Brian Harman saved some face for the USA by winning their match 4&2, but Europe were still 9.5 – 2.5 ahead.

THIS AFTERNOON SO FAR

The USA have finally found some form this afternoon. Hovland and Aberg, heroes of the morning for Europe, are on the brink of a heavy defeat at the hands of Burns and Morikawa, while Homa and Harman are poised to repeat their win of this morning. Match three is tied at the half way mark, and Europe are ahead in match four. If the USA can win this session 3.5 – 0.5 or 4-0 they will be in a position from which a comeback in the singles is not unprecedented (both USA and Europe have won from 6-10 down in the past, and USA as holders only need 14 points to retain the trophy, whereas Europe need 14.5 to win it). Anything less than a win by one of those two huge margins will leave USA needing a record breaking comeback in the singles.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

There was a full moon and a clear night sky last night – this picture and the four following it are captures thereof.

England Poised For Pyrrhic Victory At The Oval

A view of where things stand in fifth Ashes test at The Oval, and what the likely result means for England, plus a photo section that invites reader involvement – one of these pictures will be in the 2020 wall calendar.

INTRODUCTION

England seem likely to make the 2019 Ashes series a 2-2 draw either later today or some time tomorrow, after a good second innings batting performance secured their control of a game in which Australia by dreadful batting ceded the initiative to England on Friday. This post, written as I prepare myself for Heritage Open Day, looks at what is going on there and examines the merits and demerits of what the likely result of this match means for England. However, before I get into the main body of this post there is a small matter of business to attend to…

A CORRECTION TO MY PREVIOUS POST

On previous occasions when such has been necessary I have made it clear that it is policy on this blog not to do the equivalent of burying corrections in six point type in the middle of page 27. Therefore I am giving due prominence to a mistake I made in regard to this year’s County Championship. Somerset are indeed comfortably ahead of Essex at the top with no one else having a chance of taking the title, but I said in my previous post that they had a game in hand. This was an error – I misread the presentation of the table on cricinfo as saying that the game Essex were playing, which was still in progress, was their 13th, because their games played appeared as 12* which I took to mean that they had already played 12. In actuality the game in progress was their 12th, and I take this opportunity to correct the error. What this means is if Somerset and Essex both win their next games, Somerset will need a draw in their final match, which is a showdown against Essex to secure the title, if Somerset win and Essex don’t then Somerset will effectively be over the line with a game to spare, while victory for Essex and any other result for Somerset would make the final game a true “winner takes all” affair.

A POTENTIAL PYRRHIC VICTORY

The phrase “Pyrrhic victory” comes from king Pyrrhus of Epirus who won a battle against the then fledgling Roman empire but said when congratulated on his victory “I cannot afford another such victory”. Not many years later Epirus became a province of Rome. Why do I describe the victory that England are approaching in the fifth Ashes test as Pyrrhic?

The Ashes are still Australia’s, so it changes nothing in that regard, while
By giving a 2-2 series scoreline it creates an excuse for inaction on the part of the selectors that would not be there had the final scoreline been the 3-1 to Australia that cricketing justice demands, so on that ground it is a classic case of a victory that is at least potentially damaging to the victor’s long term hopes
Several players who should probably be facing the axe have produced performances that may just save them (Buttler with two decent innings in the game, and Denly with a second innings 94 – such is the proportion of his runs that have now come in second innings efforts that he is turning into a batting equivalent of Andy Caddick, only less good, to name but two).

Thus in many ways it would actually be better for England if Australia pulled off the mammoth second innings run chase that will be facing them. There were three unequivocal pluses for England in the first three days of this game – Burns‘ first innings 47, Archer’s second haul of six wickets in a test innings and Sam Curran’s wickets (although he does not have the pace to pose much of a threat when the ball is going through straight – without lateral movement he is a blunt sword). Australia have not been at the races in the three days we have had thus far, but I acquit them of trying to lull England into a false sense of security because I am well aware that no Aussie team would ever willingly accept defeat at England’s hands – it is just happens to be the case that a poor performance here may end up helping them in the long term, depending on exactly how ostrich-like Ed Smith and co turn out to be.

Given the size of the total Australia will be facing, and the only remotely likely way they will get anywhere near chasing to down, just for the record Steve Smith needs 224 to bring his series aggregate to 975 and claim one of Don Bradman‘s records for himself.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A variation of my usual sign off. I am presenting various pictures of a full moon from a couple of days ago, one of which will feature in my 2020 wall calendar. Please use the comments to nominate your choice…

100 Cricketers: The 4th XI All-rounders and Introducing the 5th XI

The latest in my “100 cricketers” series – features the all-rounders from my 4th XI and introduces my fifth XI in batting order. Also includes some of my photographs.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my “100 cricketers” series. In this post we complete the examination of our fourth XI and present the fifth in batting order. The introductory post to the whole series can be found here, the post in which I introduced the 4th XI is here, and finally the most recent post in the series is here.

SOPHIE DEVINE

Her averages in ODIs are the wrong way round (32 with the bat and 37 with the ball), but in T20Is she averages 27.92 with the bat and 16.75 with the ball. She has had no test match experience to date, an issue in women’s cricket that have animadverted on before. I saw her as teenager, bowling fast and batting down the order, in the same series in which I saw a similarly young Ellyse Perry in action. As with Perry I suspected at the time that she would be moving up the order, and although she has not progressed as remarkably as he Aussie counterpart she has indeed moved up the order, and five ODI centuries with a best of 145 show that she has the capacity for big scores. She also makes big hits – in total across the formats in international cricket she has hit 121 sixes. Why have I got her at six and not seven in this batting order? The answer follows…

ADAM GILCHRIST

Although the search for wicketkeepers who could provide serious runs predated Adam Gilchrist he completely transformed the notion of what was possible in a wicketkeeper batting wise. For much of his test career he averaged over 50, and he ended at averaging 47.60. He always refused to move up from number seven, saying that playing there gave him licence to bat the way he did, and since I would want him to bat the way he did I am keeping him at number seven.

England suffered as brutally at his hands as anyone, notably when he scored a century off just 57 balls in Perth in 2006, helping to ensure the Ashes would change hands as rapidly as possible. However, in the previous Ashes series in 2005 England, chiefly through Hoggard and Flintoff, had so restricted him that he did not even manage a half-century.

INTRODUCING THE 5TH XI

Here in batting order is the fifth XI:

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some of my photographs to finish with:

P1210973 — The first of four shots taken early yesterday evening which feature a remarkable full moon.

P1210978 — First attempted close up of full moon

P1210981 — The first butterfly of 2019 – captured through the window

P1210982 — The remaining pics, including this one were taken during the two short walks I did this afternoon (each one being a circuit of the grassy area outside my bungalow).

Monday Madness 2: Which Full Moon Pic Is Best?

My attempts to do justice to a splendid full moon.

INTRODUCTION

After a serious first post of the day here is something in lighter vein. Last night in the twilight period a magnificent full moon was visible from my flat in King’s Lynn. The rest of this post details my attempts to do justice to it.

THE PICTURES

I have three separate pictures of this full moon:

Full Moon 2 — This one is a bit blurred.

I then tried to enlarge the last picture shown above, resulting in:

So which moon pic is best?

A productive day at James and Sons

I have had a very productive day at James and Sons. I spent the morning imaging for our next auction and the afternoon working on the stock database for the same.

As a result of this work I have some good images to share with you, leavened with some not work related…

	The First Two Days i… on A Successful Auction
	Marizanne’s Mastercl… on From Victory to Rout in Two…
	From Victory to Rout… on An Extraordinary Opening …
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on Thunder v Scorchers
	Thunder v Scorchers… on Brilliant Bray Bosses Sydney…