Tag: Heron

London Underground to King’s Lynn?!

A whimsical exercise inspired by a fairly newly constructed path in King’s Lynn, assessing how the real roundel might be brought here.

This is an exercise in purest whimsy, provoked by a recently constructed set of paths in Hardings Pits near King’s Lynn that I have dubbed ‘Roundel Path’ for their collective resemblance to London Underground’s classic symbol. Here is a photograph:

Roundel Path – I hope this photo, taken this morning illustrates the reason I have so named it.

Before moving in to the main body of this post I re-emphasise that this a purely whimsical exercise, and not even I would actually recommend the adoption of these schemes.

TWO POSSIBLE METHODS

These suggestions are listed from most to least fanciful with even the least fanciful still fairly so.

  1. Over a decade ago I did a personal survey of the Piccadilly line, which among other things recommended a northwards extension from Cockfosters to Welwyn Garden City. Welwyn Garden City is a station that trains from London to King’s Lynn pass but do not stop at en route. Extending all the way to Lynn would require a lot of adjustments at every station that the line would stop at – ideal platform heights are very different for surface and tube stocks which is why I consider this possibility even more unrealistic than the other.
  2. The slightly less ridiculous possibility makes use of the fact that the older subsurface London Underground lines are built to standard railway specifications and would at least not require any platform adaptations. It would require one completely new section of track, from King’s Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith&City and Metropolitan line shared platforms) to Finsbury Park or some point further north, with an intermediate station at Highbury& Islington, giving some useful connections, joining the existing tracks as soon as it is practical for it to come to the surface. That leaves one further question…

WHICH OF LINE SHOULD RUN THE NEW ROUTE?

There are three possibilities:

  1. The Metropolitan line once extended over 50 miles out into the countryside, and is still much more like a mainline railway than other lines. The disadvantage of the Metropolitan getting this route is that from Baker Street onward trains would heading northwest, having come from basically due north (with a tiny fraction of east).
  2. The Hammersmith and City line, which could abandon the Farringdon to Barking part of its route, all of which is served by other lines.
  3. The Wimbledon-Edgware Road section of the District line could add the stations as far as King’s Cross to its existing route and take over the new route.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I state once again that the foregoing has been a piece of whimsy, not anything serious, before applying my usual sign off…

A new bird sighting for me, tentatively identified as a grey wagtail.
This cormorant has evidently developed a taste for this particular tree canopy – I have seen it up there before.
Roundel Path

All Time XIs – Detective Fiction

An all time XI of players who have namesakes in detective stories and a photo gallery.

Today I select an XI of players who are namesakes of characters in detective fiction.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). In most eras other than the one he played in he would have been one of the first names on the England team sheet, especially given what a great partnership he formed with Herbert Sutcliffe. As it was he generally missed out due to the presence of Jack Hobbs. His record for Yorkshire was outstanding, and at the time of his retirement included five of the ten highest individual scores made for the county. His fictional alter ego is of course the one and only Sherlock Holmes.
  2. Herbert Sutcliffe (right handed opening batter, Yorkshire and England). One of the greatest opening batters ever to play the game, and shared 69 first class century opening stands with Holmes. He gets in by way of Magda Josza’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Femmes Fatales”, which features among others Lady Elizabeth Sutcliffe and her uncle Sir Vincent Sutcliffe.
  3. Fred Bakewell (right handed top order batter, Northamptonshire and England). By the time a car crash brought his career to a premature close he had done more than enough to establish himself as a great batter. His fictional equivalent is Diana Bakewell, heroine of the Rachel McLean/ Millie Ravensworth series of London cosy mysteries of which I have read three thus far.
  4. Jack Ryder (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). One of the finer batters of the 1920s, his credits include a test match double century. He was also a useful enough bowler to occasionally be entrusted with the new ball. His namesake is James Ryder, villain in “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”.
  5. *Warwick Armstrong (Australia, right handed batter, leg spinner, captain). A magnificent all rounder, and a ruthlessly effective leader. The eight successive Ashes match victories he presided over (a 5-0 sweep in Australia in 1920-1, and the first three matches of the series in England in 1921) remains an all time record. His alter ego is Superintendent Armstrong from the Museum Detectives series.
  6. Vallance Jupp (Sussex, Northamptonshire, England, right handed batter, off spinner). In the 1920s he achieved the double feat of 1,000+ runs and 100+ wickets in FC matches eight times in consecutive seasons. I have slipped him in by means of a small piece of sleight of hand – one of The Railway Detective, inspector Robert Colbeck’s colleagues is an inspector Vallence, and by altering one letter I got in a link to my favourite of all detective series.
  7. +Adam Gilchrist (Australia, wicket keeper, left handed batter). |One of the all time greats of the game, although his legacy could be considered tarnished by the fact that a number sides nowadays blatantly sacrifice keeping quality for better batting from the keeper. One of the three students in the Holmes story of that title is named Gilchrist.
  8. Gus Atkinson (Surrey, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). He has had a superb start to his England career, though like too many of his team mates he had a poor time on the recent tour of Australia. Gus the cat is a character in the London cosy mysteries that also gave us a Bakewell.
  9. Don Wilson (Yorkshire, England, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). Though his England record was not great he took his first class wickets at 21 a piece. His alter ego is of course Daniel Wilson, one half of the Museum Detectives.
  10. Ted McDonald (Australia, Lancashire, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One half of the first great fast bowling pair to operate at test level along with Jack Gregory, he later became one the spearheads of Lancashire’s most successful ever period. Though I have to add a letter to his surname to do it, I have two very different alter egos for him: Alec MacDonald, one of the few Scotland Yarders Holmes actually treats with respect (see “The Valley of Fear”) and Kylie MacDonald, one of the pair of detectives in the elite NYPD Red unit that features in a series of books with that title, the first six by James Patterson and Marshall Karp, and the seventh by Marshall Karp.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Took over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece in his career. With one Holmes brother sharing his name with an opening batter this XI ends with the other, Mycroft, sharing his name with an opening bowler.

This side has a more than adequate batting line up, and a stellar array of bowling talent – McDonald, Mycroft and Atkinson as front line pacers, with Ryder available as fourth seamer if needed, and Wilson, Jupp and Armstrong covering all the spin bases. I will not do honourable mentions for this one – there are a vast range of possibilities. Feel free to comment with your own ideas.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Warm Spell Brings Out the Insects

November in England is not generally noted as a prime time for insect sightings, but a combination of warmth and sun brought them out today.

I mentioned yesterday that it was unseasonably warm. The trend continued today, and unlike yesterday, which was virtually unremittingly grey, it has been sunny for much of today. The combination of sun and warm temperatures has brought the insects out in some force.

THE FIRST SIGN

The very first picture I took this morning was a portent of things to come…

A blurry picture of an insect on a green leaf. The tree, to which this leaf is still attached, is on the private road that runs behind my house.

THE FIRST HUGE SURPRISE: A BUMBLEBEE

It was during my second walk of the day, in the early afternoon that things really became strange for an English November (which month we are now into remember). In the Kettlewell Lane woods I spotted a large bumblebee, not a creature that one normally sees at this time of year in England.

A large bumblebee at rest on a big green leaf. In the bottom left of the picture as you look is a fly, large by the standards of such creatures but significantly smaller than the bee.

A RED ADMIRAL

Walking on the path alongside Bawsey Drain (the section between Losinga Road and Columbia Way) I was given another way off-kilter sighting – a Red Admiral Butterfly. Given its physical state it may possibly be a freakishly long lived survivor, but to see such a creature around in November is frankly ridiculous, and more than a little disturbing.

A red admiral butterfly resting against a wooden fence This one is in very poor physical condition, with major damage to its wings.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first of three good pictures I got of last night’s half moon.
A hover fly on a leaf (see next pic for a closer up version)
A squirrel on a tree trunk.
A wasp and two flies on a tree trunk.
The bumblebee.
Hoverfly on a thistle flower.
The first of three shots of the Red Admiral

The Annabel and Ashleigh Show

An account of today’s match at the cricket world cup between the Australia and England women’s teams and two photo galleries.

Today’s match at the women’s cricket world cup saw a revisit to international sport’s oldest continuously maintained rivalry, that between Australia and England. This post looks back at the match.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Both sides were already qualified for the semi-finals but:

  1. This match could easily be a dress rehearsal for bigger match later in the tournament.
  2. Whoever emerged victorious from the encounter would temporarily displace South Africa from top spot in the table and
  3. No game between this particular pair of opponents can ever be described as meaningless.

Australia were missing Alyssa Healy with a calf strain, and her place at the top of the order went to Georgia Voll, while Beth Mooney took over the wicket keeping gauntlets and Tahlia McGrath assumed the captaincy (Mooney and McGrath are absolute regulars in the XI, so Voll for Healy was only the change in personnel). England were unchanged from the side that just prevailed over India at this same venue last time out. Australia won the toss and chose to put England in to bat.

England started fast, with Tammy Beaumont in particular playing impressively. However Australia soon adapted to the conditions, realizing that pace off was the way to go. Annabel Sutherland, the fastest of Australia’s bowlers was expensive early on, but once she worked the surface out and focussed on slower balls she bowled very well, and emerged with 3-60 from her 10 overs, her 13th, 14th and 15th wickets of the tournament, putting her two clear of Deepti Sharma at the top of the wicket takers list. Ashleigh Gardner fared well with her off spin as well, claiming 2-39 for the innings. Beaumont’s 78, which fizzled out after a blazing start, was the only innings of real substance for England, though a spirited partnership between Capsey and Dean, numbers seven and eight in the order, somewhat revived England in the closing stages. England ended their innings on 244-9.

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

Fungi at Fakenham Church
Fungi near QEH (13 pics total)

THE AUSTRALIAN CHASE

With a modest total on the board England needed a good start, and they got it. Lauren Bell bowled Phoebe Litchfield with the third ball of the inning, Linsey Smith accounted for the other opener Voll in the fourth over and for Ellyse Perry in the sixth over at which point the score was 24-3. When Nat Sciver-Brunt took a catch off Ecclestone to dismiss Mooney for 20 it was 68-4, and Ashleigh Gardner was joining Annabel Sutherland. Their partnership turned the game, slowly at first, and then very rapidly. By the closing stages the only questions where whether both batters would reach three figures, and if so who would get there first. Gardner did reach three figures, off the 70th ball of her innings, and in the end Sutherland just missed out, though Gardner had tried to create the opportunity for her team mate to get there. In the end after the 41st over had start with a two and a single that took Sutherland to 98 not out but left her off strike, Gardner, who had blocked the last three balls of the 40th over to give Sutherland a shot at the landmark, straight drove the third ball of the 41st over for the winning runs, ending with 104 not out from 73 balls, including 16 fours, while Sutherland’s 98 not out took 123 balls and included nine fours and a six. Their stand was worth an unbroken 180 from 24.4 overs. England had their moments during the match, but against this Australian combination having one’s moments from time to time is simply not good enough. Sutherland’s 3-60 and 98 not out earned her Player of the Match, by a short head from Gardner (2-39 and 104 not out).

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This morning was a sunny one, and I spent a lot of it walking. This Egret was directly across the Great Ouse from Harding’s Pits
This pair of Egrets were near the Nar outfall.
This heron with two cormorants for company was on a concrete block just off the west bank of the Great Ouse, more or less opposite Purfleet Quay
A freight locomotive in the siding near my house this morning.
A particularly elegant little fungus, with a long thin stem and a parasol like cap.
I revisited the site of that fungus later and it was still there.

Invincibles Out

A look back at Northern Superchargers v Oval Invincibles earlier today and a photo gallery.

The first match of today’s Hundred double double header saw Northern Superchargers hosting Oval Invincibles. To retain even a Jim Carrey type “so you’re saying there’s still a chance” hope of qualifying Invincibles needed to win. For Superchargers Kate Cross was playing her first match since finding out that she is not part of England’s world cup plans.

AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT GOING

Oval Invincibles won the toss and chose to bat. The first ball of the match, bowled by Grace Ballinger (left arm medium) hit the stumps of Paige Scholfield to make it 0-1. Kate Cross picked up the wicket of Alice Capsey, caught by Superchargers skipper Hollie Armitage for 12 off 12 balls. That was 19-2, which was still the score at the end of the Power Play three balls later. Meg Lanning and Marizanne Kapp both struggled for runs, with the score at 39 Annabel Sutherland bowled Kapp for 6 off 11 balls. Lauren Winfield-Hill batted better than any other Invincibles player. With the score at 64 she lost the support of Lanning, the veteran Aussie having accrued a painstaking 21 from 25 balls. Joanne Gardner, one of the few top level cricketers to hail from the Isle of Wight, now offered sensible support to Winfield-Hill. The 92nd ball of the innings saw Winfield-Hill caught by Cross off Sutherland to make it 110-5, Winfield-Hill 37 off 30 balls. Amanda-Jade Wellington gave Invincibles a hint of hope with 12 off five balls, but a final score of 125-6 look well below par.

AN INJURY HIT DEFENCE

Marizanne Kapp started economically but unpenetratively with the ball. There was a nasty injury to Tash Farrant, who at one point looked likely to be stretchered off, but was in the end able to walk off, albeit with assistance. Capsey also went off injured at one point, but was able to return. However Capsey had bowled only three balls, which meant someone else had to bowl the last two balls of the set, and that Capsey wouldn’t bowl a full allocation even when she did return. These injuries made things more difficult for Invincibles. Alice Davidson-Richards scored a fine 50 for the Superchargers who were ahead at every stage of the chase. Sophia Smale accepted responsibility for bowling balls 91-95, and the event balls 96-100 were not needed at all. The winning shot was a four, which meant that Smale had conceded 32 from her 20 balls. The margin was seven wickets.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

a heron in its watchful pose…
…and on the wing a few moments later.
A moth resting on a bramble petal.

Heading for a Draw at Old Trafford

A look at developments in Manchester, where the test match is moving towards a draw. Also a large photo gallery.

When I put up yesterday’s post Gill and Rahul were putting up a good fight for India as day four at Old Trafford drew towards a conclusion. This post takes the story forward.

INDIA’S RESISTANCE ACT

Shubman Gill and KL Rahul were still together at the close of day four, meaning that England still needed eight more Indian wickets. Stokes had Rahul caught behind for 90 in the 71st over to make it 188-3. Gill proceeded smoothly to his fourth century of the series, a joint record for a series in England shared with Don Bradman (1930), Denis Compton (v South Africa, 1947) and Joe Root last time India visited these shores, with an honourable mention for Allan Lamb who took three tons off the mighty 1984 West Indies side and then added another in a one-off test against then newbies at that level Sri Lanka. Shortly after reaching the landmark he made the first and only mistake of his innings edging one from Archer with the new ball through to Smith behind the stumps. That was 222-4. It might have been two in two for Archer, as Jadeja edged his first ball, but Root floored the chance. Since then there have been no serious alarms, though Ollie Pope almost got to what would have been an amazing catch. Sundar and Jadeja, promoted ahead of Pant as the latter is injured, each reached 50s, and took India to the tea interval on 322-4, a lead of 11 overall. Post tea the two all rounders are playing more expansively, and England look decidedly short of ideas.

A NOTE ON SELECTIONS

My own view is that both sides have erred with their selections for this match. England, with Dawson at eight and Woakes at nine had a huge amount of batting, but as this second Indian innings is demonstrating they are short of bowling, and although the odd ball has misbehaved this has overall been a very good pitch on which to bat. India in my view were more culpable. Neither Thakur nor Kamboj offered anything with the ball, which is what they were selected to provide. Arshdeep Singh damaging his thumb just before the match started created an extra difficulty for India, who were admittedly short of options, but Kuldeep Yadav, the left arm wrist spinner, would have been more likely to be of value than either Thakur or Kamboj. The fact that this match is quite likely to finish with only two of the four innings completed (the third may end with a declaration to bring an early finish to the match, but an all out is highly unlikely) tells its own story about the domination of the bat over the five days. England will head to The Oval 2-1 up in the series.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A goods train on its siding, from the Tennyson Road level crossing.
A beetle on a reed hanging out over the Gaywood River
A close up of the beetle.

Record Breaking from England

A look at developments at Old Trafford since yesterday, including Ben Stokes joining not one but two elite clubs this morning. Also two photo galleries of very different types.

Yesterday, as Root went past Ponting to second place in the all time list of test match run scorers I put up a post about England’s progress in the fourth test of their series against India, at Old Trafford. Since then things have moved forward, largely in England’s favour, although KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are currently batting well for India.

STOKES JOINS TWO ELITE CLUBS

Stokes and Root shared a big partnership, ended not by a dismissal but by a retirement due to cramp on Stokes’ part. Eight runs after Stokes’ retirement Root was finally out for precisely 150. That was 499-5. Neither Jamie Smith nor Chris Woakes did a huge amount with the bat, but between them they lasted long enough for Stokes to feel able to resume his innings at the fall of the seventh wicket. Stokes and Liam Dawson saw things through the close of day three, by when Stokes had advanced his score to 77. England at 544-7 were 186 ahead by then.

Dawson was eighth out at 563, but Carse now provided Stokes with good support. Two landmarks came in quick succession – when Stokes reached three figures he was only the fourth England men’s player to score a century and take a five-for in the same test match, the others being Tony Greig, Ian Botham (five times) and Gus Atkinson. Then when he struck a six to move from 108 to 114 that also took his career tally from 6,999 to 7,005 making him one of only three to have achieved the test career treble of 7,000+ runs, 200+ wickets and 100+ catches, the other two members of this club being Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, the most multi-skilled cricketer ever, and Jacques Henry Kallis, the South African superstar. By now Stokes was in full rampage mode. The fun ended for Stokes when on 141 he holed out to Sudarsan off Jadeja. That was 658-9, already a record test score at this ground, and a lead of precisely 300 on first innings. However, Stokes kept England batting, and Carse and Archer accrued 11 further runs before Carse holed out just short of what would have been his second test 50.

GALLERY ONE: AUCTION PURCHASES

James and Sons had an auction this week, which went reasonably well after a very quiet start. I was successful on two items, lot 293, a small barometer in the shape of a helmsman’s wheel and lot 359, an early (1902) set of railway themed cigarette cards. The images I took of these yesterday morning form this gallery…

The first of four images of the barometer taken in my kitchen
The barometer in its new location, atop my Czech sculpture, which is working admirably as a support for it.
Not only did I image all five sleeves of this set, I imaged every locomotive bar one individually.

INDIA’S SECOND INNINGS SO FAR

There was time for a brief burst at India before lunch, and Woakes struck twice in the first over, removing Jaiswal and Sudarsan for ducks. Since then India have had their best period of the match, not having lost a wicket between lunch and tea, nor any since tea as yet. They are scoring fairly slowly, but holding out. At the moment India are 104-2, needing 207 more to avoid the innings defeat. India probably need to bat until at least tea time tomorrow before they can feel safe, and a victory for them from here is as close as anything in red ball cricket can be to impossible.

GALLERY TWO: GENERAL

My usual sign off…

England Women In Euros Final

A brief look back at the women’s Euros semi-final between England and Italy that took place last night and a large photo gallery.

Last night saw the first semi-final of the women’s European Championship, between England and Italy in Geneva, which lies near the base of a mountain pass connecting Switzerland to Italy. This post looks back at the match.

SO NEAR AND SO FAR

Italy took the lead just before half time, through Barbara Bonansea, against the form books, which made England firm favourites. They held on to that lead until close to to end of normal time. 19 year old Michelle Agyemang equalized in stoppage time, of which there was quite a lot. Extra time saw a lot of pressure from England and a lot of resistance from Italy. However, just as Italy were reckoning they had got themselves a shoot out and England were resigning themselves to going to penalties once again, a penalty was awarded to England. Chloe Kelly took responsibility for taking the kick. The Italian goalkeeper kept the penalty out but the ball rebounded into Kelly’s path and at the second time of asking she did put it in the net, and England were through at the last gasp, and had avoided the necessity of a second successive penalty shoot out. The final will take place in Basel on Sunday.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The butterfly that appears in this picture and the next was a new sighting for me.
This picture and the next four show three six spot Burnet moths that were on teazel heads only a few feet apart – two on one and one on the other.
Two egrets at the Nar Outfall.

Consolation for England Women in Final T20I

A look back at yesterday evening’s T20I between the England and India women’s teams and a large photo gallery.

The test match between the England and India men’s teams is still going on, and it is a battle royal. Last night the women’s teams assembled at Edgbaston for the fifth and final match of a T2oI series. India had already secured the series but it was still a hard fought match.

PRELIMINARIES

With an ODI series to come, and then a world cup in that format, which gave it priority England made a number of changes. Both the Laurens, Bell and Filer, were rested, as was batter/ off spinner Alice Capsey. England won the toss and opted to bowl…

INDIVIDUAL v TEAM

Shafali Verma played a superb innings for India, scoring 75 off 41 balls, before falling to a catch by Maia Bouchier, playing her first international match since her awful tour of Australia off Charlie Dean, one of three wickets for the off spinner who also went for only 23 in her four overs. No one else really fired, with Richa Ghosh’s 24 off 16 the next best contirbution.

Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge led off with a century opening stand for England, and although they fell close together, Tammy Beaumont, acting captain with Sciver-Brunt hors de combat, played a little gem of an innings, sharing important stands with Bouchier and then Amy Jones. Just as it seemed Beaumont and Jones were carrying England to the win both fell, Beaumont bowled by Reddy for 30 (20), and Jones to a spectacular catch by Radha Yadav in the same over. That left five needed off three balls, but Ecclestone played her first ball well, and she and Paige Scholfield ran hard to get through for three runs, making it two needed off two. A single off each ball, neither with any great risk attached did the job and England had won by five wickets. Dean’s bowling got her the Player of the Match award.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Runs, Runs and More Runs

A look at some of the absurd scoring permitted by the use of the Kookaburra ball in the English county championship, with particular reference to Surrey v Durham. Also a photo gallery.

If any good is going to come out of a round of championship matches that is producing a series of ridiculous scores it will be that the resultant fiesta for Frindalls* will finally deal the death blow to the nonsense of the Kookaburra ball being used in English county championship matches. This post looks at the match I have been following, which has seen the most absurd scoring of the lot.

SURREY v DURHAM

Durham won the toss and chose to bowl first, paying more attention to the fact that The Oval is generally a good ground for bowling first than the fact that this round of matches is being played with Kookaburra balls. It was soon apparent that that the latter was by far the more important. Burns and Sibley started with a stand of 95 before Burns and Ryan Patel fell in quick succession. Then Sam Curran played a superb innings, scoring 108 and helping the third wicket to put on 170. That was a mere curtain raiser for the fourth wicket stand between Dominic Sibley and Dan Lawrence. By the close of play yesterday their stand was worth 129 and Surrey at 407-3 looked in total control. By lunch time today they had motored on to 597-3 – 190-0 in the session. At 612, having just beaten his career best Lawrence fell for 178. That brought Will Jacks to the crease, and he was soon scoring rapidly without really appearing to be trying to do so. Sibley passed 300, and thoughts of the all time Surrey record individual score were passing through minds (357 not out by Bobby Abel against Somerset in 1899). The score had reached 745 when Sibley was caught by Colin Ackerman off Will Rhodes for 305, the seventh highest ever individual score for Surrey and easily a record for Surrey v Durham (Mark Butcher with 191 had been the previous holder). Jacks became the fourth centurion of the innings, taking a mere 85 balls to reach the mark. In the run up to tea Surrey lost several wickets, and when Lawes was eighth out the interval was taken, with the score 803-8. Surrey, perhaps aware of the records still in the offing or perhaps in a show of contempt for the use of the Kookaburra, batted on after the interval. A six by Will Jacks took the score to 814-8, Surrey’s highest ever first class score and the highest first class score ever amassed against Durham, beating the 810-4 by Warwickshire when Brian Lara scored 501 not out. Jacks also hit the following ball for six and then got out to the next, and finally at 820-9 Surrey called halt to the slaughter. George Drissell, a 26 year old off spinner who had failed to make the grade at Gloucestershire, had 1-247 from 45 overs, the most expensive innings figures in County Championship history (the all time record is Arthur Mailey’s 4-362 for New South Wales against Victoria, while the record in England is left arm wrist spinner Chuck Fleetwood-Smith’s 1-298 when England piled up 903-7, also at this ground, against Australia in 1938).

SOUTHAMPTON STUPIDITY

Adam Hose, once of Warwickshire and now of Worcestershire, does not have a stellar first class record. Even after the ridiculous events at the Utilita Bowl yesterday he has an FC average of below 30. This guy, who is barely even in the average FC batter class, plundered 266 off just 253 balls. With Jake Libby, a solid opener, also topping 200 Worcestershire declared around teatime today on 679-7. There have been many other big scores around the country. The only match to be progressing on something approaching normal county championship lines is at Chesterfield, where Lancashire amassed 367 and Derbyshire are 259-9 in reply.

*William Howard ‘Bill’ Frindall was Test Match Special’s statistician for about the first quarter-century of my cricket listening life.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…