Tag: Hoverflies

MI London Eliminated

A look back at this afternoon’s match between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s teams, which confirmed the elimination of the former. Also a photo gallery.

Today has been a double double header in The Hundred. This post looks back at the game between the MI London and Manchester Super Giants women’s sides earlier this afternoon.

AN INNINGS THAT NEVER GOT STARTED

Sometimes when looking back at an ultimately losing batting performance one can point to a slow start, sometimes to a falling away at the finish. On this occasion everything about the MI London innings was wrong. The dominant figure was Sophie Ecclestone, the tall left arm spin bowler. Ecclestone bowled the first ten balls of the match straight through, and in that period dismissed both openers for the total cost of a single. When a catch by Grace Ballinger off Ryana MacDonald-Gay accounted for MI London skipper Hollie Armitage for 18 the score was 37-4 from 48 balls. Kira Chathli actually did score at above a run a ball, but she was fifth out with the score at 60, caught by Ecclestone off Kathryn Bryce. Nicola Carey got to third top score of 17, but her dismissal, to another catch by Ecclestone, this time off Macdonald-Gay made 78-6 from 82 balls. Chinelle Henry briefly offered hope of a late revival but her dismissal to a catch by Lanning off Brown ended even those modest hopes, and in the end MI London were all out for 92 from the 99th ball of their innings. Only a two off the last ball of her allocation denied Ecclestone the cheapest figures for a full 20 ball allocation in the history of The Hundred (women’s) – those two runs were the sixth and seventh she conceded in the innings, leaving Lauren Bell’s 4-6 still in possession of the palm. As well as two wickets and the two catches already detailed it was Ecclestone’s throw that ran out Tara Norris for a duck.

A FORMALITY OF A CHASE

The Manchester Super Giants opening pair of Meg Lanning and Smriti Mandhana kicked off with a rapid opening stand of 73 that exposed just how utterly abject the MI London innings had been. Although there was a mini-clatter of wickets once this stand was ended, the back of the chase had long since been broken. It fell to Mady Villiers to make the winning hit, a boundary of the 72nd ball of the innings that gave MSG the win with six wickets and 28 balls to spare. MI London came into this match ensconced in the last chance saloon, with last orders having been called, and the barmaid being busy wiping down those tables not yet in use, and their horror-show performance confirmed the end of a challenge that had never really begun. It is ironic given how the involvement of IPL people and money has been hyped up that the first side officially eliminated is one that has been IPL-rebranded. There was only one candidate for Player of the Match/ ‘Match Hero’, Sophie Ecclestone, who was duly so named. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A small green beetle in a very pale pink flower not far from the train station.
I have never previously seen starlings on what I call ‘Cormorant Platform’, but yesterday a vast number of them took a mid-flight pause there, and this picture and the next two are a result of that.
A female house sparrow ensconced in the branches of a buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge.
A pied wagtail prospecting for insects at Loke Road Rec – the state of the grass tells you how little rain we have had here recently.
Five insects here – four, the three on the right as you look and the one on the left are some species of yellow and black beetle. The small one in the centre I cannot work out at all.
I am not sure of the species but this is a butterfly of the ‘leaf mimic’ type, looking passably similar to a withered brown leaf.
A comma butterfly visiting my garden (two pics) at just the right time to become part of this gallery!

The Welsh Fire/ MI London Double Header

A look back at the Saturday afternoon/ evening double header involving Welsh Fire and MI London, and a photo gallery.

The weekend saw no fewer than four double headers in The Hundred, two on each of Saturday and Sunday. The second double header on Saturday featured Welsh Fire against MI London, and both matches saw remarkable performances.

THE WOMEN’S MATCH

The London side won the toss and opted to bowl first. Welsh Fire batted very well, especially Sophie Devine (52 off 29 balls) and Georgia Wareham (43 not out off 20 balls), and ended up with a massive 177-4 from their 100 balls. To successfully chase a total of this magnitude you need a strong start, which was just what MI London did not get. Grace Potts bowled 20 of the first 30 balls of the reply, and took out the top three in the MI London order. When Danni Wyatt-Hodge was third out, to the 26th ball of the innings, the score was 33-3 and the match was as good as settled. With the partial exception of Chinelle Henry who scored 30 off 23 balls no MI London batter even threatened to really get going, and in the end they were all out for 117 from 92 balls, giving Welsh Fire a win by 60 runs. Grace Potts, whose bowling at the start of the MI London innings had effectively sealed the deal on a Welsh Fire win should have been ‘Match Hero’, but that award went instead to Georgia Wareham, who had nabbed a couple of wickets to go with her innings referred to above. Scorecard here.

THE MEN’S MATCH

The men’s fixture was dominated by a single player. Rachin Ravindra, a New Zealander who bats left handed and bowls left arm orthodox spin had an astonishing match. He came in to bat at 20-2 from 22 balls, and proceeded to hit 98 off 44 balls with seven fours and seven sixes. Joe Root played the support role with 29 from 26 balls, while Jordan Cox weighed in with 17 not out off nine balls. It is measure of Ravindra’s utter dominance of team mates and opponents alike that Welsh Fire ended with 167-5. Ravindra’s 98 came out of 143 scored while he was at the crease.

MI London were never up with the required rate at any stage of the chase, though while James Vince was going well it looked like they could make a close contest of it. He was fifth out for 66, with the score at 122 and 28 balls left, and his dismissal was courtesy of a return catch by none other than Rachin Ravindra. He was replaced in the middle by Tom Curran. Had he batted really well MI London might still have got close, but as it was all he could scrape was 10 off 11 balls, with one four. The match-losing nature of this innings is readily apparent when you consider a) he came in with his side needing 46 off 28 balls, a tough but not impossible ask, and b) he was out with the score at 150 from 96 balls, meaning that the target was now 18 from four balls which is a huge ask. Rashid Khan managed to get the strike to Sherfane Rutherford, who can hit a big ball, but only one accrued from that delivery, and a requirement of 17 from three balls does not give much of a margin of error. In the event MI London advanced their score by two runs, making the final result a 15 run win for the Welsh Fire. With that blistering 98 and 1-25 from 15 balls with that wicket being the key one of Vince there was never any doubt about who would be ‘Match Hero’ this time – the chap whose parents couldn’t decide whether to honour Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid and therefore came up with the portmanteau name Rachin for him. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A couple of work pictures to start with – this postcard is an old one…
…as evidence by the stamp, which comes from late in the reign of queen Victoria.
An ichneumon wasp on a green leaf…
…and close up. This species lays its eggs in caterpillars, which the larvae then devour from the inside.
A couple of the newest variety of £1 coins.
Painted Lady
Ragwort alive with caterpillars (five pics)
Goldfinches
Swans and Cygnets in a section of Bawsey Drain near Lynnsport
A hoverfly that has evolved to mimic a bumblebee.

The Hundred 2026 Gets Underway

A look back at the Men’s Hundred (mis)match between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds at The Oval yesterday and a large photo gallery.

The Hundred has undergone a major revamp since last summer, with the IPL getting involved in a big way. This post looks at the early stages of the competition.

NEW ERA OFF TO A FAMILIAR START

The first match of the Hundred in 2026 featured MI London (the former Oval Invincibles, and although the MI derives from the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, who now own this franchise as well as many others we have been instructed that the required pronunciation is ‘My London’ not ‘M I London’) in action against Sunrisers Leeds (nee Northern Superchargers, also now owned by an IPL franchise, in this case Hyderabad). I missed the women’s match due to being at work, but I did listen to the men’s game.

Sunrisers Leeds, batting first, started brightly, and for more than half of their allotted 100 balls looked to be going very well. The key moment was the dismissal of Mitch ‘the bison’ Marsh for 41, caught by Sam Curran off Tom Curran, which made it 84-3 from 56 balls. That started a collapse, and Leeds were all out for 143 off the penultimate ball of their innings. Richard Gleeson had 4-25 from 19 balls and Sam Curran 2-27 from 15 balls.

Will Jacks and Jason Roy were both out cheaply for the London side, but a good stand between James Vince and Sam Curran took them past 50 before Vince was bowled for 17 to make it 51-3 from 44 balls. That brought Nicholas Pooran, one of the ultimate ‘guns for hire’ in this era of franchise cricket, to the crease to join Curran. Curran batted beautifully, but even he was overshadowed by the pyrotechnics of Pooran. The Oval is a big ground, but most of Pooran’s five sixes cleared the ropes by a very long way. In all the West Indian hammered 58 not out from 22 balls with five of each kind of boundary, Curran ended on 60 not out from 39 balls with five fours and three sixes. The London side had romped home by seven wickets with 16 balls to spare, a barely credible margin in a match in this format. Sam Curran’s all round efforts plus his captaincy of the London side secured him the ‘Match Hero’ award. Some names of changed and there is more money involved, but the franchise based at The Oval still looks formidably strong. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

After a reminder to click on photos to view them at larger size we move to my usual sign off…

A hummingbird hawkmoth extracting nectar from a buddleia plant…
…and close up in all its glory.
It rained lightly but persistently yesterday morning, and that brought the snails out in force.
This red admiral has seen better days.
goldfinches on a roof.
This feather, which I saw lying near the Gaywood river at Kettlewell Lane Park originally belonged to a blue jay.
Two bumblebees enjoying the same buddleia head.
A painted lady rests on a patch of gravel
A gatekeeper oblingly spreads its wings.

Round Three of the 2026 County Championship

A look back at goings on in round three of the 2026 county championship, starting with a classic match at Southampton. Also a photo gallery.

At about 4:15PM UK time today the umpires at Northampton decided that it was too dark there to continue, and with that decision the third round of this year’s county championship was at an end, all the other games having been decided.

IT WAS THE BEST OF GAMES…

Hampshire and Somerset fought out an absolute thriller at Southampton. Somerset resumed overnight on 139-3, needing 148 more to win with seven wickets standing. The early loss of James Rew was counterbalanced by a fighting fifth wicket stand between Tom Abell and Will Smeed. Then in the run up to lunch both Smeed and Overton got out to ill-advised shots, and it was 197-6, 90 needed and four wickets left, with Gregory joining Abell. Progress in the afternoon was slow, as Hampshire made Abell and Gregory work hard for every run, but the score mounted imperceptibly at first, then noticeably. The ask was down to 25, and Somerset were looking definite favourites when speedster Sonny Baker, who has recently switched counties from Somerset to Hampshire, rattled Gregory’s stumps for his fourth scalp of the innings. Alfie Ogborne, promoted after his career best 38 in the first innings, failed this time, caught behind for 7 to give Baker a fifth scalp, and the score was 272-8. That brought Jack Leach, who of course has history when it comes to tight finishes (see the Headingley Heist) in to join his fellow Tauntonian Abell with 15 required, and Abell closing in on three figures. Like his spiritual forebear Horace Hazell, who made a habit of seeing partners to centuries and sides to narrow wins over the course of his career, Leach is well suited to this sort of situation. The score inched up until just four were needed. The next over went Hampshire;s way for five balls, but Abell managed a single off the sixth to reduce the ask to three and retain the strike. Kyle Abbott then accepted responsibility for bowling the next over, his 25th of the innings – a heavy workload for someone firmly at the veteran stage of his career. Abell got the very first ball of the new over away for four to take Somerset to a two wicket victory and himself to 101 not out. Abell had faced 229 balls in total, been at the crease for 314 minutes and that last boundary was only the eighth of his innings. A pitch which produces a pulsating match, and a definite result late on the final afternoon has to be rated perfect for the match it was prepared for, so props to the Hampshire ground staff. Full scorecard here.

…IT WAS THE WORST OF GAMES

A combination of an overly flat pitch and overly cautious umpires (I suspect given what I know of them that Mr Shanmugam was guiltier in this regard than Ms Redfern) had pretty much consigned the match at Wantage Road to a draw before today even started. Short of Northamptonshire ripping through Middlesex’s last eight wickets in the morning session it was hard to see any chance of any interest developing. In the event Middlesex lost no wickets in the morning session, and only one in the afternoon session. By the time I joined the coverage of this match, purely because it was the only game still in action, the only question was when hands would be shaken. In the event the light intervened shortly after the evening session got underway, and the game did not resume. The scores in this game were Middlesex 341 and 353-3, Northamptonshire 409, meaning that Middlesex were 284 ahead with seven second innings wickets standing – neither side within a country mile of winning. It is true that the light, and the overly cautious decisions of the umpires in this regard robbed the game of a good 80 overs, but even with those overs being bowled it would have taken a declaration in the Middlesex second innings to make things remotely interesting. Thus this pitch was not suitable for the match it was prepared for, since it would in any circumstances have required intervention (in the form of a declaration) to open up the possibility of a result.

ELSEWHERE

Lancashire beat Gloucestershire by four wickets in the only game that I did not catch any of. The other match was between Warwickshire and Essex, and it was a low scoring, hard fought affair. Essex needed 206 to win in the final innings, exactly one run more than they had managed in their first innings. When they crashed to 82-7 it looked a foregone conclusion in Warwickshire’s favour, but a lower order fightback would have had Warwickshire just a teeny bit worried when the score had reached 163-8, 43 short of victory. However in the space of two overs and a single run from that point both Simon Harmer (32) and Zaman Akhtar (35) were dismissed by Beau Webster, Harmer falling to a fine slip catch by Yates and Akhtar misjudging an attempted big hit to hole out to Sam Hain. Though I only caught the final stages of this match, having been concentrating on the thriller at Southampton for most of the four days I can tell that it would have been a fine match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Hampshire v Somerset

A look at developments on the first two days of Hampshire v Somerset in the county championship and a large photo gallery.

There are only a few matches taking place in the county championship this week. One of them, which I am focussing on, is between Hampshire and Somerset.

DAY ONE

I missed the entire morning session and the start of the afternoon session. Just as I was tuning in Hampshire, who had won the toss and chosen to bat, lost their fifth wicket with only 119 on the board. Two more wickets followed quickly before Jake Lehmann and the lower order staged a fightback, boosting the total to 238. Somerset lost three wickets fairly early, but then James Rew, surely soon to be an England cricketer, and Tom Abell took control of proceedings, and by the close Somerset were 154-3.

DAY TWO

I again missed the morning session, this time due a commitment at the library. Hampshire took four wickets during the session. Somerset had gained a lead, but it looked like being a slender one when Jack Leach was run out to make it 250-9. Then Alfie Ogborne, culpable in the Leach run out, redeemed himself by scoring a new career best of 38 to boost the lead to exactly 50. Hampshire lost Toby Albert injured (though under new playing conditions for this season they can introduce a like for like substitute if they can find one) but no wicket fell until the score had reached 114, when Tom Prest was pinned LBW by Jake Ball. The score is now 119-1, a lead of 69 overall. Incidentally about the new substitutes rule there has been one would be injury replacement blocked, when Ajeet Singh Dale of Lancashire was injured yesterday, and they initially wanted to replace him with Tom Bailey, which the umpires deemed to be not sufficiently ‘like for like’, so Ollie Sutton was called in from a second XI match instead.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a bumper haul of photographs to share…

Pictures from Norfolk

A gallery of recent photos.

The weather has been fine in my part of the world of late, apart from Friday which was dull and grey. I thus have lots of pictures to share, and not being inspired to think of things to write about I offer up this gallery:

One of the villains of the natural world – an ichneumon wasp (this variety lays its eggs in a caterpillar, which then gets eaten from the inside by the larvae).

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

India in Total Control at Edgbaston

A look at developments at Edgbaston where India now have pretty much a complete stranglehold on proceedings and a photo gallery.

When I wrote yesterday’s post the sixth wicket stand between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith was still in progress. This post takes the story forwards from there.

THE END OF THE ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS

The great partnership between Smith and Brook that had partially revived England’s fortunes ended at 303 when Brook fell for 158. England were exactly 200 runs adrift at that point, needing one more to eliminate any chance of being made to follow on (India probably would not have enforced it anyway). They managed that, but not a whole lot more, as Mohammad Siraj and Akash Deep bowled magnificently with the second new ball to slice through the England lower order like a hot knife through butter. The innings ended when Siraj disposed of Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir in successive deliveries, his fifth and sixth scalps of the innings, giving him 6-70 on an absolutely plumb pitch. Deep had the other four wickets, also impressively cheaply on such a surface. England’s 407 was the lowest all out test innings to feature two 150+ scores (at Headingley in 1948 Australia scored 404-3 on the last day to win by seven wickets, with Morris scoring 182 and Bradman 173 not out, the last of his 29 test tons), and was also unique in featuring both two 150+ scores and six ducks (this is itself a joint test record, and unsurprisingly most of the totals to feature that number of ducks have been a lot smaller than 407). India thus had a lead of 180 on first innings.

INDIA PUSH ON

England managed one wicket before the close of play yesterday, by which point India were over 240 ahead. Thus today started with England in urgent need of early wickets. They did not get them, with Karun Nair and KL Rahul being the only casualties of the morning session. India took lunch on 177-3, with Pant and Gill both playing well in their respective styles. The afternoon began at rapid tempo, with Pant in particular going hard. Pant had been badly dropped by Crawley early in his innings, but the other England opener Duckett made no mistake when Pant failed to get quite enough on an attempted big hit off Bashir having hit 65 off 58 balls. That was 236-4, and in order to keep the left/ right handed combination going Jadeja was promoted ahead of Reddy to number six. Just before tea Gill reached his second hundred of the match, only the second Indian to have a double century and a century in the same test match (Sunil Gavaskar scored 124 and 220 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1970). India went in to tea on 304-4, 484 ahead – already 66 runs more than any side has scored in a test match fourth innings to win. They have just resumed, probably planning to bat another hour, then have a go at England tonight, resume tomorrow with the ball still fairly new and the bowlers having had a night’s rest, and then be able to have a burst with the second new ball at the end of tomorrow if they have not already finished things by then. England are still talking about going for the win, which will surprise no one familiar with this iteration of England, but the truth is India are indeed in total control, and an England win from here would be an almighty shock.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Five hoverflies in one frame – three on the large dandelion head and two hovering nearby.

IN

England Poised For Victory

A look at developments in the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, including a history making innings by Joe Root.

This post is mostly concerned with goings on at Lord’s where England and Sri Lanka are engaged in a test match. It follows on from the post I put up yesterday.

YESTERDAY

Sri Lanka lost their eighth wicket as I was preparing yesterday’s post for publication. The final two wickets offered a little more resistance, but Sri Lanka were all out for 196 in the end, giving England a lead of 231. Each of the four seamers had two wickets, Bashir one and there was a run out. England could have enforced the follow on, but even though they had not spent that long in the field and the chance of two shots at Sri Lanka, overnight and this morning, offered extra reasons for going for the quick kill they followed standard 21st century practice and declined to do so. Lawrence was out in the mini-session of batting they gave themselves. To his credit Pope did not shelter behind a nightwatcher, he came in himself. England were 25-1 at the close, 256 ahead overall.

TODAY

Duckett was first to go this morning, caught by Mathews off Rathnayake for 24 to make it 36-2. That brought Joe Root to the crease, and he carried on where he had left of in the first innings. Pope was third to go, to a really terrible dismissal, playing a ball from Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Prabath Jayasuriya. Brook and Smith each played well briefly, making 37 and 26 respectively. Woakes made just 5. Atkinson made 14 before suffering what was easily the most bizarre dismissal of the match, reverse swishing (the only way the shot he played can be described) Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Lahiru Kumara. Root was approaching the century that would move him into sole possession of the record for test hundreds for England, but he lost another partner, Matt Potts for just 2 before the landmark approached. Appropriately when the historic moment came it arrived with considerable style – no snatched single for Root to reach this ton – he stroked a four through the covers to move from 98 to 102. A declaration at that moment would have attracted little criticism, but England batted on rather purposelessly (if ever the cliche ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ is justified it is for this period of play) until they were all out for 251, setting Sri Lanka 483 to win with time not a factor, since there are still two full days to play. Only once has 400 been scored in the fourth innings of a Lord’s test and that was in a losing cause, though there have been two huge run chases at this ground in the past – Cambridge University chased down 507 v MCC in 1897 and four years later in the marquee fixture of the season (no tests that summer) The Players chased down 501 to beat The Gentlemen. Sri Lanka have just lost their first wicket, with Root taking a catch off Atkinson to get Madushka for 13 and make it 19-1.

FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP

A round of county championship fixtures is in progress (except for Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire, abandoned by order of the umpires on ground of a dangerous pitch and Warwickshire v Kent, where the visitors, already pretty much nailed on for relegation, have surrendered by an innings margin), and I have been using cricinfo to keep tabs on Nottinghamshire v Surrey. Nottinghamshire are making a decent fight of it, largely thanks to 19 year old left hander Freddie McCann, who came in at number three after the loss of an early wicket, and in only his third first class innings scored 154.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…