A look at early developments in the second semi-final of the Champions trophy, a link (teslatakedown.co.uk). and a large photo gallery.
The second semi-final of the Champions Trophy is underway. Work commitments meant that I did not catch a single ball of yesterday’s match between Australia and India. India won, which means that the final of the tournament will take place outside the official host nation, and on the worst pitch on show at this tournament, the paceless strip of rubbish that Dubai has served up. This post looks at the early stages of the match between New Zealand and South Africa.
RUNS FLOWING
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. The pitch at Lahore looks very flat, with even the towering Marco Jansen struggling to generate bounce. Will Young has been the only casualty so far, for a 23 ball 21. Rachin Ravindra has reached an excellent 50, taking 47 balls to get there. He has added ten further runs of another eight deliveries since reaching the landmark. Kane Williamson is currently on 27 from 36 balls, and New Zealand are 111-1 from 19 overs.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before the photographs I have a link to share. I mentioned in an earlier post that I will be taking part in a protest at the Tesla dealership near Park Royal station on the Piccadilly line, and there is now a website for people interested in hitting Musk in the pocket, teslatakedown.co.uk. Now for my usual sign off….
A look at the semi-final line up at the Champions Trophy and a large photo gallery.
Yesterday saw the last group match of Champions Trophy 2025, between India and New Zealand. The qualifiers were already known, but who would be playing who was not. This post looks briefly at yesterday’s match and at the four teams who will be contesting the final stages of this tournament.
YESTERDAYS MATCH
The two teams facing off yesterday were representing the most and least populous nations at this tournament, with India’s population approximately 300 times that of New Zealand. New Zealand bowled well and fielded brilliantly. Their fielding has been one of the standouts of this tournament – they have taken some absolute screamers, and have let only one chance go down in the course of three matches. A total of 249 for India looked chasable, but the Indian spinners proved too much for New Zealand’s batting and India were comfortable winners in the end.
THE SEMI-FINALISTS
Australia will face India in the first semi-final. I will be hoping for an Australian win, because that result would end the involvement of Dubai in this tournament. I have two reasons for wanting that outcome – this tournament ius supposed to be hosted by Pakistan, and the Dubai pitch is slow and lifeless, whereas Pakistan have made some effort to make their pitches livelier, importing clay from Western Australia in the hope that using this material will produce livelier surfaces. Therefore on this occasion, even as one who habitually roots for Australia’s opponents I will be hoping for them to win.
The second semi-final is between New Zealand and South Africa. South Africa seem to have all the necessary ingredients to win this tournament, but there record in knockout stages of global tournaments makes grim reading. New Zealand are the great overachievers of world cricket, and the New Zealand women recently won their first global tournament. Whoever wins this match will have my support for the final. If South Africa face Australia in the final not only would the final then be played in Lahore, which has provided some splendid games this tournament, but a South African win would mean that the title goes to a side who played every match in the official host country.
The full listing of possible finals is as follows:
Australia v New Zealand – support NZ Australia v South Africa – support SA India v New Zealand – support NZ India v South Africa – support SA
The first two of the above matches would be at Lahore, while if India get through the final will be in Dubai.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off (we are enjoying a spell of bright, sunny weather here in King’s Lynn, which is ideal for walking – and when I go walking my camera goes with me)…
A look at developments in the Champions Trophy, and at the battle for qualification between Afghanistan and South Africa (Australia are through after today, and England were confirmed as out two days ago). Also a photo gallery.
Yesterday’s match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Champions Trophy was washed out without a ball bowled, meaning the only team in the tournament without a point are now England. Today saw Afghanistan and Australia face off in Lahore in a match that would see the winners progress and the losers eliminated, unless rain struck again…
THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS
Afghanistan were saved from disaster by two contrasting innings. Sediqullah Atal held the early part of the innings together with a solid 85 (95), before Azmatullah Omarzai produced another impressive performance, scoring 67 off 63 balls. Afghanistan were all out off the last ball of their innings, for 273. Ben Dwarshuis with 3-47 from nine overs was Australia’s top wicket taker, while Spencer Johnson with 2-49 from his full 10 was the economical. Rashid Khan would have noted rival leg spinner Adam Zampa finishing with 2-48 from eight overs.
THE AUSTRALIAN REPLY
Australia started like a bullet from a gun, helped by some poor bowling and worse fielding from Afghanistan (three ‘dolly’ catches went begging). However, with Australia 109-1 after just 12.5 overs, Head 59* (40), Smith 19* (22), the heavens opened in almost Noachian fashion. The field at the Qaddafi Stadium soon resembled a lake, and although the rain eventually stopped, the ground remained sodden. There was an inspection at 8:45PM local time (3:45PM UK time), but that was merely to officially confirm that there was no way the game could resume on time even for the 7.1 overs that Afghanistan would have had to bowl for there to be an official result to happen. This means that Australia have four points and are qualified, Afghanistan have three points and need England to absolutely thrash South Africa in the sole remaining fixture in this group for the Proteas net run rate to drop below theirs (if England bat first and the game is a full 50 over per side affair England would need to win by 207 runs or more for Afghanistan to qualify, while if South Africa bat first then effectively Afghanistan’s fate is sealed, since the least unrealistic scenario involving an England chase is if South Africa are all out for 125, when England would then need to knock the runs off in 12 overs or less to get Afghanistan through. This match has been confirmed in the course of today as Buttler’s last as England white ball skipper (officially he has resigned the role, which I suspect means he just beat England management to the punch – there was no way after a third straight elimination at the first stage of a tournament that has captaincy remained tenable). The likely semi-finalists at this tournament are, in alphabetical order: Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa. As to who England’s new white ball captain will be (or if that will remain the split – India have Rohit Sharma captaining the test and ODI teams and Suryakumar Yadav captaining the T20 side, reflective of the fact that actually for all that the latter two are played with the same colour ball the difference between ODIs and T20s is much greater than that between tests and ODIs) I am unsure. The conventional choice would be Harry Brook, but it has been known for sides in real trouble, as England are now, to opt to really draw a line under the past by bringing in a brand new captain from outside the squad.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This picture and the next show the remains of the bus stop sign at the stop from which i catch the bus to work……I am not quite sure how it got totalled, but whatever caused it must have been quite a sight.This is a remotely operated machine for cutting down undergrowth.Beyond that fencing is the railway line. I am not quite sure what induced a cormorant to make this particular small stretch of the Gaywood its home, but I have seen it there several times now.
England are currently playing Afghanistan in a match in which the defeated side definitely goes out of the tournament. Each side will have one match left. If England win they will then need to beat South Africa to qualify, while if Afghanistan emerge victorious they will need to beat Australia to qualify. In the event of the winner of today’s match losing their final game Australia and South Africa (whose match yesterday was rained out without a ball being bowled) would both qualify. This post looks at developments in today’s match so far.
AFGHANISTAN’S INNINGS
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first. The injured Brydon Carse was replaced in the England line up by Jamie Overton. The match started well for England, with Afghanistan being 39-3 at one point. However, a combination of an injury to Mark Wood, Jos Buttler’s stubborn refusal to recognize until far too late that Wood couldn’t bowl his full allocation, the questionable balance of the England line up, reliant as it is on Livingstone and Root to bowl the fifth allocation of ten overs, and a magnificent innings by Ibrahim Zadran created a dramatic turnaround in events. Zadran had three principal assistants from his own side in addition to Wood’s injury and Buttler’s bad captaincy. The revival began with Zadran and Hashmatullah Shahidi putting on 103 for the fourth wicket in 19.4 overs, the latter contributing a solid 40. Revival began to become genuine counter attack with the next partnership, with Azmatullah Omarzai which yielded 72 in 10.3 overs, Omarzai scoring 41 off 31 balls. Then came the truly explosive partnership, 40 year old Mohammad Nabi exactly matching his age years in runs off his own bat, from just 24 balls, while Zadran now utterly dominant turned what was already a very high class innings into one of unquestioned greatness. His previous best ODI score was 162, and he passed both that and Ben Duckett’s Champions Trophy record set just a few days ago of 165 with a single blow that took him from 160 to 166. By the time he fell, in the final over of the innings, bowled due to a combination of the injury and Buttler’s mismanagement of his bowlers by Liam Livingstone, he had scored 177 off 146 balls with 12 fours and six sixes the score had reached 323, the sixth wicket stand worth 111 in 9.1 overs, which included 20 off one Archer over and 23 in the 47th over of the innings, bowled by Root, who when Wood’s departure from the field finally forced Buttler to extend the allocation he gave his fifth bowler duo. During the middle overs Livingstone and Root had bowled a combined 10-0-50-0, but neither are remotely suited to bowling at the death, and the danger of Wood not being able to bowl his full ten overs was blatantly apparent from quite early in the innings. A couple of balls after Zadran’s dismissal Nabi was also out to make to 324-7. A further single accrued to end the innings at 325-7. Livingstone, given the 50th over of the innings in desperation had final figures of 5-0-28-2, the sole England bowled to go at under a run a ball.
THE ENGLAND RESPONSE
Salt went for 12 early on in the reply, bowled by Omarzai’s medium pace. Jamie Smith charged at Nabi’s first ball of the innings and was caught by Omarzai for 9 to make it 30-2. Duckett and Root put on 68 together before Rashid Khan trapped Duckett LBW for 38 to make it 98-3. Brook looked reasonable impressive, but got himself out with the job barely started, hitting one straight back to Omarzai for 25 off 21 balls. That was 133-4 (these last two wickets have fallen while I have been working on this post, making the thread of the title more than a little frayed) with Buttler coming in to join Root. The advocates of immense batting firepower will point out that England still have Livingstone to come, and that Jamie Overton is not the worst number eight. To this I respond that if England had a better bowling line up Afghanistan may well not have been able to fight back from the depths of 37-3. For my money this match is as good as over already. If this proves correct I hope that the first decision England make in the aftermath of this tournament is to axe Buttler as captain. They also need to realize sharpish that four proper bowlers backed up by Livingstone and Root is not good enough. England with the Livingstone/ Root combination have statistically the worst fifth bowling option of any of the eight sides at this tournament.
TWO FINGERS TO ELON THE EXECRABLE
There is a Tesla dealership practically next door to Park Royal station (Piccadilly line), and on March the 8th at 11AM there will a protest there directed at Elon Musk. Click here to sign up.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The rainbow that features in this shot and the next seven appeared at about 4:30PM on Monday. Yesterday was bright and sunny, and the first insects of 2025 were in evidence.A combination of the weather and the fact that the bus was obviously going to be taking a fair while to get clear of the hospital grounds led me to a decision to alight early on my way home from work.
Sharing a large quantity of photographs taken in the last two days in and around King’s Lynn.
I did two walks during the daytime yesterday, visited my sister and nephew for supper in the evening. I have also done a very long walk this morning, taking full advantage of weather that was genuinely pleasant by December standards – it started to rain lightly near the end of the walk, but I got over two hours worth of dry weather before the rain came.
These excursions provided me with a very large photo gallery – once I had finished the editing process there were 150 pictures there. As well as pretty much all the regular bird sightings I managed to get pictures of a dunnock and a common sandpiper (the latter was near the mouth of the Nar this morning).
This afternoon has been unyieldingly grim, and this being December even at 4PM the such daylight as there was is already beginning to fade.
Enjoy a bumper gallery (and don’t forget to click to view pictures at larger size)…
Sunday morning pics…The dunnock. In size and build it is not dissimilar to a sparrow, but the colouring is very different.Sunday afternoon pictures…This new building……was inspired by this much older one opposite it.Sunday night pics.I got a picture of the train fully lit up at the third attempt.Todays pictures start here.The official start of King’s Lynn coming in from the southeast of the town.In olden times this was the southern edge of the town.A stretch of the Nar – this river has its source near the town of East Dereham, close to the centre of Norfolk.Two cormorants with wings outstretched simultaneously.Lapwings in triangular formation at the waters edge (the far side of the Great Ouse from me).The common sandpiper, which features in five images in total.The feature image.
An account of a walk in and around King’s Lynn. This particular variation on a favourite walking theme of mine took place yesterday late morning. There are plenty of photographs.
It is no secret to followers of this blog that I do a lot of walking, and that I go nowhere without my camera. This post looks in detail at a recent walk.
WALKING IN AND AROUND KING’S LYNN
One of my favourite themes around which to construct walking routes in and around King’s Lynn is what I call the ‘three rivers’. The three rivers of that title are the Gaywood, multiple sections of which are encompassed, the Nar, which is crossed twice at different points, and Great Ouse, the main river in this part of the world, alongside which some of the walk takes place. The particular walk that this post uses for detail took place yesterday, when the weather was bright and sunny but cold.
THE WALK
I started by leaving my house by the back door, as I was heading at first in the general direction of the town centre. The road that runs behind the row of houses in which I live is a private road and is unnamed. It disgorges on to Raby Avenue, which I crossed, and then headed down Townshend Terrace, a side road which forms a right angle, running from Raby Avenue to a pond at which point it swings 90 degrees and disgorges onto another road. However, as you will see I was not going that way. The pond usually yields pictures, and it did so this day as well…
While Townshend Terrace goes on way, a footpath leads in the opposite direction, through to Loke Road. On the far side of Loke Road, almost directly across from this footpath is a side road called Harewood Parade, which leads round the side of a second pond, until it terminates and is replaced by footpath which heads into a section of greenery flanked on one side by a section of the Gaywood River and on the other by Kettlewell Lane. Although the second pond did not yield anything for the camera on this occasion, the rest of this segment of the walk did…
Kettlewell Lane leads out on to what at that stage is Littleport Street, though a little way north it becomes Gaywood Road. By this stage one is very close to the town centre, but one is not committed to main roads. I crossed Littleport Street at the light controlled crossing on Eastgate Bridge, and headed down Highgate, past a little patch of greenery that sometimes yields pictures though not on this occasion, and down a little side passage that leads to a small bridge back over the Gaywood to the town side and another little section of greenery, which I exited on to Wyatt Street at the other side. I then crossed Wyatt Street, and took a footpath that runs alongside Eastgate primary school before coming out on Blackfriars Road, the road that runs past King’s Lynn station. At this point, for a brief period there are no further options for main road avoidance, so I followed the road round past the station, and shortly after the station headed into the park called The Walks. I headed alongside another section of the Gaywood (heavily sculpted at this stage of its route) until I reached the white metal bridge that leads in to the Vancouver Garden wherein is located the bandstand. I exited the Vancouver Garden by the other bridge from it, crossed the Broadwalk, and headed for the Seven Sisters exit. This section did not yield many pictures, but there were a few…
The Guanock Gate
From the Seven Sisters exit I headed to where a passage leads through to London Road, joining that road at a light controlled crossing, which I availed myself of. I then headed away from town, passing the South Gate and then turning down the road that crosses the Nar, which I exited on to Hardings Way before taking a footpath through Hardings Pits to the Great Ouse at a point south of the town.
The South Gate (town side)The South Gate (out of town side).The only picture I got in Hardings PitsLapwings and Gulls at the far edge of the Great OuseKing’s Lynn viewed from the river bank on leaving Hardings Pits/A gathering of birds.
The next port of call was ‘Cormorant Platform’, although none of the birds that led me to give it that name were present on this occasion. There was a heron there however…
The heron and platform in the foreground, West Lynn church in the background.
From here I headed on to a dike which can be muddy, but as we have had little rain of late I knew would be fine, and followed it until the path bifurcated – one route led to more of the Great Ouse, and the possibility of following that river as far as Purfleet Quay, but on this occasion i took the other, heading across another part of Hardings Way, through a gateway and down a side road which leads to play area that is at the meeting point of several roads, one of which leads to All Saints Church, reckoned to be the oldest church in King’s Lynn and then by way of Hillington Square to Millfleet.
I crossed Millfleet at a light controlled crossing, headed up past the library, though on this occasion I did not visit that establishment as I already had a number of books out. I then went past the war memorial and Greyfriars Tower, before heading on to Tower Street and thence to the bus station, though I was merely passing through, not intending to catch a bus. From the bus station I headed along Railway Road, crossed at a light controlled crossing and walked along the northernmost section of Norfolk Street to arrived a triangular road crossing that invariably involves two waits if you are a pedestrian, followed Littleport Street until the junction with Kettlewell Lane, passing through the greenery to the second of the two ponds mentioned earlier in this piece, but I now did not entirely duplicated the starting route, instead heading along Loke Road, on to Columbia Way, and then availed myself of a recently opened cut through to the private road behind my house and thus got home.
King’s Lynn library.The war memorial and Greyfriars Tower.Two images of a scale model showing what the Franciscan Friary would have been like in its 13th/ 14th century heyday.An arched doorway on Tower StreetThis used to be Argos, and when work on it is finished it will be a Library and community hub for King’s Lynn. The old building will remain fully accessible to the public whatever use it may be put to.Once upon a time, when such things still existed, this was King’s Lynn Main Post Office.
I hope you have enjoyed this account of a variation on one of my favourite walking themes, that of the three rivers.
A look back at the latest WBBL action, including the spectacular emergence of an 18 year old fast bowler, and a large photo gallery.
Starting very early this morning UK time there was a double header in the WBBL. As the schedulers planned it the warm up act was a game between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars, while the main event was the ‘Sydney Smash’ – Sydney Sixers against Sydney Thunder. This post looks at what actually eventuated.
HEAT v STARS
I was ready for the start of this game, but there was a never-explained problem with the BBC hook up to the Aussie commentary, so I missed a massive chunk of the first innings, but due to another circumstance of which more later I got hear everything I had missed later on. Stars batted first, and Yastika Bhatia and Annabel Sutherland led off with a stand of 31 in 4.2 overs before Lucy Hamilton, an 18 year old left arm fast bowler, made her first mark on the match by bowling Bhatia. One run later Sutherland was also on her way back, caught by Shikha Pandey off Hamilton. Meg Lanning and Marizanne Kapp took Stars past 50, but then came a double body blow for the Stars. Off the last ball of the eighth over Kapp edged one from leg spinner Grace Parsons through to Redmayne to make it 53-3. Then off the first ball of the ninth over Hamilton secured her third scalp, inducing an edge from Lanning which Redmayne snaffled to make it 53-4. Tess Flintoff has something of a reputation for big hitting, but there was little sign of that this innings. Having had one piece of luck when a risky shot off Hamilton went just too high for Heat skipper Jess Jonassen to reach Flintoff proceeded to pick out Jonassen off the very next ball to fall for 7 (10) and make it 67-5, and four wickets to Hamilton, at a cost of just eight runs, and she still had an over to come. Rhys McKenna and Deepti Sharma were now together. They added 14 together before McKenna was run out, which brought Kim Garth into join Sharma. The score had risen to 89 by the start of the 15th over, Hamilton’s fourth. After four successive dot balls Sharma was pinned LBW to give Hamilton her first ever WBBL five-for, and the first five-for by a pacer in this year’s tournament. Sasha Moloney survived the last ball of the over, but it was another dot, meaning that Hamilton had finished her allocation with a wicket maiden, and the barely credible figures of 4-1-8-5 (reads more like a PIN than a genuine bowling analysis!), with Stars reeling at 96-8. The ninth wicket pair, helped by Hamilton being finished, produced the best Stars partnership other than the opening effort, putting on 28 together before Shikha Pandey got Maisy Gibson with the aid of a catch by Charli Knott. Sophie Day provided further support for Kim Garth, and the last pair added a further 14 before Day was run out off the last ball of the innings. Kim Garth had top scored with 31 not out from number eight in the order, with only Sutherland (21) and McKenna (20) of the others in the line up reaching 20.
Grace Harris was out cheaply for Heat, but a good partnership between Georgia Redmayne and Jemimah Rodrigues took them past 50 at a good rate. Rodrigues and Charli Knott then put on 50 more together for the third wicket. Laura Harris contributed a rapid 10, and then skipper Jess Jonasses joined Knott and this pair were still in residence when Heat crossed the finish line with 2.3 overs and six wickets to spare. Heat thus moved up to 10 points and third in the table, while Stars joined Adelaide Strikers as a team known to be eliminated from the tournament. Hamilton, whose bowling had wrecked the Stars innings was named Player of the Match. Scorecard here.
THE SYDNEY SMASH
Sixers won the bat flip, and in spite of their shocking record as a chasing side Perry decided to put Thunder in to bat. Perry’s reason for doing this was a reckoning that DLS would intervene and that if that happened it would gacour the side that batted second.
Thunder never really got going with the bat, though Georgia Voll, fresh from a match winning effort, scored 29 off 21 balls. Phoebe Litchfield scored 28 off 25 balls. The only other double figure scores were 19 off 26 balls by Georgia Adams and 14 off 16 balls by Sammy-Jo Johnson. The biggest disappointment was Sri Lankan star Chamari Athapaththu who took 17 balls to amass a score of 7. Thunder were 121 all out from 19.5 overs, with the last two wickets run outs, the victim of the latter, Samantha Bates, not even getting to face a ball. Amelia Kerr, star of the recent Women’s T20 World Cup, had 3-16 from her four overs and also pouched three catches.
Sixers would have felt confident of chasing such a modest score, but the weather gods intervened rather more decisively than even Ellyse Perry had budgeted for. Two overs into the Sixers reply with the score at 9-1, Bates having just had Perry caught by Voll, the left arm spinner’s 17th scalp of the tournament, number three Ashleigh Gardner having negotiated the final two balls of the second over, the heavens opened. The rain didn’t relent, and eventually, with lightning in the area creating extra safety concerns, the match was abandoned, meaning that each side took one point. For Thunder that moved them at least temporarily to the top of the table on 11 points. For Sixers, on seven points with two group games to go it leaves them drinking in the last chance saloon. 11 Points would qualify them, 10 would give them a chance (another washout and a win), but nine or fewer would definitely mean curtains for them. The Sixers have a stellar collection of players on their books, but somehow seem to end up adding up to much less than the sum of their parts. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
These photographs come from yesterday. I have a second post coming to showcase todays photographs.
An account of the match that confirmed Adelaide Strikers’ elimination from the WBBL and an explanation of why I am turning my back on twitter after ten years. Also a huge photo gallery.
The main subject of this post is today’s WBBL match, which featured Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers. However, before I get onto that I have one other thing to do first…
A FINAL PARTING OF WAYS
After just over ten years of being on there I have finally made the decision to end my involvement with twitter. Today will be my last day on there, and I will deactivate my account today. This decision has been over a year in the making. The final provocation came yesterday morning when I saw that from November 15th (Friday) twitter posts will be used to train AI with staying on twitter being taken as automatic consent to do so. I may or may not have agreed for this happen with my own posts had it been broached in proper consultative fashion, with people being given the option to refuse, but the high handed decision to force this on all of us means that as a matter of principle I am dissenting in the only way left to me by Elon the Execrable: by leaving twitter. For those of my followers on here who are also interested in social media, I am on Mastodon, and will be posting there regularly: https://mas.to/@autisticphotographer
HOW THE STRIKERS LOST
Adelaide Strikers arrived in Hobart for what is officially their ‘derby’ fixture (Melbourne, the closest city on mainland Australia to Tasmania, has two teams, so that is their derby) with just one win in six matches. The Hobart Hurricanes were far better placed, having won three of their six games. Strikers had been thrashed after batting first in their previous match, so when they won the toss they opted to bowl in the hope of faring better chasing than they had setting.
Megan Schutt was her usual reliable self with the ball, but Orla Prendergast, given the new ball alongside her, had an absolute shocker of an evening. Strikers also dropped several catches, two off Lizelle Lee, fresh from a record breaking 150*, along the way. Lee cashed in on the reprieves, becoming the first ever to score back to back centuries in the WBBL. Her dismissal for 103 off 57 balls was something of a freak – her partner Nicola Carey essayed a fierce drive and the bowler, ambidextrous spinner Jemma Barsby, deflected the ball into the stumps with Lee out of her ground. Carey was now joined by Elyse Villani, and they maintained the tempo of the innings pretty well. With two overs left they had reached 174-2 and a score of 200 looked within the realms of possibility. Schutt put paid to that, conceding a mere five from the 19th over, meaning that in an otherwise very fast scoring innings she had 4-0-21-1. The only other wicket was the Lee run out, so with 12 coming from the final over to boost Hurricanes tally to 191-2 the other bowlers had taken 0-170 from 16 overs.
A target of 192 was daunting – had Strikers been successful it would have been their highest ever winning chase. While Smriti Mandhana was there, timing the ball with absolute precision and scoring at an incredible rate it looked a possibility – Strikers were ahead of the rate of their four over opening Power Play. It was the arrival of Amy and Lauren Smith and the easing of field restrictions after four overs that slowed Strikers progress. Mandhana completed a splendid 50 off 31 balls, but then immediately got out, caught by Chloe Tryon off Lauren Smith to make it 67-1 in the eighth over. Amy Smith had bowled a superbly tight seventh over, and Lauren Smith was continuing the good work in the eighth. Laura Wolvaardt joined Katie Mack. Mack never got going at any stage of her innings, and her dismissal for 14 off 20, caught by Carey off Amy Smith to make it 83-2 in the 11th over was not necessarily bad news for the Strikers. Tahlia McGrath, the Strikers captain, was in next, and she too struggled, managing just four before her eighth ball was caught by Callie Wilson off Molly Strano to make it 93-3 after 12.4 overs. With 99 needed off 44 balls big things needed to happen, and Bridget Patterson the new batter had some form behind her. However, Wolvaardt and Patterson dropped further and further behind the rate, even though the Hurricanes fielders started dropping catches during their stand. Eventually midway through the 19th over the asking rate became greater than six runs per ball. At this point, far too late, Wolvaardt finally really got going. It was into the 20th over that she completed her 50, a landmark greeted with a smattering of in my opinion undeserved applause. She finished the match with a flurry of meaningless boundaries – having reached 50 off 37 balls she ended on 63* from 40. The margin was still 28 runs, and in any case because of the position they were in coming into this match anything less than a win was useless for them. They now have two points from seven matches, and are guaranteed to end up with an overall losing record, which even with four teams out of eight progressing to the knockouts will ensure that they do not qualify. Hurricanes sit top of the table for the moment, though they are there only on net run rate, and the teams in second and third both have a game in hand on them.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
We start with some pictures from Monday afternoon.Then a few pictures from yesterday, either side of work.Finally we have pictures from this morning, a splendid day to be out walking.No cormorants on ‘Cormorant Platform’ today….…but there were some a little further upstream, near the path through Hardings Pits.However even they were topped by this Little Egret in the shallows (The Great Ouse was at very low tide – these rocks are not normally visible).My last picture before leaving the Great Ouse was these lapwings.
An account of today’s WBBL fixture, between Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades. Also a large photo gallery.
Today the WBBL saw Adelaide Strikers take on Melbourne Renegades at the Karen Rolton Oval. Strikers, winners of both the previous two editions of the WBBL had won only one of their five games, so they knew that defeat would effectively end their qualification hopes. The Renegades, wooden spooners last year, were looking to put themselves right in the mix near the top of table. This post looks back at the match.
THE STRIKERS INNINGS
Major scores from Tahlia McGrath, 49 off 24 balls, and Smriti Mandhana, 40 off 25 balls were supported by Laura Wolvaardt, 27 off 26 balls and Katie Mack 19 off 19 balls. At times it seemed likely that Strikers would top the 200 mark, which even at a ground as batting friendly as the Rolton Oval would have been a formidable total. However they lost wickets in the later stages of their innings, and in the end it took a wonderful cameo of 24 off 12 balls from the young Irishwoman Orla Prendergast to get Strikers to their final total of 185-8. Prendergast was run out off the last ball of the innings, correctly going for the extra run. .
Hayley Matthews, of whom there will be a lot more later, had 2-28 from four overs, and Sarah Coyte 1-19 from three overs.
THE RENEGADES CHASE
Hayley Matthews and Courtney Webb scored well, though at a little less than the required rate. Webb retired hurt for 37, with the Renegades score on 90. The first actual wicket was that of Capsey, who replaced Webb at the crease, and scored 4 before being caught by Prendergast off Darcie Brown to make it 101-1. That brought Deandra Dottin in to join fellow West Indian Matthews. This pair took complete control of proceedings. At one stage it looked like a century was a possibility for Matthews, but then a blitz by Dottin killed that possibility but brough the possibility of a 50 for her into the equation. Matthews ended the chase off the first ball of the 18th over, the boundary she hit taking to 85* off 54 balls, while Dottin had 46* off just 18 balls. Megan Schutt bowled three overs for 21 amidst the carnage. Madeline Penna, brought on as a white flag gesture with the game well and truly lost, has I suspect set a new record for the worst ER in a WBBL innings – her first delivery was a wide which did not go to the boundary, but off which Matthews and Dottin ran two extra runs, to make the damage three, and her second was the match winning boundary, meaning that her official figures read 0.1-0-7-0 for an ER of 42.00. Matthews was unsurprisingly named Player of the Match for her magnificent performance.
This hammering leaves Strikers adrift at the foot of the table on two points from six matches. Even if they win every remaining match they will have an exactly even win/loss record, and given how bad their net RR is, even with four teams qualifying for the KOs they are unlikely to make it. Anything less than four straight wins from here will definitely confirm their elimination. I consider having four teams out of eight qualify for KOs a trifle generous, but it is not as ludicrous as the men’s equivalent tournament, where five teams out of eight qualify, which means that you genuinely can make it through with an overall losing record. Renegades meanwhile are up into second place for the present, and are highly likely to qualify for the knockouts. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today has been a sunny day, and as a result the insects have been out in force…
A look back at today’s WBBL10 double header and a large photo gallery.
There were two back to back Women’s Big Bash League games starting early this morning UK time. This post looks back at both.
THE MELBOURNE DERBY
Melbourne Renegades won this match by 15 runs – 146-6 for them, 131-9 for the Stars. The big story of the game was the performance of WBBL debutant Charis Bekker. The 20 year old leg spinner was only playing because of an injury to Sophie Molineux, but I suspect that her place is now secure. She recorded figures of 4-0-9-1, quite astonishingly economical in this tournament – and that wicket was the key one of Meg Lanning. Bekker was correctly named Player of the Match for this performance. Alice Capsey for the Renegades played the innings of the contest, a blistering 33 (15) that gave her side a much needed injection of pace. Naomi Stalenberg (26 not out off 17) and Nicole Faltum (29 off 23) helped to ensure that the momentum provided by Capsey wasn’t entirely dissipated. For the Stars the only batters who came close to doing the needful were Deepti Sharma (23 off 20) and Marizanne Kapp (16 off eight). Kapp was also the best of the Stars bowlers with 2-22 from her four overs. Scorecard here.
HEAT v STRIKERS
This was a real rarity – a WBBL game at The Gabba (Brisbane Heat are normally confined to Allan Border Field for home matches). Adelaide Strikers won the toss and put Brisbane Heat in to bat. Indian star Jemimah Rodrigues hit 61 off 40 balls, backed up by Grace Harris (33 off 22 balls), Jess Jonassen (32 off 21 balls) and Nadine de Klerk (23 not out off 10 balls at the death). With these key contributions Brisbane Heat tallied 175-6 from their 20 overs.
Strikers made a disastrous start to the chase, being 15-3 with all of their top three (Katie Mack, Smriti Mandhana and Laura Wolvaardt) out for single figure scores. Shikha Pandey, Charli Knott and Nicola Hancock had a wicket a piece. Tahlia McGrath and Bridget Patterson stopped the collapse, but scoring remained slow. McGrath suffered a credulity testing dismissal – medium pacer Nadine de Klerk bowled a wide, and Georgia Redmayne pulled off a spectacular stumping. That was 54-4 after 9.4 overs, so 122 needed off 10.2 overs – and cricinfo’s Win Predictor had Heat on 95%.
Madeline Penna joined Patterson, and the pair fared well, though not quite as well as they needed to. With five overs to go Strikers were up to 105-4, 71 short of victory, meaning that the fifth wicket stand was worth 51 in 5.2 overs. The pendulum swung one way and then another through overs 16, 17 and 18. By the end of the 18th Penna and Patterson were still together, and they needed 35 off the last two overs.
The 19th over, often crucial in chases of an magnitude, yielded 16 of those runs. The meant that Strikers needed 19 off the final over. As well as having plenty to defend Heat had one further advantage – the experienced Indian Shikha Pandey was available to bowl that over. With two balls to go Strikers needed 11 to pull off a spectacular heist. Pandey kept her nerve and bowled two excellent deliveries, from each of which a single accrued meaning that Heat were home by eight runs. For the record Patterson ended up with 61 not out off 47 balls, and Penna who was chiefly responsible for keeping the match alive until deep in the final over had 59 not out off just 30 balls. Rodrigues, whose 61 off 40 had helped Heat to what proved to be a winning total benefitted from her team’s success and was named Player of the Match.
This result leaves Strikers cut adrift at the foot of the table, with just two points from five games. Heat have played a game more and are one of five teams to have amassed six points, while Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes each have four points from five games. With there being only ten games in the group stage Strikers are in definite jeopardy. Scorecard here.
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