Tag: IPL

Two Nailbiters

A look back at two superb finishes in successive evenings and two photo galleries. a snail special and a regular gallery.

On Monday evening the last match to finish in the County Championship had the best finish of all of them. Yesterday evening saw a remarkable conclusion to that day’s IPL match, between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. This post looks back at both matches, and also incorporates two photo galleries.

DURHAM v WARWICKSHIRE

I switched over to this match when Surrey v Hampshire was confirmed as a draw. At the point I joined the coverage Warwickshire were closing on the target, but were also eight wickets down, with Michael Booth and Ethan Bamber together at the crease. There were 15 runs still wanted when Matthew Potts shattered Booth’s stumps and Bamber was joined by Vishwa Fernando. It was soon apparent that if these last 15 runs to be scored then Bamber would have to do most of the work. Potts and Ben Raine, with seven wickets between them in the innings, were bowling in tandem at this point, and it was clear that both would keep going until the issue was settled one way or another. Warwickshire clawed their way towards the target. The scores eventually drew level. The 93rd over of the Warwickshire innings, with scores level as stated, was bowled by Raine, and off the third ball thereof Bamber hit a six and Warwickshire had won by one wicket at the death. Incidentally, although it was unavailing on this occasion I commend Durham for their second innings declaration at 276-8, which actually made the fourth innings meaningful (Leicestershire were especially culpable for overcaution in their match with Derbyshire this time round, as Sussex had been against Warwickshire in the previous round).

PHOTO GALLERY 1: SNAILS

Yesterday there was a small amount of rain after a prolonged dry spell, and one effect of this change in the weather was to bring the snails out – especially in the evening when the weather was warm and dry once more…

This snail was in a frame along with a shell-less cousin.

PUNJAB KINGS DEFEND 111

Punjab Kings were all out for 111 batting first in yesterday’s IPL match. The IPL has become known for absurd scoring – there have been occasions this season when a score double that put up by Punjab Kings yesterday would have been impossible to defend – so few would have held out any hope of a defence on this occasion. When Kolkata Knight Riders were 62-2 at the high water mark of their own innings very few indeed would have seen any possible conclusion other than the seemingly obvious. I joined the coverage with the score at 73-4, still looking pretty solid for the chasers. However, at this point Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh all fell very quickly and it was 76-7. Three runs later Harshit Rana fell to make it 79-8. At this point Vaibhav Arora got a one place promotion from his usual slot, with Anrich Nortje being held back. For the next over Punjab went for the kill, giving Yuzvendra Chahal his fourth and final over. Andre Russell took 16 runs from it, reducing the ask to 17. The next over was bowled by Arshdeep Singh, with Vaibhav Arora on strike. The number 10 negotiated the first five balls, though could not score off any of them. The sixth ball was a superb bouncer and all Arora could offer was a fend that sent the ball into the gauntlets of Josh Inglis to make it 95-9. Jansen accepted responsibility for bowling the 16th over. Russell aimed a big drive at the first ball of it, feeling that he had to end the match before a Punjab bowler could get to Nortje, and succeeded only in dragging it into his stumps. Punjab had entered the record books – their 111 is the lowest total ever to have been successfully defended in an IPL match. The closing stages of this match were, as with Durham v Warwickshire a day earlier, utterly compelling. This low scoring contest was far more fun than one side scoring 240 and the other side then making that look a failure.

PHOTO GALLERY 2

Here are the rest of my photos…

Random Jottings

A piece of bizarreness from the IPL and a win for the good guys in Wisconsin, plus a large photo gallery.

My main reason for posting is that I have a large photo gallery to share. However I have a couple of small things to share as well.

AN UNBEATABLE RECORD

I was at work yesterday and by the time I was in a position to tune in to the commentary on the IPL match (Lucknow Super Giants v Punjab Kings) there was no real point doing so as it was obvious which way the match was going and there could be no big finish. However, I did keep a cricinfo tab open. Thus I was able to see with my own eyes the calling of officially the most pointless ‘strategic time out’ ever, and while it might be equalled and I can be certain that will not be surpassed: LSG had scored 171-6 from their 20 overs, and at the end of the 16th over of the reply PBKS were 171-2 – scores level, the chasers with eight wickets standing and four whole overs available in which to get that run! It actually took until the second ball on the resumption for PBKS to complete the job.

WINNING IN WISCONSIN

Ordinarily I probably would not even have been aware of an election of a new judge in Wisconsin, but Elon Musk had been putting huge amounts of money behind one particular candidate in the hope of altering the political balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. As far as I am concerned a defeat for Elon the Execrable counts as a win, so I am pleased to be able to say that Musk’s candidate has been defeated.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Remember the Name

A brief look at Ashwani Kumar’s extraordinary IPL debut and a photo gallery.

Today’s IPL match features Mumbai Indians in action against Kolkata Knight Riders. To say that things are going MI’s way would be a major understatement of the case. This post however looks at one particular player involved in the debacle (from their point of view) that was the KKR innings.

“WE HAVE A DEBUTANT PLAYING FOR US TODAY”

The title of this section refers to the way in which Hardik Pandya, skipper of Mumbai Indians, introduced Ashwani Kumar, a left arm medium pace bowler. After today I do not think either Pandya or anyone else will be in any further danger of struggling to recall the young man’s name. Before he had been called on to bowl he had pouched a catch to make his first mark as an IPL player. It was with the ball, partly because KKR tried to target him and failed miserably, that he made what looks like being the decisive contribution to this match. He started by having KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane caught by Tilak Varma. He added the wickets of Rinku Singh (caught by Raman Dhir), “impact sub” Manish Pandey (a desperation move brought on by the KKR collapse – it would be more normal for a side batting first to use this to bring in an extra bowler) and West Indian legend Andre Russell (both bowled). His final figures were 3-0-24-4. KKR were not only all out for a beggarly 116, they only lasted 16.2 overs – in other words 22 deliveries were not utilised at all. MI are cruising towards a massive win as I type.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before I present my full photo gallery I am showcasing a couple of unlucky candidates for the feature image. First up, and the closest contender othe rthan the chosen one is this…

“Four in One” Four bees in a single frame – three flying around and one on a flower head.

The other candidate was this one…

“Egret photobombed by flying gull” An Egret at the edge of the Nar outfall with a flying gull with wings at full stretch in the foreground.

Now for the full gallery…

The chosen feature image “In Formation” – two bees flying exactly parallel to one another, seemingly with a cluster of white flowers as the target.
The Egret did also manage to get undivided camera space!
A song thrush

RCB Setting Early IPL Pace

A look back at yesterday’s IPL match between RCB and CSK, and a large photo gallery.

Yesterday saw Chennai Super Kings entertaining Royal Challengers Bangalore. The winner of this match would be the first team to start the season with two straight wins.

THE RCB INNINGS

This innings was not unblemished by either side. For RCB Rajat Patidar made a fine 50, and openers Salt and Kohli scored utterly dissimilar low 30s – Salt’s 32 came off 16 balls and thus represented a job well done, while Kohli’s 31 came off 30 balls, which is unacceptably slow in IPL cricket. Each side perpetrated (IMO) a blunder – RCB held their Singapore/ Australia star batter Tim David back for so long that he only got to face eight balls in the entire innings, off which he scored an unbeaten 22 and CSK ended up giving the 20th over to Sam Curran, and irrespective of bowling resources available having the left arm medium pacer bowl the last over of a T20 innings represents a mishandling of those resources. The over in question was plundered for 20 runs, boosting RCB to 196-7 from their 20 overs.

THE CSK REPLY

CSK started poorly losing three wickets almost before they had got going. Curran, fresh from his less than impressive efforts with the ball came in at number five. He never got going at all, and had scored 8 off 12 balls when he attempted to give the 13th ball of his innings, an absolute pie from another English all rounder, Liam Livingstone, the treatment it deserved but succeeded only in picking out Krunal Pandya in the deep to make it 52-4. At this point ‘Impact Player’ Shivam Dube came in. He reached 19 fairly impressively before being bowled by a very good ball from Yash Dayal. It was at this stage that CSK mucked up their batting line up. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a legend of the game but now 43 years old and well past his best should have been in at this point, but determined to hold him back for the very final stages of the innings no matter what, CSK sent Ravindra Jadeja in at seven, and then even more bizarrely R Ashwin at eight, before finally having the keeper/ batter come in at nine. Dhoni actually did bat impressively once sent in, but while his 30* (16) would have been ample had his team mates matched his scoring rate CSK had fallen so far behind that all it did was reduce the margin of defeat somewhat, to a still fairly hefty 50 runs. Josh Hazlewood for RCB, in a match in which not many bowlers would have been overly eager to find out their exact figures had 4-0-21-3 to show for his own efforts, and he bowled every bit as well as those figures suggest, though Patidar was named Player of the Match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

IPL2025 Under Way

A look at the early stages of IPL 2025 and a large photo gallery.

This year’s Indian Premier League started yesterday. Yesterday saw Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Kolkata Knight Riders, while today has seen Sunrisers Hyderabad versus Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are currently playing, though I am listening to the Women’s Six Nations rugby match between England and Italy which is about to get underway.

RCB’S STATEMENT WIN

RCB have never won the IPL. KKR started out red hot, being past the 100 mark by the halfway stage of their innings. They fell away in the second half of their innings and ended with only 174 to defend. This might seem respectable for a T20 innings, but RCB soon put it in perspective. They too were past 100 inside ten overs, but unlike KKR they did not fall off thereafter, and they won in the end by seven wickets with over three overs to spare.

HYDERABAD RUNFEST

I missed the early stages of this one, but got to hear the closing stages of the SRH innings, as they mounted a concerted challenge to beat their own all-time record IPL innings total of 287. They ended up with 286-6, highlighted by Ishan Kishan scoring 106* from 47 balls. Jofra Archer gained the wrong sort of place in the record books with his 4-0-76-0, the most expensive spell in IPL history (and it might have been 4-0-81-0 as well – there was a four byes in his last over that could easily have been given as five no-balls). Royals themselves batted very well, except by comparison to the SRH blitz. In the end they were beaten by 44 runs, meaning that 40 overs had yielded a total of 528 runs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

How Would I Approach Bidding At An IPL Auction

My view (as a keen cricket fan who works for an auctioneer) on bidding at IPL auctions, with some pungent observations about what happened with Mitchell Starc.

Today I look at the workings of IPL auctions. There is a particular signing at the most recent such auction that will feature later as (IMO) a clear cut example of folk losing their heads.

HOW AN IPL AUCTION WORKS

Each franchise has a total budget for assembling their squad of 90 crore rupees, with the pay of the players they retain from the previous edition deducted from that. There are 25 spaces available in each squad, with a minimum of 18 of those spaces having to be filled. The starting XI can contain up to four overseas players and the full squad is allowed to contain eight such players.

AN EXAMPLE OF HEADS BEING LOST AT AUCTION

Australian left arm pacer Mitchell Starc sold for 24 crore at the last IPL auction – over a quarter of the successful bidder’s total available budget for one player. This is a signing that almost cannot end up being a good one – if he has a stella tournament (and figures after two of 14 group games of 8-0-100-0 suggest otherwise to put it politely) then so he should at that price, while anything less represents failure. Also, with that much of the budget blown on one player there are bound to be weaknesses elsewhere in the squad.

HOW I WOULD HANDLE BIDDING AT AN IPL AUCTION

I would set myself limits beyond which I would not bid no matter how much I wanted to secure the player concerned. I would probably never venture beyond 10 crore for anyone, and even if I suspected I was bidding for a reincarnation of Garry Sobers I would limit myself to 15 crore. I would also concentrate a lot of my attention on players who other franchises seem to be ignoring, rather than being over eager to join in bidding frenzies. I would not want to spend massive money on specialist batters – bowlers up to a certain point yes, and all rounders are obviously always valuable when you have to have at least five bowlers in your XI (and six would be recommended, just so that if someone is getting absolutely smoked you don’t have to give them their full four overs). Mitchell Starc has 12 group games, plus KOs if his team qualifies for those in which to improve his current figures for this tournament, but I cannot see any way in which even he, magnificent bowler though he is, can justify that ridiculous fee. At the moment with those cumulative figures to date of 8-0-100-0 and coming at that astronomical fee he is on course to be the worst flop in IPL history.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The South Gate from the town side.
The South Gate from the outside.
The iconic Custom House.
The statue of George Vancouver.

The IPL Super Auction

A brief look at the IPL super auction and a special photo gallery.

The IPL Super Auction is over, and all the 10 squads are assembled. I look at some of the key moments and end with a very special picture gallery.

THREE BIG MONEY OVERSEAS SIGNINGS

Royal Challengers Bangalore made the first big money overseas signing of the auction when they went to 10.75 crore INR (just over £1,000,000) to secure Sri Lankan leg spinning all rounder Wanindu Hasaranga. Hasaranga is a superb T20 player and this was probably a good signing even at such a high price. Punjab Kings did good business when they secured Jonathan Bairstow for 6.75 crore. Nicholas Pooran, neither as good nor as versatile as Bairstow then went for 10.75 crore.

DIFFERING STRATEGIES

Punjab Kings were consistent over the two days, making a number of excellent signings. Liam Livingstone was their most expensive at 11.50 crore, and two very different seam bowling all rounders, India Under 19 star Raj Bawa and Gloucestershire’s quirky veteran Benny Howell were both obtained cheaply. Howell at seven, Bawa at eight, Rabada at nine and two other bowlers at 10 and 11 is a good lower part of the order, while Dhawan, Bairstow and Livingstone will all be in the top half of the order (IPL allows four overseas players in a playing XI and up to eight in a whole squad, which can have a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 25 players), and Bairstow, Livingstone, Howell and Rabada would be my four first choice overseas players from their squad.

Mumbai Indians did little on day one but came to the party on day two. They paid 8.25 crore for Archer, who won’t play this season due to injury, but who they can retain for next season. They also secured Tymal Mills and Tim David. They are unlikely to win IPL 2022, but if Archer is fully fit by then they will be formidable in IPL 2023.

Rajasthan Royals left things very late indeed, making a flurry of signings in the closing stages of the auction when nearly everyone else had completed their squads. They got some useful players at this late stage, but overall their approach cannot be said to have worked.

Royal Challengers Bangalore tailed off after a strong start, and exhausted their budget with several places still available in their squad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad did not even make a strong start, and they too ran out of money rather than filling all 25 slots.

The two new franchises, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans both had their moments along the way but neither were entirely impressive.

Delhi Capitals had a solid auction, and they should do well in the tournament.

Chennai Super Kings had a good second day, and their squad looks decent.

Kolkata Knight Riders had a mixed couple of days with some good signings and some questionable ones.

The tournament should be good, though it is overly long. I will be supporting Punjab Kings – they had a superb auction.

All squads can be viewed here.

A SPECIAL PHOTO GALLERY

I acquired two lots of interesting cricket related cigarette cards, and they are the subjects of this photo gallery…

Two Great Finishes

A look at two great county championship finishes, a note on the doubtful future of IPL2021, answers to a conundrum and photographs.

This post looks back at the concluding stages of round four of the county championship (I covered up to Somerset’s victory over Middlesex yesterday). In addition to the two matches I look at play was still in progress between Worcestershire and Essex, but the only question in that game was exactly when the draw would be confirmed.

YORKSHIRE V NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The ninth Northamptonshire wicket went down with them needing 14 to win, and then there was a brief interruption for rain. Wayne Parnell, a reasonably competent lower order batter, and Ben Sanderson, a genuine no11, inched their way towards the target. They had accrued 12 of the necessary runs when Yorkshire skipper Patterson bowled a good one to Parnell, and that worthy could only edge it to the keeper, giving Yorkshire victory by one solitary run. Northamptonshire had never previously lost an FC game by one run, though three previous county championship examples of such a result are Gloucestershire v Yorkshire in 1906, Middlesex v Yorkshire in 1908 and Yorkshire v Middlesex in 1976 (winning team first in each case). The 1906 result helped enable Kent to win their first ever championship. No innings total in this match reached 250, and the result was a classic game of cricket in which the result was in doubt right up to the very end of the contest. A full scorecard can be viewed here.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE V LEICESTERSHIRE

Leicestershire were all out just under an hour before lunch on day four, setting Gloucestershire 348 to win. At 52-3 only two results seemed possible – the draw and the Leicestershire win in that order of likelihood. Ian Cockbain who was only playing because an administrative error had seen Graeme Van Buuren classed as an overseas player joined Tom Lace at that point. At first their partnership seemed to be saving Gloucestershire, but then they began to show serious interest in going for the runs. By the time Lace holed out trying to complete his century with a boundary they had added 224 together, with Cockbain already into three figures. At that point the ask was still more than five an over, but Ryan Higgins played a splendid cameo innings of 33, and by the time he and Cockbain fell to successive deliveries from Leicestershire skipper Callum Parkinson (left arm spinner, twin brother of Lancashire leg spinner Matt Parkinson) just 18 more were needed at under three. The double dismissal brought George Hankins and Tom Smith together, and they kept cool and picked the runs off, Hankins ending the chase by hitting a four off Ben Mike. Higgins, as well as producing his late cameo which really put Gloucestershire in control had taken seven wickets in the game, including 5-62 in the second Leicestershire innings as well.

IPL IN JEOPARDY

The Indian Premier League is officially just past halfway through the group stage, but following a breach of a bio-secure bubble which has seen KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pace bowler Sandeep Warrier test positive for Covid that is in considerable jeopardy. My own view is that it has become too dangerous to continue to the tournament and that it should be aborted. I have seen reports from various sources about what is happening, but as yet no official statement from the BCCI.

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S CRICKETING CONUNDRUM

Yesterday I used a photo of the sign for Archdale Street, which is close to my home, to point out that Archdale has two connections to cricket history and challenge you to identify them. In chronological order they are as follows:

Archdale Palmer Wickham was a clergyman who was also Somerset wicket keeper for many years. His career began in 1876 and ended in 1907, but clerical duties restricted him to 93 appearances at first class level over that period. He took 91 catches, pulled off 59 stumpings, and averaged only 8.83 with the bat. He played in two extraordinary matches. In 1899 he was the keeper when two army officers, Major Poore and Captain Wynyard shared a sixth wicket stand of 411 in just over four hours. He had missed Poore when that worthy had just four to his name. In 1907 he was one of the victims of a sensational spell of bowling by Albert Trott for Middlesex, in which the Australian born slow bowler took four wickets in four balls and then not long afterwards finished the match by doing the hat trick for a second time. This carnage was watched from the non-strikers end by Len Braund who carried his bat through the innings.

Betty Archdale (full name Helen Elizabeth Archdale) was the first ever captain of England Women, playing five women’s test matches in the 1930s. She scored 133 runs at 26.60 and took a catch in those games.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The County Championship After Two Rounds

A little look back at round two of the championship, including a correction to my previous post, a bonus feature on unorthodox bowling actions, a petition and some photographs.

I write this post while listening to commentary on today’s game in the IPL between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, but as a ‘legacy fan’ of cricket to borrow a phrase from those behind a development in another ball sport that makes The Hundred look like a picnic I feel it important to focus on non-franchise cricket. However, before getting into the main meat of my post I have a small piece of business to attend to:

A CORRECTION TO MY PREVIOUS POST

Yesterday I said that the hundred that Hassan Azad was approaching as I typed, and did duly complete would be his second of the match. This was incorrect – Leicestershire’s first innings century was scored by his opening partner Sam Evans, Azad making 55.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER TWO ROUNDS OF ACTION

Two teams, Gloucestershire and Hampshire, have won both of their games. They are in opposition in the next round which starts on Thursday. One team, Middlesex, have lost both their games. Nottinghamshire with a draw and a loss (beaten late yesterday by a Warwickshire side with only 10 fit players. Sibley being injured) are on a winless streak that dates back to 2018. Not the longest – Northamptonshire once went without a win from 1934 to 1939 (their next win after the 1939 one was in 1946, but that gap was not down to bad cricket on their part, it was down to there being no cricket at all), but a long time to go without a win.

Hassan Azad took Leicestershire to safety yesterday, reaching a new career best 144 not out, and boosting his career average to just over 46. With Sibley injured, Burns under scrutiny and Lammonby having had a horror start to the season which has seen his FC average drop from 51.00 to 35.69, Azad (31 FC matches) is putting himself firmly in the England frame. Also in the mix is James Bracey, and a big score against Hampshire, whose bowling is led by current Pakistan test start Mohammad Abbas and former SA test star Kyle Abbott would be a big boost to his credentials. Somerset, after their loss in the west country derby face Leicestershire who have decent batting but as evidenced by successive teams topping 650 against them a calamitous lack of bowling.

DISTINCTIVE BOWLING ACTIONS QUINTET

This section is a nod to the game I am following at the moment, which feature Riyan Parag, whose bowling action is extremely unusual – he basically brings his arm round the side rather than over the top as is conventional. His action is not illegal as the laws stand, and as some readers of this blog will be aware I believe that more types of bowling should be encouraged. The Greg/Trevor Chappell against NZ situation can be got round by way of the fact that nowadays balls that bounce more than once are called no-ball – simply add a footnote to the effect that a ball rolled along the ground is considered to have bounced an infinite number of times and shall be called no-ball. In that spirit I offer a bowling sextet who all had very distinctive actions (in T20 one generally needs six bowling options, so that you have cover in the event of someone having a nightmare day), four of whom played test cricket and a fifth may yet do so, the sixth was not quite good enough but as an all rounder has value in a T20 context:

  1. Lasith Malinga, aka Malinga the slinger, Right arm fast. Before the recent emergence of Parag he had the lowest bowling arm of any modern era bowler.
  2. Digby Jephson, right arm fast (under arm). He never got selected at international level, but was a Surrye regular for some years in the early 1900s.
  3. Doug Wright – leg spin. He had one of the most extraordinary run ups ever seen, bowled at above medium pace and achieved sharp turn. Often his good balls were too good and beat everything, but on his day he was utterly unplayable. He still holds the record for hat tricks in a first class career, having achieved the feat seven times at that level.
  4. Paul Adams – left arm wrist spin. Possibly the most unorthodox action ever possessed by any left arm bowler, once likened to a frog in a blender.
  5. George Simpson-Hayward – off spin (under arm). He came on the scene a few years after Jephson, and unlike the former did get selected for England and had a good series in South Africa. He was the last bowler of his type to play top level cricket.
  6. Riyan Parag – leg spin. One of two genuine all rounders in the sextet, Jephson being the other.

PETITION & PHOTOGRAPHS

Before getting to my photographs, while I have not mentioned it directly I think I have made my opinions of the proposed European Super League fairly clear in my introduction, and I now included a link to a petition calling for it to be stopped: http://chng.it/BhmYY6nMNp Now time for my usual sign off…

Stokes Out For Three Months

A look at ways for England to cope with the enforced absence of Ben Stokes, a look at the cricket that is happening today, an answer to the teaser in my last post and some photographs.

This post looks at how England might cope without Ben Stokes, who will definitely be missing the first test series of the home summer against New Zealand, though he may be able to turn out against India later in the summer. There are also brief mentions of today’s cricket.

REPLACING STOKES

There is no such thing as a like for like replacement for Ben Stokes. The question is then whether you want five genuine bowling options or whether your primary concern is to deepen the batting. If you are worried about the batting then the logical approach based on current evidence is to play either Pope at five and Lawrence at six or vice versa, then rounding out the order with +Foakes, Woakes, one of Archer/Stone/Wood depending on form and fitness, Leach and one of Anderson/Broad depending on form and fitness. If you prefer five bowlers, then you pick one of Pope/ Lawrence to bat at five, gamble on +Foakes at six, have Woakes at seven and avoid a diplodocan tail by selecting one of Oliver Edward Robinson, Lewis Gregory or Craig Overton at eight, and then the 9/10/11 on the basis I have already explained. Two sample line ups using the different approaches are below:

Four Bowlers XIFive Bowlers XI
Dom SibleyDom Sibley
Rory BurnsRory Burns
Zak CrawleyZak Crawley
*Joe Root*Joe Root
Ollie PopeOllie Pope
Dan Lawrence+Ben Foakes
+Ben FoakesChris Woakes
Chris WoakesOliver E Robinson
Olly StoneOlly Stone
Jack LeachJack Leach
James AndersonJames Anderson
Sample England line ups (please read full post) – do you gamble on four bowlers being sufficient and aim for a strong batting line up, or do you insist on having five front line bowlers?

Feel free to comment on these ideas and make suggestions of your own.

TODAY’S CRICKET

It is day two of the second round of County Championship fixtures. Mohammad Abbas has obliterated the top half of the Middlesex batting order (at low water mark, facing a tally of just over 300 they were 14-5, Abbas 5-3) down at the Rose Bowl. In the game I am principally focussed on, the west country derby at Taunton, Gloucestershire are 113-3 in reply to Somerset’s 312, with Tom Lace the most recent casualty, to an entirely self inflicted dismissal. In South Africa the home side are going nicely in their T20I vs Pakistan, 64-1 after seven overs, while the IPL action for the day starts in just under an hour, and the question is will the mere kings (Punjab Kings) be able to get the better of the super kings (Chennai Super Kings)?

SOLUTION TO TEASER

In my previous post I set a teaser from brilliant.org. I now provide the answer.

The selection of these multiple choice options left a hack just waiting to be exploited, though as far as I am aware I am the only solver who actually admitted to having done so. The total area of the circle is 36pi, which is just over 113 units. No way are either 24 or 36 big enough to be the largest possible, while 144 is larger than the total available area and therefore clearly impossible. This leaves 72 as the only possible answer, and sure enough, it is the correct answer. Had one their largest available answer been 84 or 96 this hack would not have been available (note that 108 is too close to the total available area to be a really convincing alternative) and I would have had to actually work out a proper solution. I now share with you an authentic solution, published by David Vreken:

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…