Tag: Ladybirds

Setting Up A Historic Final

A look at the matches that combined to set up a final of the Women’s World T20 Cup (which takes place tomorrow) that is definitely historic and probably so in more than one way. Also a photo gallery.

The final of the Women’s World T20 Cup will take place tomorrow. This post looks at how a final that will be historic, possibly in multiple ways, came to be. The last post I wrote about this tournament saw New Zealand move into the semi-finals by beating Pakistan. I now pick up the story from there.

AN EPIDEMIC THAT WAS NOT CATCHING

In the last remaining group match of the tournament England faced West Indies in a match that was effectively ‘winner takes all’. England batted first and scored 141-7 from their 20 overs, a tally that looked possible to defend and may have been so had England held their catches. Unfortunately for them they dropped a cartload. Chief culprit was opener Maia Bouchier who shelled no fewer than four, but she was not alone in being at fault. Qiana Joseph took advantage of England’s generosity in the field to record a very quick 50, and West Indies had two whole overs and six wickets in hand when they secured the win. Their margin of victory was enough to see them top the group over South Africa, meaning that they would face New Zealand in the semi-final. Scorecard here.

THE FIRST SEMI-FINAL

I only got to follow about the last 15 overs of this one due to being at work when it started. Australia batted first and scored 134-5, a total that suggests over caution – while this has been a low scoring tournament, Australia have immense batting depth, and the loss of only half their wickets gives the appearance of not making maximum use of their resources. South Africa made full use of the Power Play – they were past 60 in the sixth over by the time I joined the coverage. The destroyer in chief with the bat was Anneke Bosch who had had a quiet tournament up to that point. She was well supported by Laura Wolvaardt, who goes into the final as the tournament’s leading run scorer. When Wolvaardt was out just before the end Chloe Tryon joined Bosch who continued in irrepressible vein. Appropriately it was Bosch who sealed the victory, hitting the second ball of the 18th over for a four that took her score to 74* (48). This victory by South Africa, well and truly laying the ‘chokers’ tag to rest (no side who beat the Aussies in a knock out match can be so described), also meant that in this, the 20th women’s world cup across formats, the final would, for the first time in the history of both competitions feature neither England nor Australia. I am English, but I can absolutely see that this tangible lessening of the dominance of these two sides is good news for the women’s game as a whole and as such I welcome, and indeed celebrate the fact that this has become a tournament for the underdogs. Scorecard here.

THE SECOND SEMI-FINAL

New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. West Indies would have chosen to bowl first had they won the toss, so both sides had things the way they wanted them in that regard. Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer opened with a stand of 48 in 8.2 overs. Plimmer went on to top score with 33. Other than the openers only Izzy Gaze, 20* off 14 balls, reached as far as 20. New Zealand ended with 128-9 from their 20 overs, and it looked like game on. Chinelle Henry suffered an injury when she misjudged a catch and the ball hit her forehead. She was replaced under concussion protocols with Chedean Nation.

New Zealand soon took control of proceedings. With five overs to go West Indies were 72-5, still 57 short of the target. At that point Deandra Dottin got stuck into Lea Tahuhu. In that 16th over Dottin hit three sixes, and in total West Indies scored 23, reducing the ask to an achievable looking 34 in four overs. The next three overs were the last of the match for each of the three young New Zealand spinners (Eden Carson, off spin, 23 years old, 4-0-29-3; Fran Jones, left arm orthodox spin, 20 years old, 4-0-21-1; and the veteran of the trio, Amelia Kerr, leg spin, 24 years old and with seven years international experience already, 4-0-14-2), and they held West Indies to 19 runs of those three overs, leaving 15 required off the final over. At this point, with Tahuhu having that horror over against Dottin and all the other front liners bowled through New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine made a massive call – she entrusted the final over of the match to Suzie Bates who had not bowled a ball in either this match or any of her previous 14 international matches. When the first ball was hit for four by Zaida James to take her to 14 off six balls it looked like it might be backfiring, but the next ball was a dot, and then the third ball of the over rattled James’ stumps to make it 118-8, 11 needed off three balls. Ashmini Munisar got a single off the first of these deliveries, which got the experienced Afy Fletcher back on strike, but also left her needing to score 10 off two balls. When the first of those deliveries escaped unscathed Bates merely needed to bowl a legal delivery to put New Zealand into the final. She did so, an irrelevant single accrued, and New Zealand were home by eight runs. This victory means that the Womens’ World T20 cup 2024 will definitely be won by a team who have never won it before (West Indies had done so), and also creates the possibility of another piece of history – if Bates is fit to play in the final (NZ will pick her unless she is ill or injured) she will make her 334th international appearance across formats in that match, which will make her the most capped female international cricketer ever, moving ahead of Mithali Raj of India. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Two Crunch Matches

Accounts of yesterday’s matches at the Women’s T20 World Cup and a photo gallery.

Yesterday saw two matches in the Women’s T20 World Cup. In the early match England faced Scotland in a match they had win if they were to qualify for the semi-finals. The late match was in the other group and was that group’s biggest match, Australia v India, with the latter knowing that if they did not win they would be relying on Pakistan beating New Zealand today for their own hopes of progression. This post looks back at both matches.

A HAMMERING EDWARD I WOULD BE PROUD OF

Before getting into my account of the match, Edward I, who was King of England from 1272-1307, earned the nicknamed ‘Hammer of the Scots’ for his victories over his northern neighbours.

Although England had won both their matches at the tournament so far going into this match, their third in a row at Sharjah, their position was precarious due to the way the group had panned out. Effectively the matches so far had separated the group into three strong sides (England, South Africa, West Indies) and two weak ones (Bangladesh and Scotland), so even a third successive win would not guarantee England progression – South Africa have played all four of their matches, and their net run rate is such that however the final match in this group, between England and West Indies, pans out the proteas will almost certainly qualify for the semi-final.

England brought Lauren Bell in for Linsey Smith, changing the balance of their attack, and Alice Capsey was ill, meaning that Sophia Dunkley came in to the side in her place. Scotland had made only one change, McColl in for Chatterji.

Scotland won the toss and opted to bat first, a decision that Heather Knight confirmed that she would also have made had she won the toss.

Scotland never really got going, although Kathryn Bryce batted well for them, and 20 year old Ailsa Lister hit a six for them, their only one of the tournament. No England bowler was really expensive, though Sarah Glenn would have been disappointed to concede 24 from three overs. Sophie Ecclestone had 2-13 from her four overs, Lauren Bell 1-16 from her four, and Danielle Gibson bowled her first over of the tournament, taking 1-5. Scotland finished with 109-6, which looked on the low side even before the England innings began.

Maia Bouchier and Danni Wyatt-Hodge were ruthlessness personified in exposing the inadequacy of Scotland’s total and the lack of bite possessed by their bowling attack. Bouchier top scored with 62* (34), a knock that included 12 fours. Wyatt-Hodge scored 51* (26), hitting seven fours and showing once again that veteran though she is she is as quick between the wickets as anyone in the game. The winning hit came off the last ball of the tenth over, and because it was a four and not the single that would have been enough England’s net run rate passed that of West Indies. England are thus top of the group with three wins out of three, but because of the failings of Bangladesh and Scotland, and South Africa’s good net run rate they almost certainly need to make it four wins out of four to qualify – a West Indies win would send them through alongside South Africa. Scorecard here.

WEAKENED SCHMEAKENED

Australia had lost two players to injury, skipper Alyssa Healy and fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck. The latter had flown home, replaced in the squad by all rounder Heather Graham. Healy remained, either because Australia hoped she would recover in time to play later in the tournament or because the rules on injury replacements decreed that a player who was officially replaced was not allowed in the dressing room, and Healy as official captain was someone whose presence was wanted even if she couldn’t play. Healy’s role as opening batter was taken by Grace Harris, while Mooney took over the keeping duties and Tahlia McGrath became stand-in captain. Vlaeminck was replaced by Darcie Brown. Australia lined up with Annabel Sutherland officially due to come in at number eight. India’s line up was initially as expected, but then Asha Sobhana suffered an injury between the toss and the start of the game, and Australia graciously acceded to India’s request to change their XI at the last minute, bringing Radha Yadav in to the side in Sobhana’s place.

Australia did not start very well – Mooney was out for 2 (7) with the score at 17, and the tactically promoted Wareham was out first ball. However Harris and McGrath added 62 for the third wicket before McGrath fell for 32 off 26 balls. Perry injected some extra pace into the scoring, and by the time she was sixth out, for 32 off 23 balls the score had reached 134 and there were nine balls left in the innings. Sutherland scored 10 off six balls, and Phoebe Litchfield struck the last ball of the innings for six to take her score the 15 off nine balls and Australia’s to 151-8.

India fought hard, with Harmanpreet Kaur making a fine 50. With four overs to go they were in with a chance of pulling off the upset. However Megan Schutt, previously uncharacteristically expensive (she had conceded more in her first three overs in this innings than she had previously done all tournament put together – 23 to 22) bowled a quite superb 17th over, conceding just two runs to reassert Australia’s control. The 18th and 19th overs were both good for India, but not quite good enough. They needed 14 off the final over for the win. Pooja Vastrakar was bowled by the second ball of the final over, and the next two balls both saw run outs, of Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil respectively. That was 141-8, 11 needed and two balls to come. The penultimate ball of the match trapped number 10, Radha Yadav, LBW, and now all Sutherland needed to do was make sure she bowled a legal delivery. This proved straightforward enough for her, and Renuka Singh Thakur accrued a single to reduce the margin of defeat to nine runs. India as a whole are not a great fielding side, and the other area in which they were noticeably poor was running between the wickets. As well as the run outs (even before the events of the final over Richa Ghosh had suffered an appalling one – having already once been guilty of lazy running and got away with it she made the same mistake a second time and was punished) they were far too often accepting singles when had they run harder they might have induced mistakes which lead to extra runs. They fought hard, but against Australia you cannot win unless you do everything right – getting most things right is not good enough against the women from down under.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Cricket Season Approaches

A look ahead to the upcoming cricket season and a bumper photo gallery.

It is now less than a week until the English first class cricket season kicks off. In the meanwhile there has been some interesting action in the IPL, though I am following today’s game only through cricinfo, as this long weekend features Classic FM’s ‘Hall of Fame’ countdown – the 300 most popular pieces of classical music as voted for by listeners (you get to pick your top three if you choose to vote, and the pieces with the most votes make it into the charts) – and I always follow as much of this countdown as I can.

Surrey start the season as winners of the last two county championships. The last side to win three in a row were Yorkshire in the 1960s (1966, 1967, 1968). A decade earlier Surrey themselves set the all time record by winning seven in succession (1952-1958 inclusive).

I end this look ahead to the season by mentioning two youngsters who may well feature for England before the season is done. Somerset batter James Rew was simply magnificent last season, and if he can pick up where he left off he will have to picked. Surrey pacer Tom Lawes has shown considerable promise, and with Broad retired, Anderson surely nearing the end, Wood already 35 and with a history of injuries, Robinson’s fitness unreliable (to put it generously) there are more than likely to be vacancies in the pace bowling department.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a bumper photo gallery to finish with – the weather has been very springlike in recent days…

A view of King’s Lynn from the edge of Harding’s Pits
Getting the whole frontage of the town hall in a single picture is a challenge, but I found one place from where it can be done today.

All Time XIs – Past and Present Combined

An all time XI selected on a basis of juxtaposing ancient and modern – six players from way back, five players from the 21st century, interleaving with one another so that no two players from the same era are next to each other in the batting order, Also a bumper photo gallery.

In this post I present an all time XI selected using very specific criteria – my players are either from the long past or are players at least some of whose career took place in the 21st century, and the interleave so that no two players from the same era are next to each other in the line up.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *WG Grace (England, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles through his career, captain). In spite of not getting to play test cricket until he was 32 years old he twice held the record individual score for England – 152 on debut in the first match on English soil in 1880, and 170 in the final match of the 1886 series, regaining the record from Arthur Shrewsbury who had set it the previous match with 164.
  2. Yashavsi Jaiswal (India, left handed opening batter). Has just had an amazing series against England (712 runs including two double centuries), and looks set to have a long career for India.
  3. Don Bradman (Australia, right handed batter). Quite simply the greatest test match batter the world has ever seen.
  4. Brian Lara (West Indies, left handed batter). Succeeded everywhere and against every type of bowling, including 688 runs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka against peak Muralidaran (off spinners are supposed to cause left handers particular problems).
  5. Aubrey Faulkner (South Africa, right handed batter, leg spinner). Has a case to be regarded as the most genuine of genuine all rounders, averaging 40.79 with the bat (just over 1,700 runs) and 26.58 with the ball (85 wickets). No one else to have played enough matches to qualify for consideration has ended with a batting average of over 40 and a bowling average of below 30.
  6. Ben Stokes (England, left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). A talismanic figure for England in recent years, with a value to the side that goes far beyond his mediocre looking figures at test level.
  7. +Leslie Ames (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The first test match class wicket keeper to also be a genuinely high class batter.
  8. R Ashwin (India, off spinner, right handed batter). One of the greatest of all off spinners, and a useful lower order batter as well.
  9. Syd Barnes (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 189 wickets in just 27 test appearances, at 16.43 a piece.
  10. Jasprit Bumrah (India, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). India’s greatest ever fast bowler, and one of the greatest of all time.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12.09 a piece, but born just too early to play test cricket. In this XI he would probably come on first change after Barnes and Bumrah had done their stuff with the new ball.

This side has a powerhouse batting line up, and a bowling attack of Barnes, Bumrah and Mycroft to bowl pace/seam/swing and Ashwin and Faulkner to bowl spin, with Grace and Stokes in reserve, is not likely to have any great difficulty taking 20 opposition wickets. I will not produce an honourable mentions section on this occasion because it would have to be massive to do anything approaching justice to those who have missed out. Comments welcome, and if you are feeling really bold feel free to suggest an alternative XI selected on similar lines that you reckon could make a game of it with this one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A bumper gallery for you today – while it has not been conspicuously sunny it has been reasonably pleasant outside…

Batting Order = Alphabetical Order

A variation on my all-time XI theme and a large photo gallery.

This is a variation on my all-time XI theme. Today I pick an XI starting with my first choice opener and moving down the order in strict alphabetical fashion, each player with a surname starting exactly one letter ahead of the person immediately above them in the order. Each player will be introduced with an outline of their role. There will also be a brief honourable mentions section.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *WG Grace (England, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles through his career, captain). A natural choice for this role, as the first great superstar of cricket. He was captain my of all time Gs XI and you can read more about him in that post.
  2. JB Hobbs (England, right handed opening batter, brilliant cover fielder, occasional medium pacer). The Master, the all time leading scorer of first class runs and first class hundreds. He was in my Hs XI.
  3. Yashavsi Jaiswal (India, left handed top order batter). The only player in this XI not to have featured in my cricketing journey through the alphabet, he has come to the fore in no uncertain terms since then, and has a chance of breaking an all time Indian record for runs in a series in the fifth and final test match of the current series. As it is, only one cricketer has ever had more test runs to their name after eight appearances at that level, a certain Donald George Bradman. The Js are very strong in batting, but even if I did not feel able to fit him in there I would indulge in a quibble cook and drop Martin Young from the Ys so that he could open for that XI.
  4. Virat Kohli (India, right handed batter). The Indian maestro has missed this series for personal reasons, but his record is enough to guarantee selection. He occupies this same slot in my Ks XI.
  5. Brian Lara (West Indies, left handed batter). Lower in the order than he would usually be, but I reckon he could handle this slot. He featured in my Ls XI.
  6. Keith Miller (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). One of the greatest of all all rounders, in the same slot he had in my Ms XI.
  7. +Paul Nixon (Leicestershire, wicket keeper, left handed batter). The only non-test cricketer in the XI, but his outstanding service for an unfashionable county over the course of many years deserves recognition, and he occupies the same slot as the one I gave him for the Ns.
  8. Chris Old (England, right arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter). A little higher in the batting order than one might like, but he did have his moments with the bat. He was in the Os XI.
  9. Peter Pollock (South Africa, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A fearsome fast bowler whose test career was shortened by his country being banished from international cricket. He had this same slot in my Ps XI.
  10. Abdul Qadir (Pakistan, leg spinner, right handed batter). The art of leg spin bowling almost died out in the 1980s as teams became more and more inclined to rely on pace and seam, with maybe a finger spinner or two being used to tie up an end. There was however one leggie of undisputed top class in that decade who kept the torch burning, this man, the star of my Qs XI.
  11. Wilfred Rhodes (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). I have remarked before, notably in my Rs XI, where he is one place higher than in this one on Rhodes’ extraordinary five-phase career, which started and finished with him in the side as a specialist left arm spinner. He was number 11 at The Oval in 1902 when he and Hirst saw England to a one-wicket win, and at the SCG in 1903 when he scored 40*, helping RE Foster (287, at the time an all comers record, and still a debut record) add 130 for the last wicket.

This side has a powerful top five, a great all rounder, a quality keeper/batter and four excellent and well varied bowlers. I do not anticipate P Pollock, Old, Miller, Rhodes and Qadir having any great difficulty in taking 20 wickets, especially with the skipper in reserve.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

I will deal with these in batting order:

Grace was the chosen opener, but I acknowledge that Gavaskar, Gambhir, Gayle and Greenidge would all have their advocates.

I also regarded ‘The Master’ as sacrosanct, though George Headley (West Indies), Len Hutton (England) and possibly Matthew Hayden (Australia) could all make cases for inclusion.

The number three pick was controversial, with two Sri Lankans, Jayasuriya and Jayawardene (whose regular slot this was) firmly in the mix, and a couple of tough and competitive antipodeans, Andrew Jones (NZ) and Dean Jones (Aus) also worthy of mention. However, my feeling is that Jaiswal is not just a flash in the pan.

I would have annoyed over 1 billion of the game’s most avid fans had I named anyone else at number four, though there was also a case for Jacques Kallis.

Lara’s major challenger was another West Indian, but I don’t think even ‘big Hubert’ would think himself hard done by, especially given that with Grace in the side he was never getting the captaincy.

Of the two main challengers for Miller’s slot one, Mushtaq Mohammad could not be accommodated given that the self set rules of this exercise virtually mandated the selection of Qadir. The other, Mulvantrai ‘Vinoo’ Mankad certainly could, but I decided in Miller’s favour (Mankad, a left arm spinner with the ball, could be got in by dropping Rhodes and bringing in one of Kagiso Rabada, Tom Richardson or Andy Roberts, though the last named would be out of position at no11).

Nixon had no serious challenger, and neither did Old.

Although there are two other notable fast bowlers with surnames beginning with P both (Mike Procter and Shaun Pollock) would have been absurdly out of place at number nine, and I was not prepared to bend the rules to that extent.

Qadir had no challenger.

Had I opted for only one front line spinner then Rhodes as described above could have been replaced, but it seemed appropriate given these two colossi bestrode the cricketing scene for 65 years between them (Grace’s FC debut happened in 1865, Rhodes retired in 1930) for an order that began with Grace to end with Rhodes.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The ladybirds are out in force this year. This one had positioned itself in such a way that it almost passed for the centre of the flowerhead on which it was resting.

A Historic Day at the World Cup

A look back at today’s world cup match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which featured a classic century from Charith Asalanka, 90 from Najmul Hossain Shanto, a Player of the Match all round performance from Shakib Al-Hasan and a moment of cricket history – the first ‘Timed Out’ dismissal in any international match. Also a photo gallery.

Today’s match at the 2023 ODI World Cup was between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A win for Bangladesh would mean that England stood alone as the sole team with as few as two points, while a win for Sri Lanka would effectively book their place in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

THE SRI LANKA INNINGS

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl first. Sri Lanka’s fourth wicket fell at 135. Angelo Mathews came in at that point. One minute and 54 seconds after the fall of the fourth wicket Mathews put his helmet on and tried to tighten the strap, which promptly broke. Mathews then had a bit of a laugh and called for a replacement helmet. Shakib Al-Hasan, mindful of the laws of the game and the playing conditions in force for this tournament, appealed, and the umpires had no choice but to give Matthews ‘Timed Out’ for not being ready to face the ball within two minutes of the wicket falling. Mathews eventually left the crease, and as he crossed the boundary he petulantly flung down his bat and helmet.

The Laws of Cricket require that the new batter be ready to face within three minutes of the fall of a wicket, while this tournament has a playing condition in place tightening that to two minutes. The Sri Lankan numbers 3,4 and 5 had all been ready within about 100 seconds of the fall of the wicket. Mathews was testing the limits even before his helmet strap broke while he tried to tighten it. The umpires apparently checked twice with Shakib Al-Hasan as to whether he wished to withdraw the appeal, and he quite rightly refused to do so – Matthews was out fair and square.

It was the first time anyone had been given ‘Timed Out’ in any international fixture, though there are six official incidents from first class matches and from before ‘Timed Out’ was officially introduced there is the case of Harold Heygate for Sussex v Hampshire, who originally did not intend to bat since he was suffering from rheumatism, but at the crisis decided to attempt to go in, took too long to reach the middle and was denied his innings. A detailed analysis of the Mathews dismissal can be found here. For more on bizarre dismissals, here is a link to a post I created during the first Covid lockdown.

The rest of the Sri Lankan innings after Mathews’ zero ball duck was dominated by Charith Asalanka. The talented left hander scored a splendid 108, which enabled his side to reach 279 from 49.3 overs by the time their tenth wicket fell. Shakib Al-Hasan had 2-57 from his 10 overs of left arm spin, as well as playing his role in the historic Mathews wicket.

THE BANGLADESH REPLY

I missed a chunk of the Bangladesh innings due to having to visit my surgery. Bangladesh were firmly in control by the time I got home, and did not seriously look like losing at any stage, though they lost a few late wickets. Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 90 off 101 balls, and Shakib Al-Hasan 82 off 65 balls. Bangladesh won by three wickets with 8.5 overs to spare, a result which moved them above Sri Lanka in the table, and left England even more firmly nailed to the foot of the table than they already were. The Sri Lankan players refused to shake hands with their Bangladeshi counterparts at the end of the match. Shakib Al-Hasan’s all round contribution earned him the Player of the Match award.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Apologies for the background on this one – this bird was on the grassland in front of my house, and spoiling the background was the only way i could display its markings properly.

Afghanistan in the Hunt for Semi-final Slot

A look at today’s world cup match between Afghanistan and the Netherlands, and the affect that the result has on the battle for semi-final qualification. Also a very large photo gallery.

Today’s world cup match saw Afghanistan facing the Netherlands. This post looks back at that match and at the fight for a semi-final slot. I did not catch a single ball of yesterday’s game in which India obliterated Sri Lanka (another “we’ll have a bowl” disaster at this world cup – India put in to bat tallied 357 from their 50 overs and Sri Lanka sank to 55 all out in response).

THE PRELIMINARIES

Afghanistan opted to go with four front line spinners, relying on Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai to bowl such seam as was required. The Netherlands won the toss and chose to bat first, clearly the correct decision on a turner. However, winning the toss and making the right decision are the first two steps of a three-step process, with the third step, playing good cricket, by far the most important…

A DUTCH COLLAPSE

The Netherlands started very well, but the dismissal of O’Dowd, run out for a rapid 42, put the skids under them. That dismissal made it 73-2, and Colin Ackermann and Sybrand Engelbrecht put on 19 together before Ackermann became the second run out victim of the innings. Scott Edwards was then given Run Out first ball to make it 92-4. This was unlucky for Afghanistan keeper Ikram Alikhil, who pulled off a superb piece of work behind the stumps and deserved by credited with a stumping, but apparently Edwards had made contact with the ball, which meant that officially it had to be called a run out. Five runs later Bas de Leede played a wild shot at Mohammad Nabi and succeeded only in edging to Ikram Alikhil to make it 97-5. Saqib Zulfiqar offered Engelbrecht some support, but after scoring a very slow 3 he edged one from Noor Ahmad into the safe gloves of Alikhil and it was 113-6. Logan van Beek stayed while a further 21 runs accrued, of which his share was 2, before he was stumped by Alikhil. Roelof van der Merwe helped the Netherlands past the 150 mark, but shortly thereafter caused the run out of the determined Engelbrecht for 58 (86), and it was 152-8. Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt devoted themselves almost solely to seeing out overs at this point. The first really aggressive shot by either, from van der Merwe resulted in a lobbed catch to Ibrahim Zadran off Noor Ahmad to make it 169-9. Dutt and Paul van Meekeren cobbled together another 10 for the last wicket before Mohammad Nabi trapped van Meekeren LBW. The Dutch number 11 reviewed it, but it was plumb and the Netherlands were all out for 179 in 46.3 overs. 38.3 of those overs had been bowled by spinners, an all time record for a men’s world cup match. Ikram Alikhil had had a hand in six of the wickets, the three officially credited to him, and three of the four run outs (one was a direct hit throw from Azmatullah Omarzai), and with the four run outs and one official stumping this was the first ever men’s world cup innings in which as many as five batters had been out through being out of their crease at the wrong time. The Netherlands had lost their last nine wickets for 106 runs, and their last eight for 87.

THE AFGHANISTAN CHASE

Can be summed up with one word: clinical. Although both openers were out cheaply Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi had a fine partnership for the third wicket, and then Azmatullah Omarzai joined Shahidi in the stand that saw Afghanistan over the winning line with 18.3 overs to spare. Rahmat Shah scored 52 (54), Omarzai 31* (28) and Shahidi 56* (64), a thoroughly professional display from the numbers three, four and five for Afghanistan. This puts Afghanistan firmly in the mix for a semi-final slot. If they can beat either Australia or South Africa, their last two opponents, that will probably be enough for them. New Zealand look the most vulnerable of those currently in qualifying slots – they have lost three in a row, while India and South Africa are both guaranteed to qualify, and Australia could only be dragged into the dogfight for the fourth slot if they somehow lose against bottom of the table England tomorrow.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before I terminate this post, two posts ago I included in my gallery two street names which each connected to two cricketers. The connections are as follows: Wyatt Street – current England T20I women’s opener Danni Wyatt and former England men’s captain Bob Wyatt, and Archdale Street – England women’s first ever captain, Betty Archdale, and former long serving Somerset wicket keeper the reverend Archdale Palmer Wickham.

Now for my usual sign off…

A pair of goldfinches
The moon in a clear morning sky (taken not long after 7:30 this morning)

Fourth Semi-Final Slot up for Grabs

A look back at the match between New Zealand and South Africa in the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup, and a brief look at the ramifications of the result for the tournament as a whole. Also a very large photo gallery.

Today’s match at the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup saw New Zealand face South Africa. This post looks back at the match and at the ramifications of today’s result.

THE PRELIMINARIES

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss, which was probably the last thing that went right for his side on the day. South Africa had batted first four times this tournament and never scored below 300 on any of those occasions, New Zealand are not a stellar chasing side. Yet, for some reason unknown to anyone other than himself Latham decided to put South Africa in to bat.

THE SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS

When Temba Bavuma was out fairly early, with just 38 runs on the board things weren’t looking all that bad for New Zealand. However, the second wicket stand between Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen illustrated precisely why putting the Proteas in is a poor idea. They got themselves in, and gradually increased the tempo as the danger of a sudden crash of wickets faded. After 35 overs the score was 194-1, and while some were criticising the SA second wicket pair for not having upped the rate enough by then, I tweeted at that point that they were well placed, and that a total of significantly above 300 looked more likely than not and that 350 couldn’t be ruled out. Quinton de Kock completed his fourth century of this world cup, joint second most for a single edition ever behind the five Rohit Sharma scored in 2019, and in the process became the first South African to score 500 runs in a single edition of the tournament, putting the all comers record, Sachin Tendulkar’s 673, in severe danger of being broken. Rassie van der Dussen opened out after a sedate start and moved his own rate to better than a run a ball, as he too completed a century. It was de Kock who was second out, ending a stand of exactly 200. David Miller came in at number four, and when van der Dussen was third out with only 17 balls left in the innings Heinrich Klaasen joined the fray. Miller was out to the second last ball of the innings for 53 (30) to make it 351-4, and Aiden Markram came out to face one ball, which he despatched for six giving South Africa a final score of 357-4. 163 of those came in the last 15 overs and 119 in the last ten as South Africa once again demonstrated their ability to butcher opposition attacks in the closing stages of an innings. They were helped by a hamstring injury to Matt Henry, but the heaviest blow to Kiwi hopes had happened at the toss with that awful decision by Latham.

My tweet at the 35 over mark (a reply to Lawrence Bailey):

https://x.com/aspitweets/status/1719672685507105159?s=20

THE NEW ZEALAND REPLY

New Zealand faced a daunting task, and it only got more daunting as the innings progressed. Wickets fell with remorseless regularity, run scoring was difficult at all times, and there was little prospect at any stage of a successful chase. New Zealand lost their ninth wicket at 133, still 224 runs adrift, and the injured Matt Henry came in to bat in a desperate effort to mitigate the hammering their net RR was taking. Some good blows from Glenn Phillips reduced the margin to below 200, but with the score at 170 he took one chance too many and offered up a straightforward catch, which ended the match with a margin of 184 runs. Keshav Maharaj claimed four wickets with his left arm spin, Marco Jansen three with his left arm pace, Gerald Coetzee two and Kagiso Rabada one, leaving Lungi Ngidi wicketless. Rassie van der Dussen was named Player of the Match for his 133. A full scorecard can be viewed here.

RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS RESULT

This is New Zealand’s third straight defeat, and opens the way for Afghanistan or Pakistan to displace them from the semi-finals. Afghanistan have played a game fewer than either New Zealand or Pakistan, and their next match is against the Netherlands, which they would regard as a major opportunity. Their other two group games are against South Africa and Australia, with the former requiring that they bat first and then bowl well in defence of whatever they manage to post, and the latter almost certainly against a side who will have guaranteed qualification by then and therefore probably easier than if they met them earlier in the tournament. Pakistan still have New Zealand to play, a huge game in the context of developments in the tournament so far, and their other remaining game is a more or less guaranteed two points against the demoralized, disorganized rabble masquerading as “England”.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Execrable

A look back at today’s world cup match between England and India, a day of shame for the England cricket team, that saw them become the first team officially eliminated from the ODI world cup of 2023. Also a photo gallery.

Today at the cricket world cup saw hosts India take on England. When the schedule was devised this would have been envisaged as one of the marquee games of the tournament, pitting hosts against defending champions. Unfortunately by the time the day rolled around it looked more like a routine minnow bashing, with the hosts unbeaten and England in a complete and utter mess. This post looks at how the match panned out.

THE PRELIMINARIES

At 8:00AM today UK time (UK clocks went back one hour last night in preparation for winter – from BST to GMT) the toss took place. Jos Buttler won it and put India in to bat, when batting first looked obviously preferable. For all India’s tremendous successes chasing (unlike Buttler’s England they really are a great chasing side) Rohit Sharma confirmed that he would have chosen to bat had he won the toss. England were unchanged, more out of a desire to look like they weren’t in a state of blind panic (though we could all see that they were) than out of any confidence in the XI. India, much more justifiably, were also unchanged – I don’t see any further changes for them until Hardik Pandya is fit again. The issue with their current XI, missing Pandya’s all round skills as it is is that if you can get through the phalanx of six top line batters plus Jadeja’s all round skills they do have a very long tail.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

England bowled pretty well for once, and for much of the Indian innings it looked like two matches were happening at the same time – at one end Rohit Sharma handled all the England bowlers with complete authority, never really looking in any trouble, while at the other everyone looked vulnerable. The most surprising failure was Virat Kohli, who succumbed to frustration after eight scoreless deliveries, holing out going for big hit off his ninth ball – it was Kohli’s first ever duck in a world cup, be it ODI or T20I. First was Shubman Gill, playing a loose drive. Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal showed that he remains vulnerable against the short ball. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma shared a decent stand for the fourth wicket, though Rahul’s dismissal will probably give him recurring nightmares – it was an awful piece of batting. Suryakumar Yadav was Rohit Sharma’s next partner, and at one stage it looked like they might get India to a genuinely threatening total. Sharma finally succumbed for a masterly 87, and when Jadeja failed with the bat it was down to Yadav to shepherd the tail. He eventually managed 49, and a few good blows from Bumrah at the end got India to 229, a modest looking total, but exactly the same as that defended by the Netherlands yesterday, and on a pitch which had a bit of mischief in it.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

England started well, and reached 30 without undue difficulty. Then Malan got himself out with a really poor shot, Root was out first ball, Stokes made a ten ball duck, playing not a single one of those ten deliveries remotely well and Bairstow dragged one into his own stumps, and suddenly it was 39-4. When Kuldeep Yadav produced a beauty to bowl Buttler (a rare wicket on the day that was purely down to good bowling) it was 52-5. Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone offered some resistance, but once their stand was broken the writing was firmly on the wall. England eventually clawed their way up to a beggarly 129 all out, meaning that the final margin was exactly 100 runs. India, with six wins out of six so far, are definitely in the semi-finals, and England, in last place with two points out of a possible 12 and an appalling net run rate, are eliminated. England’s preparation for this tournament varied between the non-existent and the slip-shod, and they have paid the price. There will need to be wholesale changes – a whole raft of players are now past their sell by dates, Buttler is a truly abysmal captain, and just like in 2015, again following an atrocious world cup campaign, a full rebuild is the only way for England.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As autumn deepens opportunities for photographs are becoming a little harder to find…

A poster sized version of this should be displayed prominently at ECB HQ to remind them of just what has become of a once great side in four short years.

World Cup Developments

A look at developments in the world cup since England disgraced themselves on Saturday. A decent match between India and new Zealand yesterday, and today’s match between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also a photo gallery.

This post looks at what has happened in the 2023 ODI World Cup since England’s humiliation on Saturday.

INDIA v NEW ZEALAND

This was a match between the only two teams to still be unbeaten. I missed a lot of it because I had to go through the annual torture known as a check for signs of Glaucoma (there is family history which makes this a necessity), and that knocked out most of the morning, since the appointment was at 10AM. I also had a commitment in the afternoon which took out a chunk of play – the West Norfolk Autism Group had a bowling session booked at Strikes for 4:00.

India won the toss and put New Zealand in. With ten overs to go a total of 300 looked on the cards for NZ, but some excellent Indian death bowling restricted them to 273. I only witnessed the start and end of the Indian innings. They eventually won by four wickets with two overs to spare, Kohli scoring 96 and getting out just before the end.

AFGHANISTAN V PAKISTAN

Pakistan won the toss and quite correctly chose to bat first. Afghanistan’s spinners bowled well, but a late flurry from Ifitkhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan, and a bizarre decision to trust the very ordinary medium pacer Azmatullah Omarzai over Mujeeb Ur Rahman at the death allowed Pakistan to get to 283, a formidable total on a slow surface. The Afghanistan is just underway, and I will be missing a lot of it, but the key will be Rahmanullah Gurbaz – to get anywhere close Afghanistan will need him to produce a major innings. So far all is progressing nicely for them – 25-0 in the fourth over.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Yesterday was sunny, and the walk back from my appointment (this location is borderline in terms of distance from my home, so I usually get the bus there and walk back, as I did yesterday) gave the photo gallery a welcome boost…

The pictures from the walk back from my appointment start here.
And end here.
This is the time when being an early riser and having an east facing front window enables one to capture the dawn (three pics)