Tag: larvae

England in Control in Manchester

A look at developments in the England v Sri Lanka test match at Old Trafford and a photo gallery.

The test match between England and Sri Lanka is into the final session of the third day. England have fared very well. I covered events of the first day here, so what follows will look at days two and three.

DAY TWO

Yesterday was a work day, so I missed most of the play. Almost all of the England front line batters (Pope being the exception) got some sort of start, but they also got out without going on to really big scores, with the exception of Jamie Smith who batted superbly and ensured that England were well placed. England were 259-6, 23 runs ahead on first innings when rain and bad light halted the action, with Smith 72 not out.

DAY THREE

The morning session gave the lie to those who had worried that England’s decision to play five front line bowlers with Woakes at number seven had left them with too long a tail. It was over an hour before England lost a wicket, Atkinson being the one to go for 20. By then Smith had completed his maiden test century, and England had moved past 300. At 315 Smith himself fell, for 111. However Potts, Wood (22 off 13 balls) and Bashir added a further 43 entertaining runs for the last two wickets before England were all out. In the run up to lunch things got better still for England as Woakes and Atkinson bagged a wicket a piece in the mini-session Sri Lanka had to negotiate before the interval. The second session of the day was better for Sri Lanka, although they lost the wickets of Karunaratne and their captain Dhananjaya de Silva, and also saw Chandimal suffer an injury when a ball from Wood struck his thumb, which was serious enough to at least temporarily remove him from the action. Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis got Sri Lanka to the tea interval, though they were still in arrears at that point. That pair are still together as I type, with Sri Lanka now 146-4, 24 runs ahead overall. There was a bizarre outcome to a review of an LBW appeal by England when TV replay Umpire Joel Wilson requested a split screen showing bowler and wicket keeper at the time the ball was delivered to check whether the wicket keepers gloves were wholly behind the stumps, as required by law 27.3.1 – and they were not, leading to a call of no-ball and an extra run to the SL total, but fortunately for Smith the replay showed that even had this offence not happened the not out verdict wouldn’t have been overturned – it was umpire’s call on whether it was hitting the stumps.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This green shieldbug was resident in my garden for a couple of days. I took several images, getting far closer than is usually possible.

Good in Parts for England

A look at action on day one of the test match so far (there is not likely to be any more due to the light) and a photo gallery.

The first test match of the series between the England and Sri Lanka men’s teams got underway today in Manchester. The first innings of the match has now concluded, and this post looks at what we have seen so far.

THE MORNING SESSION

Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first, as was virtually mandatory given that no side have won a test match at Manchester after putting the opposition in. Ollie Pope, stand in skipper for England in place of the injured Ben Stokes said that he would have chosen to bowl had he won. England began extremely well, reducing Sri Lanka to 6-3, with two wickets for Woakes and one for Atkinson, albeit both of Woakes’ wickets, taken in the space of four balls had the assistance of the batters – Madushka played a loose shot to be caught by Root and the veteran Angelo Mathews horribly misjudged a leave when the ball was very close to the stumps and fell LBW. Wood produced a brute of a ball that Chandimal could only fend into the hands of Brook o make it 40-4. Bashir, brought on late in the morning session, produced one that kept wickedly low to pin Dinesh Chandimal LBW (he reviewed it, probably out of disbelief that a ball in the first session of a test match in England had actually behaved in that fashion) and that was 72-5. Kamindu Mendis kept skipper Dhananjaya de Silva company until lunch, by when Sri Lanka were 80-5.

THE AFTERNOON SESSION

With the score at 92 Woakes found the edge of Kamindu Mendis’ bat, Smith took the catch and SL were six down. Prabath Jayasuriya got to to 10, before Atkinson’s pace proved too much for him – he was caught off what was called a no-ball as the third bouncer of the over but was unable to make use of the reprieve, edging through to Smith two balls later and that was 113-7. Milan Rathnayake was making his test debut, but proceeded to bat with a competence that should have shamed most of those above him in the order. Tea was approaching when the previously impeccable de Silva played a poor shot at Bashir, turning the ball straight into the hands of Dan Lawrence to be out for 74. That was 176-8, and tea was taken with the score 178-8.

THE EVENING SESSION

Rathnayake and Vishwa Fernando were now in occupation, and both batted well in contrasting ways – Rathnayake assumed control of the scoring, will Vishwa Fernando blocked. During their partnership the light became an issue, and England were able to continue only be deploying Root in partnership with Bashir. Rathnayake had set a new record for a number nine on test debut (72), and the highest score for nine years for anyone debuting at nine or lower in the order (Ashton Agar scored 98, also against England, from number 11 on his test debut in 2015) when he finally fell, holing to Chris Woakes off Bashir, whose third scalp of the day brought his test bowling average below 30 per wicket (29 at 29.86. That was 226-9, and the last pair Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando added a further 10 runs before Vishwa was run out to end the innings. 236 all out was far more than Sri Lanka could have hoped for from 6-3 or indeed 113-7, but the Bashir delivery to Chandimal notwithstanding this not actually an especially tough pitch for batting, and England will probably be pleased with their day’s work, especially if they make it to the close without loss (SL have opted to open with Prabath Jayasuriya and Dhananjaya de Silva, deciding they want to bowl this evening and accepting that to do so they must use spin only). As I prepare this for publication Sri Lanka have turned to pace and the umpires have immediately suspended play with England 22-0 after four overs, Duckett 13* and stand-in opener Lawrence 9*.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Spirit Win The Hundred (Women’s)

A look back at the final of The Hundred (women’s), plus mention of a great finish to the Eliminator in the Hundred (men’s), and a brief mention of the One Day Cup semi-finals and a photo gallery.

The final of the Hundred (women’s) has just ended, and it has been an absolute cracker. The men’s final starts at 6PM, and last night saw a great finish in their Eliminator match – it went to a super five, with Southern Brave managing to win. Birmingham Phoenix should have won in open play – Akeal Hosein bowled a no-ball to start the final five balls, and it went for six as well, which left Phoenix needing three off five balls. Phoenix failed to finish it from there, then scored only seven from their five balls in the Super Five, and finished the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory by trusting Adam Milne to bowl their five balls, when they had Mousley who had recently won them a game by conceding just three from the last 10 balls available to do so.

THE WELSH FIRE INNINGS

Welsh Fire had won the league stage of the tournament and their reward for doing so was to progress straight to today’s final. London Spirit faced Oval Invincibles in the Eliminator yesterday (see here for details), and won that match. Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Fire struggled with the bat, but Aussie all rounder Jess Jonassen gave them some hope with 54 off 41 balls, which helped them reached 115-8. A small total, but not an absolutely hopeless one. Sarah Glenn had 2-17 from her 20 balls, Deepti Sharma 1-23 and Eva Gray 2-23.

THE LONDON SPIRT CHASE

The 12th ball of the innings, bowled by Shabnim Ismail, the fastest bowler for any side in this tournament, secured the prize scalp of Meg Lanning for just 4. Cordelia Griffith got to 10 before Georgia Davis got one to take the edge of her bat and Sarah Bryce took a smart catch behind the stumps. Georgia Redmayne and Heather Knight looked in control of proceedings until Ismail intervened again, bowling Knight for 24 (18). That was 56-3 after 56 balls, 60 still needed off 44 balls. Dani Gregory now arrived at the crease, and she played the crucial innings – 22 off just nine deliveries, before Ismail clean bowled her to make it three wickets in the innings. Sharma, for my money the Player of the Tournament, now joined Redmayne with 28 needed off 29 balls. 16 of those runs had been accrued by the time Freya Davis trapped Redmayne LBW for 34 (32). A frenetic innings by Abi Freeborn ended when she ran herself out, setting off for a single in which Deepti Sharma had no interest and which was never on. Four were needed on three balls, with Sharma on strike and Matthews bowling. Sharma launched a straight drive, which as it happened went all the way for six, and London Spirit had secured the trophy. Sharma, 16* (16) had taken her aggregate for the tournament to 212, which was also her average for the tournament as she had been dismissed only once.

ELSEWHERE

The semi-finals of the One Day Cup are taking place today. Glamorgan look like they are getting the better of Warwickshire, while Somerset are likely to beat Leicestershire, although the latter are making a good fight of it in response to a Somerset total of 334-4. Lewis Goldsworthy, a native of Cornwall, scored 115* off 86 balls for Somerset. James Rew with 71 off 57 balls was the next biggest contributor, and openers Andrew Umeed and George Thomas deserve credit for giving their side a very solid start, on which the more explosive likes of Goldsworthy and Rew cashed in.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My periodic reminder that clicking on a photograph will enable you to see it and others at a larger size. My usual sign off…

This one shows not just a caterpillar, but what those caterpillars do the leaves of this plant.

Superchargers v Invincibles

Today the Hundred features Oval Invincibles v Northern Superchargers. The halfway stage of the women’s match is almost at the halfway stage. This post looks at that match.

AUSSIES TO THE FORE FOR SUPERCHARGERS

The Superchargers are posting an impressive looking total. With three balls to go they are 143-4. This total has been dominated by two Australians. Phoebe Litchfield made an excellent 44, while Annabel Sutherland is still going well. The Sjuperchargers have ended with 146-4, Sutherland 63* (40), an innings that has included five fours and three sixes. Best bowler for the Invincibles has been Rachel Slater who has mysteriously not been given her full allocation of 20 balls – she has 2-11 from 15 balls. On Wednesday Ellyse Perry had a magnificent all round match with 66, 1-10 and a barely believable catch. Annabel Sutherland is a younger Australian all rounder, who like Perry bowls fast medium and is a fine fielder.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Women Win Easily

A look back at yesterday’s WT20I between England and New Zealand and a photo gallery.

Yesterday evening saw the fourth match of the WT20I series between England and New Zealand. The match was played at The Oval, where appropriately enough a new set of gates named after Surrey and England legend Natalie Sciver-Brunt were in use for the first time, having been unveiled the day before. This post looks back at the match.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Both teams made changes. In England’s case the changes were about preparation for the upcoming WT20I world cup in Bangladesh, in New Zealand’s case they were down to desperation. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first.

THE NEW ZEALAND INNINGS

New Zealand began steadily but somewhat slowly, ending the six over Power Play on 33-0. That was to be as good as it got for them. Leg spinner Sarah Glenn came on to bowl the seventh over and struck with her first ball, bowling Georgia Plimmer to break the opening stand. Two balls later the new batter Amelia Kerr hit a long hop straight into the hands of Capsey at short midwicket. A splendid inswinger from Dani Gibson accounted for Sophie Devine with the score on 40, and two runs later Ecclestone extended the sequence of international innings in which she has claimed at least one wicket to 34 by bowling Suzie Bates. The next to go was Brooke Halliday who gave Gibson an easy catch off Ecclestone. That was 52-5 and moved Ecclestone to joint third in the all time WT20I wicket takers list alongside Ellyse Perry of Australia. Ecclestone is 25 years old, Perry 33. Green and Gaze now shared the second best partnership of the New Zealand innings, before Green gave Gibson a catch off Glenn for 24 off 25 balls. Glenn then made it two wickets in an over for the second time of the evening when she hurried one through Jess Kerr to bowl her for 1. At 82-7 the Kiwis were utterly in the toils, and although Lea Tahuhu did her best to support Gaze they were unable to increase the scoring rate. The innings ended with Gaze being run out to give the Kiwis a final score of 103-8. Perhaps the single most damning stat relating to this sorry innings by the Kiwis is that Gaze with 25 off 24 balls was the only one of their batters to have an SR of above 100, which is not the sort of thing that wins many T20s at any level.

THE ENGLAND CHASE

New Zealand needed early wickets to have any hope of defending such a small total, and instead were greeted by a barrage of shots from Danni Wyatt and Sophia Dunkley. The opening stand yielded 54 before Dunkley departed for a 16 ball 26. That brought Capsey to the crease, and there was little slowing of the momentum. Amelia Kerr bowled Capsey with the last ball of the seventh over to make it 73-2, and off the first ball of the eighth Wyatt holed out to Fran Jonas off Eden Carson. That brought Sciver-Brunt and Knight together, and the pair looked comfortable all the way. The match ended when Sciver-Brunt on her home ground hit the second and third balls of the 12th over for fours to give England victory by seven wickets with 8.3 overs to spare. Sarah Glenn’s bowling performance deservedly secured her the Player of the Match award. The final match of this series takes place at Lord’s on Wednesday and it is hard to see any result other than another England win.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Middlesex v Surrey

A look back at last night’s Middlesex v Surrey T20 Vitality Blast match, with special mention of a potentially important bowling performance from 23 year old Middlesex leg spinner Luke Hollman. Also a large photo gallery.

This post looks at the Vitality Blast T20 fixture between Middlesex and Surrey last night.

THE SURREY INNINGS

Surrey found themselves batting first. They batted very well overall, with Tom Curran hitting 48 off 28, Laurie Evans 41 off 20 and Dan Lawrence 32 off 29. The only reason their total ended up short of 200 (185-9 to be exact) was because of an outstanding performance from leg spinning all rounder Luke Hollman who ended with 4-0-16-5.

THE MIDDLESEX REPLY

Stevie Eskinazi and Martin Andersson scored 32 for the first Middlesex wicket, but once the opening stand was broken wickets began to tumble. At one stage Middlesex were 41-4. Jack Davies, initially supported by Ryan Higgins showed some fight, as did Tom Helm further down the order, but Middlesex were close to being on terms, and in the end Surrey won by 56 runs. Veteran Aussie seamer Sean Abbott matched Hollman’s five-for with one of his own, conceding only two runs more than the Middlesex leg spinner. Scorecard here.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HOLLMAN’S EFFORT

England’s current white ball leg spinner, and a crucial component of the squad currently contesting the T20 World Cup (they are in action as I type, against South Africa) is Adil Rashid, but he is in the veteran stage of his career and unlikely to be around for many more tournaments. Thus in producing such a fine performance on a big occasion (yes, whatever the context, in English men’s cricket terms Middlesex v Surrey is a big occasion) Hollman (23 years old) may also have presented England with an answer to the question of where they go for a leg spin option when Rashid’s playing days are done.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have an excellent photo gallery (periodic reminder – if you want see pictures at a larger size just click on one), boosted by this morning being ideal for a long walk, to share with you…

Possibly a ruddy darter, certainly a dragonfly of some description (two pics).
Todays pictures start here.
New artwork outside the train station (three images)