Tag: Natalie Sciver-Brunt

How WBBL11 Was Won

A look back at today’s WBBL11 final, between Perth Scorchers and Hobart Hurricanes, and a photo gallery.

This morning (UK time) saw the final of the Women’s Big Bash League 11th edition. The contending sides were Hobart Hurricanes, who had won the league stage and thus gone straight into the final and Perth Scorchers who had had to win two extra matches in order to get there. The other benefit besides going straight through to the final that the Hurricanes got was that the match was played in Hobart.

THE PRELIMINARIES

The bat flip was won by Perth Scorchers. Sophie Devine chose to bat first, believing that runs on the board would give her side the opportunity to impose scoreboard pressure on the opposition. Both sides were unchanged from their previous matches (in Hurricanes’ case quite a while back, and it was one that was only half finished in bizarre circumstances – in the break between innings a ball got rolled into the pitch surface creating a dangerously large hole therein and resulting in an abandonment).

THE SCORCHERS INNINGS

Katie Mack and Beth Mooney have been a formidable opening pair for the Scorchers this season, but neither were at their best today. Mack in particular struggled to get going, and Mooney did so only because she was reprieved multiple times. Finally in the sixth a cover a catch did go to hand, Linsey Smith pouching one off Lauren Smith to send Mack back for 17 and make it 36-1. Maddy Darke, in at number three for the Scorchers never got going at all, and it was Linsey Smith as bowler who got her, with the aid of a catch by Natalie Sciver-Brunt, to make it 48-2 in the eighth over. The innings was just into its second half when Heather Graham rattled Mooney’s stumps, getting the left hander for 33 and making it 64-3. Freya Kemp hit a six, but then gave Sciver-Brunt a catch off Linsey Smith to go for 10 and make it 79-4 in the 13th over. Paige Scholfield batted well, but the last serious hope of a big Scorchers total disappeared when Lizelle Lee stumped Devine off Graham to make it 112-5 in the 17th over. Scholfield and Alana King stayed together for the rest of the innings. The most remarkable happening was Nicola Carey contriving to concede just three runs in the final over of the innings, two of them off the final ball. Carey had figures overall of 4-0-23-0, and two of those overs were in the opening Power Play, and another was that 20th over. The final score was 137-5, which did not look like enough, although if Hurricanes had taken all the chances they were offered Scorchers would probably have been all out for about 90.

THE HURRICANES CHASE

Lizelle Lee struck form from the outset. The four over opening Power Play yielded 39-0. In the sixth over Amy Edgar clean bowled Danni Wyatt-Hodge for 16 to make it 49-1. That brought Sciver-Brunt in to join Lee, and the pair made hay. At the halfway stage the score was 81-1. Hurricanes activated the Power Surge at the first permitted opportunity, namely for overs 11 and 12, quite rightly going for the quick kill (and even without that motivation, would they ever have a better time to take it than with Lizelle Lee and Natalie Sciver-Brunt both well set?) rather than waiting on further developments. Lee hit the fourth ball of the 11th over for a six, the third such blow of her innings, to pass 50 off 32 balls, and followed up by hitting four more off the fifth and another half dozen off the sixth. Sciver-Brunt joined the party by putting the first ball of the 12th over into the stands. In total the two overs of Power Surge produced 31-0, , and Hurricanes were 112-1 after 12 overs, needing a mere 26 off the last eight. Sciver-Brunt fell with victory in sight, but Lee went to a new record score for a WBBL final of 77 not out (44 balls, 10 fours, four sixes), while Nicola Carey made the winning hit, a four off the final ball of the 15th over. The margin was eight wickets, with five overs to spare. Lizelle Lee after that stunning blitz with the bat was named Player of the Match. This means that the Hurricanes currently hold both the men’s and women’s BBL titles, and that the only franchise never to have won a WBBL title is now the Melbourne Stars.

ON POWER SURGES

The Power Surge can be activated at any stage in the last ten overs of an innings. In this match it was one of many areas in which Hurricanes were superb. Scorchers by contrast took their surge for overs 15 and 16, and amassed 15-0 from those two overs, little if any better than they would have done in regular play. It is that last point, that the key is not just how many runs those overs yield, but how many more they yield than would have been scored anyway that informs my thinking on this subject. Taking it for overs 15 and 16 as Scorchers did today makes some sort of sense, effectively extending ‘the death’ from four overs to six. Leaving it any later would to me rank as folly. The Hurricanes had an easy choice today, as they had two well set batters both ideally suited to making use of a Power Surge when they took it. In general I think sides, influenced by the worry that taking it can lead to the loss of wickets are overcautious about doing so and tend it leave it later than they should.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This picture and the next show mute swans demonstrating that their huge size does not prevent them getting airborne.
These starlings are not nesting in a particularly elaborate set of antlers! This is the topmost part of a tree canopy that at this time of year is devoid of any foliage.

England Win in Colombo

A brief look back at happenings at the Women’s cricket world cup on Thursday and yesterday, and account of today’s match in Colombo and two photo galleries.

Although today’s match dominates this post I make mention of a couple of others as well.

THURSDAY AND YESTERDAY

Tuesday and Wednesday both saw threats of upsets, but in each case the big side came good in the end. On Thursday we finally saw an upset. For most of the chase it looked like India were in charge, but then Nadine de Klerk, batting at number eight, came to the party. An astounding display from the spin bowling all rounder saw four sixes in the space of 2.5 overs (the first two balls of the 47th over, the third and fifth of the 49th). That last six, de Klerk’s fifth in all, took South Africa to victory with seven balls to spare. In total de Klerk scored 84 not out from 54 balls. Remarkably the innings that seemed to have given India enough to defend, Richa Ghosh’s 94, was also scored from number eight, though I cannot comment on that innings other than the bare detail since I was at work while it was being played.

Yesterday I missed the New Zealand innings (see my previous post) but got to hear most of the Bangladesh reply. This match was a familiar tale for Bangladesh and Pakistan at this tournament – a respectable bowling performance but the batters were simply not up to the task. Chasing 225 Bangladesh were at one point 33-6, and although they fought back somewhat from that nadir the final margin was over 100 runs in the Kiwis favour.

GALLERY ONE

SRI LANKA v ENGLAND

The start was slightly delayed by a wet outfield, but both sides stuck to their spin heavy selection plans. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl, which did not worry Natalie Sciver-Brunt and England in the slightest since they would have batted first in any case.

Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones began brightly before a combination of an over-optimistic call by Beaumont and a hesitation on the part of Jones cost the latter her wicket. Sri Lanka fared well once they had broken this partnership, but they made a crucial error when a catch offered by Sciver-Brunt, then on 3, went to ground. While no one else made a major contribution the England skipper batted through, cautiously at first, and finally blazingly aggressively in the closing stages of the innings. Her 117 off 117 balls with nine fours and two sixes was the highest individual score of the tournament so far and got England to 253-9, which looked enough.

With 18 runs on the board Sri Lanka lost Chamari Athapaththu to a calf issue – she left the field on a stretcher, but after treatment it was confirmed that she would be able to resume her innings. Vishmi Gunaratne was bowled by Charlie Dean for 10 (9) to make it 37-1, but then for a time Sri Lanka prospered. It was Sophie Ecclestone who changed all that. A high water mark of 95-1 degenerated to 103-4 in the space of 2.2 overs, with the tall left armer dismissing Hasini Perera with the aid of a catch by Alice Capsey, Harshitha Samarawickrama to a fine running catch by Lauren Bell and Kavisha Dilhari clean bowled. There was the merest hint of a revival after that, but 13 runs later Ecclestone effectively terminated Sri Lanka’s interest in proceedings by clean bowling the restored Athapaththu with a beauty for her fourth wicket of the innings (at this stage she had 4-5). In the process of spinning this web from which Sri Lanka could not extricate themselves Ecclestone reached 30 wickets in ODI world cup matches, in just her 12th such game, five matches fewer than the previous quickest to that mark. Sri Lanka resisted with sufficient determination that their last wicket fell with only 4.2 overs of their allocation left, but the margin of 89 runs tells a truer story of this one-sided match. Sciver-Brunt picked up a couple of wickets in this phase to go with her century, and was the last player to touch the ball in the match, holding the catch off Linsey Smith that dismissed Udeshika Prabodhani.

GALLERY TWO

My usual sign off…

The Tale of a Launch

A look at the start of the new era of England Women’s cricket and a photo gallery.

Yesterday the new era of England Women’s cricket with Charlotte Edwards as head coach and Natalie Sciver-Brunt as captain had its first practical test in the form of a T20I against West Indies Women at Canterbury.

A NEW TEAM FOR A NEW ERA

While Heather Knight, who had resigned as skipper in the wake of her team’s disastrous tour of Australia, kept her place as a player there were some new and some returning faces in the England squad. The final line up chosen at the toss was: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, *Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight, +Amy Jones, Alice Capsey, Em Arlott (her international debut), Issy Wong, Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith and Lauren Bell. With batting all rounders at numbers 3 and 6, a wicket keeping all rounder at 5, a genuine all rounder at 7 and bowling all rounders at 8 and 9 there was depth and variety in both batting and bowling. With Dean and Smith to bowl spin (Dean off spin, Smith left arm orthodox), and Bell, Wong and Arlott to bowl seam/swing plus Capsey (off spin) and Sciver-Brunt (rightarm medium) all bases save leg spin were covered. Ecclestone is returning from a knee injury and was not picked in this squad on the ground of managing her return to full fitness, while leg spinner Sarah Glenn was in the squad but did not make the final XI. Also watching from the side lines were veteran opener Tammy Beaumont and young batting all rounder Paige Scholfield. Sciver-Brunt won the toss and put West Indies in to bat.

The pitch looked good for batting, the conditions were excellent, and there was good batting on show from Hayley Matthews, the West Indies skipper. Sadly none of her team mates were able to offer her decent support. Until wicket keeper Mandy Mangru scored a sparky 17 late in the innings no one save Matthews had managed double figures. Sciver-Brunt showed imagination in her handling of her bowlers, putting Dean on for the second over and Smith for the third, and carefully not introducing Arlott until the Power Play was done. Matthews played a magnificent innings, reaching her hundred off the final ball of the innings. As for her team mates the final West Indies tally of 146-7 sums up their efforts with no need of further comment.

This total was soon put in perspective by England, for whom Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley led off with a 50 opening stand in quick time. Sciver-Brunt kept the momentum going in partnership with Dunkley, who batted superbly. Knight, playing her first innings back in the ranks after nine years as skipper, played with wonderful freedom, outscoring even Dunkley. England won by eight wickets with 3.3 overs to spare, Dunkley 78 not out from 54 balls, Knight 43 not out from 27 balls. There will be tougher tests ahead than this West Indies side, but it was a defeat in a T20 (their last group fixture of the T20 World Cup) at West Indian hands that set the stage for the disastrous visit to Australia, in which England were whitewashed and deserved that fate. My Canterbury Tale is told and it remains only to provide…

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Change at the Top for England Women

A look at who could/ should be appointed to the recently vacated roles of coach and captain of the England women’s team, plus a photo gallery including a splendid comma butterfly.

Two announcements have come out in recent days, neither remotely surprising to any follower of cricket. John Lewis has been fired as coach of the England Women’s team after overseeing the disastrous recent women’s Ashes tour, and the captain of nine years, Heather Knight, has resigned that role. This post looks at possible replacements.

THE COACH

This is a short section since Charlotte Edwards, who has established an outstanding record as a coach since the ending of her own legendary playing career, is apparently interested in the job. If those recruiting have their heads screwed on the process should thus be very straightforward – “name your price, Charlotte” or words to that effect.

THE CAPTAIN

There is no immediately obvious successor here. Natalie Sciver-Brunt, the current vice-captain, is of similar vintage to Knight, and cannot be considered a long term option. Similarly Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt-Hodge are both too old to be considered anything other than short term fixes. I can see two candidates who have enough experience while also being likely to be around for years to come, and both of whose places in the side as players are beyond question. Charlie Dean, off spinner and useful lower order batter, would be my choice for the role. The other candidate who I consider to be in the mix is Sophie Ecclestone, the best in the world at what she does and clearly possessor of a good cricket brain.

PRELUDE TO PHOTO GALLERY – COMMA

I was nearing the end of my morning excursion when a glance at the giant buddleia bush near the Eastgate Bridge over the Gaywood River was rewarded with the sight of a comma butterfly basking in the sun (today is the first official day of northern hemisphere spring, and by that point I was warm enough that my jumper was in my bag and I was in short sleeves).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Now for the full gallery…

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s Spectacular Finish

A look at the game in the Hundred (women’s) between London Spirit and Trent Rockets that happened earlier today, with special emphasis on the spectacular finish provided by Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Earlier today London Spirit took on Trent Rockets in the Hundred (Women’s). The game was a good one although it came to a premature end due to an amazing display of hitting from Nat Sciver-Brunt for the Rockets.

THE SPIRIT INNINGS

London Spirit never really got into top gear. Danielle Gibson scored 36 off 27 balls at the top of order and Kiwi all rounder Amelia Kerr scored 36*, but took 30 balls to score them and these were the best innings for the Spirit. The best bowlers for the Rockets were their spinners, Kirstie Gordon 2-19, Alana King 1-18 and Bryony Smith 1-19, all bowling their full allocations of 20 balls. The end result was an indifferent total of 124-4 from 100 balls.

THE ROCKETS CHASE

For most of the second innings things were going the way of the Spirit, although Nat Sciver-Brunt was singlehandedly keeping Rockets hopes aloft, reaching a classy 50 off 32 balls. With 20 balls left Rockets were five wickets down and had 35 runs still to score. There then followed a truly extroardinary sequence of seven balls. First Scrivens hit Gardner for a four and six, then a single brought Sciver-Brunt on strike. Sciver=Brunt concluded the set by hitting the next two balls for sixes, reducing the ask to 12 off 15 balls. It took one legal delivery. The 86th ball of the innings, bowled by Danielle Gibson, saw Sciver-Brunt hit a third successive six, thrashed over midwicket. The next delivery was smashed baseball style even further over midwicket, and just to make things worse for poor Gibson it was called a no-ball, meaning that her final spell was officially 0.1-0-14-0! This sequence of four successive sixes took Sciver-Brunt’s score from a splendid 57* (37) to a stupendous 81* (41). In addition to the blitz that ended the match with 14 balls to spare Sciver-Brunt had hit nine fours along the way. Carlos Brathwaite once won a T20 World Cup by hitting four successive sixes, and Kapil Dev once saved India from following on with a similar sequence (Lord’s 1990), but England managed to win that one anyway. For the first time this season Rockets finished up looking more like Apollo 11 than Apollo 1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

For the feature image I have done an experiment. I could not pick between two of my photos so I have endeavoured to combine the best features of both. Otherwise this is my usual sign off…