Tag: Photography

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…

A Book Review and Some Cricketing Sidelights

A review of a truly wonderful book, some cricketing sidelights, including speculation about a debutant with a (from a cricketing viewpoint) very interesting name, and a large photo gallery.

I have some cricketing content as usual, but the main focus of this blog is a book I have just finished reading (finished it on the bus back from work yesterday to be exact), and I start with…

A (VERY) SHORT HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH

Regular followers will know that I am an avid reader and that my interests include a number of science subjects. This book, written by Henry Gee, covers the history of life on Earth starting from before Earth existed and looking almost a billion years into the future to when Earth will no longer be able to sustain life of any sort. There are six timelines studded through the book, which I have reproduced in image form. This is a superb book, extremely fun to read and very informative. I would recommend anyone to read it. If I was going to offer a starter pack of books touching on this theme I would add in Richard Fortey’s books “Earth” and “Life: An Unauthorised Biography”, Thomas Halliday’s “Otherlands”, Richard Dawkins’ “The Ancestor’s Tale” and for an imaginative look at the future Dougal Dixon’s “After Man: A Zoology of the Future”, all of which adorn my shelves. This book has a broader scope than any of those. The book plus acknowledgements runs to 241 pages, with a further 60 pages of end notes, hardly an intimidating length (and as I said it reads easily – it took me about two hours to read).

INTERESTING DEBUTANTS IN THE ONE DAY CUP

Two of the One Day Cup matches taking place today, Surrey v Kent and Somerset v Sussex feature debutants whose names were decidedly familiar to me. Making his first team debut for Kent at the age of 17 was Jaydn Denly, a left arm orthodox spinner and left handed batter, and nephew of Joe Denly (unfortunately for connoisseurs of such things uncle Joe is out injured so no case of uncle and nephew playing in the same match today). The name to conjure with on the Somerset team sheet originally appeared on cricinfo as JT Langridge, which immediately brought the brothers John and James Langridge, Sussex stalwarts of many years ago, to my mind. Cricinfo’s information has now extended to the fact that the initials stand for James Thomas, and that like the original James Langridge this one both bats and bowls with his left hand (John and the original James both featured in my all time Sussex XI, and James got the all rounders slot in my all time Ls XI), Sussex have a history of cricketing families, including one that encompassed a second county, the Parkses (HW, JH, JM and Bobby, who played for Hampshire), while another multi-generational multi-county family are the Tremletts (Maurice, Somerset, Tim, Hampshire, and Chris, Hampshire and Surrey), and Langridge is not one of the commonest of surnames. Jaydn Denly faced the last ball of the Kent innings and hit it for four, while the 21st century James Langridge opened the bowling for Somerset and currently has one wicket to his name (the Sussex innings is in progress). I am currently listening to commentary on Northern Superchargers v Oval Invincibles in The Hundred (women’s) while monitoring the One Day Cup games via cricinfo.

I end this section with two further links: I missed the first anniversary of the post in which I created my all time XI of players whose names begin with N, while the O post was created on this day last year so:

All Time XIs – The Letter N

All Time XIs – The Letter O

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Cricket News

A look at some of today’s cricketing developments and a large photo gallery.

A lot is going on in cricket today – three One Day Cup matches are taking place, and two Hundred double headers as well. My post looks at some developments on the day so far.

SPINNERS SUPREME AT TRENT BRIDGE

When the Northern Superchargers were restricted to 134-4 from their 100 balls things looked good for the Rockets. They continued to look good for most of the Rockets innings, with Bryony Smith batting superbly, but then a spin generated collapse, with Linsey Smith and Lucy Higham the main bowling contributors left Superchargers victorious by nine runs. This means that the Rockets are still winless, having had one game washed out and lost the others. Sadly for them they are at present looking more reminiscent of Apollo 1 than of Apollo 11.

A scorecard of today’s match can be seen here.

SHAW SMASHES SOMERSET

In the One Day Cup Somerset visited Northamptonshire today. Northamptonshire batted first and scored a monstrous 415-8 from their 50 overs. The principle author of this destruction of Somerset’s bowlers was Indian star Prithvi Shaw who thrashed 244, an innings that included 28 fours and 11 sixes. This was Shaw’s second list A double century, and the sixth highest score in all List A cricket, and second highest in a List A game behind Ally Brown’s 268 for Surrey v Glamorgan in 2002. While nothing in cricket should ever be ruled out the likelihood is that the score that Shaw’s heroics propelled Northamptonshire to will be beyond Somerset’s capacities to chase down.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I end with my usual sign off…

All Time XIs – The Ms Second XI

On the first anniversary of publishing my all time Ms XI I produce a second XI from the riches available under this letter to do battle with them. Also a huge photo gallery.

this day last year I published my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with M. As I point out in the original piece (click the M at the end of last sentence) there was a wealth of talent for this letter, so I am picking a second XI who could go up against the originals.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Hanif Mohammad (Pakistan, right handed opening batter). Until Lara’s 501* in 1994 he held the record first class score with 499 for Karachi vs Bahawalpur, and he still holds the record for the longest test innings ever played, 970 minutes, in the course of which he scored 337.
  2. Roy Marshall (Hampshire, West Indies, right handed opening batter). The Barbadian was an attack minded opener and should combine well with his more defensively oriented opening partner. His career for WI was brief, but he was brilliant for Hampshire for many years – so many that at one point England were considering selecting him as he had qualified by residence, but they opted not to do so.
  3. *Peter May (Surrey, England, right handed batter, captain). For a naturally aggressive batter to average 46 in cricket’s lowest, slowest scoring decade, the 1950s, was a fine achievement. His 285* at Edgbaston in 1957 stood as the highest by an England skipper until Gooch scored 333 v India at Lord’s in 1990.
  4. Stan McCabe (Australia, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). His career highlights include 187* at Sydney in the series opener of the 1932-3 Ashes, 189* vs South Africa which caused the fielding side to appeal against the light, a real rarity, and 232* at Trent Bridge in 1938 when his play induced Bradman (no less) to call his team mates out on to the balcony to watch on the grounds that “you will never see batting like this again”.
  5. Mushtaq Mohammad (Northamptonshire, Pakistan, right handed batter, leg spinner). One of five brothers to play FC cricket, and four of them got to play at test level. He was just 15 when he made his test debut and did well enough at that level to average 39 with the bat and 29 with the ball. That included twice scoring a century and taking a five-for in the same match (only Ian Botham, five times, and R Ashwin, three times, have done so on more occasions at the highest level).
  6. Mulvantrai ‘Vinoo’ Mankad (India, right handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). Although his batting and bowling averages are just the wrong way round he was indubitably a fine all rounder, his batting average being depressed by the fact that he so often had to open the innings as India lacked players sound enough to take on the moving ball, and he often had to do a lot of bowling due India lacking depth in that department.
  7. +Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh, wicket keeper, right handed batter). One of the greatest cricketers his country has ever produced, well worth his place in this side.
  8. Arthur Morton (Derbyshire, right arm medium pacer, off spinner, right handed batter). 981 FC wickets at 22.78 get him in this side, while over 10,000 FC runs are a useful second string to the bow. He scored 50 in a total of 68 all out v Yorkshire at Chesterfield in 1914.
  9. Ted McDonald (Australia, Lancashire, right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). He played the 1920-1 and 1921 Ashes series, forming test cricket’s first genuine pace bowling partnership with Jack Gregory. He then signed a contract to play Lancashire League cricket, which ended his international career, but he would go on to play for Lancashire and would spearhead their pace attack in the most successful period in their history.
  10. Devon Malcolm (Derbyshire, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). Genuinely fast, but badly mishandled by the England management of his day. His peak came against South Africa at The Oval in 1994, when he took 9-57 as they crashed to 144 all out.
  11. William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece, including the first ever instance of 17 in a match (Hampshire still won that game by one wicket, the winning runs being scored by a man named Hargreaves who married Alice Pleasence Liddell, the Alice of “Alice in Wonderland”).

This side has a powerful top four, arguably four all rounders including the keeper, and a trio of specialist fast bowlers to round out the order. This side has a wealth of bowling options – Mycroft, McDonald, Malcolm, Morton in his medium paced guise and McCabe to bowl seam/ pace and Mushtaq Mohammad, Mankad and Morton in his slower guise to bowl spin, while no batting order with someone of Morton’s calibre at number eight can be called shallow either.

AN HONOURABLE MENTION

The original Ms post dealt with almost everyone who might merit an honourable mention, but I give attention to one particular missing name: John Murray of Middlesex and England who made the second most first class dismissals of any wicket keeper behind Bob Taylor and was also a useful batter. I gave the verdict to Mushfiqur Rahim, but it was a very close call. As to who would win this one, I back the first XI, but I think the second would make a very good fight of it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (to see a larger version of any picture just click on it)…

All Time XIs – Holmesian

An all time XI of players with links to Sherlock Holmes stories and a large photo gallery.

A whimsical variation on the all time XIs theme – this XI is made up of players whose names connect in some way to Sherlock Holmes stories.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. *WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, captain). He sneaks in by way of “Thor Bridge”, which features a governess by the name of Grace Dunbar, who June Thomson makes a persuasive case for being the second Mrs Watson. His cricketing credentials need no amplification.
  2. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, fine fielder). One half of the most successful opening pair in first class history, the senior by precisely seven years in age, though the junior in cricketing stature (he and Herbert Sutcliffe shared 74 century opening stands together, 69 of them for Yorkshire and 64 in the county championship).
  3. Colin Munro (left handed batter). The Kiwi boasts an FC batting average of over 50. He qualifies by virtue of Mr Grant Munro, who seeks Holmes’ advice/assistance in “The Adventure of the Yellow Face”.
  4. Elias ‘Patsy’ Hendren (right handed batter, brilliant fielder). The third leading run scorer in FC history and second leading century maker in FC history, he gets in through his rarely used given name – two Eliases at least, Elias Whitney in “The Adventure of the Twisted Lip” and Elias Openshaw in “The Five Orange Pips” play walk on roles in Holmes stories.
  5. Vic Wilson (left handed batter, brilliant close fielder). Had a fine FC record, and eventually became Yorkshire’s first professional skipper since before Lord Hawke’s time. He gets in by way of Jabez Wilson in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, and incidentally he appears on the scoresheet as JV Wilson, while ‘Wilson the notorious canary trainer’ gets a passing mention in another of the stories.
  6. Johnny Douglas (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Trevor Bailey’s spiritual forebear as an adhesive middle order batter and useful seam bowler, also played his county cricket at Essex. Jack Douglas is the name by which we are introduced to the Pinkerton agency ace Birdy Edwards in “The Valley of Fear”.
  7. +Adam Gilchrist (left handed batter, wicket keeper). One of the three students in the story with that title is named Gilchrist. My chosen keeper’s credentials need no amplification.
  8. Johnnie Clay (off spinner, right handed batter). Captained Glamorgan when they were promoted to first class status in 1921, and was still playing for them when they won the 1948 championship, their first such title. He took 1,317 FC wickets at 19.76 a piece, and was good enough with the bat to score two first class centuries. He gets in by way of John Clay in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, rated by Holmes as the fourth most dangerous man in London at the time.
  9. Frank Holmes Tyson (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A brief and meteoric career, but he blitzed the Aussies in their own backyard along the way (in the 1954-5 Ashes). His middle name gets him in, hence my including it here.
  10. Dan Moriarty (left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). 49 FC wickets at 29 each, and has good records in List A and T20 as well, and at 24 definitely still young enough to be improving. He of course gets in courtesy of Holmes’ archenemy Professor Moriarty.
  11. William Mycroft (left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece, just missing out on test cricket (he was approaching 36 years of age when the first such match was played in 1877). He qualifies at least twice over – through his surname, which is the given name of the elder Holmes brother (not necessarily coincidence – Doyle was a keen cricketer and avid cricket fan, and one theory about the names of the brothers is that Sherlock was an amalgam of Shacklock and Sherwin, respectively fast bowler and keeper for Nottinghamshire, while Mycroft came from William and Thomas Mycroft who played similar roles for neighbouring Derbyshire) and through William Kirwan, the murdered coachman in “The Adventure of the Reigate Squires”.

This side has a good top five, an all rounder at six, the greatest batter of all genuine top line keepers and four great and well varied bowlers. With Tyson and Mycroft to take the new ball, Douglas as third seamer and Clay and Moriarty contrasting spinners this side is unlikely to struggle to take 20 wickets.

TWO POTENTIAL OVERSEAS PLAYERS

All 11 players I have named save for Munro are home grown, but two who might have had an extra overseas slot, in each case coming in place of Douglas were the 1920s Australians Hunter ‘Stork’ Hendry who would have qualified by way of Violet Hunter from “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” and Jack Ryder, who would get in courtesy of James Ryder from “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”. However, while both these worthies would outrank Douglas as a batter he outranks both as a bowler, and given the strength of the top five and the presence of Gilchrist at number seven I felt that was reason to give Douglas the nod.

OTHER POSSIBLES

Many readers doubtless have their own ideas. Second choice keeper would be Amy Jones, who would qualify by virtue of Inspector Athelney Jones in “The Sign of Four”, and there are many other possibilities, and I would welcome suggestions in the comments.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A Pulsating End to The #MAshes

A look at the conclusion to an amazing Ashes summer, a mention of a hugely successful auction and a large photo gallery.

The men’s Ashes of 2023 ended on Monday. The first part of this post looks at that final day’s play.

WHO WRITES YOUR SCRIPTS BROADY?!

After the close of play on day three of this match Stuart Broad told the world that it would be his last as a competitive cricketer. On the fourth morning he struck the last delivery he received in test cricket for six, on the fifth evening he took a wicket with his last ball as a test cricketer, giving England victory by 49 runs and a 2-2 drawn series, a result which leaves The #MAshes in Australian hands but also means that the visitors will now go longer without an away series win than any other side in the history of The Ashes – it will be 26 years since their last by the time 2027 comes round, beating the 24 years between successful England trips down under in 1986-7 and 2010-11.

Australia had looked decently placed going into the final day – 135-0, needing 249 runs more to win the match. However, both openers went quickly that final morning (Warner just before I got back from delivering Green Party leaflets in South Wootton, Khawaja just after I had tuned in). Australia were still genuinely in the hunt until Woakes, deservedly Player of the Match, England Player of the Series and winner of the Compton-Miller medal, accounted for Steve Smith, which left Carey plus the bowlers to score over 100 between them. Starc and Cummins both fell fairly cheaply, while Murphy for the second time in the match showed himself rather better than a standard number 10, but when Broad got him the writing really was on the wall. Carey was last to go, also to Broad. Moeen Ali’s test career also ended on Monday, and he took a couple of crucial wickets.

The eventual 2-2 series result was just about fair, though Australia were somewhat flattered by it – the rain ruined game at Old Trafford was going meltingly in England’s favour, and you could probably replay the first two matches of the series a thousand times over and not have Australia emerge 2-0 up.

A GREAT BANKNOTE SALE

A week ago today James and Sons had the second auction of a double header. Tuesday had featured stamps and postal history, and was a success by any normal reckoning. However, the Wednesday sale, a massive collection of banknotes, was probably the greatest success James and Sons have had in the decade since I started working there. Not only did pretty much every lot find a buyer, on most occasions they went for way more than we had dared to hope. Lot 695, expected to fetch 10-12 went for £75…

Lot 741, estimated at 25-30 went for £140…

Lot 877 was the star of the show, expected to go for 30-40 and instead soaring away for £380…

I used this lot to provide the picture for a press release I sent out yesterday.

Lot 894, expected to fetch 25-30 actually went for £180…

Any image can be viewed at full size by clicking on it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I continue to seek and find things to photograph while out walking…

A second Holly Blue in the space of a few days, this one at the edge of the Kettlewell Lane green space.

All Time XIs – The Jameses

An all time XI of players who all have James as one of their given names and a large photo gallery.

Today’s post honours two cricketers who are very different stages of their careers and happen to have the first name James. Both of course are in the starting XI.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. James Burke (Australia, right handed opening batter). Usually known by the diminutive Jim, he was a dour opener with a respectable test record and a good first class one. I have not mentioned his off spin, as a) I don’t see it getting much use in this XI and b) to quote a spectator at one of his matches “bowl him one for a change Burkie – you’ll surprise him”.
  2. James Aylward (Hambledon, left handed batter). Anyone good enough to have scored 167 in a big match on the kind of pitches that existed in 1777, as he did, must have been an excellent batter, and I am pleased to honour him here.
  3. James Langridge (Sussex, England, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). He was often called on to act as sheet anchor for Sussex, which is why I feel confident using him to fill what would otherwise be a tough slot. Even at test level his averages were the right way round, while at FC level he averaged 35 with the bat and 21 with the ball.
  4. *James Hildreth (Somerset, right handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer). Very unlucky never to have to have played test cricket, he was one of the most prolific middle order batters of his era. I have also named him as captain of this side.
  5. James H Parks (Sussex, England, right handed batter, right arm slow medium bowler). The only player ever to score 3,000 FC runs and take 100 FC wickets in the same season.
  6. James Rew (Somerset, left handed batter, occasional wicket keeper). At the age of 19 he already has six first class hundreds with an HS of 221, with an average of 52.80 at that level. Elevation to the test ranks looks assured. He is the first of the two guys to inspire this post.
  7. +James Foster (Essex, England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). One of the finest wicket keepers ever to play the game, and enough of a batter to score 13,000 FC runs at an average of 37.
  8. Cedric Ivan James ‘big Jim’ Smith (Middlesex, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed very aggressive lower order batter). Took his FC wickets at 19 a piece. Among his many absurdly fast innings is the quickest 50 ever scored against genuine (as opposed to declaration) bowling – he reached the landmark in 11 minutes on that occasion!
  9. James Charles Laker (Surrey, Essex, England, off spinner, right handed lower order batter). Possibly the greatest of all conventional off spinners (Murali is in a category of his own), and good enough with the bat to have amassed two first class hundreds.
  10. James Bridges (Somerset, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower order batter). A fine new ball bowler for Somerset, and has the distinction of coming closer to having an FC century than anyone else who failed to score one – his HS at that level being 99 not out.
  11. James Anderson (Lancashire, England). He turned 41 yesterday, and he is guaranteed to remain England’s all time leading test wicket taker for some time to come, as his closest rival Stuart Broad has announced that the current test match will be his last. Anderson has not yet retired, and although he is unlikely feature much if at all in India this winter, he may be eyeing Sri Lanka at his him ground of Old Trafford next year as a potential sign off match.

This side has a solid batting line up, with most of the bowlers capable of weighing in as well, and a great bowling attack – Anderson, Smith, Bridges, Laker and Langridge, with James H Parks as sixth bowling option.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

James Pattinson (Australia) is the biggest miss by far, but I wasn’t prepared to drop any of my chosen specialist seamers to make way for him. James M Parks, son of James H, was a good middle order batter and some might have picked him ahead of his father. James Hallows of Lancashire would have given me a left arm pace option, but he was more batter than bowler, and his record in that department does not stack up. James Morton Sims of Middlesex was the best leg spinner to qualify for consideration, but I preferred three seamers and two spinners to really stacking the spin options. James Seymour of Kent was a good county pro in his day. Finally, James Lillywhite junior who could not be accommodated in this side deserves a mention for his historical significance – he captained England in the first two test matches ever played, and also helped to arrange a number of the early tours.

PHOTOGRAPHS

On this day last year I published my all time XI of players whose surnames begin with J. Now it is time for my usual sign off…

A Composite #MAshes 2023 XI

A special butterfly picture, a composie #MAshes2023 XI with 12th man, and a splendid photo gallery.

What has been a superb Men’s Ashes (#MAshes for social media users) approaches its conclusion. The centrepiece of this post picks a composite XI from that series. However, I have plenty of other stuff to share, and before the centrepiece I have a photograph that given its significance and quality deserves special treatment (it has already generated interest on Mastodon)…

A HOLLY BLUE

I was out walking this morning when I spotted a butterfly that was new to me. I was able to get a very good photograph of the wonderful little creature, and Mastodon provided the answer to my inquiries – it was the Holly Blue, a species recognized as endangered (see this Guardian article):

A Holly Blue butterfly on a nettle leaf, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, 30/07/2023

A COMPOSITE #MASHES 2023 XI

Before I list my CXI in batting order let me emphasize that I am picking on the basis of THIS SERIES and this series only.

  1. Usman Khawaja (Australia, left handed opening batter). He has been Australia’s stand out batter of this series by a mile.
  2. Zak Crawley (England, right handed opening batter). Some, familiar with my opinions of him, will be surprised by this selection, but I am picking based on this series, and Warner has been negligible and Duckett patchy, whereas Crawley has had a fine series. It will take more than one fine series, even against the oldest enemy, to convince me that Crawley is the real deal as a test match opener, but denying plain facts is not my style, and the plain facts are that based on this series Crawley gets the slot.
  3. Marnus Labuschagne (Australia right handed batter). By his own stratospheric standards not a great series for him, but he gets the slot by default – since Pope’s injury England have struggled massively with this slot, experimenting with Brook for one innings, and then relying on Ali until his injury this match, with Stokes stepping up in their final innings.
  4. Joe Root (England, right handed batter, occasional off spinner). Only one century, but a couple of near misses as well, and the odd moment with his spin, plus some excellent catches. His opposite number, Smith, has had a decidedly quiet series.
  5. Harry Brook (England, right handed batter, occasional medium pacer). A very good series for him, though no century to show for it. It was ill advised to use him as an ersatz number three, an experiment that lasted one innings, but he played some fine knocks in his regular slot, especially at Headingley, Old Trafford and the first innings of this match at The Oval.
  6. *Ben Stokes (England, left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler, captain). Knee problems have reduced his bowling to a virtual side show (he is allegedly practicing spin bowling in an attempt to prolong his ability to describe himself as an all rounder), but he has played at least one crucial innings, and his captaincy, not withstanding the short stuff at the Aussie tail on Friday, has been a cut above that of Cummins.
  7. +Alex Carey (Australia, wicket keeper, left handed batter). Massively the better of the two keepers on show this series, and Bairstow’s runs in the last couple of matches do not in anyway compensate for his clumsiness behind the stumps, which has cost England hundreds of runs through the series.
  8. Mitchell Starc (Australia, left arm fast bowler, left handed lower order batter). He gets smacked, but he also picks up wickets, and he provides something that no one else in the series does, in terms of the left arm angle.
  9. Mark Wood (England, right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). The quickest bowler on either side, and he has had a good series.
  10. Stuart Broad (England, right arm fast medium bowler, left handed lower order batter). He has announced that the current test match will be has last match as a competitive cricketer, but this is not a sentimental pick – he has also taken over 20 wickets in the series, the fifth time he has done that against Australia, and taken his Ashes tally past 150, putting him alone among England bowlers but behind Lillee, McGrath and Warne overall.
  11. Todd Murphy (off spinner, left handed lower order batter). I didn’t want to name a side without a front line spinner, and with Leach injured before the series started and Lyon injured early in the series there was really only one option – Ali has been as ineffective as one might expect of a 36 year old with little interest in red ball cricket and a moderate prior record to be.
  12. Chris Woakes (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). I am naming a 12th man because the veteran Warwickshire all rounder has done well, proving once again that he is formidable in England, and while I couldn’t fit him in the XI I wanted to honour him.

The starting XI has a strong batting line up, a fine keeper and a strong and balance bowling attack, and the designated 12th man could cover any vacancy other than Carey or Murphy without crippling the side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Oval and Other Stuff

A mention of goings on at The Oval, A mention of James and Sons recent auctions and a mention of leafleting for the Green Party, plus large numbers of photos.

As I type this England and Australia men’s teams are doing battle at The Oval in the last match of a superb Ashes summer. This post starts with a brief look at what is going on there.

‘BAZBALL’ V ‘BOYCSBALL’

Yesterday England were put into bat, and managed 283 from 54 overs, Brook leading the way with 85. Australia by the close were 61-1. This morning saw an utterly craven batting effort from the Australians, with lady luck saving them on several occasions. Labuschagne in particular seemed to be digging in for a draw even though it was only the second morning! His dismissal for 9 off 82 balls brightened things up a little, but not much. Fortunately the afternoon session has seen Australia being punished for their wilfully slow scoring. Three wickets have fallen since the interval, two to Broad and one to Anderson. This leaves Australia currently 153-5, 130 runs behind England. If Australia, as is currently more than possible, end up behind on first innings they will have only themselves to blame.

A BANKNOTE AUCTION

James and Sons auctioneers, my employers, had a two day sale this week. Day one was stamps and postal history and seems to have gone well. Day two was banknotes (a huge lifetime collection from all around the world), and went superbly. I will be writing more about this later, but I touch on it briefly today as I secured two lots along the way: Antarctica and Djibouti (the latter containing an item of railwayana). Here are the images (to view an image at full size just click on it) that people got to see during the auction:

Here are some more images taken since I took possession of these notes…

LEAFLETING FOR THE GREEN PARTY

This morning I went to South Wootton to collect some leaflets for Michael de Whalley’s campaign to be elected for the vacant Freebridge seat on Norfolk County Council. I have started delivering them, doing one side of Low Road and all of Old Manor Close on my way home. Here are images of the leaflet:

PHOTOGRAPHS

These photographs come from three sources – my morning walk before work yesterday, my walk home in the evening having alighted at Gaywood and while I was out and about today…

While I was preparing this post for publication Alex Carey became the sixth Aussie to be dismissed this innings, holing out to cover off Root. They are still over 100 adrfit.

Surrey in Control at Taunton

A look at developments between Somerset and Surrey in the current round of championship fixtures, a revisit to and modest revision of the all time XI of players whose surnames begin with H and a large photo gallery.

Another round of county championship fixtures got underway yesterday, and in so far as circumstances allow (yesterday and tomorrow are work days) I am following Somerset v Surrey.

YESTERDAY

While I was at work yesterday Somerset were all out for 170 in the first innings. Surrey last four wickets in response, before Latham and Jacks steadied the ship. Surrey were still in arrears by the close, but had every chance of a substantial lead given their great batting depth (any side with Gus Atkinson at number nine have a lot of batting depth).

TODAY

Latham and Jacks continued to bat well, though each just missed out on a ton, both falling for 99. Gus Atkinson showed that he is better than a regular number nine, and Daniel Worrall played a classic tail enders cameo, swinging hard at pretty much everything and connecting a few times. Matt Henry took 6-80, while Craig Overton, with 0-106 had the misfortune of registering the only individual three figure tally of the innings. Surrey were all out for 368, a lead on first innings of 198. At present that is how it remains, rain preventing the start of the Somerset second innings. However, it is still only day two, meaning that it would be asking a lot for the rain to save Somerset.

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES AND PHOTOGRAPHS

On this day last year I created my all time XI of players who have surnames beginning with H. I have concluded since creating that XI that I have to bolster the bowling, even though it means dropping an ATG batter to do so. I regard Hutton, Hobbs, George Headley, Hammond and the left handed Hussey as indispensable, so Patsy Hendren, the third leading scorer of FC runs and second leading scorer of FC centuries in history misses out, having to settle for an honourable mention, and the number six slot goes instead to George Hirst, a right handed batter, left arm fast medium bowler and brilliant fielder. This means that the frontline attack now comprises Holding, Hadlee and Hirst to bowl pace/ seam/ swing and Harmer and Herath to bowl spin, with Hammond now more realistically positioned as fourth seamer should such be required. The revised XI in full: JB Hobbs, *L Hutton, GA Headley, WR Hammond, MEK Hussey, GH Hirst, +IA Healy, RJ Hadlee, SR Harmer, MA Holding, R Herath. Now it is time for my usual sign off…