Tag: snails

England’s Innings Victory

An account of the test (mis)match between England and Pakistan at Headingley that ended in a crushing victory for the home side before tea on day three, and a photo gallery.

Just after 3:30PM today Mohammad Abbas, a true bunny with the bat, miscued a drive against Jofra Archer and Dan Lawrence took the catch. That meant that England had won the first match of Joe Root’s second term as test captain by an innings and 103 runs. This post looks back at a match that was propelled as far as day three only by the weather.

THE FIRST INNINGS

Joe Root won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat. Salman Agha, standing in as captain due the absence of the injured Babar Azam, perpetrated the classic and pathetic toss loser’s ploy of saying he would have batted first anyway (particularly unimpressive since his rival skipper probably knows as much about conditions at Headingley as anyone currently playing the game). Pakistan lost two wickets almost before the match had started, but Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique had a good partnership for the third wicket, the first and only time of the match when Pakistan looked decent. Imam-ul-Haq was out with the score at 97, which brought Saud Shakeel, who has a fine test record but has never yet batted convincingly outside Asia. He never really got going, and his dismissal for a tortured 5, followed closely by that of Shafique for 61 heralded a horrendous collapse, which saw a high water mark of 117-3 turn into 171 all out. Josh Tongue had 5-46 from 9.1 overs, and Ollie Robinson 5-51 from 18 overs.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Neither England opener particularly distinguished themselves, though Emilio Gay played nicely for his 33 until his dismissal which was a shocker. Jordan Cox and Joe Root batted well and took England to the close of day one still only two down, and not very far short of a first innings lead. Their efforts were followed on day two by fine innings from Harry Brook, who, while still scoring fast (almost a run a ball), was not at any stage guilty of the kind of craziness that has too often marred his efforts of late, and Dan Lawrence, who showed that, given the opportunity to bat in the middle of the order as he does at county level, he is capable of producing the goods at a higher level. Pakistan had plenty to worry about, with their seam attack looking toothless and their fielding being frankly slipshod. I did not keep count of the number of times that a Pakistan fielder effectively escorted the ball to the boundary rather than actually chasing it but it was substantial. The only bright spot for them was left arm spinner Ali Usman who took 5-95, but even he bowled rather too many bad balls alongside the good ones – only one of the 24 overs he bowled in the innings was a maiden. Yorkshire at one time had a production line of left arm spinners, with the county producing over the years Edmund Peate, Bobby Peel, Wilfred Rhodes, Alonzo Drake, Roy Kilner, Hedley Verity and Johnny Wardle (of the seven players listed only Drake, baulked by a combination of the outbreak of WWI and poor health – he took 85 first class wickets in the last two months of the 1914 season and was dead from a weak heart by the time cricket resumed in 1919 – did not play for England). England ended up with a score of 409, a first innings lead of 238.

THE PAKISTAN SECOND INNINGS

By lunch on day three (today) Pakistan were 59-3, needing 179 more to avoid an innings defeat. That soon became 76-6, with Tongue adding the scalps of Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel (14 this time round) and Salman Agha to his five first innings victims. The rest of the innings boiled down to tail enders attempting to stay with Mohammad Rizwan while the Pakistan keeper did most of the scoring. Rizwan had scored 41 and batted reasonably impressively when Gus Atkinson bowled him, which made the score 131-9. Mohammad Abbas, whose position at number 10 is devastatingly revealing of the batting (in)capacities of his team mate Mohammad Ali, the number 11, hit one four before suffering the dismissal referred to in the introduction. Pakistan in their second innings had survived only 37.3 overs, and had batted only 85.4 overs in the match. England’s sole innings occupied 89.5 overs. These details mean that but for the rain that interrupted both the first two days there would not even have been a day three.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I start my usual sign off with a composite picture…

On the left of this image is a black and white Edwardian era postcard showing the west door of Fakenham Church, which I imaged at work, and on the right is a photograph of the same door taken by me after work yesterday. The door itself has been changed at some point in the last 120-odd years, but there is not much change otherwise.

Now for the image gallery…

This is the earliest confirmed date I yet have for a postcard – the postmark reveals it as being sent on June 20th 1899.
Another one with a late Victoria stamp.
An impressively large snail, drawn into the open by rainfall.
As the epic rain of Thursday afternoon gave way to sunshine in the early evening this appeared over North Lynn (five pics, the last a close-up of one section).

A Succession of Blunders

A look back at today’s early game between the Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire women’s sides, a contest that was very intriguing because both sides played badly. Also a photo gallery.

Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. The early women’s match featured Manchester Super Giants and Welsh Fire in action at Old Trafford. This post looks back at that match.

MANCHESTER SUPER GIANTS INNINGS

Manchester Super Giants started badly and got worse. With one ball of her allocation to go Irish medium pacer Orla Prendergast was on for the best figures in this year’s Hundred (women’s), with 4-14 against her name at that point. Had that last delivery been a wicket, a dot or a single she would have displaced Ashleigh Gardner’s 4-16. As it was the delivery was edged for four, somewhat unjustly depriving her of this landmark, leaving her with 4-18 overall. The innings ended with number 11 Bex Tyson showing up her more renowned colleagues by hitting a four over cover and then scoring a single. Manchester Super Giants had limped to 85-9, which should never have come close to being a defensible total…

MAKING A BANQUET OF AN EASY TASK

Welsh Fire were barely any more impressive than their opponents had been with the bat. At 64-4 from 68 balls and with Ecclestone, Super Giants’ most dangerous bowler having only two balls left Fire looked in control, unimpressive as their efforts had been. Then, off Ecclestone’s penultimate ball Georgia Wareham let fly and was caught by Meg Lanning for 17 (12). Had she played Ecclestone out the match would have been effectively settled. Ecclestone ended with a dot ball and figures of 3-14 from her 20 balls. Scoring was now painfully slow, and when Grace Thompson was run out in bizarre fashion, setting off for a run only for bowler Kathryn Bryce to pick the ball up and return it to the keeper for her to be run out, and then two balls later Niamh Holland was out bowled by the Scot for a duck it was 76-7 from 83 balls and there was just a hint that Fire could somehow contrive to lose this one. Rhianna Southby, the Fire keeper, who had been impeccable in her main role, including a very smart stumping to account for Ecclestone, now came in and hit a four to ease the pressure. After two dots balls she added another, and though the match had limped into its final 10 balls only two runs were now needed for the win. Heather Graham now struck a boundary off Mady Villiers to finish things with nine balls and three wickets to spare, but Fire had done it the hard way. Prendergast’s 4-18 got her the ‘Match Hero’ award, though personally I would have honoured Southby for a blemish-free keeping performance and her sensible batting when it looked her side were making a Horlicks of the chase. Few if any of the other 21 players involved could point to an unblemished performance. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This insect, which I believe to be a ‘leaf miner’ was on the topside of the leaf when I spotted it and moved to the underside while I was preparing to photograph it.
This either a very large wasp or a small hornet.

Domestic T20 Competitions Under Way

A look at the events of Essex v Warwickshire in the Women’s T20 Cup, as I prepare to listen to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s competition, and a photo gallery.

The English domestic T20 competitions get underway today. I shall shortly be listening to Surrey v Lancashire in the men’s T20 cup, but this post looks back at the game between Essex and Warwickshire in the women’s competition that happened earlier this afternoon.

A ONE WOMAN SHOW

Warwickshire found themselves batting first after the home side won the toss and opted to chase. When they were 80-1 approaching halfway things looked to be going well for them, but then Aussie import Georgia Redmayne was out to eh last ball of the 1oth over, to a return catch by Sophia Smale. Thereafter no one was able to stay with Abigail Freeborn, who batted excellently, for any length of time, and it took a big finish to boost Warwickshire to a final total of 164-8, of which Freeborn’s share was an unbeaten 86 from 56 balls, while Redmayne had scored 36 from 30.

ESSEX CRUISE HOME

Essex started the chase at a racing tempo, and even though they lost Grace Scrivens for 18, caught by Mary Taylor off Phoebe Brett that merely brought Cordelia Griffith in to join Alice Macleod, and the pair added 119 together in ten overs before both were out in successive deliveries, Macleod run out for 59 off 38 balls, and Griffith bowled by Millie Taylor (the two M Taylors are twin sisters just for the record) for 68 off 37 balls. The job was effectively done by then, and it took a mere four more deliveries for Joanne Gardner to finish the job, with Jodi Grewcock, miscast as an England opener in the recent ODI series against New Zealand, at the other end not actually getting to face a ball.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Mother and child – a muntjac fawn stands right next to its mother in Kettlewell Lane Park.

The Hundred (Women’s) Team of the Tournament

The team of the tournament for the Hundred (Women’s) of 2025 and a large photo gallery.

The league stage of the Hundred is done, ending yesterday, so only two matches remain to be played, the eliminator between Northern Superchargers and London Spirit and the final between the winners of that and Southern Brave, who qualified straight into the final by virtue of winning the league stage (and they did that by a distance). In this post I pick an XI based on my estimates of the players contributions to the tournaments. I will inevitably have overlooked deserving cases, but remember that I can only pick 11 players.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Southern Brave, right handed opening batter). The veteran has had an excellent tournament, not just with the bat, but also with some outstanding fielding.
  2. Kira Chathli (London Spirit, right handed opening batter). Being moved up to open the innings, both for Surrey and for the London Spirit has been the making of 26 year old Chathli, who has been a revelation in her new batting slot. She was one of the first names on the team sheet for this exercise.
  3. Phoebe Litchfield (Northen Superchargers, left handed batter). She has had a great tournament, and I wanted at least one of my team’s leading batters to be a left hander for reasons of balance.
  4. Sophie Devine (Southern Brave, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer). The Kiwi veteran has been a big reason for Southern Brave’s dominance so far this year.
  5. Grace Harris (London Spirit, right handed batter, off spinner). This team’s X-Factor batter, the one who can come in and start blasting right from the first ball she faces. Her bowling probably won’t be required (I rank her seventh in this team’s pecking order).
  6. *Georgia Adams (Southern Brave, right handed batter, off spinner, captain). This was a close call, with Charlie Dean the other candidate, but Adams’ superior batting gets her the nod as this team does have a bit of a tail.
  7. +Rhianna Southby (Southern Brave, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The best keeper in the competition, and picked on that basis.
  8. Alana King (Trent Rockets, leg spinner, right handed batter). One of only two players from a side not to qualify for finals weekend to make this XI. She got the nod for this slot ahead of compatriot Amanda-Jade Wellington.
  9. Mahika Gaur (Manchester Originals, left arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). The most economical bowler of the competition, beating the player one place below her in this order. She made history when becoming the first player to bowl all of her 20 balls in the Power Play phase (balls 1-10 straight through, five balls out of the attack, balls 16-25 straight through).
  10. Tilly Corteen-Coleman (Southern Brave, left arm spinner, left handed batter). Has had a superb tournament, claiming 11 wickets in eight group matches and going for less than a run a ball.
  11. Lauren Bell (Southern Brave, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). The leading wicket taker of the tournament (even before last night’s frankly ridiculous figures of 4-6 from a full 20 balls against Welsh Fire), she has been the bowling spearhead for the team who have left a chasm between themselves and the rest this tournament.

This side has enough batting for requirements, and that bowling unit of Bell, Gaur, Corteen-Coleman and King, with the remaining 20 balls to be bowled by some combination of Devine, Adams and Harris is outstanding.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The wicket keeper position can sometimes be a tough one. However I personally only considered one other option, Beth Mooney (Manchester Originals), because I could have used another left handed batter. I would countenance most other suggestions that people might make, with one exception: Amy Jones has had a terrible tournament, and no matter how highly one rates her overall that has to disqualify her. The left arm spin bowling department presents an embarrassment of riches, but Corteen-Coleman has had the best tournament of all of them, and that is reflected in her side’s dominance of the league stage. Feel free to make suggestions of your own, but do remember to consider the effect those suggestions have on the balance of the side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

I deduce a two stage process leading to the state of this roundabout paint wise: first some fascist painted a red cross on it to make it look like a circular England flag, then someone else countered by painting in the noughts and crosses grid.

Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians (So Far)

A little look at the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings which has started today’s IPL match (Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians) and two photo galleries.

Today’s IPL match is between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. It is just approaching the halfway stage as I begin this blog post.

AN ATROCIOUS START

By the time I got back from my post lunch walk the match was underway. Sunrisers Hyderabad were 9-1 when I joined the coverage. That very soon become 9-2, and then two more wickets fell before the Power Play was done. The low water mark saw SRH 13-4 after 4.1 overs. When Aniket Verma was out after 8.3 overs the score was 35-5, and SRH felt impelled to use their ‘impact sub’ to bolster the batting, which meant that Mohammad Shami, presumably their intended ‘impact sub’ would be confined to the bench.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

An important reminder: if you click on the first image in a photo gallery you can view the entire gallery as a slide show AND see the images at a larger size than they appear in the post. I have two galleries in this post. The first features largely pictures from Monday evening and from yesterday either side of work, with a couple from today, and the second is all today. This is the first…

THE REVIVAL

Abhinav Manohar, the chosen ‘impact sub’ teamed up with Heinrich Klaasen to get SRH back into it. Klaasen was out to the final ball of the 19th over by when the score had risen to 134. Manohar has just gone, his dismissal making it 142-7. A single accrued after that and then another wicket off the final ball of the innings. This means that SRH had a total of 143-8 to defend, modest by IPL standards, but a lot more than it looked like being at the halfway stage, and we have recently seen Punjab Kings successfully defend a mere 111, bowling their opponents that day, Kolkata Knight Riders, out for just 95. The sheer awfulness of the SRH start probably means that they are on a bit of a high due to their recovery, and mutatis mutandis MI.

GALLERY TWO

Here is my second gallery…

Day Four – Here, There and Everywhere

A look at the state of play as the current round of championship matches approaches a conclusion, and a large photo gallery.

The current round of county championship fixtures is drawing to a conclusion. Some games are already over, either through definite results being achieved or through weather induced abandonments. This post has a look round some of the grounds.

ESSEX v WORCESTERSHIRE

This match did not make it as far as the lunch interval, but did make it further than looked like being the case at one point. Worcestershire resumed on 185-6, still 110 short of victory. Jamie Porter bowled superbly, and at 202-9, with 93 required to win it looked done and dusted. Ethan Brookes batted superbly, with number 11 Jacob Duffy blocking every ball he was left to face, and the target started to come down. Brookes was in sight of a century and the deficit was down to 28 when Porter took a low return catch to claim the final wicket, his sixth scalp of the innings and eighth of the match. Brookes stood there, but eventually the umpires told him to go and the match was confirmed as over. The final margin was 28 runs, and Brookes, in a match where almost everyone had found batting a challenge had scored 88, almost half of them in sixes. While Porter was the best bowler on either side in this match the key contribution for Essex was Paul Walter’s second innings century, which helped Essex to top 300 in that innings and left Worcestershire a target that was just too tough for them. Brookes is definitely one to watch for the future, as is young Essex all rounder Noah Thain. Paul Walter has been a revelation this season after Essex moved him up to open – while his 104 in this match was his first century of the season he had mad big contributions in both Essex’s previous matches.

THREE WAY
BATTLE AT LORD’S

Middlesex have had by the far the better of things against Glamorgan, but the third participant there, the weather, may be having the final say – the players were taken off for bad light just before tea with Middlesex only 39 runs from victory with nine wickets standing, and since then the threatened rain has actually materialized which may well have saved Glamorgan.

THE WHITE FEATHER

This week’s cowards are Gloucestershire, who, in full control against Kent, batted on and on until their lead was 410 and there was almost zero possibility of them bowling Kent out a second time.

A DELAYED START

Nottinghamshire must have been worried that they would not get the chance to attempt to take the last four Warwickshire wickets to seal an innings victory but that game has just got underway. Five overs have been bowled since the resumption, 31 more are possible and Nottinghamshire still need four wickets. There is an even more delayed start scheduled – Lancashire v Leicestershire will get underway at 4:30PM with Leicestershire needing seven wickets to win it.

CONFIRMED DRAWS

Yorkshire v Durham and Derbyshire v Northamptonshire have been confirmed as draws, Sussex v Surrey and Somerset v Hampshire are surely destined to go the same way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today being damp has brought the snails out in force…

A ‘public libraries’ 50p in circulation, currently in my wallet.
Ann uncirculated version from an FDC in my possession…
…and one in a presentation box, also in my possession


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Two Nailbiters

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

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

DURHAM v WARWICKSHIRE

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

PHOTO GALLERY 1: SNAILS

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

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

PUNJAB KINGS DEFEND 111

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

PHOTO GALLERY 2

Here are the rest of my photos…

Strikers Struck Down

An account of today’s WBBL fixture, between Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades. Also a large photo gallery.

Today the WBBL saw Adelaide Strikers take on Melbourne Renegades at the Karen Rolton Oval. Strikers, winners of both the previous two editions of the WBBL had won only one of their five games, so they knew that defeat would effectively end their qualification hopes. The Renegades, wooden spooners last year, were looking to put themselves right in the mix near the top of table. This post looks back at the match.

THE STRIKERS INNINGS

Major scores from Tahlia McGrath, 49 off 24 balls, and Smriti Mandhana, 40 off 25 balls were supported by Laura Wolvaardt, 27 off 26 balls and Katie Mack 19 off 19 balls. At times it seemed likely that Strikers would top the 200 mark, which even at a ground as batting friendly as the Rolton Oval would have been a formidable total. However they lost wickets in the later stages of their innings, and in the end it took a wonderful cameo of 24 off 12 balls from the young Irishwoman Orla Prendergast to get Strikers to their final total of 185-8. Prendergast was run out off the last ball of the innings, correctly going for the extra run. .

Hayley Matthews, of whom there will be a lot more later, had 2-28 from four overs, and Sarah Coyte 1-19 from three overs.

THE RENEGADES CHASE

Hayley Matthews and Courtney Webb scored well, though at a little less than the required rate. Webb retired hurt for 37, with the Renegades score on 90. The first actual wicket was that of Capsey, who replaced Webb at the crease, and scored 4 before being caught by Prendergast off Darcie Brown to make it 101-1. That brought Deandra Dottin in to join fellow West Indian Matthews. This pair took complete control of proceedings. At one stage it looked like a century was a possibility for Matthews, but then a blitz by Dottin killed that possibility but brough the possibility of a 50 for her into the equation. Matthews ended the chase off the first ball of the 18th over, the boundary she hit taking to 85* off 54 balls, while Dottin had 46* off just 18 balls. Megan Schutt bowled three overs for 21 amidst the carnage. Madeline Penna, brought on as a white flag gesture with the game well and truly lost, has I suspect set a new record for the worst ER in a WBBL innings – her first delivery was a wide which did not go to the boundary, but off which Matthews and Dottin ran two extra runs, to make the damage three, and her second was the match winning boundary, meaning that her official figures read 0.1-0-7-0 for an ER of 42.00. Matthews was unsurprisingly named Player of the Match for her magnificent performance.

This hammering leaves Strikers adrift at the foot of the table on two points from six matches. Even if they win every remaining match they will have an exactly even win/loss record, and given how bad their net RR is, even with four teams qualifying for the KOs they are unlikely to make it. Anything less than four straight wins from here will definitely confirm their elimination. I consider having four teams out of eight qualify for KOs a trifle generous, but it is not as ludicrous as the men’s equivalent tournament, where five teams out of eight qualify, which means that you genuinely can make it through with an overall losing record. Renegades meanwhile are up into second place for the present, and are highly likely to qualify for the knockouts. Scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today has been a sunny day, and as a result the insects have been out in force…

Today’s pictures start here.

A One Woman Show in Sydney

A look back at a historic innings in the WBBL and a photo gallery.

Overnight in the Women’s Big Bash League Hobart Hurricanes played Perth Scorchers at the SCG. This was the first half of a double header, with the Sydney derby following. This post looks back at a history making performance in that match.

HURRICANE LIZELLE BLOWS SCORCHERS OFF COURSE

Perth Scorchers won the toss and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee, opening batter for Hobart Hurricanes, proceeded to blow Scorcher’s plans to smithereens with a display of jaw dropping brutality. The Power Play overs offered little foretaste of what was to come – Hurricanes were 34-2 after the four overs of mandatory Power Play. Hurricanes reached 50 after exactly six overs. Lee was already dominating the scoring, and she reached her own 50 off 29 balls. By the halfway stage the score had risen to 86-2, with Lee now 65*. Hurricanes took the two over Power Surge immediately on the resumption, the earliest point at which the playing conditions allow it, and 31 runs came from the two overs for no loss. Lee was now in overdrive mode, and her century arrived off her 51st ball. She was far from done. When her score reached 137 she had set the all time WBBL individual record, displacing Grace Harris. She was back on strike with three balls left in the innings and 190 on the board in total. She hit balls four and five of that 20th over for sixes to move to 149 and take Hurricanes past 200. A single off the final ball of the innings saw her to the first ever individual 150 in WBBL cricket, only nine short of the all time record in women’s professional T20 cricket, set for the Northwests by none other than Lee herself. Lee had faced 75 balls, thereby finishing with an SR of precisely 200 for the innings. Among the carnage one bowler escaped all but unscathed: 19 year old pacer Chloe Ainsworth recorded figures of 4-0-17-2, conceding no sixes and only one four. Her team mates thus had a combined 1-186 from 16 overs, an average ER of 11.625 per bowler. An average four over spell from among every bowler other than Ainsworth would have yielded 46.50 runs, so Ainsworth was either 29 or 30 runs more economical than any of her team mates would have been expected to be from a four over allocation.

After that display by Lee neither the result nor the Player of the Match award were in any significant doubt. In the event Scorchers, forced to take risks in pursuit of a huge total, lost wickets rapidly, and ended up 131 all out, beaten by 72 runs, a colossal margin in this form of the game. Heather Graham had 3-24, Lauren Smith with 4-0-11-2 was the most economical bowler on either side. Molly Strano, one of the most consistent performers across the whole ten seasons of the WBBL, also deserves a mention, recording 3-0-17-2. Ainsworth, the sole effective bowler for the Scorchers earlier on, was also top scorer for them, hitting 41 off 27 balls. Both sides now have six points, though Hurricanes have played a game more, and unsurprisingly after this match have a better net run rate.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Thunder Blown Away by Hurricanes

An account of today’s WBBL match (Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Thunder) and a photo gallery.

Today’s match in the WBBL was between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder.

THE HURRICANES INNINGS

Sydney Thunder won the bat flip and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee was out cheaply, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nicola Carey had a good partnership for the second wicket, and then Elyse Villani offered Carey further support. At the halfway stage of their innings the Hurricanes were 64-2 and looking set for a big score. They took the Power Surge (in this competition sides get four overs of standard Power Play at the start of the innings and a two over Power Surge which must be taken in the second half of the innings) immediately, and scored 28 runs from the two overs. At 92-2 after 12 overs 170 looked to be possible and 160 to be no mare than par. Then came a horrendous collapse which started with the dismissal of Carey for a fine 52 and saw four wickets tumble for just 12 runs. Tabatha Saville batted well at number seven, and found some useful late support from Molly Strano, who scored 9 not out off just five balls. The spinners had fared far better than the seamers. Shabnim Ismail’s pace was ineffective, leaving her with 0-30 from four overs, while Hannah Darlington, thad a disastrous 2-0-28-0, although veteran Sammy-Jo Johnson went for just 19 from her four overs and took a wicket. Pick of the Thunder bowlers was left arm spinner Samantha Bates who had 3-20. Hurricanes had amassed 141-7 by the end of their innings, 92-2 off the first 12 overs and 49-5 off the last eight overs.

THE THUNDER REPLY

There are few better options when spin is going to be key than Molly Strano, and the Hurricanes entrusted her with the first over of the innings. The very first ball of the Thunder innings pinned Sri Lankan ace Chamari Athatpaththu who had earlier claimed 2-26 from four overs of off spin plumb LBW. Athapaththu was somewhat slow to leave the crease, but it was one of the plumbest LBWs you could ever see. Phoebe Litchfield survived the remaining five balls of the over, but was not able to score off any of them, thus giving Strano the first maiden of this year’s tournament. Kathryn Bryce, the Scottish all rounder who bowls medium pace, was given the second over and conceded 14, which ended her participation as a bowler. The third over was Strano’s second, and six runs accrued from it. Lauren Smith, another off spinner, bowled the fourth over, and Georgia Voll was dismissed, holing out to Chloe Tryon in the deep to make it 24-2. Tahlia Wilson and Georgia Adams fell for 3 a piece, off four and six balls respectively and it was 38-4 in the seventh over. Anika Learoyd now offered Litchfield, who was playing beautifully after her slow start, the only serious support she would enjoy all innings. Litchfield reached a magnificent 50 off 36 balls, but then suffered a remarkable dismissal – Heather Graham, a medium pacer, fired one wide of the stumps and Lizelle Lee executed a smart stumping. The delivery was signalled wide, but one can be stumped off a wide, and Litchfield had to go, making the score 91-5. Sammy-Jo Johnson, a big hitter on her day, fell cheaply to make it 96-6. Two runs later Nicola Carey effectively ended the contest by bowling Learoyd for 29 to make it 98-7. 44 runs of 5.4 overs is not difficult if you have front line batters available to score them, but when you down to numbers 8,9,10 and 11 it is a major ask. Ella Briscoe and Hannah Darlington added 10 runs together for the eighth wicket before Heather Graham ended what had been a horror day for Darlington by bowling her for four. That was 108-8, which immediately became 108-9 when a mix-up between Ismail and Briscoe saw Ismail suffer that rarity, a zero ball duck (run out 0, having not faced a ball). By this stage were Thunder were a long way behind the required run rate as well. Samantha Bates who had earlier bowled so well got a single, and Briscoe also added a single to her score before the last ball of the 18th over, bowled by Tryon with her left arm spin, clean bowled Bates to make 110 all out and victory to the Hurricanes by 31 runs. Other than Bryce’s single expensive over the most expensive Hurricanes bowler was Tryon with 2-19 from three overs for an ER of 6.33. Heather Graham had 3-19 from her full four overs. Nicola Carey, one of the two half centurions in the match and also the possessor of figures of 3-0-18-1, was named Player of the Match.

After the first 12 overs of this match had yielded 92-2 the last 26 produced a combined 159-15. Bryce in that one over apart the Hurricanes seamers had realized that pace on the ball on this pitch just asked to be hit and deliberately slowed themselves down.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…