Tag: Spring Flowers

The ICC Champions Trophy So Far

A look at the early stages of the Champions Trophy, currently taking place in Pakistan. Also a large and varied photo gallery.

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy got underway on Wednesday. This tournament features the top eight sides in the ICC world rankings, which at present means there are several countries missing who might be expected to be there – none of Sri Lanka, West Indies or Zimbabwe made the cut for example. The format of the tournament (round one seeing the eight split into two groups of four, with the top two from each group moving into the semi-finals) means that even early on teams can find themselves in serious jeopardy.

THE MATCHES SO FAR

Today’s match, between Afghanistan and South Africa, was the third of the tournament, with the only two teams yet to see action being Australia and England who play each other tomorrow. The tournament is officially being staged in Pakistan, but India’s matches are taking place in the UAE as they refuse to travel to Pakistan, and their power in the cricket world is such that they get away with this sort of behaviour whenever they choose to indulge in it.

The tournament opened with Pakistan hosting New Zealand in Karachi. New Zealand batted first and compiled 320, which looked substantial, and was soon made to look even more so by a combination of good New Zealand bowling and some poor batting from Pakistan. Babar Azam scored 60, but took 93 balls to get there, which when your side has been set to score at 6.4 per over is simply not acceptable. Of the first 141 balls of the Pakistan innings exactly 100 were dot balls.

I did not catch any of the game between Bangladesh and India yesterday due to work. I gather that India won comfortably, though not as comfortably as they might – Rohit Sharma dropped an easy chance which would have given Axar Patel a hat trick, the first ever in the Champions Trophy, and the reprieved batter than took part in a huge partnership which gave Bangladesh something to attempt to defend.

Today’s match had strong echoes of Pakistan v New Zealand. South Africa won the toss and batted first, and with Ryan Rickelton scoring a fine century, Bavuma helping to set a platform for them with 58 and then van der Dussen and Markram scoring quicker 50s later on the in the innings (each made 52, off respectively 46 and 36 balls) South Africa emerged with 315-6 from their 50 overs, which looked more than enough. Probably the most disappointed of the Afghans would have been Rashid Khan whose figures of 10-0-59-0 continue a very poor showing in ODI tournament matches (he now has 17 wickets in 19 such matches at an average of over 50 a piece, though his economy rate is acceptable, largely because he is so good that opposition sides will happily settle for blanking his wickets column. Noor Ahmad, the young left arm wrist spinner, was frankly poor, recording 9-0-65-1. In reply Afghanistan never got into the hunt. Rahmat Shah played a fine knock but found no significant support. Other than his 90, the next highest scores were 18s from Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan. When Shah was last out, nicking one from Rabada through to Rickelton South Africa had won by 107 runs, a result which has probably already confirmed that Afghanistan will be making an early exit from the tournament. Rickelton’s century and solid keeping performance (two catches taken, only two byes let through) earned him the Player of the Match award, though Rabada’s 3-36, with Azmatullah Omarzai the least regarded batter of the trio, must have come into the reckoning.

LOOKING AHEAD

Australia are in a weakened state – tomorrow will be the first time in nine years that they take the field without any of Cummins, Hazlewood or Starc, and so makeshift is their squad that they are captained by the sandpaper tarnished Steve Smith. England have been in poor form, and much will come down to how they approach their batting. New Zealand and South Africa have played it right, building a base and then upping the tempo in the later stages. Pakistan were far too conservative in the first half of their chase against New Zealand, dropping irretrievably behind the required rate. England have a tendency to treat 50 over innings as extended versions of 20 over innings, which is how they might well come a cropper. The extra length of the innings means that there are times when consolidation is necessary – though not to the extreme of allowing 100 of the first 141 balls of your team’s innings to be dots!

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The first of the spring flowers are emerging, and it has been warm enough yesterday and today to venture out without a coat.
A juxtaposition of two stamps each of which depict the world’s first Steam Lcomotive, Trevithick’s Pen-y-Darren, which first ran in 1804.

Home Internet Restored

A brief post celebrating the fact that after a week and a half without it I once again have broadband access at home. Ends with a bumper photo gallery, including the first butterfly of 2024.

The engineer came round near the beginning of the official slot of 8AM – 1PM today and connected up my new EE Home Hub, so after a gap of a week and a half I have Broadband at home once again.

A FRIGHTENINGLY WARM FEBRUARY

As I type this it is 12 degrees Celsius outside (53.6 Fahrenheit for USian readers), and that is far from out of keeping with the last week or so, when double figure positives have been the rule rather than the exception. February in high northern latitudes such as England is generally one of the two coldest months of the year alongside January, and the outside temperature hitting double figure positives on a regular basis is way out of kilter. Yesterday while out and about I saw my first butterfly of 2024, a small Tortoiseshell, while the spring flowers are in full bloom.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Saturday and yesterday were both good days for photography, in spite of being cloudy, and I therefore finish this post a king size gallery…

This shot and the next seven after it showcase the Lego architecture that I indulged in at the ‘Just a Cuppa’ morning for Autistic Adults at King’s Lynn Library on Saturday.
This close up of the entrance also shows the topmost part of the gothic archway which links the front porch to the main building.
A small Tortoiseshell butterfly in the grass alongside Bawsey Drain, heading towards North Lynn.

India Level the Series

A look back at the last two days of the second test match of the five match series between India and England and some thoughts about the composition of the England XI. Also a photo gallery.

After many twists and turns India won the second test of the five match India v England series at Vizag when Jasprit Bumrah clean bowled Tom Hartley for 36, making England 292 all out, and India victors by 106 runs. This post looks back at the last couple of days.

THE INDIAN SECOND INNINGS

India started day three of a possible five 28-0 in their second innings, 171 runs ahead with all their wickets intact. Shubman Gill enjoyed a charmed life, surviving one LBW due to an edge that was as much news to him as it was to the rest of us and another on umpire’s call when not quite enough of the ball was deemed to be hitting the top of middle stump. He made the most of this, going on to a century which was instrumental in India getting to 255, a score that meant England would need the highest total of the match batting last to win. Their target of 399 was also over 100 more than any visiting side had ever scored in a fourth innings in India, though four previous tests elsewhere have been won after higher run chases, and in the 99th and last ‘timeless test’ at Durban in 1939 England scored 654-5 before weather and the arrangements for their journey home led to the match being abandoned as a draw with England 42 runs short of the target. However England under Stokes have produced so many surprises that no one was consigning them to defeat just yet.

THE ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS

England lost Duckett just before the close of day three, and Rehan Ahmed was sent in at number three (Pope is a nervous starter, so it makes sense to protect him from having to do so twice over, and Ahmed is good enough with the bat that the possibility of a major innings from him could not be entirely discounted). England closed on 67-1, needing 332 more to win.

The fourth morning (this morning) started with news that James Anderson had said England were in a very good position and that Shubman Gill had assessed India 70-30 favourites, an assessment that in itself spoke volumes for the approach of this England team compared to the last one to visit India in 2021, and the extent to which they have ripped up conventional test standards.

Ahmed was the second to fall, contributing 23 before he did so. Pope exactly matched this score, and his dismissal brough Root to the crease. Root played a frenetic, almost frantic, innings, wildly at variance with the methods that have brought him over 11,000 test runs at an average of 50, and was out for 16 off 10 balls. Crawley, who had batted impressively, then fell to a controversial LBW, which was sent upstairs. At the point the ball hit Crawley’s pad two stumps were exposed and part of the third was visible, which raised questions over whether the impact was truly in line with the stumps. However, the technology ruled that it was out, and England were 194-5. With the score still at 194 Bairstow was pinned by a beauty from Bumrah, LBW for 26. Stokes and Foakes played well for a while, until Foakes edged one behind the wicket but on the floor, Stokes judged that a run was on and was beaten by Shreyas Iyer’s direct hit throw to make it 220-7, this being Iyer’s most significant contribution to the match. Foakes and Tom Hartley then crafted a solid partnership for the eighth wicket, which ended when Foakes gave Bumrah a return catch. That was 275-8. Two landmarks were possible at this stage, Ashwin’s 500th test wicket and a 10-wicket match haul for Bumrah. However Bashir edged one from Mukesh Kumar through to keeper Bharat to make it 281-9 (this was Kumar’s only wicket of what was in truth a wretched match for him) and rule out Bumrah’s 10 wicket match haul. Bumrah then produced a superb delivery to get through Tom Hartley’s defences and end the match. That gave him nine wickets in the match (6-45 and 3-46), and 155 career test wickets at 20.19. Bumrah was named Player of the Match, his marvellous bowling being deemed even more crucial to India’s success than Jaiswal’s double century. I agree with this assessment, though I would have been inclined to give a shared award to both players. England though comfortably beaten in the end were in no way disgraced, though there were too many 20s and 30s in that fourth innings effort, and only Crawley’s 73 as a score of real substance. I think that the ‘three spinners and one seamer’ approach England have taken thus far needs changing – with Leach injured the remaining spinners are all very inexperienced and none are capable at the moment of providing control. I believe that England’s 8,9,10,11 for the third match of this series should read: R Ahmed, T Hartley, OE Robinson, JM Anderson, and if England want to increase the back up spin options available to them in the XI they can drop Bairstow, who has not been impressive this series, and select Dan Lawrence in his place, giving them two part time spin options (Root being the other).

PHOTOGRAPHS

England Go 1-0 Up In India

An account of an amazing finish in Hyderabad and a mention of another in Brisbane.

This morning saw two superb test match finishes. I was following the India v England match on Talk Sport2, while over on Five Live Sports Extra TMS were covering Australia v West Indies. A West Indies side who lacked most of their best known names and had been written off in brutal terms in the run up to the series, and who were 0-1 down in a two match series (this latter is an abomination that should never occur) managed to overcome Australia, winning by a slender eight runs. The body of this post is devoted the action I was listening to, in Hyderabad.

ENGLAND CREATE HOPE

England resumed 126 runs ahead of India with four second innings wickets standing (see here for an account of days 1-3). Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley both provided good support to Ollie Pope, while the Surrey man headed towards a double hundred. At 173 he established a new record for a visiting number three batter in a second innings in India, beating the 172 scored by Ken Barrington at Kanpur in 1961. At 177 he passed Alastair Cook’s record for the highest second innings score in India by any English batter. The loss of Hartley and Wood in quick succession, which brought a limping Leach to the crease (the left arm spinner has a knee injury, though he managed to both bat and bowl today) derailed Pope’s advance on the 200 mark, and in the new circumstances he essayed a somewhat desperate reverse sweep and was out for 196. Given the circumstances (India, pitch showing signs of misbehaviour – the ball that got Rehan Ahmed went through very low indeed, England under the gun for much of his innings) this was as good a test knock as has been played by an English batter in my lifetime. England had reached 420, setting India 231 to win the match. Lunch was taken at the end of the England innings. Few Indian bowlers had cause to enquire to closely as to their figures, but the shining exception was Jasprit Bumrah, who somehow conjured up figures of 4-41. Bumrah now has 146 test wickets at 20.85, which means that of bowlers who have finished with more wickets than him precisely two, Sydney Francis Barnes of England, 189 at 16.43 each and Alan Keith Davidson of Australia with 186 at 20.53 each have better averages than the Indian pace ace.

THE INDIAN CHASE

Rohit Sharma began well for India, while Tom Hartley, perhaps heartened by having batted so well, was a different bowler from the guy who took only just more than 20 overs to concede 100 in the first innings. Hartley got Jaiswal, who had given him a lot of stick in the first innings, and also got Shubman Gill cheaply. Gill has talent to burn, but the hard facts are that after a decent number of tests he now averages below 30 at that level, which is not the stuff of which number threes are made. At 63 Hartley made his most important intervention to date, pinning Sharma LBW for 39 (the Indian skipper sent it upstairs, but it couldn’t have been much plumber than it actually was). Axar Patel was promoted to number five in the hope that the presence of a left hander would disrupt Hartley. He batted reasonably until with 17 to his name he pushed one straight back to Hartley and it was 95-4. At 107 KL Rahul fell LBW to Leach. At 119 came a double blow which virtually settled the issue, Jadeja being run out by Stokes’ direct hit throw and then Shreyas Iyer being caught by Root off Leach. That left India needing 112, with keeper Bharat, off spinning all rounder Ashwin and the two rank tail enders Bumrah and Siraj to score them. Bharat and Ashwin threatened for a while, scoring 57 together before Hartley got one through Bharat;s defences for his fifth wicket of the innings. One run later a smart stumping by Foakes off Hartley sent Ashwin on his way, leaving the two specialist bowlers to attempt to score 54 more for victory. Virtually every ball, especially those faced by Siraj, looked capable of yielding the final wicket, but the end was prolonged deep into the extra eight overs, claimed by England to finish things today, as fortune favoured the batters for a time. Eventually Siraj charged down the pitch against Hartley and missed his shot giving Foakes the easiest of stumping chances, which the keeper made look every bit as easy as it was. India were all out for 202 giving England victory by 28 runs. Hartley, so awful in the first innings, had redeemed himself with 7-62 second time round. Pope, who had taken a couple of catches early in the Indian innings to go with his magnificent 196 was deservedly named Player of the Match. Without his innings there would have been nothing for England to defend. India had cause to rue the cavalier way in which they batted in the first innings – they could and should have scored well over 500 against the England bowling of that innings, and that would have prevented any chance of them facing a target in the face of which they could collapse.

Here are links to full scorecards of this match and AUS v WI.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Spring flowers in The Walks this afternoon.
The inclusion of this pic is a tribute to the victors in Brisbane.