Tag: T20I

England Women Maintain Winning Start To Home Season

A look at the second T20I of the three match series between England Women and Pakistan Women, and a large photo gallery.

Yesterday night saw the second match of the three match T20I series between the England and Pakistan women’s sides. England had won the opener comfortably.

THE ENGLAND INNINGS

Natalie Sciver-Brunt returned to the England XI after missing the series opener. Diana Baig (the first name came about because her mother was a fan of Princess Diana) returned to the Pakistan XI. In spite of England’s dreadful start with the bat in the first game Heather Knight had no hesitation in opting to bat when she won the toss at Wantage Road. England were not entirely convincing, and for most of the innings it didn’t look like they would get much beyond 130. However 17 runs off the last five balls of the innings (Ecclestone scoring 7* off three balls and Danielle Gibson then hitting the last two balls of the innings for four and six to finish with 18* off 10 balls) pushed the total to 144.

THE PAKISTAN REPLY

Pakistan were soon 9-2, but then Sidra Ameen and Muneeba Ali had a respectable partnership. Ali gave Ecclestone a return catch which made the left armer, at a mere 25 years of age, England’s all time leading wicket taker in the format, surpassing Katherine Sciver-Brunt. All rounder Nida Dar (the overall all time leading wicket taker in the format) then fell LBW to Sarah Glenn for 1 and it was 41-4 and Pakistan were in deep trouble. Sidra Ameen and Aliya Riaz then put on 19 together before Sidra Ameen was run out after a mix-up and it was 60-5. From that point on it was all England. Heather Knight having noted that the spinners were proving more testing than the seamers gave Alice Capsey a bowl (though the skipper’s own off spin was not deployed). Capsey picked up the wickets of Aliya Riaz for 19 and Diana Baig for a duck in her first over, and Pakistan were 71-7, with Capsey looking at figures of 2-1. Sarah Glenn then accounted for Fatima Sana for 8 to make it 72-8. The ninth scraped at seven runs, three of them off Capsey, before Ecclestone got both the last two wickets in the space of three balls as Pakistan ended up 79 all out, beaten by 65 runs, a record margin for a T20I at the ground. Ecclestone finished with 3-11, while Capsey’s all round contribution of 31 and 2-4 won her the Player of the Match award. A full scorecard can be viewed here and amore detailed look at the numbers thrown up by this match can be seen here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This pic and the next two come from a library book I read and enjoyed.
Another library find – one of two I have recently read by DV Bishop, set in 16th century Florence.

England Women’s Unusual Route To Victory

A look at yesterday’s T20I between the England and Pakistan women’s teams, the curtain raiser for the home international summer. Also a vast photo gallery (I have two more ready to go, a third at the pre-editing stage and more pictures on my camera).

The international cricket summer got underway yesterday with a T20 international between the England and Pakistan Women’s teams. This post looks at what happened in that match.

ENGLAND FIGHT BACK FROM ABYSMAL START

I missed the early part of the match due to a West Norfolk Autism Group commitment, so I cannot comment on the nature of the dismissals suffered by England near the start. However, I do know that at low water mark they were 11-4, not a position from which many sides have recovered in a T20I. By the time I was able to tune in Heather Knight and Amy Jones were restoring the situation (Knight made 49, Jones 37), and their good work was continued by Danielle Gibson and Sophie Ecclestone, Gibson in particular playing a superb innings to score 41* off just 21 balls. Ecclestone finished on 18*, also scored very quickly, and in the end England has 163-6 from their 20 overs. Not a mammoth total in a T20I, but more than Pakistan Women had ever successfully chased, and quite remarkable after such a dreadful start.

GLENN THE BOWLING HERO

Pakistan started brightly, but wickets began to fall too early for comfort. The slow decline of the Pakistan innings became a crash when Sarah Glenn came into the attack. Glenn took 4-12 from her four overs, a new career best in the format for her, and Pakistan were almost out of it at 89-9. The crash of wickets included a horror spell of three balls for the Pakistan skipper, in the course of which she ran her batting partner out, and then lost her own wicket to a poor shot. The tenth wicket pair did their best, but with over 70 runs needed and them being already well behind the clock it was always a matter ‘when’ and not ‘if’. They cobbled together a stand of 21, before the last wicket went down, giving England a win by 53 runs. England won comfortably in the end, but Pakistan had given them a scare or two along the way – definitively winning the Power Play overs in the England innings and arguably winning that same period of their own innings. Ultimately Knight, Jones, Gibson and Ecclestone rescued England from an awful start with the bat, and Glenn’s outstanding spell with the ball was the clincher when Pakistan batted.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have absolutely masses of photographs to share, having been posting about the trip to Pensthorpe for the last week, while gathering many more pictures in this splendid Norfolk spring weather (as I type this I am sat outside in shorts and t-shirt, with the temperature officially 24 degrees, and a light breeze blowing, and temperatures have been hitting the low 20s consistently for some days)…

Two Great Performances in Losing Causes

A look at two remarkable performances that came in losing causes, a brief mention of an innings victory for Sri Lanka and some photographs.

Yesterday saw two remarkable games of cricket, each featuring a notable performance for a member of a badly beaten team.

INTERNATIONAL: SURYAKUMAR YADAV

In the final match of the T20I series England batted first against India. With Dawid Malan leading the way (77 off 39), England posted a massive total. For a time it looked like India might chase them down, and had Suryakumar Yadav had proper support they probably would have done. As it was, the only person to stay with him for any length of time, Shreyas Iyer, did not score quick enough on his own account. Yadav scored 117 off 55 balls, and India went down by 17 runs. Although I understand why Reece Topley got Player of the Match for his three crucial wickets I personally would have given it to Yadav.

DOMESTIC: GEORGE SCRIMSHAW

In the evening the last of the four Vitality Blast quarter finals took place. Somerset were at home to Derbyshire. Somerset were scoring at ten an over at the end of the 11th over, but then went on a spectacular charge which saw the last nine overs yield over 150 runs. This meant a final total of 265-5, an all time tournament record, for Somerset. Leg spinner Matthew McKiernan earned a place in the record books for the wrong reason – his 4-0-82-0 was the most expensive four overs in T20 history. Yet in amongst the dung heap that was the Derbyshire bowling figures one jewel shone out: George Scrimshaw 4-0-16-2. Given that his team mates collectively had 3-249 from 16 overs, for an ER of 15.56 per over his performance prevented a Somerset tally of over 300. The runs his bowling saved unsurprisingly counted for little in the end – a dispirited Derbyshire sank to 74 all out and defeat by 191 runs, yet another record.

SOME NEWS FROM ABROAD

Sri Lanka is a country in turmoil at the moment. Their male cricketers gave them something to enjoy though – around noon UK time they completed a victory over Australia by an innings and 39 runs. Australia managed 364 batting first, Sri Lanka took 190 run lead, piling up 554 with Dinesh Chandimal scoring an unbeaten double hundred. Australia then mustered a meagre 151 all out in their second innings. Chandimal’s innings notwithstanding, the star of this victory was debutant Prabath Jayasuriya, a left arm orthodox spinner who had taken 6-118 in the first dig when conditions were all in the batters favour. Second time around on a surface now offering assistance to spinners he claimed 6-59. Only three players have ever had better match figures on debut than his – Narendra Hirwani took 16-136 for India v West Indies, Bob Massie took 16-137 for Australia v England, and Fred ‘Nutty’ Martin took 12-102 for England against Australia in 1890. None of those three went on to have long or illustrious careers, but Jayasuriya can look at two who took 11 on debut: Clarrie Grimmett went on to claim 216 test wickets, an all comers record at the time, and Alec Bedser took 236 in his career. At 30 years of age Jayasuriya is three years older than Bedser was and three years younger than Grimmett was when he made his debut.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Babar Azam’s Command Performance

A look at two contrasting T20s, one featuring Babar Azam and one featuring Virat Kohli, a mathematical teaser and a lot of photographs.

There was much wailing and gnashing of Indian teeth this morning as the new ODI batting rankings came out with Babar Azam promoted to no1, pushing Virat Kohli down to no2. Both were in T20 action today, Babar for Pakistan against South Africa and Virat for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Sunrisers Hyderabad. This post tells the story of the international match and where we are at so far in the IPL game.

RUNS GALORE AT JO’BURG

Johannesburg is no stranger to high scoring matches (just ask Ricky Ponting, who once failed to defend 434 in an ODI there!) but even so South Africa would have expected a tally of 203 from their 20 overs to be chased down with quite such ridiculous ease. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan opened the batting together and for a long time it looked like they were leading their side to a ten wicket win. Babar Azam took just 49 balls to reach his 100, and Rizwan also topped 50 quite comfortably. So unfortunately for him did Beuran Hendricks with the ball – 4-0-55-0. Eventually Babar Azam fell to the fourth ball iof the 18th over to make it 197-1, his own share 122 off 59 balls. Fakhar Zaman came in to bat and clouted the last two balls of the 18th over for fours to settle the issue with nine wickets and two whole overs unused.

RCB V SRH

Kohli was named to no one’s surprise as captain and opening batter in the Royal Challengers Bangalore XI to face Sunrisers Hyderabad. Such is Kohli’s power in certain circles that an innings of 33 off 29 balls, in reality an awful performance in a T20, was described by at least one commentator as “An excellent cameo.” Only Maxwell, who came close to living up to his moniker of “The Big Show” with 59 not out off 41 balls, did anything significant with the bat and RCB were held to 149-8 from their 20 overs, a total that seems modest. Rashid Khan as so often in any game of which is part was well to the fore with the ball, finishing with 2-18 from his four overs, and outstanding effort in this form of cricket. Although Saha fell for just one in the reply David Warner and Manish Pandey seem to be in little trouble, with SRH now 32-1 off four overs and looking set for a comfortable win.

A MATHEMATICAL TEASER

This is today’s offering from brilliant.org, slightly modified as their setting gave multiple choice options for the answer, which opened up a hack that I availed myself of. Can you solve this in the intended way and work out the answer? My hack, and an authentic solution will appear in my next post. Click here for more.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off, with Warner and Pandey still going nicely, and Bairstow waiting to come in next…

PS as I publish, SRH are 75-1 in the tenth, well on course to chase down the modest target they have been set.

T20I Series in India Goes to a Decider

An account of today’s #INDvENG T20I cricket match and a solution to yesterday’s mathematical teaser, plus some photographs.

This post looks at an extraordinary game of cricket that has just taken place in India. I also provide a solution to the mathematical conundrum from brilliant.org that I posed yesterday and of course a few photographs.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England were unchanged, India had two changes. Ishan Kishan had a minor injury and was replaced by Suryakumar Yadav. Yuzvendra Chahal was dropped and replaced by another leg spinner, Rahul Chahar. Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bowl.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

Neither of India’s openers were massively convincing, and Kohli at no 4 also failed with the bat. However, Suryakumar Yadav played a quite magnificent innings, at one stage threatening to record a century, and Rishabh Pant also played very nicely. India put up 185-8 in the end, a total that looked defensible but not unassailable. Jofra Archer took four wickets, Mark Wood was also impressive, but Adil Rashid had an off day for once, and Jordan, Stokes and Curran were all unimpressive as well.

THE ENGLAND RESPONSE

Buttler failed, Malan got a bit of a start but did not go on, Roy reached 40 for the third time of the series and for the third time of the series got out with a seriously big score apparently beckoning. Bairstow and Stokes batted well together before Bairstow was out, and then it looked like Stokes and Morgan were taking England close. However, both fell to Thakur in consecutive deliveries at the start of the 18th. Curran and Jordan played decently for the rest of that over, but then Curran fell in the 19th. A four off the last ball of the 19th by Archer reduced the requirement to 23 off the final over. Thakur, who had put India in command with his bowling at the start of the 18th now lost his bearings and at one point the ask was down to ten off three balls, but then he regathered his nerve, and India emerged victorious by eight runs, setting up a final game decider on Saturday. Although the standard of play was high an both sides it is not really acceptable for 40 overs of cricket to occupy four and a quarter hours of playing time as happened today.

SOLUTION TO A TEASER

Yesterday I set you the following:

In total there are 512 small cubes in the structure. Of these 216 (6x6x6) are purely internal and therefore unpainted, eight are corner cubes and painted on three faces, which leaves 288 cubes painted on either one or two faces. The cubes painted on one face are those in the centre of each visible face, which number 36 on each face = 216 in total. This leaves 72 cubes painted on two faces, and 216 – 72 = 144. For a cube with side length n, there will eight corner pieces, (n-2) ^ 3 centre pieces that are thus unpainted, 6 ((n-2)^2) pieces that are painted on one face only and 12 (n-2) pieces that are painted on exactly two faces. Though these equations only start to work once n is greater than 2 – a 2 x 2 x 2 cube has eight blocks each of which are painted on three faces.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…