Tag: The SCG

England Just About Hanging On

A look at day four at the SCG, a link and a photo gallery.

This post deals with day four of the final test match of the Ashes series, at the SCG.

A NEW TALENT ANNOUNCES ITSELF

Play resumed on day four with Australia 518-7, already 134 runs ahead of England on first innings. The last three Australian wickets boosted that total to 567, an overall lead of 183. England were further handicapped as they prepared for their second innings by a muscle strain suffered by Ben Stokes. Ben Duckett contributed 42, his highest score of the series. There was also a score of 42 from Harry Brook. Will Jacks, who as I have said elsewhere is actually more batter than bowler failed horrifically to take advantage of a promotion to number six, Stokes having decided to bat later in the order, playing a horrible shot to his second ball to give Cameron Green a catch off the bowling of Beau Webster. First to go had been Zak Crawley, LBW to Starc for 1. That meant that Jacob Bethell, batting at number three in spite of never having scored a first class hundred had to come in right at the start of the innings. He rose to the challenge brilliantly, playing a proper test match innings, showing skill, technique and the right temperament for the job in hand. It was during the stand with Brook that he reached that maiden first class century (while it is not commonplace for this to happen in a test match it is not super rare either – Charles Bannerman’s 165 in the first ever test match was his maiden FC century, and there is another member of the current England setup to have done the same thing, Gus Atkinson). Even after Brook’s dismissal and the Jacks howler referred to earlier he went on unperturbed, finding some support from Jamie Smith. Brydon Carse helped the eighth wicket to advance the score by 30, and at the end Matthew Potts was supporting Bethell, who ended the day unbeaten on 142, having faced 232 balls and hit 15 fours, with England 302-8, 119 to the good. Bethell’s innings was England’s third three figure score of the series, and both the previous two were scored by Joe Root, a universally acknowledged master of test match batting technique. I am not yet fully prepared to renounce my scepticism regarding Bethell’s selection, but I see no reason for this century not to be the first of many, and if he continues to deliver the goods as he did this day I will acknowledge that fact.

PHOTOGRAPHS

First I have a link to share, from science.org, to this article about how multi-cellular life may have come about. It is an appropriate share since my gallery includes pictures from all three of the multi-cellular or eukaryotic kingdoms. Now for my usual sign off…

A pair of swans on the Gaywood River
A purely plant picture – a leaf lying on grass.
Three cormorants perched on the structure I have named in their honour, with a large gull in among them.
A Little Egret just far enough into the Nar to be reflected back by the water.
And just a tad later on the wing.
A lapwing at the edge of the Nar.
A bracket fungus of some sort fairly high up a big tree.
The sculpted sections of the Gaywood, in The Walks, clearly did freeze to some extent (and bear in mind that today has been less cold than Monday or Tuesday and that there was rain overnight).
A kite flying above Bawsey drain.

Australia Take Control in Sydney

A look back at days two and three at the SCG and a photo gallery.

Before I get into the main meat of this post, the events of days two and three in the fifth Ashes test in Sydney I have some important news from today. On Christmas morning my computer started failing to recognize the existence of WIFI networks, and today I was finally able to take it to a friend in Fakenham who is a professional fixer of computers, and it is once again fully functioning.

AN ENGLAND INNINGS WITH A FAMILIAR PATTERN

England resumed on the second day on 211-3. For much of that second day things looked to be continuing to go their way. Although Jamie Smith suffered the daftest dismissal of the series (even in this series, where that particular field is highly contested it stood out like a sore thumb) just before lunch, slapping a long hop from part timer Marnus Labuschagne straight into deep extra cover’s hands most of the rest of the news for England was good. At 375-6 a very big total looked on, but the last four wickets tumbled for a mere nine further runs. It was still England’s best first innings effort of the series, and what made the whole pattern of this innings so familiar was that it was undergirded by a huge score from Joseph Edward Root. Root’s 160 was his second hundred of the series, and the 41st of his test career.

POOR BOWLING FROM ENGLAND

Having batted reasonably well England proceeded to bowl like drains. By the end of day two Australia were 166-2, with Travis Head in sight of his third century of the series. Matthew Potts, playing his first match since the game in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI, and his first first class match since the end of the English season was especially poor, conceding runs rapidly and not looking threatening.

ONE WAY TRAFFIC ON DAY THREE

Travis Head powered on to 163 in the early part of the day. By the close a much more experienced cricketer, Steve Smith, had also cruised past three figures, and Beau Webster, batting at number nine through a combination of a batter heavy original selection and the use of a night watcher the previous evening, supported him impressively in the closing stages, against a tiring bowling unit. Australia closed on 518-7, already 134 to the good, having scored 352-5 on the day. Potts had 0-141 from 25 overs, Carse had claimed three wickets but had also been very expensive. Tongue and Stokes each went at about three an over, and even part time spinners Jacks and Bethell were far less expensive than the two Durham bowlers who had shared the new ball. At their high water mark of 375-6 on the second afternoon England looked well placed, a day and a half later they have every appearance of being deep in a Kimberley diamond mine sized hole.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Ice on the surface of a frozen pond (lest the blue skies and evidence of sunshine fool you regarding the weather this January in England).
A section of Bawsey Drain, frozen over (the faster flowing Gaywood river has not frozen over, and the Great Ouse is an even less likely candidate for doing so).
This snow fell during Sunday night/ early Monday morning, and although there has been no new snow since then it has yet to disappear.
A footprint (mine) in the snow.

Day 1 in Sydney

A look back at the opening day of the final test match of the 2025-6 Ashes at the SCG and a photo gallery.

Late last night UK time the fifth and final test match of the 2025-6 Ashes series got underway at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This post looks back at the day.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Gus Atkinson was unavailable for England due to injury, and Matthew Potts was named as his replacement. This was England’s only change from the side that had won the Boxing Day test match in Melbourne, which meant that Shoaib Bashir, fast tracked into the England ranks due to the fact that his height would enable him to generate extra bounce, an asset that should make itself especially felt on Australian surfaces, would end up not playing a match in the entire series. Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FRUSTRATING

The bad element of the day came first, with England losing three wickets, Duckett (who has had a wretched series) for 27, Crawley for 16 and Bethell for 10. That was 57-3. and brought the two Yorkshiremen, Joe Root and Harry Brook together. This pair proceeded to bat beautifully until just before tea when it rained, sending the players in. In the event there was no further cricket in the day, though the commentators were absolutely adamant that there could and therefore should have been – it was dry for most of the evening session. Possibly, with most matches so far this series having not gone the distance, and two having finished in two days each the home side wanted as many days play as possible in Sydney and the local ground staff did not exactly bust a gut to get play back underway. The score at the end of a truncated day was 211-3, Brook 78 not out, Root 72 not out, and a wicket a piece for Starc, Neser and Boland.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Not a common sight for a town centre location – a pheasant outside St Nicholas Chapel