A look at developments in Surrey v Sussex, where the home side have taken a firm grip on proceedings, and a photo gallery.
The current round of Championship fixtures is now deep in to day three of a scheduled four. I have been following Surrey v Sussex.
WEATHER INTERVENES
Play ended early yesterday due to bad light and rain, with Surrey having reached 292-2 in reply to Sussex’s 358-9 declared. Due to yesterday’s interruption extra overs were scheduled for today. Today has been dominated by two players at opposite ends of the spectrum. The veteran Dom Sibley, as so often a near immovable object at the top of the Surrey order, was finally sixth out after 518 minutes and 377 balls, for 187. Surrey at that point had 446 on the board, an advantage of 88. Jordan Clark managed a mere 5, which made it 461-7. That brought Sean Abbott in to join first class debutant Adam Thomas. The pair are still in residence as I write, and have boosted the Surrey score to 600-7, with Thomas topping three figures on his first class debut, and Abbott, better with the bat than most number nines, well past the 50 mark. I suspect that if Sussex do not capture the last three wickets (and there is little sign of them being capable of doing so) Surrey will declare at some point at this evening to have a shot at Sussex tonight. In an otherwise sorry looking list of Sussex bowling figures one name stands out: Jack Carson, already with a ton to his name, has figures of 34-4-128-4, which is very respectable in such a massive score. Henry Crocombe has had occasional moments of looking threatening, but has a modest 27-4-89-1. Tea is now being taken with Surrey 615-7, a lead of 257 so far. I would expect Surrey to bat on a bit after tea before declaring (a new ball, due in another four overs, does not seem quite so threatening when it will be the third such of the innings).
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The three runners raising money for WNAG in this year’s GEAR (right foreground), with the crowds of other runners plus three big buildings, Fraser Dawbarns, The Corn Exchange and Bishop’s Lynn House providing the back drop.A large beetle with a red-brown body, black legs and antennae rests on a green leaf in Kettlewell Lane Park (two pics).
A look at goings on in the fourth round of the 2026 county championship and a large photo gallery.
Between the games that ended early in definite results and the ones that ended with handshakes on the inevitable draw about 10 minutes ago another round of county championship fixtures is at an end. There is only one place to start, though I caught only the last few minutes of it…
DURHAM’S GREAT CHASE
Chester-le-Street has just borne witness to a remarkable turnaround. At one point Durham were 217-9 in reply to Lancashire’s 370, and in danger of not avoiding the follow-on (though Lancashire may well have chosen not to enforce in any case). Their last pair Matthew Potts and Callum Parkinson added 78 together for the tenth wicket, so Lancashire led by a mere 75 on first innings. Then, hoping to have a bowl at Durham in murky evening light, Lancashire declared on 260-9, a lead of 335. Unfortunately the light was too murky for their strategy to take effect. Even so, when Durham openers Lees and McKinney both fell cheaply and the score read 46-2 it looked dicey for Durham. However that was the end of success for the Lancashire bowlers, as Emilio Gay (159 not out) and David Bedingham (129 not out) put on an unbroken 290 together carrying their side to a remarkable eight wicket win.
SURREY v ESSEX
This game has been my main focus in this round, and at the start of today quick wickets were needed to breathe life into it. When Gus Atkinson struck in the first over it looked possible, but only one further wicket fell all day, though Surrey’s fielders let a couple of chances go begging. One quirk of this day, as Surrey realized there was no point tiring out the regular bowlers was that Ben Foakes bowled two overs near the end, with Jordan Clark standing in behind the stumps. The only Surrey players not asked to bowl were Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith.
ELSEWHERE
The only two definite results other than at Durham were both in division two, Worcestershire beating Kent by an innings and two runs in a match that did make it to the final day, and Gloucestershire beating Derbyshire by 10 wickets in a successful enforcement of the follow-on – Gloucestershire 498, Derbyshire 281 and 252, Gloucestershire 39-0. Warwickshire fared less well with the same tactic in the first division, Nottinghamshire batting through for 537-7 in their second innings to secure the draw, having built a lead of 357, but never being in a position, especially with the inflated award of eight points for a drawn match, to declare in an attempt to force victory.
PHOTOGRAPHS
This building has a macabre legend attached to it……as explained by this plaque……with this shot showing the heart in the brickwork.Fraser Dawbarns is handsome building as well. Yesterday was a WNAG pizza making session at Pizza Express, and I had spent over two hours out walking before arriving at the venue 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. This shows the base ready to be topped.Adding the tomato sauce.Then the chosen toppingsThen the cheese, and oregano powder as a flavour enhancer.Ready for consumption – and it was good.
A look at goings on on day two of Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.
Today is the second day of the county championship season. This post looks at events at Edgbaston where Warwickshire and Surrey are playing.
YESTERDAY EVENING
Surrey continued the fightback I reported on yesterday, eventually reaching 328, of which 128 came from the bat of Ben Foakes. The last wicket fell right on the stroke of time, meaning that Warwickshire did not have to bat in the evening session. They would have been disappointed to let Surrey off the hook from 65-6, but would also have noted that the pitch was definitely easier to bat on than it had been at the start.
TODAY
Today has belonged to Warwickshire. They have moved into a first innings lead for the loss of a mere two wickets. All four batters to have gone to the crease for them so far (Alex Davies, Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain) have topped 50. Mousley reached his first ever county century (he has scored an FC hundred for The Lions, England’s ‘understudy’ squad) just before the light got bad enough for the umpires to take the players off. With Sam Hain unbeaten on 80 at the other end Warwickshire were 330-2, two runs ahead of Surrey’s 328. With the pitch now playing very easily Warwickshire can and should leave Surrey with only a draw to play for – it would be advisable for Warwickshire to give themselves a bowl at Surrey tomorrow evening if they are not already all out by then, but they can certainly afford to bat for two whole sessions tomorrow, and possibly for another hour after tea just to render their lead insuperable.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The WNAG 4th birthday cake.Pictures of my new trophy and medal (six in total).Today’s pictures start here.
A look at events in Warwickshire v Surrey on the opening day of a new cricket season and a photo gallery from work.
The 2026 first class cricket season got underway at 11am UK time this morning, making use of the fact that today and Monday are both bank holidays to play a round of four-day fixtures on which no day will be a regular working day. This post looks at goings on at Edgbaston where Warwickshire are facing Surrey. One piece of big general championship news is that the powers that be have seen sense and abandoned the experiment of using the Kookaburra ball in English matches as the failure it was.
EARLY STRUGGLES
Warwickshire won the toss and put Surrey in to bat. Surrey survived a tough morning largely through Dominic Sibley who batted through at one end. They should have made it through the session for the loss of three wickets, but a loose shot from Dan Lawrence right on the stroke of the interval handed Ethan Bamber his third scalp of the morning and sent Surrey in for lunch at 61-4. Almost as soon as the afternoon session started there was more trouble for Surrey, as Sibley was caught by Rob Yates off Chris Woakes and then Woakes clean bowled teenager Ralphie Albert to make it 65-6…
THE REVIVAL
At that point Ben Foakes, a world class wicket keeping all rounder who should be a regular in the England test side, was joined by Tom Lawes, a talented young seam bowler who can bat. This pair batted through the afternoon session, Lawes reaching a new career best 78 not out by the interval, while Foakes was on 55 not out, and the score had risen to 198-6. Foakes is a very experienced campaigner, and is likely to pass the career landmark of 10,000 first class runs before the end of the season. Play is just resuming for the evening as I type this.
PHOTOGRAPHS
First, a standalone from last night, the fourth birthday of the West Norfolk Autism Group (WNAG):
Me at the fourth birthday celebrations of WNAG, which took place at Strikes in Gaywood yesterday evening. The trophy I am holding aloft is for a win at ten pin bowling, while the gold medal around my neck is for a triumph at scrabble. The WNAG T shirt is on over my jumper because it was not warm enough to be in just a T shirt and I felt that on this occasion that T shirt had to be on display.
My remaining pictures come from work…
We start with some items of militaria which will be going under the hammer at the end of April.This lot made almost double the high estimate in our March auction……partly because of this image of the reverse and the accompanying confirmation that I was able to offer that the blob of gum is original.This is one of 70 postcard lots in the April sale – I have not images the others yet.
A look back at days two and three of the test match in Brisbane, some comments regarding the makeup of the England side, and a photo gallery.
This post looks back at days two and three of the test match in Adelaide that is currently in progress.
DAY 2
England took far too long to dispose of the last two Australian wickets, allowing them to boost the total to 371. Australia then did what England had signally failed to do: bowl properly. The best one can say about England’s efforts in the face of a very good bowling performance from Australia is that at least on this occasion they were in general got out rather than giving their wickets away. The chief exception was Ollie Pope, whose shot against Nathan Lyon was gruesomeness personified. The bowler, returning after missing Brisbane, an omission about which he was in his own words “filthy” could not be sure how things would go for him. Pope hit the veteran off spinner’s very first ball straight to midwicket to depart for 3. That brought Lyon level with McGrath on 563 scalps, and a few moments later he was alone as Australia’s second most prolific test wicket taker ever behind Warne when he bowled Ben Duckett. Brook batted with greater responsibility than he had shown in the first two matches (it would have been hard for him to show less) to accrue 45, at a still reasonable speed. Stoked dug in for the long haul, and before the close of this day, Archer, a five-for already to his name found himself in action with the bat. England ended on 213-8, 158 adrift.
DAY THREE
England began well, staging a significant batting revival of their own, with Archer clocking up a maiden test 50 and Stokes battling on to 83. They managed 286, a deficit of 85. Sadly that was the last good news for England. The rest of the day was dominated by Travis Head, scoring his second ton of the series (England have one such score between them, from Root in Brisbane, for this series). Australia soon realized that other than Archer the England bowling contained zero threat. Will Jacks, again used as a stock spinner, ended the day with 1-107 from 19 overs (for comparison Lyon, a genuine bowler, had 2-70 from 28 overs in England’s innings, which is what proper stock bowling looks like). This is not an attack on Jacks, a fine cricketer but not, repeat not, a front line spinner. He is a good batter and an occasional bowler, and England sticking him in at number eight as a supposed front line bowler was a poor call – and it is England against whom my ire is directed. In the first innings Jacks had 2-105 from 20 overs. The last bowler to concede 100 or more in each innings of an Ashes match before this was Shane Warne, in a game in which he captured 12 wickets, and the last English bowler to do so was Ian Botham at The Oval in 1981, when he took 11 wickets. Jacks at the moment has 3-212 for the match. Usman Khawaja scored 40, but Head’s best support came from Alex Carey who followed his first century by reaching 52 not out. Australia were 271-4 at the close, 356 ahead, with Head 142 not out.
LOOKING AHEAD
After the close of play England’s spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel acted as spokesperson for the team. In a moment that brought to mind (at least to my mind) the ‘many worlds‘ view espoused by certain cosmologists Patel told those listening that Jacks had not bowled badly today. There may indeed be an alternate universe in which Jacks did not bowl badly (possibly even one in which he actually bowled well), but in the universe in which this match was played and in which I was listening his 1-107 from 19 overs was not an unfair reflection on his bowling. It is not Jacks’ fault – he was put in to a job that he does not do even at domestic level, which is the fault of those making that call, but Jeetan Patel did himself no favours by producing such a blatant porky. Unless miracles happen on days four and five England will move on to the Boxing Day test having already surrendered both Ashes and series. Two players who cannot be allowed to keep their places based on the evidence so far available are Pope and Carse. I would replace Carse with Matt Potts, a crafty fast-medium in place of a brainless pacer. As for Pope I would use the necessity of dropping him to change the balance of the side, by bringing in Bashir. The number three slot could go either to Jacks, a top order batter for Surrey, or Stokes could move up and take on that crucial position himself. To win a test match in general you need to take 20 wickets. At Perth and Brisbane England managed 12 wickets each time. They have taken 14 so far here, but the only way they will make it to all 20 is if Australia decide that there is so much time left in the match they need not bother to declare.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
An unusual £2 coin I got in change recently. Given who it is commemorating the skull is obviously that of Yorick.The West Norfolk Autism Group committee Christmas lunch took place at the Crown & Mitre today.We were in the room (effectively a large lean-to greenhouse) overlooking the Great Ouse. There is an outside seating area beyond this room if you are there in summer.This picture of the outside of the Crown & Mitre shows the room we were in – the white structure bottom right.The street frontage.
A look at a fascinating morning and early afternoon yesterday at Watatunga Wildlife Reserve, complete with photographs.
Yesterday four members of the West Norfolk Autism Group went to Watatunga Wildlife Reserve, four miles south of King’s Lynn, for what as supposed to be a get together of people from various charities with mental health connections and Watatunga management to discuss working together and making the Watatunga experience more accessible. As part of this we were to be shown the entire reserve by means of trailer rides.
LACK OF TAKE UP
In the event our group was the only group to show up, and the Watatunga people decided to do only one trailer ride and then we would talk over coffee. The Watatunga experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and we had a very constructive discussion afterwards.
This is an Indian bustard, an even bigger beast of a bird……than this, which is a great bustard.The brindled wildebeest closer to the water than usual for such a creature, because he has made friends with some water buffalo, and although he won’t join them in the water he will go close to the edge when they are in the water.The brindled wildebeest has a name – William – and a nickname – Willy Wonka. This close up og his head shows the wonky horns that give him his nickname.Water buffalo doing water buffalo things, with coots in the background.This is an eastern Bongo – the silvery stripes make it very distinctive.This is a Cape Eland, the largest of all antelope species.Possibly the best picture I got of the bongo.Three species in a single picture – the brindled wildebeest, the Cape Eland and the bongo are all present.A Nilgaitwo male silver pheasants.The first of two guinea fowl species we would see.
WATATUNGAWILDLIFE
The name Watatunga has two elements, the ‘Wat’ part comes from Watlington, the nearest village to the reserve, while the ‘atatunga’ derives from Sitatunga, which is one of the species of ungulates there. Apart from the water buffalo, which are of course cattle and have horns the ungulates fall in to two main types – antelopes and their kin, which have horns, and deer which have antlers. As well as antlers being in general considerably more elaborate than horns there is a second key difference – horns are for life, whereas antlers are seasonal. This latter explains why William the brindled wildebeest has wonky horns – he took a knock before he was brought to Watatunga, and because horns are for life his horns are permanently misaligned. As well as the ungulates there are some exotic birds housed at Watatunga. The first part of the gallery above included cranes. We will be seeing other species in the second part of the gallery.
This is a roan antelope.Pere Davide’s DeerVulturine guinea fowl.Javan peafowl – these differ from the Indian variety in that the male and female have the same colouring, and that they are green rather than blue.The great bustard, ar rest. Your reminder that birds are feathered dinosaurs!These were not flagged up by our guides, but I reckon they are Egyptian geese.White stork.Our transport round the reserve.
An account of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra’s first ever relaxed concert, which took place yesterday at The Corn Exchange, King’s Lynn. Also a photo gallery.
This is the first of two posts I will be putting up today. The second will complete the story of the test match at Edgbaston, which ended yesterday evening. This one looks back at a special event that took place yesterday afternoon.
A NEW DEPARTURE
The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra staged a relaxed concert, the first such that they have done, at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn yesterday afternoon. The seating was loosely arranged on an open floor and at the same level as the orchestra. There were no hard and fast rules to adhere to, though there a request was made of people that they not go in among the orchestra as doing would so would disrupt the concentration of the players. The West Norfolk Autism Group had been allocated seats (tickets free of charge), and I was one of those who attended. The concert was scheduled to start at 2:30, and we were advised to arrive early. I was actually the first of the attendees to arrive, getting to the Corn Exchange pretty much on the dot of two o’clock. The performance lasted a little more than an hour.
THE MUSIC
Just before the performance was due to start we were given sheets listing the music – 13 pieces were named in total, and the sheet made it clear that not all would be played.
This image is of an a4 printed sheet which has the official Norfolk Symphony Orchestra header, below which appears “Welcome to our relaxed concert today we hope you enjoy it. We will be some playing music from the following list The pieces will be introduced as we go along so you know what we are playing
Brahms – St Anthony Chorale Variations Pachelbel – Canon Wiseman – Wilde Suite Nyman – Time Lapse Daft Punk – Adagio for Tron Faure – Sicilienne Arthur Benjamin – Jamaican Rumba Ernest Bucalossi – Grasshopper Dance Tchaikovsky – Sleeping Beauty Waltz Vaughan-Williams – Greensleeves Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Elgar – Salut D’Amour Rachmaninoff – Vocalise”
The first two pieces actually played were the Brahms and the Elgar. They were followed by three film pieces by Wiseman, Nyman and Daft Punk. Debbie Wiseman was voted the world’s best living composer in 2022, and the Wilde Suite provided some indication of why. The performance then finished with three dance pieces, the Jamaican Rumba, the Grasshopper Dance and the Sleeping Beauty Waltz. All were excellent and all were very well performed. I thoroughly enjoyed this event and look forward to the next one. My only mild regret is that the Pachelbel piece did not make the cut.
The third post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group trip to Pensthorpe.
This is third post in my series about the West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe (see here and here). This post is devoted to the cranes and flamingos. I made two visits to that part of Pensthorpe in the course of the day, one near the start, and one just after eating lunch.
THE CRANE AND FLAMINGO AREA
The Crane and Flamingo Area has two ways in and out, both in between the Flamingo pond and the Crane hide. It is close to the wetland area, and also close to the Monet inspired bridge. Pensthorpe is very well equipped with signage, so finding one’s way there is not difficult, but it is not on the way to or from anywhere else, so it requires a conscious decision to give it your attention. There are four different crane species to be seen, each viewable from a different window of the hide.
The opening post in what wiull be a series about the annual West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve.
Yesterday saw the annual West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near the town of Fakenham in Norfolk. This post lays out the day and introduces areas of the reserve that I will be covering in more detail, before ending with some general Pensthorpe pictures that don’t belong in any particular post. Please note for both this and subsequent posts in the series: a gallery can be opened by clicking on the first picture there in, and viewing pictures as a gallery enables them to be seen at larger size.
THE DAY IN BRIEF
Some of those coming on this trip had chosen to make their own way to Pensthorpe and meet us there, but for those who either did not wish to do this or had no option of doing so a coach had been hired. Departure from the parking area near Gaywood Library (King’s Lynn and its environs are not massively equipped with places where a coach can park up) was scheduled for 9:30AM, meaning that to ensure a prompt departure we had to get there a bit before that to take our places. As it happens other than the driver and his young son who was also along for the day I was the first to arrive and board the coach. We set off exactly at the appointed hour, and pulled into the coach parking area at Pensthorpe at approximately 10:15 (Pensthorpe when approached from King’s Lynn is a little further than Fakenham, and a road diversion forced us closer to the centre of Fakenham than would have been normal for a journey to Pensthorpe). After a group photograph using the coach as a backdrop we were ready to start the day in earnest. Equipped with brightly coloured paper wristbands by way of indicating that our admission was paid we set off. The only absolutely fixed points of the day were the trailer rides (I was booked on the second of the two we had organized, due to depart at noon) and the return journey, scheduled for 3:15PM (and we departed exactly on time, arriving back at Gaywood just after 4PM). The rest was up to us. There is a huge amount to see and to do at Pensthorpe, and the next section briefly introduces some of things I did, with photographic highlights.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
One of my favoured areas at Pensthorpe is the Waders Aviary, to which I made several visits (it is centrally located, so on the way to or from almost anywhere on the site).
Not all of the birds in the Waders Aviary are actually Waders.
Also ideally located for dipping in and out of as and when is the Discovery Centre.
The Trailer Ride is as far as I am concerned an essential part of the Pensthorpe experience:
My other great favourite, which I visited twice in the course of the day, is the Crane and Flamingo area.
These are neither crane nor flamingo, but were to be seen in between the Flamingo pool and the Crane hide.This shot of a flamingo taking to the air justified my second visit to that area all on its own.
GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS
I end with photos from non-specific parts of Pensthorpe:
A nesting coot (moorhens also build floating nests).The Monet inspired bridge.The first of a number of shots of a coot family – my first ever sighting of coot chicks.
A look back at the final day of the opening round of County Championship 2025 fixtures, my pictures of the WNAG third birthday cake and my regular photo gallery.
Monday was day four of the opening round of County Championship matches, and I was too taken up with following the action to write about it at the time. This post looks back at the events of that final day.
TO THE WIRE
At just before 7PM on Monday the penultimate ball of the only match still in action by then, Middlesex v Lancashire, was a dot ball, leaving Lancashire eight down, but with only ball left, and therefore the draw secured. It was the fourth draw in the opening round of fixtures, but of those draws only one could be accused of dullness. Sussex unaccountably batted on in their second innings until not long before tea on the final day by when they were over 380 ahead of Warwickshire. Sussex’s refusal to declare earlier when the fourth innings would have been meaningful condemned that game to a stalemate. The next match to end in a draw was the one I listened to for most of its duration, Essex v Surrey. There was almost half an hour left when the players shook hands, but Surrey had just moved into the lead for the first time of the match, meaning that Essex needed not just to complete the bowl out of Surrey, which was far from done in any case, but also would have had to do at least some batting, Sibley had batted well for Surrey in that third innings, and Foakes followed his first innings 92 with another half century second time round. When this match ended I turned my attention to Somerset v Worcestershire where Worcestershire were mounting a determined rearguard action, while spinners Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan tried to get through their defences. By the time I joined the coverage Matthew Waite was batting with number 11 Tom Hinley. With Waite being right handed and Hinley left handed they followed a policy of Waite facing Vaughan and Hinley facing Leach so that each batter faced a bowler who was turning the ball into them. Leach had a couple of vociferous LBW appeals against Hinley turned down. Somerset did well to get into position for one final over with the clock showing 17:59 (with spinners doing the bulk of the bowling they were a country mile ahead of the required over rate so the close of play was being settled by the clock, not the over count). Leach, wheeling down his 65th over of the innings (and precisely the 200th over of the innings in total), could find no way through and Worcestershire, nine second innings wickets gone and still in deficit, had escaped with a draw. Other than Leach, whose five wickets in this marathon second innings took his tally in first class cricket to exactly 500 and to a lesser extent Vaughan, who topped 50 overs for the innings, the other person who would have been especially disappointed that Somerset could not get that final wicket was Tom Banton whose new county record 371 was not rewarded with a win. Waite had faced over 300 balls in total, and finished unbeaten on 87, while Hinley, the Worcestershire number 11, had held out for 45 balls in support of him. By now, between the definite results and the accepted draws the only game still in action was Middlesex v Lancashire, so I listened to the closing stages of that game, and for the third time in a day witnessed the ending of drawn match which was nevertheless without a hint of dullness.
CAKE PICTURES
As listeners to TMS can confirm cake and cricket have something of an association. On Sunday I mentioned the cake for the West Norfolk Autism Group’s third birthday and promised pictures of it to come. Here they are…
