An account of yesterday’s ODi between the South Africa and England women’s teams and a photo gallery.
At 8AM UK time yesterday morning the second One Day International in the current multi-format series between the South Africa and England women’s teams took place at Durban. This post looks back at that match.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN INNINGS
England won the toss and put South Africa in to bat. Protea skipper Laura Wolvaardt confirmed that she would have put England had she won the toss.
Kate Cross replaced Lauren Bell for England, and her metronomic accuracy proved an excellent counterpoint to the pace and fire of Lauren Filer with whom she shared the new ball. England soon had two early wickets, Tazmin Brits and Sune Luus each having their stumps rearranged by Filer. From 14-2 the proteas appeared to have launched a very effective recovery when Wolvaardt and the up-and-coming Annerie Dercksen took the total into the 70s without further loss. However now came the period that effectively settled the match. Spinners Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone tore out the middle order in an extraordinary period in which 72-2 and on the road to recovery became 76-7 and definitively doomed. Dean took four of the wickets with her off spin, including performing the hat trick (her victims for this achievement were Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk and Sinalo Jafta, none of whom would be considered not to be a front line batter), while Ecclestone, for once subordinate in destruction, nevertheless claimed the prize scalp of Wolvaardt, clean bowled for 35. Chloe Tryon did her best to save something from the wreckage, scoring an impressive 45 before Ecclestone had her caught by Tammy Beaumont. That was 127-9, and the last pair of Khaka and Hlubi boosted the total by a further eight before Hlubi was bowled by Ecclestone to end the innings. Dean had 4-45 from her full 10 overs, Ecclestone 3-27 from 7.3 overs and Filer who had added Nonkuloleko Mlaba, clean bowled, to her two opening scalps had 3-32 from six overs, all three bowled.
THE ENGLAND REPLY
To have any chance of defending such a small total South Africa needed early wickets, and the England opening pair of Tammy Beaumont, playing her 100th successive ODI, and Maia Bouchier ensured that no early wickets fell. By the end of the 10 over opening power play England were 57-0. 12 more runs came before Bouchier was dismissed, and although Beaumont and Knight followed quickly at 80 and 82, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt-Hodge took England to the brink of victory. Just seven further runs were needed when Sciver-Brunt was LBW to de Klerk. New batter Amy Jones struck her first and third balls for fours to give England victory by six wickets with 26 OVERS to spare. The ODI segment of the series is thus level at 1-1 with one more match to come. Charlie Dean was named player of the match.
PHOTOGRAPHY
My usual sign off…
New shoes bought today – so far, so good – I have done my afternoon walk in them (I bought them near the end of my morning walk).
An account of the extraordinary match between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers in the WBBL, which was tied after 20 overs per side, and still tied after a Super Over. Also two photo galleries, one devoted to two recent auction purchases and located between the match and the super over, and one my usual sign off gallery.
Early yesterday morning UK time the Perth Scorchers took on the Sydney Sixers at Hobart, supposedly a warm=up act for the match between the local Hobart Hurricanes and the Melbourne Renegades. I was in the position of being able to listen to the whole of the first match and the early stages of the second. The match I got to hear the whole of was one of the most remarkable it has been my privilege to follow, and this post looks back at it.
THE FIRST INNINGS
The Scorchers batted first, and at 95-1, with Brooke Halliday and Beth Mooney both into the 40s they looked set for a fine score. However, they failed to take the two over Power Surge while this pair were in residence, and when both fell in quick succession and it was getting late in the innings they ended up taking the Surge with two new batters at the crease, albeit one of them was Sophie Devine, one of the biggest hitters in the women’s game.
The first over of the Power Surge and the 15th of the innings was bowled by off spinner Ashleigh Gardner, and it was a superb over. With the second ball of it she clean bowled Mikayla Hinkley, and with the final ball of it she did the same to Indian star Dayalan Hemalatha. She also conceded only three runs in the over, putting the gloss on a great bowling performance, turning an already very good 3-0-18-2 into a sensational 4-0-21-4. Scorchers were five down, and although Devine and Carly Leeson added eight runs to the score before the next wicket fell both were out very close together and Scorchers were 114-7. The skids were now well and truly under the Scorchers innings, and they ended up failing to bat the full 20 overs, being all out for 126 after 19.2 overs. The last nine wickets had crashed for just 31 runs, and at the halfway stage the Sixers would have been heavy favourites.
THE REPLY
Sixers started steadily, with the general reckoning being that Scorchers had to take ten wickets to avoid losing. Elsa Hunter, a 19 year old who already has considerable international experience, having made her debut for Malaysia Women as a 13 year old, opened the innings with Ellyse Perry, and struggled to score. Perry hit form from the get go and looked a class apart from every other batter in this match. Hunter fell for an 18 ball 9, caught by Hemalatha off the leg spin of Alana King. Amelia Kerr managed just a single before a catch by Ebony Hoskin off Chloe Ainsworth disposed of her. Ashleigh Gardner was the first Sixers player other than Perry to strike at above 100, scoring 17 off 15 balls and helping the third wicket to add 32 runs. Hollie Armitage, in at number five, found run scoring hard but gave Perry good support, although the required rate crept up, hitting eight an over with five overs left in the innings. The 16th and 17th overs both yielded this exact number of runs. In the 18th over Alana King had Perry caught by Ainsworth, and then Maitlan Brown, regarded more as bowler than a batter, but not having bowled at all this tournament, was pinned LBW first ball. When Scottish wicket keeper Sarah Bryce was caught by Ainsworth off Leeson the Scorchers would have been feeling confident. Mathilda Carmichael joined Hollie Armitage, and at the end of the 19th over the score was 115-6, 12 needed off the final over.
There followed one of the most extraordinary six ball sequences I have ever seen. There are many ways to handle a chase of two runs per ball in the last over, but few if any other batters would have done what Mathilda Carmichael did. She ran twos of each of the first five balls of the over. Off the sixth she got through for one, but was well short coming back for the second as Mooney collected King’s throw and took the bails off to execute the run out. Sixers thus ended on 126-7, exactly level with Scorchers 126 all out. In the WBBL when scores are level at the end of a match a Super Over is played. Each side nominates one bowler to bowl their over and three players who will bat (two out constitutes all out in a super over). In the WBBL specifically if a Super Over is tied that is then the end of the matter, and the points are split. Before I cover the Super Over I have decided to break things up a little…
GALLERY ONE: TWO AUCTION LOTS
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had their November auction. On Tuesday I had no bids in, but on Wednesday I had put in advance bids on two lots, numbers 438 and 447. I was not able to follow the auction live, as while it was on I was involved in an online session (via Teams) on safeguarding in my capacity as WNAG secretary. As it happened my two modest bids were both successful, and these two lots form my first picture gallery of this post…
The first seven images are the gallery I produced for potential bidders to see – while I did not have time to image the lot in full detail I had to to go into some detail given that I was considering bidding myself.The lot on display in my kitchen – as you will see from the rest of the gallery I had fun photographing this and did some considerable rearranging.Bernera is part of the Outer Hebrides.Davaar Island is located just of the coast from Campbelltown, near the Mull of Kintyre.Just a four image gallery for the auction this time as this was a much smaller lot.Amalgamation one, adding a railway stamp I already had to this sheet.Amlgamation 2a, some foreign railway stamps to go on the reverse side.Amalgamation 2b, adding one further foreign railway stamp to that side. The new amalgamated lot is in a display folder with a number of other items including most of lot 438.
THE SUPER OVER
Sixers having batted second in the match had to bat first in the Super Over. Scorchers surprised many people by selecting Amy Edgar to bowl, while Sixers to no great surprise opted for Perry and Gardner as their first two batters. Alana King had been their best bowler in the match, and many would have expected her to bowl the super over. Edgar bowled a wide, and 14 came off the bat in the over, 12 to Perry and 2 to Gardner. Sixers thus scored 15-0 from their Super Over.
Sophie Devine was obviously going to bat for the Scorchers, and the question was who else they would use. In the event they went for the left handed Beth Mooney, and Mikayla Hinkley was their third batter. Unsurprisingly after her efforts earlier in the day Gardner was Sixers choice to bowl the over. Devine got a single off the first ball, then Mooney was out to the second and Sixers looked favourite. Hinkley scored two off the third ball, meaning that 13 were needed off the final three balls, or 12 to tie. Hinkley had now found her range, and struck the fourth and fifth balls for fours to reduce the ask to five off one ball or four to tie. Gardner did her best, but Hinkley hit a third successive four to level the scores, and split the points. I have only previously followed one match in which the teams ended tied after a super over, and on that occasion a tie-splitting procedure was in place, as the side who benefitted from that procedure, England, have never been allowed to forget by fans of certain other sides. Scorchers now have nine points and sit fourth on their own, three points behind Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades, with Sydney Thunder a point ahead after their derby against the Sixers at Drummoyne was washed out leading to a split of the points there. Sixers, on eight points are in sixth, behind Hobart Hurricanes on net run rate, and ahead of Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars. A full scorecard of both match and super over can been seen by clicking here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
These photos come from Wednesday afternoon (cold), Thursday (brutally cold) and today (bright and sunny, and less cold than either previous day, reaching the giddy heights of four degrees Celsius (yesterday was below freezing the whole way through, and as low as minus four at one point)…
A look back at the events that have unfolded in Mumbai over the last few days, a historic win for India Women in a test match over Australia women. Also a photo gallery.
Four days ago a test match between the Indian and Australian Women’s teams got underway in the city of Mumbai. I was only able to follow developments through cricinfo and some of my twitter and mastodon followers, so this post will be a bit sketchy, but you will see why I could not ignore it. India Women had never beaten Australia Women in a test match going into the game, but they had just won a test against England Women in Mumbai…
THE AUSTRALIAN FIRST INNINGS
The first hint that not all was going to the way of Australia came in the first innings of the match, when they managed only 219, with Pooja Vastrakar taking four wickets, Sneh Rana three and Deepti Sharma two. Vastrakar’s effort was especially significant – both because day one often sets the tone and because seamers should do well early in matches.
THE INDIAN FIRST INNINGS
India started impressively with the bat, with Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues all making runs, and looked set for a massive lead when they passed 250 with only three wickets down. They then suffered a mid-innings collapse and at273-7 it looked like an opportunity to bury the match had been squandered. However, for the all their positions at numbers eight and nine in the order both Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar are competent batters, with Sharma being a genuine all rounder in any format save T20, where her relatively slow scoring rate counts against her. This pair reasserted India’s dominance, batting all the way through the final session of the second day and taking India’s lead past 150. India ultimately topped 400, finishing with 406 for a lead of 187. Sharma had the top score of the match with 78, and Vastrakar had set a new record for an Indian number nine in a test match with 47.
THE AUSTRALIAN SECOND INNINGS
Australia, as one would expect of such a strong and determined side fought hard in their second innings, but never really threatened to take the initiative away from India. Perry, McGrath, Healy and Sutherland all provided stiff resistance, but by the close of third day Australia were five down and only 46 to the the good. Had their lower order been able to conjure another 100 on the final day Indian nerves might have been jangling, but in the end they only managed a further 28, to give themselves just 74 to defend. Sneh Rana claimed four wickets with her off spin, and two other spinners, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed two scalps a piece, while Vastrakar added another wicket to four first innings scalps. Tahlia McGrath had battled her way to 73.
THE INDIAN CHASE
Shafali Verma was out cheaply to make it 4-1, but Richa Ghosh offered Smriti Mandhana good support, and by the time she was out only a further 20 were needed for victory. Rodrigues joined Mandhana and this pair were still together when India completed an impressive win, Mnadhana 38*, Rodrigues 12*. Sneh Rana’s seven wicket match haul earned her the Player of the Match award, though both Vastrakar (five wickets across the two innings and a vital 47) and Sharma (the highest individual score of the match and two wickets) must have been close, especially the former. All credit to India for winning this one – Australia were unbeaten in the format since 2014 going into this match. A full scorecard can be seen here.
A brief account of today’s very brief ODI between the England and Sri Lanka women’s teams, and a photo gallery.
The first ODI of the England v Sri Lanka women’s series has come to a very premature end, with England winning by seven wickets with 32 overs (of a possible 50) unused in their innings. This post looks back at the match.
A DAY OF THREES
England fielded three ODI debutants, Mahika Gaur, Lauren Filer and Maia Bouchier. In Sri Lanka’s beggarly 106 all out three bowlers each took three wickets – Gaur, Filer and Sarah Glenn. England lost three wickets in their successful run chase, and the third debutant, Maia Boucher was on 17* (17) at the end, meaning that all three debutants had reasons to be proud of their performances.
AMY JONES SETS NEW RECORD
England induced a number of edges, meaning that wicket keeper Amy Jones was often in action. She held five catches, the first England keeper to do so in a Women’s ODI.
SPLITTING THREE-FORS
Mahika Gaur was named Player of the Match for her 3-26. Her three-for was more significant than those of Filer and Glenn (though Filer was particularly impressive) because it included both openers, one of whom, Chamari Athapaththu, is unquestionably the prize wicket whenever Sri Lanka women are batting. Gaur’s new ball burst, the first by an England woman on debut since Isa Guha in 2001 (before Guha, Sue Redfern, involved in this match as on-field umpire, also took the new ball on England ODI debut).
BATTING HIGHLIGHTS
In such a low scoring affair there were naturally few batting highlights. Only two players in the match managed as many as 30 – Harshitha Samarawickrama scored 35 for Sri Lanka, offering the only real resistance on show during their innings and Tammy Beaumont, back at the top of the order for England after not being selected for the T20I series, scored a punchy 32, being the only player on either side to have an SR above 100. Emma Lamb with 27 and Heather Knight with 22 also made useful contributions for England, and Nat Sciver-Brunt was batting alongside Bouchier at the end.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This is a new butterfly sighting for me……a closer up view here. Though the wings are partially closed I can see enough to see that when open they are orange with black markings, and this species is small in size for a butterfly.
T20: Heather Knight (captain), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Issy Wong, Danielle Wyatt.
ODI: Heather Knight (captain) Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt.
THOUGHTS ON THE SQUADS
Sophie Ecclestone is being rested for these series on grounds of workload management, which is also why Nat Sciver-Brunt is only playing the ODI series. Beaumont in spite of her recent record breaking innings in The Hundred remains out of favour in T20Is. Among the inclusions the biggest news is the presence in both squads of Mahika Gaur, a 17 year old pace bowler. The T20I squad offers the possibility of all three of Gaur, Lauren Filer and Issy Wong playing together which would be quite something. There is also a maiden call up for Bess Heath, a 21 year old wicket keeper who will be second in line behind Amy Jones. I am not a fan of this particular selection – I would have preferred to see Rhianna Southby or Eleanor Threlkeld got this spot. Overall I am happy enough with these selections, and I am confident that England can win both series.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a large photo gallery to finish with…
This sequence of pictures illustrate amply why I have dubbed this structure “Cormorant Platform”.
An apology, a look at the last two matches of the Women’s Ashes, a team of that series and lots of photographs.
This post focuses mainly on the women’s Ashes series which concluded yesterday evening. However, before I get into the main meat of the post there is one necessary item to attend to…
A CORRECTION
On Monday I reblogged my All Time G’s XI to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the skipper’s birth. I was guilty of inattention – the anniversary day, and the date of the original post was of course July 18th, not July 17th. I should have done a proper post on Monday and reblogged the Gs on Tuesday. Here are some of a bountiful recent harvest of photos…
THE LAST TWO MATCHES OF THE WOMENS ASHES
Australia secured retention of the Ashes by winning the penultimate ODI on Sunday by three runs. Australia posted 282, 26 of them off the final over of the innings, bowled by Lauren Bell. England fought hard in response, with Natalie Sciver-Brunt scoring a superb century. She was on strike for the final ball of the innings, off which England needed six to win or four to tie. Unfortunately she could only manage a single.
While England could no longer win the Ashes they could draw the series by winning the last match, which took place at Taunton yesterday. England batted first, and with Sciver-Brunt hammering another century, her seventh in ODIs, four of which have come against Australia they reached 285 from their 50 overs. Rain intervened after 19.2 overs of the Australian innings, and the DLS adjustment left them needing 171 of24.4 overs. They never really looked like getting them, and England eventually won by 69 runs, to level the multi-format Ashes series at 8-8. They also became the first team win an ODI series against Australia in a decade, and had won four of the seven matches overall, the 8-8 score line being caused by the test match carrying double points. Although Australia keep the Ashes it is England who are the happier side – they have a lot of very talented cricketers who now know that they can go toe to toe with Australia.
Time for a second photo gallery…
A COMPOSITE WOMENS ASHES XI
This is my team of the series:
Tammy Beaumont (England, right handed opener). A double century in the test match, a major contribution in the first ODI.
Beth Mooney (Australia, left handed opener). Made a lot of significant contributions in all formats.
*Heather Knight (England, right handed batter, occasional off spinner, captain). Had a fine series, and given the respective resources at their disposal I would reckon that tying the series is a greater achievement for her as captain than it is for Healy.
Ellyse Perry (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler).
Natalie Sciver-Brunt (England, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Even if she had done nothing else in the series (which is far from the case), those back to back centuries in the last two matches would be enough to justify her inclusion.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). The 137* in the test match was the highlight of her series, but she contributed with both bat and ball all the way through the series.
+Amy Jones (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). Her opposite number didn’t have a great series (perhaps the triple role of captain, keeper and opener is simply too much – Alec Stewart struggled when he had the triple role), while she did. The greatest moment of her series came last night when she pulled off a miraculous stumping off the bowling of Sciver-Brunt.
Ash Gardner (Australia, off spinner, right handed batter). Her eight-for to win the test match would qualify her all on its own, but she had other moments in the limited overs matches as well.
Alana King (Australia, leg spinner, right handed lower orderbatter). This one was a tough call, with Georgia Wareham the challenger. However, I refuse to fill a bowling position based on lower order runs, so King gets the nod.
Sophie Ecclestone (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed lower order batter). A heroic effort in the test match, a good T20 series, and her bowling was crucial to England’s success in the final ODI.
Kate Cross (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed lower order batter). With Katherine Sciver-Brunt retiring she became the de facto leader of England’s seam attack, and she did her job superbly in this series.
This side has a superb batting line up, four genuinely front line seamers (Cross, Sutherland, Perry, Sciver-Brunt), three great and contrasting spinners, a fine captain and a superb keeper.
A look at developments in the Women’s Ashes test match and a large photo gallery.
Battle continues to rage in the Women’s Ashes test at Trent Bridge. This time yesterday I wrote about had happened up to that time (here), and now I continue the story.
THE REST OF YESTERDAY
England reached the close of yesterday on 218-2, Beaumont completing her century just before the close of play. It was a wonderful innings, and it was also historic: she became only the fourth English batter ever to score centuries in all three international formats, joining Heather Knight, Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan in this club.
TODAY SO FAR
Natalie Sciver-Brunt was England’s only casualty of the morning session, falling for 78. By lunch England were 308-3 with Beaumont 144 not out. Dunkley fell not long after the resumption, which brought Danni Wyatt to the crease for her test debut, 13 years after her white ball debut. On 152 Beaumont was given LBW, but a review showed the ball pitching outside leg stump. She is now on 164, with England 344-4. The next landmark is 168, her highest score in any form of international cricket, then Betty Snowball’s 189, the all time England record individual score, then the 201 she scored in the warm up match, then Perry’s 213* and finally if she can get there Amelia Kerr’s 232* for New Zealand v Ireland, the highest score in any form of women’s international cricket (and I think even Ms Kerr might concede that the Aussie bowling attack is a trifle more formidable than that of the emerald isle).
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a splendid gallery for you…
A comma, the first example of this type of butterfly I have seen this year.A pink and purple flower with two contrasting visitors
While I have been preparing this post for publication England have moved past 350, and Beaumont on to 169.
A look at developments so far in the women’s Ashes and a substantial photo gallery.
Yesterday morning the Women’s Ashes got underway with day one of a five day test match (this move being not before time – see here). This post looks at the action so far.
THE PRELIMINARIES
The warm up matches (England v Australia A and England A v Australia) both went better for England than Australia. England’s chosen XI included an international debutant in Lauren Filer and a test debutant in Danni Wyatt. Filer was part of seam/ pace trio alongside veteran Kate Cross and the tall swing bowler Lauren Bell, while the front line spinner was inevitably Sophie Ecclestone. In addition to these Natalie Sciver-Brunt’s medium pace, Sophia Dunkley’s leg spin and Heather Knight’s off spin were also available as back up options. Australia’s side included Ellyse Perry, adding to her many entries in the record books by taking part in a tenth Women’s Ashes series. They opted for two front line spinner, Ashleigh Gardner and Alana King. They also had such strength in the batting department that Annabel Sutherland, a regular number three in Australian domestic cricket and coming off the back of a century in her warm up game was at number eight (she is a seam bowling all rounder, and has a better record at the age of 21 than Perry did when she was that age. Australia won the toss and chose to bat.
DAY ONE
Yesterday was a work day for me, so I missed a lot of the action, but tuned in just in time to catch Sophie Ecclestone’s second wicket. Two balls later Aussie skipper Alyssa Healy was out for duck and it was 226-5. That was as good as it got for England, and by the end of the day Australia were 328-7, with Sutherland going well.
DAY TWO
The second morning definitely belonged to Australia. Bell claimed the wicket of Alana King, but Kim Garth has providing staunch support for the brilliant Sutherland since then. Australia have just reached 450, with Sutherland now on 121. Ecclestone has been by far the best of the England bowlers, and now has figures of 44-9-115-3, with the rest of the attack going at closer to five an over than four – rather a contrast to the men’s test, when England’s supposed front line spinner was the one getting smacked around while the seamers were significantly more economical (on a side note, the England men’s selectors seem to have realized that persisting with Ali is not on – Rehan Ahmed has just been added to their squad). Although Australia are in a very strong position England are themselves a powerful batting side, with an opener, Beaumont, coming off a double century in her warm up match and a few others in good form. As I type this Garth has just been given LBW to Ecclestone, though she has reviewed it, it has been confirmed as out and Australia are 457-9, Ecclestone has 4-120 in her 45th over of the innings. Darcie Brown, the sole member of this Aussie XI with no batting pedigree has joined Sutherland at the crease.
PHOTOGRAPHS
The first four pictures in today’s gallery were taken a few days earlier than any of the others, which all date from the last couple of days. To view a photo at full size just click on it.
An account of the test match between the England and South African women’s teams which took place on Monday to Thursday of this week.
I was delighted when it was announced that England and South Africa women’s teams would be playing a test match this summer. I was less delighted that it was scheduled for only four days rather than the five that men’s test cricket gets, and this little distinction was to prove of considerable importance to the result.
ALL CHANGE FOR ENGLAND
At the start of this season Anya Shrubsole announced her international retirement after an illustrious career, highlighted by 6-46 in the 2017 World Cup final. In the run up to the match Katherine Brunt announced that she was retiring from test cricket but would still play white ball internationals. Then Emily Arlott was injured in the run up to the match, which meant that Issy Wong was promoted from travelling reserve to full squad member. Eventually, England decided that one spinner (the incomparable Sophie Ecclestone) was sufficient and opted to strengthen the batting by giving the number seven slot in the order to Alice Davidson-Richards. The new look seam attack was led by veteran Kate Cross, supported by Wong and Lauren Bell plus the all round skills of Natalie Sciver. Batting wise there were not a huge number of surprises: Emma Lamb, in magnificent form in domestic cricket, was chosen to open alongside the experienced Tammy Beaumont, with skipper Knight at three, Sciver four, Sophia Dunkley at five and keeper Amy Jones at six. Thus the full XI in batting order read: Beaumont, Lamb, *Knight, Sciver, Dunkley, +Jones, Davidson-Richards, Ecclestone, Cross, Wong, Bell.
INEXPERIENCED SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa had not played a test since 2014, so scandalously small is the amount of women’s test cricket. Dane Van Niekerk was still recovering from a broken ankle, and in the run up to the match Shabnim Ismail, star bowler, went down injured, as did big hitting middle order batter Chloe Tryon. For some unknown reason in form pacer Ayabonga Khaka was not considered for selection. All of this meant that SA took the field with only two players out of 11 having prior test experience.
DAY ONE: KAPP’S HORATIAN PERFORMANCE SAVES SA
On Monday June 27th South Africa batted first. With Cross, Bell and Wong all highly impressive in the early stages SA were soon in trouble at 45-4. Wong claimed her first test wicket with an absolute peach of a ball to clean bowl Laura Wolvaardt (no mean feat this – the young SA opener had scored a ton in the warm up match against England A, and a repeat of that in this match would have been no great surprise. At this point Marizanne Kapp came to the crease for South Africa. She proceeded to play an innings of utter brilliance, enabling South Africa to reach the respectability of 284 all out, of which her share was precisely 150. Kate Cross had the best figures for England, with 4-63, with Bell 2-54, Wong 1-54, Ecclestone 1-33, Sciver 1-29 and Davidson-Richards 1-39 all also taking wickets.
DAY TWO: SCIVER AND DAVIDSON-RICHARDS
Beaumont and Lamb put on 65 for the first England wicket, but thereafter a collapse set in, with Knight experiencing a rare failure at test level. The score when debutant Davidson-Richards walked out join Sciver was 121-5. By the close of play this pair were still in occupation, Davidson-Richards having become the first England debutant of either sex to take at least one wicket and score a century on test debut since WG Grace did so in the first test ever played on English soil in 1880, and Sciver having also passed three figures. England, having looked deep in trouble when the pair came together were now 39 runs to the good, and it was fairly clear that only one side now had a chance of winning the match.
DAYS THREE AND FOUR: A TALE OF WEATHER WOES
Davidson-Richards was out early on the third morning, but Ecclestone now provided excellent support for the unstoppable Sciver, scoring a perky 35 and helping the seventh wicket to raise a further 86. Cross was next in, and her run out heralded the England declaration at 417-8, a lead of 133. Sciver with 169* had beaten her captain’s test best by a single run, was eight short of Claire Taylor’s 177, 10 short of Rachael Heyhoe-Flint’s 179 and 20 short of the all time England women’s test record of 189 held since 1935 by Betty Snowball. Also possibly relived by the declaration were Aussies Michelle Gozsko (204) and Ellyse Perry (213*).
The weather from this point on was hugely uncooperative and allowed only 68.1 further overs in the course of a day and a half (and the women get through their overs at a good rate – on day two 100 overs took six hours 12 minutes of playing time to bowl – rather less long than it takes the men to bowl the 90 that is their minimum requirement for a day). In those overs South Africa amassed 181-5 in their second innings. Cross and Wong each took two wickets, the latter’s haul including Wolvaardt for the second time in the match, and Ecclestone one. The combination of the allocation of only four days and bad weather on each of the last two of those days made this the sixth successive women’s test to end in a draw. A full scorecard can be viewed here.
LOOKING FORWARD
Women’s cricket is in excellent health, and both sides deserve a lot of credit, England for coming out firing with a new look bowling attack, and for ultimately dominating the contest, and South Africa for showing considerable resolve with depleted ranks. There need to be more women’s test matches, and those matches NEED TO BE SCHEDULED FOR FIVE DAYS.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This adapted traditional phone box is located in SnettishamThis morning’s walk which was long enough for me to miss Shubman Gill’s entire innings took in Hardwick CemeteryA goods train passing Tennyson Road
An account of yesterday’s second ODI between the England and New Zealand women’s teams plus some recent photographs.
There is no cricket happening today (except in that two-bit tournament taking place in Dubai), bu yesterday saw the second of five One Day Internationals between the England and New Zealand women’s teams. This post looks back a wonderful, low scoring contest.
THE PRELIMINARIES
Katherine Brunt was rested by England for this match, Danni Wyatt coming in to the side to make her 200th appearance in an England shirt. New Zealand won the toss and put England in.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
The innings began with a maiden bowled by Jess Kerr to Lauren Winfield-Hill. In the second over Tammy Beaumont cracked three boundaries against Sophie Devine before deciding to shoulder arms to the final ball which came back off the pitch just enough to hit the stumps. Knight joined Winfield-Hill and the prospered for a time, until Knight fell for 18. Thereafter wickets fell at regular intervals, and at 146-9 England looked doomed. At that point Tash Farrant joined Wyatt who had shown signs of finding her best form, and now did so with a vengeance. Farrant scored 22 and helped the last wicked to put on 51. Wyatt on her return to ODI action scored 63 not out, with the only other score above Farrant’s 22 being 39 from Winfield-Hill. Hannah Rowe and Leigh Kasperek took three wickets each.
THE NEW ZEALAND INNINGS
Suzie Bates started as though this was going to be easy for New Zealand, but at 40, of which she contributed 28 she was well caught by Wyatt off Kate Cross. The decision went upstairs, but the catch was definitely clean. Sophie Ecclestone got Maddy Green in her first over to make it 63-2, and in the very next over Cross accounted for Lauren Down (22) to make it 64-3. Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite put on 21, but Satterthwaite never got going, and at 85 her innings ended for 1, a third wicket for Kate Cross. Brooke Halliday joined Devine, and at 111-4, 87 needed for victory, the rain got heavy enough for the umpires to take the players off. The players returned to the field with New Zealand facing an adjusted target of 183 from 42 overs, meaning that they needed 72 from the last 18 to win. Natalie Sciver produced a superb delivery to bowl Devine for 28, making it 114-5. Then Charlie Dean, a 20 year old off spinner making just her second international appearance accounted for Katey Martin (6), Hannah Rowe (7), the big scalp of Halliday (29) and Kasperek (10), and New Zealand were 161-9, with nos 10 and 11 Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr together at the crease. With one ball of the 39th over to go the score had inched up to 169, at which point Tahuhu aimed a drive at Tash Farrant and succeeded only in chipping the ball straight to extra cover where Heather Knight made no mistake, and England were home by 14 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Charlie Dean had 4-36 from eight overs, an outstanding performance which settled the match. The Player of the Match Award went to Danni Wyatt who had followed her 63 no out that gave England an outside chance of winning with an immaculate fielding performance. Ultimately, given that four kiwis reached 20, but Brooke Halliday was their top scorer with 29 this was the right call, and in one it was fitting that on a landmark day for her Wyatt got the award, but also Charlie Dean’s outstanding spell deserved recognition and there was certainly a case for at least a shared award. England lead the series 2-0 and will have a chance to take an unassailable lead tomorrow in the 3rd ODI. There are not many innings in which she bowls in which Ecclestone is other than the most threatening spinner on show but yesterday against New Zealand was definitely one. Full scorecard here.
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