A look at the action in the first two quarter-finals of the One Day Cup, principally the west midlands derby between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Also a photo gallery.
The first two of the four quarter-finals of the One Day Cup are approaching their respective conclusions. Both are still winnable for both teams. Leicestershire are 212-6 after 38 overs, needing 79 more to beat Hampshire. The rest of this post looks at the other match, which I am listening to on the radio.
WARWICKSHIRE V WORCESTERSHIRE
Worcestershire batted first, and made a decent fist of things. Kiwi Michael Rae claimed three wickets and left arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott two, while Jake Libby held the innings together, scoring a century which helped his side to reach 286-9 from their 50 overs.
At first it looked like Worcestershire would defend this target with ease. When Chris Benjamin was dismissed, caught behind off Ethan Brookes (younger brother of Henry who plays for Middlesex) it was 77-5, and the experienced Will Rhodes was being joined by Kai Smith, a 19 year old wicket keeper whose previous highest score in professional cricket was 44.
Rhodes has fought hard, but it has been the youngster Smith who has been the revelation. He has long since left that 44 behind and gone past the 50 mark. He has been scoring fast as well, better than a run a ball, which is highly impressive in 50 over cricket. He just reached three figures, off the 89th ball of his innings, with two sixes and 11 fours along the way. Warwickshire are 222-5, needing 65 off 7.1 overs to win. This is definitely on, though I still make Worcestershire marginal favourites to hold on, and the wicket of either of these would change things.
It is also notable that this match features two front line left arm wrist spinners (i.e. both selected on the basis of purveying this rarest form of bowling) – I have already mentioned Lintott, and Worcestershire have a youngster of the same type in Tom Hinley.
While I have been preparing this for publication Warwickshire have moved past 250. Smith has 110* off 93 balls, and Rhodes is also upping the tempo, now on to 73* (105), having been 37* (72) at one time.
Continuing my series of all time XIs with Worcestershire.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next post in my series of All Time XIs. Today, following from the opening post which featured Surrey and the second about Gloucestershire the focus is on Worcestershire.
WORCESTERSHIRE
Peter Richardson – an England opener in the 1950s, and an obvious choice for this side.
Don Kenyon – from the same sort of era is Richardson, and unlucky not to play more international cricket than he did.
Graeme Hick – a massively prolific batter at county level who was badly mishandled at international level. The rules of qualifying for England by residence were changed in his favour and he was then rushed into the side at the first opportunity, struggled badly against a four-pronged West Indies pace attack and was then left out of the one-off match against Sri Lanka which should have been earmarked for his debut. He never fully recovered from this at the top level and finished with a test average of 31. He is the only person to have scored first class triple centuries in three different decades (1980s, 1990s and 2000s), although W G Grace scored two of his three in 1876 and the third in 1896.
Reginald Foster – a superb middle order batter who had the big occasion temperament – 171 in the Varsity Match, a century in each innings for the Gentlemen against the Players in 1900 and 287 on test debut at Sydney (one of two records he still holds, and the other of being the only man to captain full England teams at both cricket and football will definitely remain his).
Wilfrid Foster – a second member of an extraordinary family, seven brothers from which played for the county. I have opted for him in spite of his brief career rather than his brother H K Foster because he and brother Reginald once achieved a family double of each scoring two centuries in the same game – proof of how well they could bat together (this dual feat of high scoring was later emulated by Ian and Greg Chappell playing for Australia against New Zealand).
Basil D’Oliveira – attacking middle order batter and useful medium pacer who came late to first class cricket due being born in apartheid South Africa with non-white skin. With all due respect to Kevin Pietersen’s astounding Ashes clinching innings of 2005 he remains the author of the most influential innings of 158 ever to be played at The Oval – his effort triggered a series of events that led to South Africa spending a quarter of a century in cricketing isolation. Test series between England and South Africa are (when circumstances permit) contested for the D’Oliveira Trophy, currently in English hands after a very convincing victory in South Africa just a few months ago.
Robert Burrows – a speedster who still holds the record for sending a bail the furthest distance from the stumps (67 yards and six inches) and also capable of useful contributions with the bat.
*Norman Gifford – a slow left arm bowler who played for Worcestershire and Warwickshire at different stages of his very long career.
Len Coldwell– a medium pacer who spearheaded Worcestershire’s bowling the first two times they won the county champtionship (in 1964 and 1965, by which time Coldwell had already been on an Ashes tour).
Glenn McGrath – my overseas player, he would of course open the bowling, probably with Coldwell, possibly with Burrows. The second highest tally of test wickets by a pace bowler (behind James Anderson)
I could have picked any number of fast-medium bowlers who have played for Worcestershire down the years, but I think that Burrows’ outright speed combined with the control of Coldwell and McGrath would work well, with Gifford providing the main spin option. D’Oliveira and Hick could also both bowl some overs, and each would bring something different to the table in that department. The batting also looks solid.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are a few of my latest…
The first jay of 2020 (two pics)
The first bee of 2020 (photographed while out getting my exercise for the day).
A look at the playoffs in the Royal London Cup and some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
Today features the Royal London Cup playoffs, with Somerset playing Worcestershire and Lancashire playing Middlesex for the right to join group winners Hampshire (clear favourites to win the competition) and Nottinghamshire in the semi-finals. Although my last set of predictions worked out horribly, only one being correct, giving me a tally of 28/49 overall I shall be trying again with these two matches.
THE STATE OF PLAY AND PREDICTIONS
Worcestershire v Somerset – Somerset 337-8 from 50 overs.
The main contribution to a fine batting effort for Somerset was 112 from 20 year-old wicketkeeper Tom Banton (his second century of the competition), and he was well backed by useful contributions all down the order. I predict that Somerset will defend this total and therefore take their place in the semi-final against Nottinghamshire.
Lancashire v Middlesex – Lancashire 210-3 from 38.2 overs.
96 from Jenningsand 68 from Crofthave put Lancashire in a strong position. Nevertheless, given some of the totals I have seen chased down recently I am going to predict that Middlesex win this one and go on to play Hampshire in the semi-final.
In addition to these two matches Scotland and Afghanistan are playing an ODI. Scotland have amassed 325-7 from 50 overs and Afghanistan are 41-1 in reply at present. I think Scotland will defend their impressive total, which gives me thee predictions: Somerset, Middlesex and Scotland.
Some cricket, some music including references to the Classic FM Hall of Fame, some stuff about upcoming local elections and some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
An odd combination of topics to appear in a title, but all will be made clear in the course of this post. There will of course be some of my photographs as well.
CRICKET
The English cricket season is well underway. Because of an alteration to the structure of the two divisions of first class counties last season to a first division of eight teams and a second division of ten teams, it is now possible for all 18 first class counties to be in action simultaneously, as was not the case when there were nine teams in each division. Over this Easter weekend, for the first time since 1999 (the last season of the single division championship) all 18 of said sides have been in action. Glamorgan lost heavily to Worcestershire before today was underway. Leicestershire had also suffered an innings defeat at the hands of Gloucestershire. Essex and Somerset also finished early, a century from Alastair Cook anchoring Essex in their fourth innings chase of 255. Warwickshire only kept their match against Yorkshire alive into the fourth day because of some assistance from the weather, and having started the season with back to back innings defeats, and three shocking batting performances out of four innings, they must be considered heavy favourites for one of the relegation spots from division 1. Of the five remaining matches, Nottinghamshire are nearly done and dusted against Durham (since I wrote this Nottinghamshire have completed the job as expected, with nine wickets in hand), and it would also seem to be only a matter of time before Kent finish the job against Sussex (this match has also subsequently reached its predicted conclusion). A draw looks the most likely result in the Surrey versus Lancashire, although Surrey are not out of the woods yet. Hampshire and Middlesex also looks like being a draw, although again the Londoners are not quite safe yet. That leaves only…
DERBYSHIRE VERSUS NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Overnight this also looked like a draw was the most likely result, with Derbyshire 128 runs to the good with 10 second winnings standing. However, some behind the scenes discussions obviously took place, since Northamptonshire spent the morning session of today feeding Derbyshire easy runs, handing Reece (168) and Godleman (156 not out) a new record opening stand for Derbyshire. A declaration at 351-1 left Northamptonshire two sessions to score 326 for victory. Whatever happens in these two session neither team will emerge from this match with much credit in my book. While Northamptonshire’s motivation was obvious, Derbyshire could easily have declined the offer, backing their batsmen to score off proper bowling.
MUSIC
The long Easter weekend is when the Classic FM Hall of Fame is unveiled. It is assembled from listener votes. Each participant votes for their first, second and third favourite pieces of classical music, and the votes are all tallied up. The Hall of Fame comprises the top 300 pieces that emerge at the end of the process, and they are played counting down from 300 to 1 between 10AM and 10PM on each day of the weekend (it used when it first started to be 9AM to 9PM). This is the first occasion on which there has been a clash between the Hall of Fame and live cricket. I have resolved that clash by listening to the cricket when it has been on five live sports extra, and to the music at other times. The only exception to this was on Saturday afternoon, when it was time for…
MUSICAL KEYS
A shortage of available NAS West Norfolk Committee members meant that I was there for both sessions. The attendances were unsurprisingly low in both sessions. However, those who were able to make it had a good time. In the second session I renewed my acquaintanceship with Scratch 2, and next time I shall be moving on to another aspect of this program. Here are some pictures…
Kirsten, one of the two people from Musical Keys who run these sessions, at a very impressive looking keyboard.
I shall be adding some mathematics to the mix in two weeks time.
LOCAL ELECTIONS
Various places in the UK will be going to the polls on May 4th. Last time I mentioned this subjectI said that I was between Labour and Green, and leaning towards Green. Since then, although I have yet to receive anything from any candidates a search of the King’s Lynn & West Norfolk borough councilwebsite turned up the following information about who was standing:
In view of the fact that there are three candidates in this list of four for whom I am absolutely unwilling to vote and that I regard failing to vote as unacceptable my vote will therefore go to Mr Collis, and I urge others who are voting in this election to cast their votes for Mr Collis as well.
Moving on from my own area, there also elections taking place much more extensively in Wales and Scotland.
– Vox Political’s Mike Sivier is standing as a Labour Party candidate for Powys County Council’s Llanbadarn Fawr ward – and there’s more to him than a nice smile [Image: Mike Sivier].
The big debate in Scotland at the moment is over whether or not there should be a second independence referendum (#IndyRef2) following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU, when Scotland was strongly pro-remain. It is not for me as a Sassenach to comment on whether or not Scottish independence is desirable since the only people who should be making decisions about the future of Scotland are the Scots, but I do believe that brexit is a sufficiently major change in circumstances as justify #IndyRef2, especially since one of the main claims of the no camp in 2014 was that an independent Scotland would not be able to join the EU. It would appear, if the article to which I link at the end of this section is anything to go on that the Tories seek to make the local elections in Scotland a sort of ‘pre-referendum’. Anyway, here courtesy of the website indyref2.scot, is a post that goes into detail on the issue, titled “Sending a message“.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I posted some photographs in the music section of this post, and I finish the post with some pictures mainly from outside…
ENDNOTE – CRICKET REVISITED
During the time it took to put the above photos up both Middlesex & Hampshire and Surrey & Lancashire have shaken hands on the predicted draws. These means that only the ‘declaration bowling’ game between Derbyshire and Northamptonshire is still to be settled.
aspiblog 