Sydney strolls and World Cup cricket

Over the last few days I have been out and about in Sydney but also attempting to use my pc to keep up with progress in the Womens World Cup that is taking place in India.

In the group stage of the competition, I was able to watch snippets of various matches via certain streaming sites. However the sites kept being shut down for possible copyright reasons and so I resorted to listening to the radio commentary from BBC radio 5 live sports extra, via a proxy server on my iPad.
While the commentary from Ebony Rainford-Brent was informative and knowledgeable (she recently was in the England squad), the rubbish spouting from the mouth of Charles Dagnall was dreadfull. He spent ages filling his gaps in knowledge about the teams by droning on about his old team-mates, his hair, his clothing, etc. What a bore. I soon found myself turning down the volume during his stints and finding new streaming channels.

Having played reasonably well during the warm up matches, when the tournament started it was important for England to beat all of their opposition during the group stage, namely, Sri Lanka, India and the West Indies.
England got off to a shocker and were beaten by Sri Lanka. The result and performance was so bad that apparently the team decided to consign it to history and not analyse it or talk about it. However the groups stage was decided on points and that was the first two available points lost.
The team then played the West Indies and won. 2 point in the bag.

Their last group stage match against the hosts, India was also a must win match. England managed to do it with a win and Charlotte Edwards' score of 109 runs was a major factor in the result.
Here Sarah Taylor is building up to her contribution of 35 runs.

 

Anyway, England had qualified to move on into the Super Sixes stage. As you take forward your points scored against qualifying teams, England were taking forward only 2 points, whereas Australia who had won every match had 4 points.


I had a look at the fountain in Hyde Park

 

A visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens was called for. I did take some panoramic photos and these can be seen by using the link on my website www.sydneyview.com

 

An event involving sand on the Customs House forecourt at Circular Quay.

 

Sirius Cove headland view.

 

The CBD as a backdrop to Cremorne Point.

 

On a bush walk.

 

England's first match in the Super Sixes was against Australia. England got off to the best possible start by winning the toss and putting Australia in to bat on a damp early morning wicket. Also Australia's fast bowler Elysse Perry was not in their squad. Australia only managed to score 147 in their innings. It looked a certain win for England. However, the England batsmen failed badly and Sarah Taylor got her second duck. England only had a low total to reach and fifty overs to do it, but with 9 maiden overs, 12 overs with 1 run scored, and 5 overs with 2 runs scored, that was 26 overs for only 22 runs scored. You cannot expect to win by playing like that. It was not a great example of England Women's cricket to televise. The England loss was no surprise.
This picture shows Sarah Coyte as she clocked up useful runs in partnership with Lisa Sthalekar.

 

A break from cricket to see the parabolic mirror outside the Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

It was now looking a forlorn hope for England to get into the World Cup final and defend their title.
Their next match was in Cuttack against South Africa and not televised. The BBC Radio 5 live broadcast descended into farce when their commentary team did not get to the ground until halfway through the game. Then the communications link kept failing during the time when they were there. Having Charles Dagnell commentating was the last straw so I watched the Australia v Sri Lanka match instead. Australia won and are now in the final.
Poor Sarah Taylor got her third consecutive duck but England still got a good win through the excellent bowling of Anya Shrubsole whose figures were 5 wickets for 17 runs from her 10 overs. The next England match and probably their last in this tournament is against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Peewit