The Women's Ashes, Wormsley August 2013

Today I went to watch the second day of the four day Ashes test match between the England Women and the Australian Women. The match was being played at the beautiful Wormsley ground. The weather was fresh, just like the previous year when I visited this ground for the last England v India ODI(England Women won the series) and spent the whole day shivering while wearing five layers of clothing.
The day before the Australian women had batted and put in an excellent performance so at the start of today's play they had a score of 243 for only 3 wickets down. The England bowlers had been finding it hard work to take wickets with lots of toil for little reward.
Sarah Elliot (95) and Alex Blackwell take the field for today's continuation.

Those empty seats in front of me soon filled up.

Sarah Elliot was creeping towards 100 runs

 

Nervous times with 99 on the board

 

Eventually that elusive run is scored

 

Elliot acknowledges her performance

 

The scene at Wormsley

 

Is that Isa Guha on commentary ? I spent one day sat next to her dad at the previous test in Bankstown where she was bowling.

 

Jodie Fields decides to declare at 331 for 6 as almost a day and a half of play had taken place.

 

Australia now take to the field

 

Heather Knight and Arran Brindle open for England

 

Holly Ferling is Australia's new glamour bowler

 

Holly prepares for another bowl and takes Sarah Taylor's (33) wicket

 

The England skipper Charlotte Edwards also fell lbw to Ferling for just 3 runs.

 

England manage to get 100 but with 5 wickets already down.

 

Heather Knight gets fifty while the majority of her team-mates seem to be all scoring six or less.

 

Eventually I got so cold due to the wind and lack of sunshine, that I decided to leave and head home. The run rate was diabolically slow, but even so, had the weather been balmy, I would have stayed on.
I see that the day ended with England on 172 for 6. Heather Knight had scored 85 not out.

It is hard to see how England can win this match, but maybe they can produce something special over the remaining two days.

Perhaps the other ODI's and T20's in the series will come to their aid.

Peewit

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

Rosebowl final match

It was the last day of the Rosebowl series of ODI's between the women's teams of Australia and New Zealand. The Southern Stars had already retained the Rosebowl having gained a 2-1 lead. However, the White Ferns could level the series if they could win this match.

Today the Southern Stars had a new captain in Alex Blackwell.
Jodie Fields was on the bench and would have to undergo the lunchtime torture (sorry fitness) session arranged by the fitness coach.

Once again the Southern Stars won the toss but this time chose to bat first.

 

The participants enter the field of play

 

Sian Ruck will open the bowling for the White Ferns and discusses the field placings with the skipper.

 

First ball to Poulton.

 

 

Lea Tahuhu gets her first chance to bowl this series.

 

It is not long before she gets Poulton caught out by Rachel Priest for 6 runs.

 

Celebrations

 

Cameron comes on to bat.

 

 

Suzie Bates provides assistance to Jess Cameron who has an equipment malfunction.

 

Southern Stars get 100 and Cameron gets her 50.

 

Lanning goes for 38 this time.

 

Sthalekar comes on after Healy is caught by Ruck for just 2 runs.

 

Two of the White Ferns hurt themselves during their fielding session.

 

Megan Schutt makes her batting debut.

 

The Southern Stars are getting some important runs.

 

Millanta also adds 15 to the total.

 

End of the 50 overs. Perry, Schutt and Millanta had contributed a significant 62 runs between them.

 

Perry and Millanta did a good job.

 

Time for the lunch interval now. A chance to eat a packed lunch. There is not much in the way of catering at the ground. I estimate that were somewhere between 50 and a 100 spectators at this stage. Top class cricket like this deserves better support. At least Mitchell Starc was one of the spectators.

After lunch it was time for the White Ferns to try to chase down 268 runs for a win.

First ball for Lucy Doolan.

 

Bates gets under way.

 

Batting at the North Sydney oval.

 

Between over chat.

 

Doolan scores but eventually gets caught out for 30 runs by wicketkeeper Healy off Schutt's bowling.

 

 

After 30 overs it looks like the White Ferns could actually get the required runs. However, I lost count of the number of times that they hit out towards the boundary for 4, only for the Southern Stars to pick up the ball within a foot of the rope and usually save 2 runs. Was this down to slightly under power batting or the excellence of the fielding side ?

 

Nicola Browne getting runs.

 

200 up and ten overs to go.

 

Scoring runs started to become difficult and a batting collapse took place.

 

Nicola Browne had been resilient but was eventually caught by Lanning off Millanta's bowling.

 

Browne had actually scored 63 and the required total was tantilizingly close.

 

It was left to Candy and Ruck to try to get the boundaries needed.

 

They could not do it and the 50 overs were completed.

 

Ruck did get 1 making the White Fern's final score 260. 8 runs short of victory.
Those 'might have been' boundaries and the high score got by the Aussie tail proved costly.

 

Handshakes

 

The series winning skipper Jodie Fields is happy with the win and comments on the tough opposition provided by the Kiwis.

 

The Governer General hands over the Rosebowl.

 

Time for an official photo.

 

I had enjoyed the matches. The White Ferns were a much better side this time compared with when I saw them a year ago in last Rosebowl series.
I wonder how both of these teams will do when they meet my nation's team at the Women's World Cup that takes place in India next February.

Peewit