Sydney and WT20I

The weather has been a bit better in Sydney over the last week with some proper sunny days.
I was also able to watch on tv the first 3 Womens T20 matches between NZ and England. The England girls did very well and notched up a series winning 3-0. The last two T20's were not being televised and were coming from Invercargill which is at the very southern end of the south island. More on that later.

Earlier in the week I went on a ferry to Mosman and had a walk around the bay.

Near the ferry terminal

 

Mosman Bay

 

Sydney from Cremorne Point

 

In the botanical gardens

 

My dawn view this morning

 

Back to cricket. Well, when I was in Dunedin, NZ this time last year, this was what the weather was like

 

Invercargill is not that far away from Dunedin but the 4th NZ v Eng T20 was cancelled without a ball being bowled due to rain washing out the match. I understand that it was quite cold too.
However, today the rain relented and the last of the T20 matches took place. The England women secured a win to make it 4-0 for the series. They now head north to Christchurch for some ODI's against NZ. I hope they do well.

Peewit

1st NZ v Eng Women's T20

Although I could not be in Wellington to watch the first of the five T20's taking place between NZ and England, I had an alternative plan.
With the wonder of proxy servers, plus other gubbins, I was able to watch the match live on my tv.

England won the toss and chose to bowl first. Charlotte Edwards said that this was because her team had never played on this pitch before.
Anya Shrubsole bowled fantastically well for someone has been out of the side for most of the time. She notched up five wickets in her four overs and NZ scored only for 80 for 9 at the end of 20 overs.

On my way across the harbour today I saw that Aurora was in town

 

Wickets started to fall early in the NZ innings

 

Another one down

 

33 for 5 after 8.5 overs

 

Charlotte Edwards got off to a good start but was caught when on 19 runs

 

The England team certainly had a mid over wobble but were able to celebrate when they managed the required 81 runs for 4 wickets down.

 

Looking forward to the next match

Peewit

The windy city

Last year I visited Wellington in New Zealand.
Because it is located at the southern end of the North island, it is often very windy. This isn't helped by the fact that the strait between the North and South islands is actually shaped like a venturi so that with the prevailing west wind you often need to hang onto your hat.

The Beehive, the NZ parliament building

 

I think this is a library but not sure. I like the look of the building

 

This is also a parliamentry building

 

The city viewed from a nearby hilltop

 

A nice place to play cricket

 

Looking out to sea

 

It is good to see trolley buses in action

 

Cruise liners in the harbour

 

I hope the England Women do well in their upcoming T20 against New Zealand. However they have not yet come across Katie Perkins of NZ. I was mighty impressed by her energy with the bat and in the field on the recent Aus v NZ series in NSW.

Peewit

NZ grab one back

The 4th women's international T20 between the Southern Stars (Australia) and the White Ferns (NZ) took place on Wednesday at the ANZ Stadium on the outskirts of Sydney.

I was unable to make it to this match and the weather was none too good either.

So I resorted to recording the Channel Nine broadcast and then watching it back later.
Just as well as I see that Channel Nine have maintained last year's high standard of awfulness. Just imagine what it must be like to watch live tv and whilst a close runout decision is being reviewed by the tv umpire you suddenly switch into an advert. After the ad you are into the new batsman receiving their first ball. Channel Nine seem to excel in cutting people off mid sentence to show an advert that has already been broadcast thirty times before during this one match. Luckily my Tivo lets me fast forward a lot of this stuff. Channel Nine production staff do seem very amateur.

Anyway, the outcome was that NZ bowled very well and the Australian team that had won the toss and chosen to bat in the rain shortened match did not manage much of a total (92). The White Ferns then came in for their 18 overs and exceeded the required number of runs with five balls remaining. NZ had won this one making it 3-1 to Australia in the five match series.

One of the Nine commentators kept saying how sad it was that the Southern Stars had been beaten in the first match on tv. He seemed totally unaware that the previous three matches had also been on terrestial tv.

The last match is from Melbourne on Friday and my Tivo is setup to deal with the worst that Channel Nine can come up with.

Peewit

2nd Aus v NZ ODI also abandoned

What a God forsaken place the Blacktown SportsPark is. I can think of nothing to recommend it.
To get there it is an hour on the train from Sydney and then a 30 minute walk from the station. They seem to conjure up the worst possible weather there. On my previous visit the match was also abandoned. I will not be going there again.

Players hoping that the oval will dry out

 

You have been warned

 

One of the many pitch inspections to come

 

The stand

 

Jodie Fields hitching up her tracksuit bottoms to keep them dry

 

Fighting a losing battle

 

Peewit

AUS v NZ ODI abandoned

It had the makings of a good match but then the weather intervened

I am supposed to be following the sun. Spending six months of each year in Australia and the other six months in England. I'm used to dull and wet English summer's but this time Australia seems to also be suffering from bad weather. I bought one jumper, one jacket and an umbrella with me and are wearing them out. I have already been to one cricket match that was abandoned through rain and today the same thing happened. The rain was forecast but it had remained dry for most of the morning.

The Southern Stars were playing the White Ferns at the SCG in an ODI with a 10am start.

Australia had won the toss and were fielding first with the scoreboard revealing some changes in the teams since the last T20 match just a few days before

 

Southern Stars ready for the opening ceremony

 

The teams walk out onto the SCG

 

The White Ferns

 

The Southern Stars

 

The ceremony

 

Leaving the field and thinking about their batting

 

Frances Mackay will open with Lucy Doolan

 

Southern Stars team talk

 

Almost ready to start

 

Mackay gets a four off the first ball

 

Scoreboard

 

Oh dear. Only a few overs gone and the rain arrives and the covers come out.

 

The skippers have a chance to chat during the rain. I wonder what they are talking about ?

 

After a longish delay the match resumed and Lucy Doolan started getting boundaries

 

Sarah Coyte had this strange over with a wicket, dots, wides and it ended with a run

 

The wicket had been Mackay and Amy Satterthwaite came out to replace her

 

Doolan about to nick this ball that is caught by Jodie Fields

 

The rain came back and this turned out to be the last of the play in this match

 

Raining at the SCG

 

At 4:30pm the match was abandoned and it was still raining. A shame. The next match is at Rooty Hill on Friday and if it is not raining I will catch the train to watch the match.

 

Peewit