Up North and Hot as England's Challengers Get a Big Defeat and a Nervy Win

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Friday 28 June 2019 at Riverside Stadium, Chester-le-Street
Result	South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019 Group Stage
Hopstats	Ground #14 on my cricket list.
Context
Sri Lanka gave themselves a chance of semi-final qualification with their victory over England. Their opponents are an underperforming South Africa.
In one sentence
Winning the toss and bowling first no doubt helped, but this was a determined performance from South Africa who blunted the Sri Lanka bowlers and secured a straightforward victory.
So what?
It’s a good result for England more than anyone, and also for Pakistan who can now go above England with a victory tomorrow at Leeds.
Match Report
Sri Lanka’s Karunatne spooned Rabada’s first ball of the innings to slip. Perera (K) and Fernando put on 67 in 58 balls but thereafter wickets fell steadily to the South African seamers, helped also by spinner Duminy taking the wicket of De Silva first ball. Eight batsmen reached double figures but no-one scored above thirty which both Perera (K) and Fernando reached. Pretorius finished with 3-25 from ten overs in two spells in the middle of the innings as the batsmen struggled to get the ball off the square. Morris was slightly more expensive but also took three wickets, and Rabada added another. Phehlukwayo took one too as Sri Lanka made it to the last over before being all out for 203 with three balls left.  It had been a slow strangulation in the second half of the innings with two five-over slots (21-25 & 31-35) in which only nine runs were added.  The score went from 91-3 after 20 overs to 203 all out. The most noteworthy event was “Bees Stopped Play” after 48.5 overs.  The players and umpires all lay prone as a swarm of bees passed across the field, through the crowd, and off into the distance. South Africa showed due respect to the new ball and in particular to the “wily veteran” Malinga, who bowled de Kock for 15 in the 5th over.  Amla and du Plessis accumulated steadily, and soon comfortably above the required rate. By half-way they had added 99 and taken the score to 130-1, and it became clear that the only route for a Sri Lankan victory would be to bowl South Africa out.  Malinga and de Silva (who had also opened the bowling with spin) were brought back on early but by now the two batsmen were well set.  The Sri Lankan total was too low to give du Plessis the chance of a ton – he finished on 96 not out, and Amla had 80 not out, in an unbroken partnership of 175.  It wasn’t brutal so much as brutally efficient, and the win was achieved with 76 balls to spare. It was a hot day and fortunately I took plenty of precautions against the sun, which also rendered the main scoreboard unreadable from my position. That was disappointing for a test venue, as was the fact that the portable toilets ran out of water for hand-washing by the change of innings. On the plus side the directions, signage and stewarding were superb. England play New Zealand here next week, and winning the toss might well be a very important feature of the day.
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Riverside is a relatively new venue for international cricket. I cannot explain this. Add caption Triple-jump legend Jonathan Edwards is a cricket fan Angelo Mathews takes guard inefficiently ... Angelo Mathews' stumps two frames later (b Morris) The unusual bowling action of Malinga the Slinga
What Next?
I’m headed for Leeds and the game between Pakistan and Afghanistan. See below!

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 29 June 2019 at Headingley, Leeds.
Result	Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets.
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019 Group Stage
Hopstats	Ground #15 on my cricket list.
Context
As mentioned above, Pakistan can jump into a qualification position with a win. Afghanistan gave India a real scare last week, but are still looking for their first win.
In one sentence
A last-over thriller as Pakistan just about got over the victory line after a gallant bowling performance by the Afghanistan spinners.
So what?
England drop to fifth place ahead of their Sunday confrontation with India. Bangladesh will need to win their next game to stay level with Pakistan. Their next game … is on Friday at Lord’s v Pakistan!
Match Report
I’m just so glad I was here to see this, and even more grateful that my seat was close to the scoreboard so that I had some afternoon shade on the most punishing of days. Afghanistan won the toss and batted. Pakistan’s miserly bowling restricted Afghanistan in the middle of the innings as the batters recovered from 77-3 after 15 to 120-3 at the midpoint. Rahmat and Ikram added 30, including a successful review of an lbw decision, and then Ikram and Asghar put on 64 in 13 overs before the latter was clean bowled for a joint-high 42. Najibullah Zadran also contributed 42 before becoming Shaheen Afridi’s third of four victims as the pick of the bowlers. The overall impression was that Afghanistan had done well to last their full 50 overs, but that their score of 227-9 would not be enough. Most of us of paler skintone would be hopeful of a quickfire win so that we could get out of the sun. Certainly there were many empty seats in the uncovered parts of the ground as Pakistan set about their batting task. It quickly became more interesting. They wasted their review trying to prevent Fakhar from being lbw to spinner Mujeeb second ball.  Imam and Babar then built a painstaking partnership of 72, lasting till the 16th over until Imam was stumped by Ikram off the spin bowling of Nabi. Nabi, Mujeeb and Rashid, all spin bowlers, dismissed Babar, Hafeez and Harris and suddenly, with 15 overs to go, Pakistan were behind the required trajectory and their supporters were noticeably quietened.  At least half-a-dozen of the runs on the board were due to misfielding. Also, If Shinwari had been able to hold on to a very sharp c&b in the 31st over, and/or if Asghar had taken a routine catch to dismiss Imad in the 46th (he seemed to lose the ball as it went high into the sunny sky) … these were the features of the fine margin. In the end that 46th over proved pivotal – despite Sarfaraz and Shadab getting themselves run out earlier – as Imad found the boundary three times, maybe finding Gulbadin’s seam bowling easier to read than the spinners. The required rate was back to a manageable 18 from the final three overs and the pendulum swung decisively back to Pakistan for a nervy three-wicket win. This was my first visit to Headingley. It’s an impressive venue and I was towards one edge of the Western Terrace aka the Popular Enclosure. Both teams were well supported, colourfully and loudly, and it was a real privilege to be there, even though it turned out to be a bad day for England and another if-only occasion for Afghanistan.
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Rugby League right next door
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! That’s the end of my World Cup ticket allocation but I have thoroughly enjoyed re-engaging with the game. There may well be other sporting interludes before the new football season starts. Football priorities will be to get into Tottenham Hotspur somehow (but not for a friendly) and then to complete Step 4, but nothing is set in stone. I’m also motivated to pick off the main grounds of six other first-class counties when a suitable opportunity arises: Derbyshire, Essex, Kent, Leicestershire, Sussex, Worcestershire.

Seams Like Fun

Here's the latest from my summer sporting interlude. The Cricket World Cup is here, and it would be rude not to ... these are the first two of my three trips down the M4 corridor of uncertainty.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Friday 7 June 2019 at the County Ground, Bristol
Result	Pakistan v Sri Lanka.  No Result. Match abandoned due to weather without a ball being bowled.
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019
Hopstats	The 10th venue on my cricket-watching list.
Context
Early days in the group stage of the tournament.
In one sentence
Frustration for everyone.
So what?
One point each. So something must have happened, and I was there. Tick. Controversial.
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... and so, wait a week or so and hope for better weather ...

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 15 June 2019 at the Cardiff Wales Stadium
Result	South Africa beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets (Duckworth-Lewis Method)
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019
Hopstats	The 11th venue on my cricket-watching list.
Context
At the time of ticket purchase, this would not have been expected to be a 9th v 10th game in the group stage.  It is a must-win match for the underperformers of South Africa if they are to retain a notional chance of progression to the semi-finals.
In one sentence
South Africa won the toss, made the correct call to bowl first as part of managing the weather conditions, and did what they had to do with the bat once Afghanistan had collapsed to a low total without using their overs and time.
So what?
It is still unlikely that South Africa will qualify, but they would need to get some good wins against New Zealand and Australia particularly as teams already ahead. They also play Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On today’s performance, Afghanistan will go home with more experience, but that’s all.
Match Report
The Afghanistan openers Hazrat and Noor Ali Zadran did OK against Rabara and Hendricks with the new ball, and they got to 56-1 off 15 overs.  Then Phehlukwayo and Morris put the brakes on as the power play ended and the field could be set to reduce the chances of boundaries.  Afghanistan then collapsed from 69-2, having had two breaks for rain, after 20 to 77-6 after 25 as Imran Tahir took two wickets in his first over and Morris and Phehlukwayo did their bit in cleaning up the tail.  The rain breaks had helped South Africa much more than Afghanistan.  A total of 125 would never be defensible, but even more crucial was that they put back over 15 overs worth of time back into the day.  It would have been worse but for an entertaining cameo of 35 by Rashid Khan who messed up Tahir’s bowling figures temporarily before the bowler got him.  Tahir had 4-49, Morris 3-13 and Phehlukwayo 2-18 which tells the story. The game had by now been reduced to a 48-over contest. As I eventually drove away from Cardiff later, towards the most magnificent rainbow I have ever seen in my life and leaving apocalyptic clouds over Elton John at one of this city’s other stadia, the rain came in again. To be fair, South Africa were always ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis target, scoring at six an over, but the nearest we came to a Rocketman was Phehlukwayo’s winning shot, the first and only six of the day.  He had been promoted to number three after Amla and de Kock had respectfully seen off the new ball and gone on to a hundred partnership.  They looked set for a ten-wicket win before de Kock was caught for 68.  Amla was determined to remain at the crease, and he was 41 not out at the end. I had a go at keeping a ball-by-ball record. It takes some practice, and is quite hard when there is not another person to look out for signals and such like.  Like Marmite, you'll either think this is really interesting or something to be avoided at all costs, especially if you are next to the group of beery men in banana costume. It has to be said that I appear to be headed for another one-sided contest on Monday, and so far my personal experience of this tournament has been disappointing from a sporting point of view, and certainly not value for money when I take into account travel, parking and food costs on top of the ticket prices.  I’ve liked the quirkiness of the grounds, the enthusiasm of the tournament volunteers (“Cricketeers”), the passion of the overseas supporters for the game, the family atmosphere, and I suppose the group stage programme is not bad at £10.  The merchandise and stadium food, as ever, is overpriced but with a better range of choice than some football events that I have attended. The shuttle bus services have been OK but with an element of chaos in the organisation. The driver at Bristol took the wrong route and the one at Cardiff did some damage to an adjacent tree as we arrived. Regular blog readers will recall that I saw two high-quality contests in Chennai last year for next to nothing and I will look back on those games more fondly.
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Learn Welsh through cricket, lesson 1. I assume that this is what happens if you do a joint degree in Physical Education and Marketing Rahmat Shah hanging on in there. SA's Quinton de Kock kept on his toes Hashim Amla pushes another single The nation's media searching out fans who are sleeping or otherwise worthy of ten seconds of exposure on the big screen. The resident gulls are a bit of a nuisance to be perfectly honest. Hold on tightly to your overpriced chips.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! I’m off to Taunton tomorrow for West Indies v Bangladesh, and then with three more group stage games to come before the end of the month.