Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 64

The redemption myth: sporting comebacks are as predictable as they are overblown | Geoff Lemon

Success that follows a lack of success is often labelled a redemption story. But in the churn of sports results, that isn’t a narrative, it’s a sequence

Among the overblown themes of sports writing, through all its stained and dog-eared lexica, the one that comes up most is surely redemption. Across the dirt of suburban outfields and the paint of city lanes, redemption and the seeking of it. Blessed is its pursuit. Something to be striven for, to be craved, to be grasped, to be squandered. Teams, athletes, entire nations take their turns to be redeemed. Someone somewhere is always hovering on its holy cusp. Some recidivists make it a cycle, a new fall before each corresponding lift, the trip through a spiritual carwash. Each time a crowd will assemble, dancing with the idea that now things could be different. The desire to see someone rise is unquenchable. We are a world of sporting sinners endlessly swimming towards the light.

This is an edited extract from The Comeback Summer by Geoff Lemon published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $29.99, and is available in stores from 2 December 2020

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Published on November 24, 2020 08:30

Australia's women continue relentless pursuit of ODI winning streak record | Geoff Lemon

With three games against New Zealand in Brisbane, Meg Lanning’s side have a shot at levelling the record held by Ricky Ponting’s men

There is something intense about winning streaks. On their rare appearances in a casino, there is a fever in the eyes of those involved. In horse racing they become a public obsession, like with Black Caviar or Winx. Each start has more riding on it, as the streak becomes more valuable than the stakes. We see the angst of trainers manipulating careers trying to both extend the streak and avoid ending it.

Test cricket streaks are tough work, with up to five days in the field for each result, and always the chance that rain will ruin your run. Limited-overs games could be interpreted as more difficult, because shorter formats give quality less of a chance to overcome setbacks. A bad few minutes can mean you are four for 20, and cannot score enough that day.

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Published on October 01, 2020 10:30

England beat West Indies in third women's T20i to seal series – as it happened

England win the five-match series after victory by 20 runsBob Willis Trophy final: Live updates from Somerset v Essex

4.08pm BST

That’s 3-0 to England with two to play! For West Indies, at least they didn’t lose by 47 runs again. They were in the game for much of the day. It was a tale of opportunities let slip: the catches they dropped, the good bowling that was undone by bad, and the way that Dottin was slowed up through the middle of her batting innings, and got so little support. The pace of the chase, after the fast first three overs, was never there. Sending in Nation was never likely to help. In the same way, Shamilia Connell bowled beautifully off the top but her fourth over wasn’t used: she ended with 2 for 13 from three overs, while others went for plenty. Another tactical blot.

For England, it was a comprehensive performance. Nat Sciver made her best score in T20 Internationals, her 82 forming the bulk of their score. She got good support from Knight and later from Wilson. Katherine Brunt bowled cleverly to seal the game, Sciver was useful with the ball too, and the spin from Glenn and Ecclestone controlled much of the innings.

4.01pm BST

20th over: West Indies 134-5 (Taylor 14, Henry 12) In a nice final touch, Henry has dispensed with her helmet and is batting bareheaded against Sophie Ecclestone, and aims two of the biggest shots you’ll ever see, for the profit of one leg bye. Taylor tries to go over over and misses, then mistimes an attempted six down the ground and only lifts a single. Henry gets one more change, wiping a shot out to deep midwicket, and Taylor finishes the day with a sweep for four.

3.59pm BST

19th over: West Indies 127-5 (Taylor 9, Henry 11) Brunt bowling the second-last over, and there’s a six at last! Chinelle Henry gets a gift, a bit full toss on her hip, and gets under it to swing it over deep square leg. She tries again next ball and only received a big lbw appeal that is turned down. Another big swing takes a high top edge for two, then mistimes another heave for a single. That’s more like it with the swinging.

That leaves 28 required from the final over.

3.56pm BST

18th over: West Indies 117-5 (Taylor 9, Henry 2) They’re a frustrating team at the moment, West Indies. Dottin is gone, they need 42 from 18 balls, and yet neither Taylor nor Henry really winds up to attempt a big shot. They knock the ball around, score three singles off the bat, and run a bye. If that happens from miscues aiming for the third row of seats, fair enough. But the urgency isn’t there, nor between the wickets.

3.52pm BST

17th over: West Indies 113-5 (Taylor 6, Henry 1) Six runs from the over, and the wicket. That’s a defining effort from Brunt.

3.50pm BST

That’s the game! Fine bowling from Brunt! She built the pressure that over, cramping Taylor for a dot ball and a single, foxing Dottin with a slower ball that didn’t concede a run. Dottin has her moment, playing her own version of the Natmeg, the draw shot between her legs, when Brunt bowls a really good tailing yorker. But Brunt has the final say, with a slower ball out the back of her land, landing perfectly on leg stump. Dottin in a slog-sweep position gets a lot of it, hit as hard as she can, but the ball is travelling so slowly when it hits the bat that she can’t get the power on the shot. It lands instead in the hands of Wilson on the rope. Dottin has laboured, but again it will be in vain.

3.45pm BST

16th over: West Indies 107-4 (Dottin 59, Taylor 6) A couple of boundaries back to back for Dottin, cutting Ecclestone crisply, then sweeping to beat short fine leg. But then a couple of mistimed shots that don’t beat the field, and an awkward single from an inside edge onto pad. Taylor drives a single to close, 10 runs from the over, but they still need more than that.

48 from 24 required.

3.42pm BST

15th over: West Indies 97-4 (Dottin 50, Taylor 5) Here comes Stafanie Taylor, and her second ball she drives Glenn gorgeously over cover for four. One of the team’s best ever players really should have been batting ahead of Nation, who has what is honestly a pretty dismal record from a substantial set of opportunities for this team. Dottin gets strike, flicks a single off her toes, and raises her fifty from 48 balls.

Her team needs 58 from 30.

3.38pm BST

Overturned on DRS! The on-field umpire says not out when Glenn loops up a straight break on leg stump that Nation misses, and is hit on the ankle. Fair enough to have some doubt there, but the projection shows the ball just holding its line enough to hit leg stump flush.

3.36pm BST

14th over: West Indies 91-3 (Dottin 49, Nation 3) West Indies need 71 in 42 balls, and can only get 7 from this Shrubsole over. Dottin starts to get creative late, with a scoop shot and then a flick behind square, both for two runs, both saved by Glenn.

3.33pm BST

13th over: West Indies 84-3 (Dottin 44, Nation 1) Chedean Nation comes in ahead of Staf Taylor. Finds a run. Dottin can’t, once, twice. The last ball of the over she slams down the ground and Mady Villiers thinks she’s taken a catch down at long-on, but isn’t entirely certain. Umpire Redfern’s soft signal is out, but the third umpire decides that the ball has bounced between Villiers’ fingers while she tried to take the catch. Dottin is reprieved. They didn’t even take the run while the ball was in the air. This hasn’t been a tactically smart batting performance for the most part.

3.27pm BST

Needing 72 from the last eight overs, Glenn strikes with her first ball of this six. Full, straight, and Matthews is stepping across to aim for the leg side, misses this one, and is hit on the ankle in front of off stump. No review. The partnership falls.

3.25pm BST

12th over: West Indies 83-2 (Dottin 44, Matthews 21) Mady Villiers now bowling her off-breaks for a change. Matthews finds a boundary via a cut shot, beating Brunt into the fence. Hands over strike to Dottin, who tries to go large once more and is dropped by Sciver! Out at deep midwicket, runs around and slides into the catch attempt, looks to be leaning back as she slides on her knees, and can only fingertip it away.

3.23pm BST

11th over: West Indies 74-2 (Dottin 41, Matthews 15) A couple of runs chipped away over midwicket by Matthews, then Ecclestone does brilliantly out at deep backward square to jump and block a pull shot that was threatening to bounce over her and keep the score to one run. Dottin decides it’s time to go, that same leg-side whack, and she hits it hard and flat over the boundary rider for six! What a shot! Then edges through her own legs, off the keeper, and away for two more. Sciver, the bowler, has to laugh. She’s the proprietor of the Natmeg, after all.

3.17pm BST

10th over: West Indies 63-2 (Dottin 33, Matthews 12) Shrubsole only bowled one over to start the innings, and has her second now. A couple of singles to start with, then Dottin sees a ball she likes and slots it into the gap at deep midwicket, between two boundary riders! Such an exhilarating striker of the ball when she gets her front leg out of the way and cleans out the bowler. But Shrubsole comes back with a slower ball and one that beats the edge, and the over still only costs six. West Indies need 92 from the last 10 overs, that’s a tough ask.

3.14pm BST

9th over: West Indies 57-2 (Dottin 28, Matthews 11) Glenn starts again, and Matthews walks way across her stumps to try to access an area out to square leg. Three times in the first four balls, she tries it, but keeps hitting to the field. Cat and mouse here, as Glenn keeps bowling wider, and Matthews keeps walking further across, then stops doing it, meaning that Glenn gets called for a wide, twice in a row. Following that, Matthews walks across again and hits one cleanly for a brace to deep midwicket, then stays at home and uses the width on Glenn’s next ball to cut four through cover. Quite the contest!

3.11pm BST

8th over: West Indies 49-2 (Dottin 28, Matthews 5) Matthews a taller player than Dottin, is able to stand up tall to Sciver and drive a single down the ground. Dottin flicks behind square, but she’s not too quick on the first run and isn’t often in a position to take on the arm for a second. Matthews repeats her earlier shot. Throw in a wide, and they take six from the set, useful but they’ll need some more profitable overs.

3.07pm BST

7th over: West Indies 43-2 (Dottin 26, Matthews 2) Dual spin now, with Sarah Glenn’s leg-breaks to complement Ecclestone’s left-arm orthos. Dottin aims her biggest shot of the day, a huge smoke towards midwicket, but misses the ball entirely. She settles for a cut shot for one run, and Matthews takes a single. They need 112 from 78, it’s growing tougher.

3.05pm BST

6th over: West Indies 40-2 (Dottin 25, Matthews 0) It’s parry and thrust here. Ecclestone bowling, and Dottin can’t score or doesn’t really try to from five of the deliveries, while playing one cut shot to the boundary. It looks like she’s feeling the pressure, knowing that she has to score most of the runs for her team if they’re to get home. In two minds about what to do next, how much caution to show.

3.00pm BST

5th over: West Indies 36-2 (Dottin 21, Matthews 0) Some deep breaths to compose oneself, as Dottin plays out most of the Brunt over circumspectly. Hayley Matthews has come in at No.4 today.

2.59pm BST

Short and sweet. Campbelle glances the first ball of Brunt’s over for four, then sees a length ball in her arc and tries a big drive down the ground, getting more toe of the bat than middle, and lifting it high to Shrubsole at mid-off. The two opening bowlers combine.

2.57pm BST

4th over: West Indies 31-1 (Dottin 20, Campbelle 1) Once Dottin loses the strike, an over is allowed to go by that costs two runs and takes a wicket.

2.55pm BST

That’s this team in a nutshell. Sciver comes on early for a bowl, with her innocuous mediums. Cramps Dottin for room first ball, and a single to midwicket results. Kirby hasn’t faced a ball for a long time, and has a partner playing red-hot, but still deadbats her first two balls and then misses one down the leg side. She sleepily takes her foot out of the crease while turning around, and Jones has waited for this and takes the bails off before Kirby’s bat can come down.

2.51pm BST

3rd over: West Indies 28-0 (Dottin 19, Kirby 3) Sophie Ecclestone, England’s left-arm spinner, loves bowling in the Powerplay. It’s a different challenge for a spinner with only two fielders allowed outside the circle. But it’s a different challenge against Dottin in full flow. Ecclestone bowls wide of off stump, looping the ball, and Dottin gets under it, up and over mid-off for four! Ecclestone comes straighter, Dottin backs away and smacks another loft back down the ground, over the bowler. Four more.

Ecclestone darts the ball in to find a dot, then Dottin misses an attempted glide, followed by a cut straight to the field. She squeezes a single off leg stump to end the over and keep the strike.

2.47pm BST

2nd over: West Indies 19-0 (Dottin 11, Kirby 3) Brunt to bowl the second over, and Dottin smacks her for four! There’s a start. Brunt drops short, and Dottin is so quickly back to put her full weight through the shot. Brunt bowls fuller, so Dottin clears her front leg and belts four more! Same spot, out to deep midwicket, different stroke. That’s what this game needs.

Brunt changes up and bowls wider outside off stump, and Dottin just pats a couple back. Waits for the straighter ball, and when it comes, swings viciously once more, but this time it goes behind square leg where Danni Wyatt is patrolling, who is able to slap down that ball on the bounce and keep it in play.

2.43pm BST

1st over: West Indies 10-0 (Dottin 2, Kirby 3) Anya Shrubsole, England’s opening swing bowler, is wearing a lot of layers in the cold, and will look to generate some heat. She starts with a Harmison ball! Ok, it didn’t go to second slip, but it did swing so wide that it misses the pitch altogether and is called a no-ball rather than a wide. Dottin clobbers the resulting free hit with a pull shot, but only gets a single because there’s a fine leg back. Then Kirby can’t lay bat on Shrubsole, who is hooping the ball wildly. Hits the pad twice, both times angling down leg side, but the second time the ball ricochets back past off stump and costs England four leg byes. Then Kirby has a huge swing, huge outside edge, high over where the slips might be in a different game, and bouncing safely down to deep third for two runs. Sarah Glenn puts in a brilliant save on the rope.

2.39pm BST

Here come Dottin to the middle. It’s all on her. Lee-Ann Kirby has recovered from being hit in the face while fielding, and is batting alongside.

2.30pm BST

That’s that then – a similar target to the ones that West Indies failed to chase in the previous two matches of this series. They did seem more energetic in the field today, they were more vocal and were tactically active with their field placings and at times with their bowling. But the skill level was still a problem, with the catches that went down, and that is likely to once again be an issue with the batting. As ever, most of it relies on Dottin, Taylor, and Matthews. Let’s see what they can produce.

2.27pm BST

20th over: England 154-6 (Wilson 16, Glenn 1) Sarah Glenn faces one ball and drives a single, and Wilson spent the entire last over stuck down the non-striker’s end. Dottin finishes with 2 for 29 from an eventful three overs.

2.26pm BST

Katherine Brunt comes in with the bat with three balls to face. The first of those, she plays a delicate reverse lap shot, over the keeper and away fine through deep third. The second, she plays an indelicate slog after backing away outside leg. Misses. Dottin is aiming at the base of middle once again.

2.24pm BST

It’s Dottin to close out the day. To start the over, Sciver gets back for a second run after diverting another full toss to midwicket. Dottin gets the next one to bounce, too short, so Sciver gets it to bounce too, once before crossing the rope at deep mid. She’s on 82. Four balls left. A century is theoretically possible. But Sciver walks across for the scoop shot, Dottin fires in full at middle stump, and this time ball beats bat. That’s 82 from 61 deliveries. Quite the innings.

2.21pm BST

19th over: England 143-4 (Sciver 76, Wilson 16) Sciver gets going! Even Taylor can’t stop her by this stage of the innings. A top-edged sweep for two, then Sciver gets the next sweep better – down near the toe of the bat but still placed between the boundary riders for four. Taylor bowls full and wide outside off, so Sciver waits and slaps it down through long-off for four more. Then gets a ball on her pads, and launches it over long-on for six! Takes a single to keep strike. The over costs 17. Taylor 1 for 34 in her bowling day.

This is now Sciver’s highest score in the format, previous best of 68 not out.

2.18pm BST

18th over: England 126-4 (Sciver 59, Wilson 16) Shot from Sciver! Dottin the bowler, well outside off, a bit short, and a slower ball. Sciver walks across to play the scoop shot, but then sees the length of the ball and picks the slower pace on it. So instead of scooping, she waits on it, then plays a pull shot as the ball is passing her. Catches up to it, and smacks it through fine leg for four. That’s some skill. Dottin recovers with a couple of singles, then loses grip on the ball entirely and bowls a beamer over the head of Sciver. A low full toss from the free hit can only be dragged by Sciver for a single.

Then another dropped catch! So many today. Another low full toss, fast, and Wilson played the reverse lap shot, aiming to get it through deep third for four. Hit it nicely, but straight at Selman. With the ball flat and travelling, she can’t hold on.

2.12pm BST

17th over: England 116-4 (Sciver 54, Wilson 13) Taylor is still doing a job: 1 for 17 from her three overs when this one comes to a close. Another smart shot from Wilson, tucking wide of long-on for two more runs, but otherwise the over is dots and singles.

2.10pm BST

16th over: England 111-4 (Sciver 52, Wilson 10) Wilson gets going now, sweeping powerfully against Fletcher’s first ball to score four to deep square leg. They milk the rest of the over. Another double dropped in front of the boundary rider, with the batters haring back for two.

2.07pm BST

15th over: England 103-4 (Sciver 51, Wilson 3) Another seven runs from the Grimmond over, including a restrained boundary just flicked into the gap between the boundary riders at deep midwicket. The team hundred comes up with Sciver’s fifty, her ninth in the format, her 22nd for England.

2.03pm BST

14th over: England 96-4 (Sciver 45, Wilson 2) Matthews continues, bowling in the cap much like another Matthews many years before. We’ve heard a lot about a certain tied Test featuring Dean Jones in the last few days. Singles, leg byes.

2.01pm BST

13th over: England 90-4 (Sciver 42, Wilson 0) Interesting action from Sheneta Grimmond, who bowls next, hopping and bobbing to the crease to bowl a version of off-spin, the delivery seeming to come from a hand with its palm held up to the sky. I’d love to see the ultra slow-mo close-up to see how that works. The England pair score couple of twos into the big space on the leg side, making the boundary riders run in. Fran Wilson’s only contribution is a leg bye.

1.57pm BST

12th over: England 83-4 (Sciver 36) Hayley Matthews with the ball now. She was Taylor’s batting partner when they won that T20 World Cup final in Kolkata in 2016. They’re bowling partners here today. Matthews also bowls finger spin. Not a good start with, as they run a few between the wickets before Sciver pulverises a short ball through square leg. But the last ball of the over, Matthews gets it right. Jones walks at her, but Matthews drags back her length a bit. It’s not there to hit, and Jones ends up trying to stab the ball off her thigh pad to leg. Misses it, and it goes on through the gate to the stumps.

1.52pm BST

11th over: England 73-3 (Sciver 29, Jones 1) That wicket is just as well for Fletcher, who dropped Knight earlier in the Taylor over. The simplest of catches, looped off the top edge to short third. But Taylor produces another edge that the keeper takes.

1.50pm BST

Wide outside off stump from Taylor, a lot of loop, and Knight plays a big drive with an angled bat. Top edge, and a fine take from Campbelle behind the stumps with no time to think.

1.47pm BST

10th over: England 67-2 (Sciver 25, Knight 28) Better line from Fletcher now that her digits are warmed up a bit. Lands on middle and off, with three boundary riders on the leg side. They can’t drag across, and deep cover is still there when Fletcher drags down. But the final tactical win goes to Knight, who plays a calm measured reverse sweep, splitting the fielders behind point for four. Throw in a couple of twos, and that over is worth 11. England on track for another big score here without having done anything outlandish.

1.43pm BST

9th over: England 56-2 (Sciver 23, Knight 19) Time for the captain to intervene. Stafanie Taylor’s off-breaks can be very effective. She puts a lot of loop on her first, making Sciver wait too long on the shot and meaning she only drags a single. Singles and a wide are all that follow, six from the over in total.

1.39pm BST

8th over: England 50-2 (Sciver 20, Knight 17) Afy Fletcher to start her day with spin, but she starts it badly – a loopy leg-break that lands well outside leg stump, and Knight easily sweeps four. Cold days tend to make leg-spin bowling difficult, when the fingers don’t work properly. Apparently it’s freezing today in England. Another couple of balls land on the line of leg stump. A brace for Knight, a couple of singles, and it’s another profitable over for England.

1.35pm BST

7th over: England 42-2 (Sciver 19, Knight 10) Deandra Dottin is on for a bowl. Interesting. A wonderful striker with the bat, but a useful seamer as well. And she seams it a mile! First ball, curls away a touch and then jags back, way past Knight’s push, and past off stump. Dottin is a shorter character than the specialist bowlers, very strongly built, and she’s putting a bit behind the ball today. A couple of singles, then Knight drags a slog in the air past midwicket for two. Uncontrolled. Slower ball driven to the deep cover, one run. But again a slip up late in the over, full and on middle stump, easy for Sciver to whip behind square leg for four.

There has been some good bowling in the last few overs, but each over has ended up being expensive.

1.31pm BST

6th over: England 33-2 (Sciver 14, Knight 6) Henry will close out the Powerplay. Sciver walks across to slap straight at point, then connects nicely with a straight drive but Henry plucks it in her follow-through. Third attempt, Sciver takes a single to square leg. Knight is blocked up by the off side field. Interesting field: two players behind square, plus an extra cover and a mid-off, with a deep cover sweeper. So, the tactic is to bowl outside off stump consistently and stop the scoring on that side. Two singles from the over.

1.27pm BST

5th over: England 31-2 (Sciver 13, Knight 5) Nearly another wicket for Connell! She angles in at the body, and Sciver is through the shot a bit early, perhaps just flinching a bit, and it takes a leading edge that hangs in the air but drops wide of the bowler in her follow-through. Sciver shows what she can do next ball: just a fraction short outside off, and that’s enough for her to carve four runs through cover. Following that is a near run-out, with Knight scrambling to make her ground at the striker’s end. A direct hit would have had her, but she gets in while the wicketkeeper takes the bails. She gets rewarded on strike though, a ball on leg stump that she can glance for four. Connell gets back on line to finish the over, beating Knight with the perfect line and length outside off stump.

1.22pm BST

4th over: England 22-2 (Sciver 8 Knight 1) Chinelle Henry, another tall quick for this West Indies team, starts her work well too. Goes straight through Knight with a ball that shapes away and then cuts back to beat the inside edge. Unfortunately for the bowler this all happened wide of the off stump, so Knight survives. Henry also fields sharply off her own bowling. But she slips up to finish the over, bowling a full toss that Sciver deflects away in front of square leg for four.

1.17pm BST

3rd over: England 14-2 (Sciver 1 Knight 1) The old firm reunites, then. Natalie Sciver, England’s biggest hitter, was the first replacement, Heather Knight the captain is the second. Connell closes out an over conceding only two singles.

1.16pm BST

A second in the over for Connell! Again that wide line, Wyatt gets a good piece of it, slicing the fullish delivery out to deep point. But West Indies have planned for this, they have one of their two boundary riders permitted at this stage of the innings out for that shot. Running in, sliding on her knees, Grimmond takes a good catch. Both of England’s opening pocket-rockets have gone.

1.13pm BST

Connell gets her reward! After a good first over she produces more of the same, a fuller ball swinging away outside off stump, and this time Beaumont’s swing gets a thick edge through to the keeper. Well held by Campbelle as it goes hard to her right.

1.11pm BST

2nd over: England 12-0 (Beaumont 1, Wyatt 11) Shakera Selman will be the other opening bowler for West Indies today. Loping run and she starts outside off stump, which is where Wyatt likes it. Carves in the air with an open blade behind point, and it looks a chance for a minute but dips before reaching Dottin. It also confounds her on the bounce and gets through her for four! Should have stopped that. Wyatt celebrates by slamming another aerial shot down through mid-off for four more. That’s her style, Wyatt: airborne through the off side without much concern for catchers. It has a failure rate, but when it comes off, it’s lucrative. She stabs a single off her hip with a cramped pull shot. Beaumont wants to join the party, charging down the pitch at Selman but missing. She’s lucky the keeper is standing back, so there’s no stumping.

Next ball, dropped! Selman nearly produced a remarkable dismissal. She bowls a good full ball, Wyatt sings hard through the drive but can’t get elevation. It comes back at the bowler hard and Selman gets a hand up above her head and parries it softly up in the air. Lee-Ann Kirby is at mid-off where the ball loops, and is easily in position to catch it, but she somehow manages to let it slip through her hands it hits her in the mouth. She’s in some trouble and is leaving the field to get some treatment, in pain. What a shemozzle all up.

1.05pm BST

1st over: England 2-0 (Beaumont 1, Wyatt 1) And we’re away. Shamilia Connell, the tall and strong opening bowler for West Indies, starts in the channel outside Tammy Beaumont’s off stump. Draws a flashy drive that doesn’t make contact, then a wider slap at a ball swinging away that misses as well. A good start from Connell, it takes Beaumont four deliveries to jam a single away to the leg side, then Wyatt finds cover for no score before dragging across the line for a quick run to mid-on. Nothing convincing with the bat in that opening over.

12.38pm BST

Especially important news for West Indies that Hayley Matthews hasn’t been hampered in the medium term by the back injury that bothered her the other night. She hasn’t made runs for them lately, but at her best she’s their best player. One has to keep hoping that she’ll come good.

12.35pm BST

It’s worked so far, so Heather Knight will make sure they bat again. Set the total, apply the same pressure. An unchanged team for England.

Two changes for West Indies: Chedean Nation comes in for Britney Cooper, and Aaliyah Alleyne is out for Sheneta Grimmond.

12.32pm BST

Hello all. It’s cricket time again. West Indies to the rescue for England’s summer, first with the men’s Test team and now with the women playing some Twenty20 matches. England have the chance today to win the series in straight sets, to mix our sporting metaphors. They’ve been very consistent in their two wins so far: bat first, run up a big total, and win by 47 runs. Twice in a row. With this being the third match of five, West Indies need to win today to stay in the series.

Easier said than done. West Indies women have been on the slide since becoming world champions in 20-over cricket back in 2016. Not much has gone right in the years that have followed. The good news in this series is that Deandra Dottin has been making runs after some lean years. The bad news is that out of 16 other innings played by her teammates in this series, one has got out of single figures. Hmm.

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Published on September 26, 2020 08:19

England v West Indies: third women's T20 international – live!

Live updates as tourists look to get back on track at County GroundBob Willis Trophy final: Live updates from Somerset v EssexGet in touch! Email Geoff or tweet him

2.03pm BST

14th over: England 96-4 (Sciver 45, Wilson 2) Matthews continues, bowling in the cap much like another Matthews many years before. We’ve heard a lot about a certain tied Test featuring Dean Jones in the last few days. Singles, leg byes.

2.01pm BST

13th over: England 90-4 (Sciver 42, Wilson 0) Interesting action from Sheneta Grimmond, who bowls next, hopping and bobbing to the crease to bowl a version of off-spin, the delivery seeming to come from a hand with its palm held up to the sky. I’d love to see the ultra slow-mo close-up to see how that works. The England pair score couple of twos into the big space on the leg side, making the boundary riders run in. Fran Wilson’s only contribution is a leg bye.

1.57pm BST

12th over: England 83-4 (Sciver 36) Hayley Matthews with the ball now. She was Taylor’s batting partner when they won that T20 World Cup final in Kolkata in 2016. They’re bowling partners here today. Matthews also bowls finger spin. Not a good start with, as they run a few between the wickets before Sciver pulverises a short ball through square leg. But the last ball of the over, Matthews gets it right. Jones walks at her, but Matthews drags back her length a bit. It’s not there to hit, and Jones ends up trying to stab the ball off her thigh pad to leg. Misses it, and it goes on through the gate to the stumps.

1.52pm BST

11th over: England 73-3 (Sciver 29, Jones 1) That wicket is just as well for Fletcher, who dropped Knight earlier in the Taylor over. The simplest of catches, looped off the top edge to short third. But Taylor produces another edge that the keeper takes.

1.50pm BST

Wide outside off stump from Taylor, a lot of loop, and Knight plays a big drive with an angled bat. Top edge, and a fine take from Campbelle behind the stumps with no time to think.

1.47pm BST

10th over: England 67-2 (Sciver 25, Knight 28) Better line from Fletcher now that her digits are warmed up a bit. Lands on middle and off, with three boundary riders on the leg side. They can’t drag across, and deep cover is still there when Fletcher drags down. But the final tactical win goes to Knight, who plays a calm measured reverse sweep, splitting the fielders behind point for four. Throw in a couple of twos, and that over is worth 11. England on track for another big score here without having done anything outlandish.

1.43pm BST

9th over: England 56-2 (Sciver 23, Knight 19) Time for the captain to intervene. Stafanie Taylor’s off-breaks can be very effective. She puts a lot of loop on her first, making Sciver wait too long on the shot and meaning she only drags a single. Singles and a wide are all that follow, six from the over in total.

1.39pm BST

8th over: England 50-2 (Sciver 20, Knight 17) Afy Fletcher to start her day with spin, but she starts it badly – a loopy leg-break that lands well outside leg stump, and Knight easily sweeps four. Cold days tend to make leg-spin bowling difficult, when the fingers don’t work properly. Apparently it’s freezing today in England. Another couple of balls land on the line of leg stump. A brace for Knight, a couple of singles, and it’s another profitable over for England.

1.35pm BST

7th over: England 42-2 (Sciver 19, Knight 10) Deandra Dottin is on for a bowl. Interesting. A wonderful striker with the bat, but a useful seamer as well. And she seams it a mile! First ball, curls away a touch and then jags back, way past Knight’s push, and past off stump. Dottin is a shorter character than the specialist bowlers, very strongly built, and she’s putting a bit behind the ball today. A couple of singles, then Knight drags a slog in the air past midwicket for two. Uncontrolled. Slower ball driven to the deep cover, one run. But again a slip up late in the over, full and on middle stump, easy for Sciver to whip behind square leg for four.

There has been some good bowling in the last few overs, but each over has ended up being expensive.

1.31pm BST

6th over: England 33-2 (Sciver 14, Knight 6) Henry will close out the Powerplay. Sciver walks across to slap straight at point, then connects nicely with a straight drive but Henry plucks it in her follow-through. Third attempt, Sciver takes a single to square leg. Knight is blocked up by the off side field. Interesting field: two players behind square, plus an extra cover and a mid-off, with a deep cover sweeper. So, the tactic is to bowl outside off stump consistently and stop the scoring on that side. Two singles from the over.

1.27pm BST

5th over: England 31-2 (Sciver 13, Knight 5) Nearly another wicket for Connell! She angles in at the body, and Sciver is through the shot a bit early, perhaps just flinching a bit, and it takes a leading edge that hangs in the air but drops wide of the bowler in her follow-through. Sciver shows what she can do next ball: just a fraction short outside off, and that’s enough for her to carve four runs through cover. Following that is a near run-out, with Knight scrambling to make her ground at the striker’s end. A direct hit would have had her, but she gets in while the wicketkeeper takes the bails. She gets rewarded on strike though, a ball on leg stump that she can glance for four. Connell gets back on line to finish the over, beating Knight with the perfect line and length outside off stump.

1.22pm BST

4th over: England 22-2 (Sciver 8 Knight 1) Chinelle Henry, another tall quick for this West Indies team, starts her work well too. Goes straight through Knight with a ball that shapes away and then cuts back to beat the inside edge. Unfortunately for the bowler this all happened wide of the off stump, so Knight survives. Henry also fields sharply off her own bowling. But she slips up to finish the over, bowling a full toss that Sciver deflects away in front of square leg for four.

1.17pm BST

3rd over: England 14-2 (Sciver 1 Knight 1) The old firm reunites, then. Natalie Sciver, England’s biggest hitter, was the first replacement, Heather Knight the captain is the second. Connell closes out an over conceding only two singles.

1.16pm BST

A second in the over for Connell! Again that wide line, Wyatt gets a good piece of it, slicing the fullish delivery out to deep point. But West Indies have planned for this, they have one of their two boundary riders permitted at this stage of the innings out for that shot. Running in, sliding on her knees, Grimmond takes a good catch. Both of England’s opening pocket-rockets have gone.

1.13pm BST

Connell gets her reward! After a good first over she produces more of the same, a fuller ball swinging away outside off stump, and this time Beaumont’s swing gets a thick edge through to the keeper. Well held by Campbelle as it goes hard to her right.

1.11pm BST

2nd over: England 12-0 (Beaumont 1, Wyatt 11) Shakera Selman will be the other opening bowler for West Indies today. Loping run and she starts outside off stump, which is where Wyatt likes it. Carves in the air with an open blade behind point, and it looks a chance for a minute but dips before reaching Dottin. It also confounds her on the bounce and gets through her for four! Should have stopped that. Wyatt celebrates by slamming another aerial shot down through mid-off for four more. That’s her style, Wyatt: airborne through the off side without much concern for catchers. It has a failure rate, but when it comes off, it’s lucrative. She stabs a single off her hip with a cramped pull shot. Beaumont wants to join the party, charging down the pitch at Selman but missing. She’s lucky the keeper is standing back, so there’s no stumping.

Next ball, dropped! Selman nearly produced a remarkable dismissal. She bowls a good full ball, Wyatt sings hard through the drive but can’t get elevation. It comes back at the bowler hard and Selman gets a hand up above her head and parries it softly up in the air. Leanne Kirby is at mid-off where the ball loops, and is easily in position to catch it, but she somehow manages to let it slip through her hands it hits her in the mouth. She’s in some trouble and is leaving the field to get some treatment, in pain. What a shemozzle all up.

1.05pm BST

1st over: England 2-0 (Beaumont 1, Wyatt 1) And we’re away. Shamilia Connell, the tall and strong opening bowler for West Indies, starts in the channel outside Tammy Beaumont’s off stump. Draws a flashy drive that doesn’t make contact, then a wider slap at a ball swinging away that misses as well. A good start from Connell, it takes Beaumont four deliveries to jam a single away to the leg side, then Wyatt finds cover for no score before dragging across the line for a quick run to mid-on. Nothing convincing with the bat in that opening over.

12.38pm BST

Especially important news for West Indies that Hayley Matthews hasn’t been hampered in the medium term by the back injury that bothered her the other night. She hasn’t made runs for them lately, but at her best she’s their best player. One has to keep hoping that she’ll come good.

12.35pm BST

It’s worked so far, so Heather Knight will make sure they bat again. Set the total, apply the same pressure. An unchanged team for England.

Two changes for West Indies: Chedean Nation comes in for Britney Cooper, and Aaliyah Alleyne is out for Sheneta Grimmond.

12.32pm BST

Hello all. It’s cricket time again. West Indies to the rescue for England’s summer, first with the men’s Test team and now with the women playing some Twenty20 matches. England have the chance today to win the series in straight sets, to mix our sporting metaphors. They’ve been very consistent in their two wins so far: bat first, run up a big total, and win by 47 runs. Twice in a row. With this being the third match of five, West Indies need to win today to stay in the series.

Easier said than done. West Indies women have been on the slide since becoming world champions in 20-over cricket back in 2016. Not much has gone right in the years that have followed. The good news in this series is that Deandra Dottin has been making runs after some lean years. The bad news is that out of 16 other innings played by her teammates in this series, one has got out of single figures. Hmm.

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Published on September 26, 2020 06:05

Dean Jones: Australia loses a sporting hero far too soon | Geoff Lemon

The swashbuckling former player, who has died aged 59, batted like he had seen it all before and could not wait to do it all again

It is not supposed to unfold like this. Some scraps of information filtering through the internet late on a Thursday evening, unsourced, surely a hoax. The text messages start pinging around between people seeking confirmation from each other. But then the reports grow more firm, confirmation comes through from those in the know. Dean Jones has gone, not beamed up as he should have been from the centre of the MCG with bat raised to the light, but in Mumbai for another commentary job. Not yet 60 years old.

Sporting heroes have their seasons, in far longer rhythms than the seasons they played. A certain generation becomes elderly, then gradually each member makes an exit from the dignity of advanced years, more likely drawing a reverent wave of farewell rather than a sharp grief. The next generation takes their place as elders. But Dean Jones was nowhere near that generation. His rank still has decades to prosper.

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Published on September 24, 2020 14:35

Saving Don Bradman's wicket: do we need to preserve every single cricket relic? | Geoff Lemon

An unspectacular concrete strip in the southern highlands of NSW has become a battleground for memorabilia fetishists and property developers

People love to feel close to notable figures from the past. Here is the spot in the cafe where Picasso used to sit. This is the bar where Hemingway drank. This is the house where Harriet Tubman lived. Irretrievably separated by time, we seek to ease that by eliminating physical distance. Like if we stand where they once stood, we might somehow thin the density of years in between.

In that context, you would think the childhood cricket pitch of Sir Donald Bradman would have been assured that sort of reverence. The greatest player in the international game, with a statistical lead the equivalent of running the Olympic 100m in six seconds. His feats a huge Australian source of pride. The place where he supposedly learned his craft, with all the overtones of innocence and destiny, innate to stories of youth.

If we auction or display his baggy green cap, do we auction his slippers and his spectacles and the empty wrappers of his Werthers Originals?

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Published on September 20, 2020 20:44

Anatomy of a masterpiece: Glenn Maxwell innings leaves cricket craving more | Geoff Lemon

Science cannot quantify it but the human heart knows a Maxwell innings creates more joy than an equal number of runs from anyone else

“I don’t understand how I’m able to hit sixes.” Glenn Maxwell said that in an interview. It sounds strange, because so far in professional cricket he has hit 539 of them. What he meant was that when he looked in the mirror, he did not see much to suggest that six-hitting was on the agenda.

It is true that Maxwell is not one of those athletes who look like they were engineered in a lab. Nor are lots of cricketers, but not many cricketers hit more sixes than he does. The few whose records compare, like Andre Russell or Kieron Pollard, are giant slabs of human muscle.

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Published on September 17, 2020 17:48

How Cricket Australia's $1bn TV mirage has cost the game dear

Seven’s threat to pull out of the much-touted deal exposes its weaknesses as many games risk being consigned to pay-TV this summer

In April 2018, Cricket Australia announced a new television rights deal worth $1.18bn. Chief executive James Sutherland sealed the final negotiations that had been conducted by his head of broadcasting and commercial, Ben Amarfio. Given that it was a couple of weeks since the ball-tampering scandal that enveloped the men’s Test team, the deal was presented as a triumph for the sport. It was to be a new era, with the rights leaving the Nine Network for the first time since the 1970s, moving to Fox Sports and Seven West Media.

Skip forward to 2020, and the colours of that bright new dawn might have been caused by toxic clouds on the horizon. While CA tries to stabilise the sport in a viral world, Seven is blustering about abandoning the contract entirely. The network’s CEO, James Warburton, has made a series of aggressive statements that peaked with calling CA “the most incompetent administration I’ve ever worked with”. Seven’s next instalment with Fox of $50m is due on Tuesday, 15 September and the beginning of the season is barely a fortnight away.

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Published on September 11, 2020 17:13

Roles reversed with England as Australia set out on road to next World Cup | Geoff Lemon

Unlike five years ago, Australia are the ones who now have to move on from a limp World Cup exit

For the longest time, England did not beat Australia at one-day cricket. In the general sense, not the specific. There were matches along the journey that went England’s way, even brief periods of ascendancy. But as a rule, that team did not beat Australia. It was always the exception.

The first one-day international ever played, as a fill-in match in Melbourne in 1971, the home team won. England’s worst losing streak stretched to 14 matches in March 2003. In the first 15 years of the current century, England’s win-loss record read 18-45. That was when everything changed.

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Published on September 09, 2020 17:32

AFL 2020: Geelong make light work of Port Adelaide – as it happened

Geelong thumped ladder-leading Port Adelaide by 60 points with Tom Hawkins delivering another stand-out performance

1.15pm BST

What a win for Geelong! Second on the ladder, and a ten-goal margin in a shortened game, one of the biggest wins of the year. Since July 27, what’s that... 18 days? They’ve played five matches. Two in Perth plus the switch to Brisbane. They were within a whisker of beating West Coast in the west, and aside from that they had Fremantle, North Melbourne, St Kilda and now Port Adelaide nowhere near them. That’s especially meaningful when it’s the top of the table side.

There has been a lot more chat about Geelong and flag favouritism during the past week, and it’ll increase after tonight. The caveat to that is that for the eight seasons preceding this one they’ve been great at making the finals and looking good doing so, and terrible once they get there. So forgive a bit of jadedness when these discussions come around again.

1.11pm BST

Q4: 1 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 4.7 (31) v Geelong 14.7 (91) Stewart and Tuohy take the Cats out of defence after an ineffective foray. Three contested marks in a row down the line: Blicavs, Stanley, Dangerfield. The latter pumps it to full forward with a minute to go. Who’s there but... Lachie Henderson? He’s managed to sneak forward and he takes the fourth mark of the sequence! Goes back and kicks a rare goal!

1.06pm BST

Q4: 3 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 4.7 (31) v Geelong 13.7 (85) Never mind, say the Cats, and take that goal right back. Loose ball in the left pocket from a bash forward, Hawkins wins it. Instead of trying to blaze for goal he plays the way he always does, looking for the best option, centred for Menegola to run by, pick up, and snap another.

1.05pm BST

Q4: 3 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 4.7 (31) v Geelong 12.7 (79) Port’s second goal from a 50-metre penalty tonight. Farrell marks 50 metres out, and the umpire decides that Parfitt didn’t steer clear sufficiently of the protected area while running past. There won’t be much Alberton cheering for that.

1.02pm BST

Q4: 4 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 12.7 (79) All Geelong in this final stages. Rhys Stanley wins the ruck at half back and again gets his own ball and wins a clearance. Rohan isn’t in position to mark on the wing but flies for a fist, getting a deflecting down into the path of Dangerfield. Without dropping from top gear, the Geelong star reels it in high over his head on the run, carries the ball to 70 out, then sends a perfect 60-metre pass to Fogarty near the goal square running back. Marks, goals.

12.59pm BST

Q4: 5 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 11.7 (73) Gee, Port really are cooked now. Just waiting for the siren. Geelong kick the ball around down back for a while before Stewart has the vision to see Bews on the wing just on from the bench. He gets a clear run forward, spreads to Tuohy in the pocket, who centres hard and low from the right. There are three Power plays there at the top of the goal square, and it clean bowls them all, leaving Rohan behind them all to snaffle it and poke it through for his third.

12.55pm BST

Q4: 8 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 10.7 (67) Blicavs again, he’s been huge tonight all over the ground. Rucks, follows up at ground level to win the ball, hands it wide to Guthrie running by. Long kick inside 50, and Port are rattled now. Rohan is dragged down by his back arm as he goes up to mark and wins the clear free. Kicks the shot from 35 out.

12.52pm BST

Q4: 9 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 9.7 (61) Goal! Oh, look at that. Wait, you can’t, this is a text blog. Ok. Guthrie did some smart work in defensive 50 in traffic to get around a tackle and find Tuohy with a handball. Tuohy thumps it long to half-back on the flank. Dangerfield is two on one, in the middle. He pulls down the mark regardless. Plays on, fakes left, right, left again. Sells the dummy, gets around the tackle, and kicks long to the advantage of Hawkins, 45 angle, 45 out. Hawkins nails the long set shot for his sixth.

12.47pm BST

Q4: 12 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 8.7 (55) That just looked too easy for the Cats. Down through the middle, players lining up for the possession. Henderson has floated forward into the 50 to handball wide. A little chip finds Rohan, who goes back and kicks the sealer. Five goals the difference, 11 minutes to go.

12.45pm BST

Q4: 13 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 7.7 (49) Nothing doing for Port early in the fourth quarter. They needed to start this in a blaze. Stanley wins a free kick in the middle, Cats go forward and bleed out some time on the half-forward flank. Port win a free but pump it out on the full. Get a slingshot going down the wing via Dixon but Boak is bumped off his kick and Blicavs marks the intercept.

12.36pm BST

For the first time tonight the story of the play is being told on the scoreboard. Geelong have been far better and now have a 24-point buffer. The TV goons are trying to pump up the idea that it’s not a huge lead, which is sorta kinda true, but usually a team that has battled to kick three goals all night, one from a 50 penalty, isn’t going to peel off five in a row in the last quarter. That said, the teams that win premierships do have to find ways to win when they shouldn’t, so if Port can find the pepper from here they’ll have done something impressive.

12.31pm BST

Q3: 1 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 3.7 (25) v Geelong 7.7 (49) Goal! Where did that come from? Port win a clean ball from the centre, bang it forward, and Georgiades the young forward gets a clear jump at it and marks contested. Footy’s easy when you play it like that. Kicks truly from right in front.

12.30pm BST

Q3: 2 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 2.7 (19) v Geelong 7.7 (49) And another one! Hawkins has five. It started in defence when Jack Henry got back to spoil Dixon. Length of the ground by Geelong, fast on the break, and long to Hawkins at the top of the goal square. In his style, he gets rid of his man, marks it, and decides to play on and snap the goal through.

12.28pm BST

Q3: 3 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 2.7 (19) v Geelong 6.7 (43) Goal! The Cats take it back. A lot of congestion and contesting at half-back for Port, back of the centre square. Hawkins is all alone in the forward 50 waiting. Eventually the ball breaks clear. Selwood, into the forward line, squared to Miers, handballs to Guthrie going by, and he’s able to kick across his body on the run from about 30 out. Four goals the difference again.

12.24pm BST

Q3: 5 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 2.7 (19) v Geelong 5.6 (36) There’s one for Port! Only their second for the night. Desperately needed. That’s what can happen when the ball stays in your forward line. Gray put pressure on at the kick-in, a couple of Cats fumbled, and Stewart collects Woodcock high. He kicks around the corner from the pocket and just sneaks it in, near post.

12.21pm BST

Q3: 7 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.7 (13) v Geelong 5.6 (36) Huge contest from Rohan on the half forward flank, got up high to bring a contested ball to ground, allowing Dangerfield to pick it up on the fly and measure a long kick across the forward line to Miers. He’s usually very accurate but misses his set shot from about 40 out. Port come down the other end, and I think that’s their first mark inside 50. Powell-Pepper, who has tried hard, marks it 49 metres out on the counterattack. He hooks it going for the distance.

12.17pm BST

Q3: 9 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.6 (12) v Geelong 5.5 (35) There’s the goal! The Cats change up their style, taking some time with short passes through the middle. It only ends because Bews drops a mark and has to play on. He bangs it long, what else would he do? And Clurey has Hawkins again, then doesn’t have him, as the Geelong forward shoves him away and chest-marks 20 out straight in front. Kicks his fourth. Looks like Jonas is changing to him now.

12.15pm BST

Q3: 10 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.6 (12) v Geelong 4.5 (29) Sam Simpson does a hamstring and comes off for the Cats. Blicavs just shoves Boak off the ball at half forward, finds Miers near 50, who goes long to Hawkins. Doesn’t mark in the end, wins it down to Parfitt, whose snap misses. Can’t put them away!

12.11pm BST

Q3: 13 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.6 (12) v Geelong 4.4 (28) We’re away in the third quarter. Dangerfield nearly wins the clearance again but has to slap it towards a teammate. Stewart on the wing gets it forward, all the way to the goalsquare but Port stand firm in the end. Sweep it the other way and have it in their forward line for a long time, but can’t get a clear run at the ball and can’t scramble a snap for goal. It comes out eventually via Selwood, down the wing, long inside 50, and Hawkins marks. His shot goes left to right as usual, but doesn’t come back far enough from the right pocket. Port still in it... McKenzie is on Hawkins now.

12.02pm BST

Channel Seven really trying some things with the playlist tonight. Welcome to the Jungle before the previous break, Skee-Lo this time around.

11.58am BST

A few South Australians sounding pretty blue below the line. Or pretty teal, I guess. Buck up, you lot! It’s only a couple of goals.

If Port fans need any consolation, at least you don’t barrack for Adelaide?

11.53am BST

MelbourneTown is in the comments section: “Brian Taylor on Lycett lining up for goal - ‘using all of his available time here and maybe a tiny bit more.’ Total time expired? 15 seconds!”

The less we say about that aspect of the broadcast, the better.

11.50am BST

Strange sort of game so far. The Cats have been much the better, but only extended their lead by one point in that quarter. Two good minutes of footy by Port could wipe off that deficit. The top team haven’t looked on all night, they’ve been clunky and awkward and haven’t taken a mark up forward that I can remember. Geelong have Hawkins in excellent touch, but haven’t made full use of their advantage. Could easily see this tilt the other way if Port switch on.

11.47am BST

Q2: 1 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.6 (12) v Geelong 4.3 (27) Butters is one of the league leaders for assists this season, and nearly has another. Port’s first really fluent fast passage of play all night, through the centre, long ball from Butters to Dixon one on one, but it just clears the key forward and Henderson sees it out of bounds. Amon scrubs another snap, this time from the opposite pocket, but that misses as well. They’ve collected two goals in inefficient fashion.

11.44am BST

Q2: 3 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.5 (11) v Geelong 4.3 (27) The vibe has definitely swung back Port’s way the last few minutes. Geelong manage to squeeze forward at last. Jonas, I think, with a shocker of a kick out of 50 that could easily have cost a goal but Clurey gets across to spoil Miers from marking in the right pocket.

11.42am BST

Q2: 5 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.5 (11) v Geelong 4.3 (27) Port pretty stiff not to be paid holding the ball against Henderson 40 metres from goal. The ball was shaken loose in the tackle, not disposed of. The Cats defenders share the ball through just about everyone on their backline. The ledger is squared perhaps when Parfitt nails Amon in a tackle in the centre square and isn’t rewarded either. Port get forward, and Powell-Pepper is lively again with the streamlined speedster’s shiny scone gleaming under the lights as he launches a long snap from the left pocket but hits the post. A similar scenario thirty seconds letter when Amon gets a shot from the same spot. Same result.

11.37am BST

Q2: 8 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.3 (9) v Geelong 4.3 (27) Goal! Lovely response out of the middle, Blicavs winning the loose ball himself and forcing it forward with a tumbler. Duncan picks up the loose possession and makes amends immediately with a lace-out chip to Hawkins on the lead into the left pocket. It’s Hawkins’ wrong side, a 45-metre shot, steep angle, but he’s surgical.

11.35am BST

Q2: 10 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 1.3 (9) v Geelong 3.3 (21) Goal! Port on the board thanks to Scott Lycett with a terrible orange moustache. It wasn’t down to good play, it was just Lycett marking on the wing and Mitch Duncan running in to block the mark when there was already someone on it. 50-metre penalty takes Lycett to within 30 of goal, and he dobs it. Cats don’t have much a lead.

11.33am BST

Q2: 10 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.3 (3) v Geelong 3.3 (21) Nothing doing for Port from the throw-in. The ball leaves their forward line, then returns, but Bews hits it at pace and launches it way down the wing. Better from Clurey on Hawkins, who managed to spoil the mark and force it out of bounds. Hawkins retreats to the forward line and is there to contest for the ball again as it comes forward. A couple of throw-ins. Miers centres from the 50. Duursma clears but Bews marks, puts it back in. Cleared outside 50 on the other side of the ground at right half-forward. Dixon one on one with Harry Taylor, palms it one, Farrell goes off the ground trying to square the ball into the goal square, but it dribbles through.

11.28am BST

Q2: 12 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.2 (2) v Geelong 3.3 (21) First shot at goal really for Port, from Farrell hard in the pocket after Guthrie handballed to the wrong team. But Farrell misses. Guthrie makes up for it on the wing on the way out, threading the needle to let Hawkins mark at half forward. Port manage to suppress the ball once it reaches the left pocket and get it out of bounds. Dangerfield wins the throw in but Tuohy’s kick is smothered. Powell-Pepper is trying hard for Port. Motlop marks outside 50. Hands off to Gray, to Boak, who kicks to full forward but it’s punched out. Dixon has a ton of Selleys No More Gaps up his nose and he’s furious at life.

11.25am BST

Q2: 14 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.1 (1) v Geelong 3.3 (21) Goal! Some slippery work by O’Connor on the wing wins space in a contested area, and finds Dangerfield running towards 50, but he probably should have gone for home rather than trying to caress to Hawkins, whose path to the ball is cut off. Hawkins gets another chance a minute later though and holds a contested mark in the right forward pocket. That’s his spot, as a left-to-right kicker of the ball, he nails them from there most times, but he still centres unselfishly to find Charlie Atkins 30 metres out straight in front. Atkins doesn’t let him down with the set shot.

11.21am BST

A couple of questions in the comments from View West and Dr Rudi about the cricket in September: I would love to be there, but the biosecure rules from the ECB mean that they’ve got a max of 12 reporters allowed at any match. So they’re not allowing any overseas folk for any of the tours. It’s unfortunate, but the way things go at the moment. There’s not much point me going if I can’t get into the ground, so I’ll have to settle for 4am off the telly for the first time in a long while.

11.17am BST

“Top of the table clash, enjoy. Hope it’s a cracker for you Aussie Rules fans.” A bit of nice cross-code love from Harry of Oz in the comments. You’re a wizard, Harry.

11.16am BST

Zach Tuohy saves Port from the ignominy of a scoreless first quarter by walking over a behind after a long ball clears the pack into the goal square. It’s really not that big a deal at the moment though, with these short quarters and Geelong not capitalising on dominating the early exchanges. Aside from the behinds there was also an out-on-the-full shot from Miers as he ran deep into the right pocket to get his hook-foot technique some distance from close to 50.

11.12am BST

Q1: 1 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 2.3 (15) Woodcock takes the advantage after Fogarty is caught with the ball on the wing. Goes long but Stanley fists it out of bounds. Cats clear from the throw-in.

11.11am BST

Q1: 2 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 2.3 (15) Phenomenal tackle by Atkins at half back as Byrne-Jones picks up a loose ball and doesn’t realise there’s a killer in the house with him. Nailed him. Dixon is off with a blood rule after copping a stray hand in the nose from Blicavs in a marking contest. Out of bounds in Port’s forward pocket.

11.08am BST

Q1: 4 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 2.3 (15) Dangerfield wins another ball in spectacular fashion, clears back to O’Connor who goes long to half forward, but Clurey leaves Hawkins and rises high to punch to the line. Geelong are so well set up at half back though that they win the ball back. Back it goes, through Miers on the wing, on to Rohan, who finds Hawkins deep in the left pocket! Right on the line. While Clurey is busy remonstrating for out on the full, Hawkins centres to Simpson, but his set shot hits the post. Port could be a couple further down here.

11.05am BST

Q1: 6 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 2.2 (14) A misssed set shot from Mitch Duncan deep in the right pocket extends the lead by one. Port haven’t had much of the footy. “Jonas to Hawkins please,” says Dr Rudi.

11.03am BST

Q1: 8 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 2.1 (13) Travis Boak wins possession in the middle after Atkins cleans up McKenzie contesting a loose ball but the ricochet spills Port’s way. His ball going forward is swamped by defenders at centre-half forward. A fast chain of handballs gets Geelong out of defence and back down the wing.

Kolodjashnij gets a handall receive while charging through the centre square, and a long kick forward advantages Hawkins, who bodies Clurey out of the way, marks, and converts from right in front. He’s top of the Coleman count by two!

10.59am BST

Q1: 10 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 1.1 (7) A similar play on the other wing now, Menegola the player in space but his kick doesn’t find a target and gets punched out of bounds. It comes back to Guthrie but his centreing kick is cut off by Robbie Gray getting back to help out in defence. Port get the run of the field now, Amon dodging Menegola on the win, getting it inside 50 for a throw in.

10.57am BST

Q1: 12 mins remaining: Port Adelaide 0.0 (0) v Geelong 1.1 (7) Fairly cagey in the early stages. Dangerfield wins the first centre clearance but can’t make anything of it. The sides test each other out a bit, Geelong’s defence doing the business in intercepting the ball, and Hawkins missing a rushed snap when it goes forward. After a few minutes there’s the first really clean passage of play, breaking out of Port’s forward line, finding Dangerfield on the wing, who runs into space and puts it long to Hawkins in a one-on-one. He marks, plays on, runs into an open goal.

10.44am BST

Jude from Port is excited already. “I am extremely nervous but hoping the glorious Port boys have a great game at the Portricon. Undefeated there so far.”

This is the way the legends of ground and teams evolve. Port, unbeatable on the Gold Coast. Who knew?

10.43am BST

The teams, from back lines to forward lines.

Geelong

10.26am BST

You can leave comments in the section below the line and I’ll try to keep an eye on them and the action at the same time.

10.26am BST

Good evening Australian time, or wherever else you may be around the world, for a Friday night corker between the top side, Port Adelaide, and the third, Geelong. Port have been flying in this interrupted season, harvesting nine wins out of eleven attempts so far. The Cats have been much more up and down, but they’ve turned in a remarkable performance in their hectic last couple of weeks, winning three out of the last four despite travelling from Perth to Brisbane with four-day breaks between games. Now they’re on the Gold Coast, at the world-renowned Metricon Stadium, which is holding up surprisingly well given all the traffic it’s had this season compared to its very light usage in the past.

Sam Mayes and former Cat Steven Motlop are back for the Power, with Cam Sutcliffe and Jarrod Lienert dropped. Lachie Fogarty and Sam Simpson are two young guns coming in for Geelong, with Brad Close and Jack Steven getting a rest after playing in the win over St Kilda on Monday.

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Published on August 14, 2020 05:22