Tag: <span>england</span>

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Cricket in COVID-19 times started in England from the 8th of July 2020 in empty stadiums and with the strictest of norms and measures. The first 3-Test Series since the outbreak of the pandemic was played against the visiting West Indies. The visitors won the first test by 4 wickets on the fifth and last day of the closely fought encounter. However, the hosts came back stronger in the second and the third test matches, winning the second match by 113 runs and then routing the unpredictable, as ever, West Indies by 269 runs in the concluding match, thus winning the Test Series 2-1. In Test cricket, English seamer Stuart Broad became the 2nd seam bowler from England, the fourth fast bowler of the world and the seventh bowler overall of the world, to capture 500 wickets in the last encounter that concluded on the 28th of July 2020. Pity, no home supporters or any other supporters were there to cheer him and the team win! The most promising aspect of the New Normal Cricket was that no health-related issues daunted the efforts. And, cricket in empty stadiums continued.

Next came the team of Pakistan for a 3-match Test Series and a 3-match T20I Series against the hosts England. The first test match between England and Pakistan was played from the 5th of August, and England, keeping up the winning streak, won the match by 3 wickets. The match, played at the Emirates Old Trafford ground in Manchester, was a cliffhanger, and England managed eventually to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on the final day, the hosts going 1-0 up in the series. Rains and bad light continuously interrupted proceedings of the second test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, allowing only 150 overs to be bowled overall, and the match ended in a frustrating draw for both teams, particularly for Pakistan smarting under the shock defeat in the first match. The third and the final match of the series, a much-awaited showdown, started from 21st August 2020 at the same venue. England sealed the deal by putting up a mammoth score of 583 for 8 declared, and then going on to rout Pakistan for 273 in the first innings forcing them to follow on. Thanks to rain interruptions England could not go on to win, and Pakistan saved the match at 187 for 4 wickets. However, history was created in that Test match.

38-year-old English fast bowling stalwart, James Anderson, took his 29th five-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first innings and then captured two more scalps in the second innings to complete a record-breaking 600 wickets. The right-arm fast bowler became the first pace-bowler in international Test cricket to achieve the feat of 600 wickets leaving Glen McGrath of Australia in the second place with 563 scalps, and the fourth bowler overall, Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan sitting at the top with incredible 800 wickets, followed by Australia’s SK Warne with 708 in the second position and India’s Anil Kumble with 619 wickets in the third position. James Anderson made his ODI debut in 2002 and earned a place in the 2003 ICC World Cup squad, and he stamped his mark in international cricket. His Test debut came in 2003, and from then onward he played in 156 test matches for England till history was made on the 25th of August 2020. The tall pacer has often been criticized as ‘English-conditions-only’ seamer, and his career was interrupted often as he was either ‘rested’ or dropped due to external factors. However, he proved all his critics wrong, finally, and emerged as one of the finest bowlers of world cricket. Pity again, English fans or any other spectators could not be present at the Rose Bowl to cherish the historical moment. Anyway, the hosts won the series 1-0.

Pakistan is also scheduled to figure in a 3-match T20 international series against the hosts England. The first match on 28th of August, the second on 30th of August and the final match on 1st of September 2020.

Now to come in England’s archrivals Australia, for a 3-Match T20I Series and a 3-match ODI Series. The T20 matches will be played on the 4th, 6th and 8th of September while the one-day international matches are scheduled on the 11th, 13th and 16th of September 2020.

In a most likely extension of the New Normal Cricket India is set to begin their Tour of Australia 2020-21 from the month of October 2020. Cricket Australia has recently announced the full schedule of the matches between the two teams: the first of the 3-match T20I would take place on the 11th of October, followed by a 4-match Test Series from 3rd December and the 3-match ODI Series would begin from the 12th of January 2021. As per the discussion between the two Boards the second test starting from the 11th of December at the Adelaide Oval would be a day and night affair with the pink ball. Continue enjoying cricket from home!

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Source by Chinmay Chakravarty

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The silhouette was a picture of a person showing the outline only, filled usually with solid shadow, and most often, in profile. Its name comes from “Etienne de Silhouette,” a French controller general of finance who lived from 1709 to 1767. He was a notorious cheapskate, so that his name became synonymous with anything done or made cheaply, such as silhouettes, in addition to which he decorated a new house entirely (to save money) by cutting out little silhouettes from black paper.

The popularity of the silhouette was indeed in part because it was inexpensive (much less so than having a portrait painted, for example), and could be quickly produced, but also because it was a delightful form of art in its own right.

There are several types of silhouettes but the most common were cut from black paper with scissors. They could also be called “paper cuttings,” “shadows”, or, as in England, “shades.” Once the black shape was finished, the paper would then be glued to a white (or at least, lighter) background card and there was your finished likeness. The silhouette was also popular in America, where you could have one made on the street, such as in Philadelphia, for a penny, and within minutes. In size they resembled a small photograph, and once the daguerreotype was invented, the silhouette quickly decreased in popularity.

During the last decades of the eighteenth century (Georgian England) and into the early nineteenth, (the Regency) however, silhouettes were still the rage. In the courts of France and Germany they even replaced the miniature portrait. The miniatures, as I explain in a different article, were popular among dignitaries as diplomatic tools, and among all who could afford them, as personal tokens. The silhouette , by contrast, made portable likenesses of loved ones affordable for nearly anyone, and could even be used as wall decorations . All you needed was a person capable of creating them (a “profile portraitist”) and a few pence. In time, their popularity swung right back towards the rich, who, “commissioned silhouettes to be painted and encrusted with precious stones in jewelry and snuff boxes. Royalty commissioned porcelain dinner services with silhouettes. Common folk filled albums with silhouettes of family and friends. “

In addition, making silhouettes was a popular parlour game (called Shades), where anyone could try their hand at the art. The finished pieces may not have been works of art, but the making of them was surely a merry way to pass the time. (The game called “Shadows,” by contrast, was when one made shadow-images on the walls using mostly the hands; nothing was drawn or taken away from the exercise except a few laughs.)

The Concise Brittanica states that silhouettes were done “by drawing the outline cast by candlelight or lamplight,” which is surely how the average person did it. However, “once photography rendered silhouettes nearly obsolete, they became (merely) a type of folk art practiced by itinerant artists and caricaturists.”

Auguste Edouart, a Frenchman, cut full-length silhouettes. Another itinerant was the American boy silhouettist Master Hubard, who cut profiles in 20 seconds.

A beautiful example of a silhouette is one we have of Cassandra Austen, Jane’s beloved sister. (Use the link at the bottom to download my April ezine, which includes illustrations with this article.) Notice the lighter detailing? This was done by virtue of the fact that one’s “shade” could be reduced (“using a reducing instrument known as a pantograph”) then painted using “soot, or lamp black, on plaster or glass. After painting the face dead black, the hair, hats, ribbons, frills, and other essential accessories of the day, would have been ‘dragged’ out, using a fine brush, with progressively more and more diluted pigment.”

Another style of silhouette (with yellow background, see example in download) is Jane Austen”s self-portrait. Though more simply executed than the first, it is an excellent example of the art. According to one antiques’ website, the silhouette of the past would likely have been done in any of the following four formats:

Painted on paper, card, vellum, ivory, silk, or porcelain;

Painted in reverse on glass;

Hollow cut with the aid of a machine or, very rarely, by hand. In this process the figure is cut away from the paper thereby leaving a negative image. The paper outline is then backed with a contrasting color of paper or fabric; Or,

Cut freehand with scissors or a sharp edge and then pasted to a contrasting (usually light-colored) background. “

In England, from the late 18th into the early 19th century, (the stylistic Regency, in other words) a famous silhouette artist was John Miers (1756-1821). Preceding him was John Field. JC Lavater, a German who dabbled in science, used a machine to make what he called “scientific” silhouettes. (I suppose that “scientific” in this case, means “accurate”.)

If you click the link below to download the ezine, you’ll see, as the final illustration to this article, a silhouette called, “Swinging Corpse,” which is an image from Bill Nye’s History of England, published in 1900; (Called, “A Reluctant Tax Payer”!) The image has been doctored (the background cut away) to make it a silhouette, but as I have also been doing a series on “Murder and Mayhem During the Regency”) I thought this particular silhouette was an appropriate closing image. (smile)

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Source by Linore Rose Burkard