GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 118
October 2012
Out and About with the Professor
So two warm sunny days in Leeds (not a sentence you often see in print) was more or less all it took to polish off Glamorgan who, in truth, didn't look that good a side. Thence to Chelmsford - where the only real resistance to the Yorkshire attack came from Welwyn Garden City's Owais Shah - and Yorkshire are once more back where they belong in Division One. My neighbour's delight is, I think, slightly more than doubled by the simultaneous relegation of Lancashire. Also pleased will be Yorkshire’s much loathed President, Sir Geoffrey, who at the last AGM demanded that the Club win promotion so that they are in a position to win the Championship title in 2013 – their 150th year. So far, so good.
Following county cricket has been a bit of a minority interest this year - by which I mean even more of a minority than usual - given the focus on other summer sports, most obviously the Olympics…and, of course, the weather. But I wonder what Googlies readers’ views are about the two-division championship. We have discussed it before but my couple of observations would be that first there does seem to be a noticeable difference in quality between the cricket played in the two divisions. I have only seen Yorkshire in Division One up to this year and my impression is that in general (not of course in particular instances) the teams Yorkshire played this year were significantly poorer. I haven't checked, but my guess is that the totals and averages for Division Two reflect that divide. Two-up two-down, which has always seemed excessive in a nine team table, doesn't appear to have done much to equalise things although Derbyshire's promotion (ably steered by Radlett's former captain Dave Houghton) is to be welcomed. Nevertheless, have Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Northants and Derbyshire, in aggregate, spent as much as half-a-dozen seasons in the top division since its instigation?
If there is a gap in class between the two divisions I suppose Yorkshire and Derby will face the familiar problem of promoted football teams as to how to stay up. Yorkshire’s last couple of games were won without their overseas signings but it is hard to see the current attack bowling out stronger sides. The other problem might also be the familiar one of England call-ups: Bresnan, Bairstow and Root are now in the Test squad and Rafiq and Ballance (who has been here long enough now to be English) are also on their way to India in the development team. So that is almost half of the Yorkshire side. The "Director of Cricket" Martyn Moxon has declared himself "delighted" that his players are winning this recognition but his job will be on the line if Yorkshire go down again notwithstanding the Chairman's "120% support" for Moxon at last years' AGM. (Given his huge financial contribution to the Club no one feels moved to pick him up on this ridiculous numerical solecism).
No one in Moxon's position can realistically be happy about the loss of his best players any more than a Premiership manager really wants his players to play for their respective countries. I suppose the only way that the county aspirations might be consistent with the country's might be if there was a significant financial incentive for counties to produce England players. I recall Jim Cumbes suggesting something along those lines some time ago. I suppose that if a county got a very big payout for producing an England player (rather than just a modest compensation) they would simply spend it on whichever overseas player might be available. It might also put yet more pressure on national selectors and increase anxieties about corruption which I sense are still just below the surface in international cricket.
Apart from the current big bash on the TV the next live cricket will be in India and I'm very pleased to say that I will be there for the second and third Tests, (so sad to be away from Yorkshire in November). I hope to be able to report that someone has learned how to play spin by then – but it wouldn’t do to be too optimistic.
Middlesex Matters
The Great jack Morgan takes us through the final matches
Middlesex must have been disappointed that Worcestershire reached 323 after putting them in as they are not a strong batting side; D Mitchell (133*) was the culprit, TSRJ (5-72) the hero. Then they fell to 61 for 3, but were rescued by Robbo (72) and Dexy (90), but still suffered a first innings deficit. However, Toby, with 5 more wickets and 10 for 118 in the match, gave Middlesex a surprise chance of victory, needing 204 at about four and a half an over. There were 5 wkts to spare, but little time as all seven batters contributed a few. J Denly's 48 was his highest since his 95 v Warwickshire at Uxbridge nearly a month ago. TSRJ is now both top of the wicket takers (62) and the averages (18.48). I think we are now safe from the drop mathematically and are fourth in the table having played a game more than most.
"Nothing changes" thought most Middlesex supporters as we lost yet another toss in the Championship match against Lancashire at Lord's, were invited to bat first on another green wicket, were 4 for 2 after ten minutes and then 39 for 3. However, that was when things did change because Middlesex refused to accept that the customary collapse was inevitable: Sam Robson was batting well and now he found a reliable partner in Neil Dexter as the pair put on 63 for the fourth wicket. When Robson fell just before lunch for 49 (with 8 fours), Dexter took over the leading role and put on another 62 with John Simpson for the fifth wicket. Then we saw some of the best batting of the match as Gareth Berg played a great innings of 83 off 123 balls in a partnership of 148 with Dexter for the sixth wicket and then Steve Crook, possibly batting even better than Berg, contributed a rapid 66 off 80 balls with 8 fours and a six and added another 79 with Dexter; the latter was finally out for an excellent 125 (with 16 fours) as Middlesex made a thoroughly entertaining 446 all out from 112.5 overs. Skipper Glenn Chapple was outstanding for Lancashire with 5 for 86, while keeper Gareth Cross took four catches. The Lancashire reply was a much more pedestrian affair: Tom Smith hit 8 fours in his 55 and Paul Horton hit 9 fours in his 64, but Luke Procter ("Proctor" on the scorecard) laboured for 119 balls over 30, Ashwell Prince took 167 balls to make 71 and Karl Brown needed 175 balls for his 78. However, Smith and Procter put on 95 for the first wicket, Horton and Prince 130 for he third wicket and when Cross hit a brilliant 59 (off 35 balls with 8 fours and a six) out of 77 for the sixth wicket with Brown, the visitors' score was approaching the Middlesex total.
However, Lancashire needed to win this match to give themselves a chance to avoid relegation, so it was baffling to most of us that they should build their score so slowly and that Chapple did not consider a declaration behind the Middlesex total, thus inviting Chris Rogers to set them a target which would surely have been more generous than the challenge they eventually received. Instead, Chapple decided to bat on for a first innings lead of two which had taken 135.2 overs to acquire. Slow left armer Ravi Patel took 4 for 126 and keeper John Simpson claimed four victims. The Middlesex second innings was dominated by a splendid third wicket stand of 134 between captain Rogers (86 off 146 balls with 11 fours) and Dawid Malan (95 off 187 balls) before the declaration finally came at 305 for 9 (Chapple 5 for 47), setting Lancashire a tough 304 to win off 39 overs.
There had been an amusing incident when Crook was out at 289 for 8 and all the players trooped off the field under the impression that Rogers had declared, while the bowling figures appeared on the screens and we spectators filled in our scorecards. There were soon desperate calls for Tippex, however, as it turned out that there had been no declaration, the players were returning to the pitch and scorecards needed hasty correction. The news from the Oval was that Surrey had won and there was no alternative but for Lancs to have a go at the unlikely target. Steve Croft (30 off 28 balls) and a Karl Brown who was completely transformed from his first innings strokelessness (33 off 24 balls) added 57 in 27 minutes for the third wicket, but when Crook (5 for 48) produced a devastating spell of pace bowling, Lancashire's slim chance of victory disappeared and Middlesex had won by 109 runs. Patel took four more wickets to give him match figures of 8 for 198 which put his opposite number, England Lions man Simon Kerrigan (2 for 163), in the shade.
Toby Roland-Jones and Joe Denly were awarded their county caps at lunch on day one and I do not think that anyone thought that Toby did not deserve his cap. There was much less agreement about the award of Joe's cap however: like many batsmen he has endured an erratic season with the bat that faded away rather badly after some good early form. His 840 Championship runs at an average of 35 was nothing special and compares unfavourably with the 885 Championship runs at 59 that Sam Robson scored in 2011; even now, Robson remains uncapped and this is only one example of the preferential treatment that "big signings" receive in the award of county caps. Another point that needs to be made is that it is September 7th, the weather is absolutely glorious, yet Middx's season is over. There are various reasons why this season has been arranged particularly eccentrically, but it is absolutely ridiculous that we began the season in the bitter chill of March 31, yet September's pleasant weather is being wasted because we are being ruled by T20 competitions abroad, which are of little or no interest to most of us. Give us our season back! Middlesex 23 points Lancashire 7.
Middlesex finished third in the Championship and whilst this is nice, demonstrates that progress is being made and brings in a little prize money, I think it flatters us a bit. At no stage did we look like winning the Championship and I hope that efforts to strengthen the squad are continuing. At this time of year, it is common to read that such and such a player has turned down a new deal at Blankshire and one usually wonders whether it is Middlesex that has managed to lure them away: usually it is not, but I remain optimistic. It was great for Derbyshire to win Division Two and return to the top Division after such a long time. There are some poor teams in the bottom half of Division Two (Middlesex were next to bottom only two years ago) and Gloucestershire and Northants were so bad that they managed to get below Leicestershire!
England Matters
The Great Jack Morgan gives us the lowdown
At the start of most England tours in recent years, they have had a settled team and probably ten of them were pretty certain of their places while the final place went to the bowler who looked most likely given the different conditions likely to be encountered. This time, however, I reckon that at least four places are totally open. Root, Compton, Morgan, Bairstow and Patel are probably competing for 3 places, while Bresnan, Onions, Finn and Panesar are all contesting the final bowling spot. As you know, I would have five bowlers in, probably two of them would be spinners and one of them would not be Patel. I do not see much point in picking Nick Compton at his age if they are not going to give him a go, so I would have him in. He has always looked a good player, but was very inconsistent at Middlesex. His first season at Somerset was nothing special either, but then there was a big improvement: is it all down to the Taunton featherbeds? Probably not, as he got runs in some awkward conditions this year. It is also great for another ex-Middlesex man Chris Wright to make the "performance programme squad" (how is this different from the Lions?) at the age of 27, which makes him comfortably the senior man. Again, his selection is well deserved, but it is tough on his team mate Keith Barker, who had a better season with the ball, is slightly younger and a better bat, but who only makes the squad for the Hong Kong Sixes! There is absolutely no debate about Toby Roland-Jones's inclusion in the PPS (may we now use PPS to mean performance programme squad?); he must have been one of the first names on the list, but I am a little bit worried that he will not find Indian conditions to his liking. Ben Foakes is a bit of a wild card as was his Essex 2s team mate Tymal Mills last time.
Sofa Cricket
Hampshire v Warwickshire CB40 final
Hampshire had a very strong top order for this match which included McKenzie who was flown in from the southern hemisphere to make what turned out to be 19 from 36 balls. They avoided some of the seam and swing pitfalls of previous September Lord’s finals by starting at 11.30 am instead of 10am. They never really got going on what looked to be a good wicket and although most players made a start no one went on to play a match winning innings. Adams and Ervine both made fifties and then got out. The surprise to me was that Katich didn’t come in till number six. The Prof and I saw him make a run a ball hundred on the first day of the championship match at Headingley and he must be their best player. At Lord’s he scored 35 not out from 26 balls and had he come in earlier they may have scored another 20 or so which would have been critical.
Lardarse was waddling about in the field for Warwickshire giving the crowd plenty to giggle about and he bowled his allotment of overs economically. He has good reason to resent his exclusion from the England set up as he was left out when fat was bad as opposed to the current arrangements where it is tolerated (Samit) if there are no other options available. I wouldn’t want to sit next to either Lardarse or Samit on a plane.
When Warwickshire batted much depended on Bell who looks in a different class when playing at the county level. He didn’t disappoint and made 81 at a run a ball until he holed out, hitting a full toss down deep square leg’s throat. The commentators were beside themselves with Nick Knight exclaiming “Game on” almost every ball depending on whether the ball was blocked or a boundary was hit. It seemed as if Warwickshire had blown it until Woakes hit a timely 24 from 16 balls but he lost the strike in the final over and although Carter hit the penultimate ball for four to level the scores he was bowled by the final ball. This left Hampshire victors as they had lost fewer wickets.
The outstanding bowler for Hampshire was Chris Wood who bowls left arm over at a brisk pace. He always wants to bowl and seems to relish being under pressure. He played a key role in the T20 final and did so again here. He is only 22 and at 6’ 3” may just get into the England set up as the one permitted shortarse.
Bangladesh v New Zealand T20 World Cup
I only saw the highlights of this but it was worth it to see yet another wondrous display of power hitting by Brendan McCullum. His 123 was made from just 58 balls and included seven sixes. He clearly has got the Gayle message.
Ireland v West Indies T20 World Cup
I didn’t see any of the Olympics and so don’t know what happened when the National Anthems were played. Before this match the Irish anthem was played and many players seemed to be having a stab at singing along. That is until the camera reached Paul Stirling who apparently hasn’t reached the school grade which deals with singing or memory. Perhaps he should have joined the West Indians. When their anthem was played none of the players joined in and indeed seemed to be hearing the strange tune for the first time. For whose benefit is this ritual carried out and whilst we are at it why do the players have to be accompanied by small children to perform it?
Although it was fairly difficult to see how Ireland could win this match they were unlucky in losing the toss and finding themselves batting before and after a longish rain break which seriously disrupted their innings. Porterfield was bowled by a beauty first ball from Fidel Edwards who, when he gets it right, can be as devastating as Malinga. This left Porterfield with the inglorious King pair from his trip to Sri Lanka. Thereafter Paul Stirling started to bat like Middlesex know he can and he threatened to take the attack apart as he had done at, say, Canterbury a few weeks earlier. However, it then rained and when they eventually returned Joyce fell to Narine and in the next over Stirling holed out. Ireland never got going again and their 129 would surely not have been enough. In the event there was no further play and West Indies went through.
Most of the Irish side play county cricket now and it is a bit like watching Welsh or Scottish football sides of years gone by as you recognised their various players. The latter is no longer the case unless you make a habit of watching reserve fixtures.
Bangladesh v Pakistan T20 World Cup
This was another big one as the losers would go out. Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat. Ashraful is 28 now and is still hailed as a young hopeful who trades on his hundred in England which was probably in the last century. He is clearly talented but has learnt nothing along the way and soon gave his wicket away after a promising start. This brought Shakib in to join Tamim Iqbal. The latter had made 24 from 12 deliveries when Shakib gave him the classic “yes/no” call for a short run and he was totally stuffed. Nobody else got anywhere near his strike rate and this was probably the event that took Bangladesh out of the competition. Their eventual 175 might have been over 200 had he stayed in. Thereafter only Shakib made a significant contribution and he batted beautifully for his 84 from 54 deliveries.
The stand out bowler for Pakistan was Afridi with 1 for 20 from his four overs and Yasir Arafat turned up as the sixth bowler used and he took 3 for 25 at the death to stop Bangladesh finishing with a flourish.
You never know quite what or who to expect with Pakistan batting and here there is no Abdul Razzaq, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq or Mohammad Yousuf. The captain (another Pakistan lottery), Hafeez, opened with Imran Nazir (who?). They treated the Bangladesh attack with disdain and when Nazir was out with the score at 124 he had made 72 from 36 balls. He hit a third of balls received for boundaries- nine fours and three sixes. This seems to be an emerging statistic for the really telling innings in this form of the game.
Kamran Akmal has been reinstated to the Pakistan side for this competition presumably for his batting. He is laughable behind the stumps and fumbled and dropped chances behind the stumps in the way we have come to know and love. He is the Norman Wisdom of international wicket keepers.
Much has been made of the new England batting guns and their prodigious hitting- Bairstow, Buttler, Hales and so on. Other countries don’t seem to have these talents or do they? No one seems to rate the new Aussie batsmen and it seems odd that they have been preferred to David Hussey; Kholi is top class for India but he has been around a bit and South Africa’s run merchants just keep going leaving no room for anybody else. Not so with Pakistan. Nazir’s dismissal brought in the splendidly named Jamshed who looks the complete package. He had previously taken a fifty off Australia and here he looked technically organised and hit powerfully. He finished off the job for Pakistan with 29 from 14 balls without breaking sweat. Look out for this guy-he is special.
England v West Indies T20 World Cup
All in all on a good wicket England were probably pretty pleased to contain the West Indians to 179 from their 20 overs. Finn and Broad both went for 26 which was creditable. But why does Dernbach play at this level? Paddy Carlin, who knows about these things, wouldn’t pick him for the Surrey eleven but Andy Flower seems to like his tattoos and so he gets picked ahead of a queue of better qualified candidates. Jade, you can’t be a serious fast bowler with a name like this, believes his publicity as a mystery bowler and has now developed the glare as part of his ineffective armoury. Now when he floats up a wide slow full toss which gets clattered over cover to the boundary he stands aghast and glares at the batsman who has dared to treat his rubbish with the disdain that it deserves.
Gayle batted in typical fashion for ten overs taking 58 from 35 deliveries with four sixes and six fours. The surprise was that he holed to Swann when he could have gone on to a massive score. The commentators, particularly our Nass, kept voicing that they couldn’t understand why Johnson Charles was batting let alone opening. He soon showed why with a series of clean hits that took him to 84 from 56 balls. Samuels, Pollard and Sammy fell cheaply but this side is awash with big hitters and Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell played important big shots in the final overs.
I missed the England innings. It seems that the problem centred on Bairstow making only 18 from 29 deliveries. It’s OK to make a measured start but you have to then go on and up your scoring rate as Charles had done earlier. In the event Morgan played another exceptional innings with 71 from 36 deliveries. The required scoring rate for the last seven overs was around 14 an over and England only finished 16 short. The understanding that these sort of rates can be achieved has changed the nature of these chases.
Middlesex League Matters
Winchmore Hill won the Middlesex League this season which is a refreshing change from Ealing’s recent dominance. Indeed Teddington beat Ealing into third place this season. If you want a flavour of modern club cricket in the final round of matches Finchley were all out for 261 from 61 overs. Ealing knocked them off in under 38 overs.
In the second division the phenomenon was Aaron Johnson of Shepherds Bush who scored 808 runs during the season with some exceptional hitting. You have to go down to the third division to find South Hampstead under their new Chairman, Bob Peach, who finished seventh. On the final day of the league season they were beaten by seven wickets by Harrow St Mary’s (?) who were promoted to the second division.
Daft Matters
The latest silly fielding trend is for one guy to chase the ball, slide unnecessarily and then lob the ball up to a colleague who then throws it in. The theory may or may not be sound but I have stopped counting the number of instances where the lob is not caught by the second fielder which gives away the run that could have been saved if the first fielder had thrown the ball in. On one memorable occasion the second fielder successfully caught the lob but inexplicably decided to lob it in turn to a third fielder who predictably, taken by surprise shelled it and thereby conceded the run that they were trying to save.
I never understand why the groundsman takes a rope round after there has been a rain break. At Chesterfield the Professor told me that it knocks the rain drops off the blades of grass. I am always gullible to this sort of crap and still don’t know if he was taking the piss. However, an effective alternative would be to dress the fielding side in towelling trousers and get them to spend ten minutes practising their silly fielding slides on the outfield. This would soon mop it up.
Wright matters
Steve Wright sent me this
There were a number of reasons we were beaten by the South Africans in the Test series. By and large they were superior all round and it's a surprise to me that we got so close and were even dreaming of levelling the series during the last day of the third test. Jack makes the point about Anderson and Broad bowling at only medium pace and I think that was the key factor in our demise as the number one test team. They were both down to about 80mph at times and on good wickets that is just not testing enough. I can understand Anderson cutting down on speed. He is older than Broad, wants to prolong his career and because he is a swing bowler depends on accuracy more than the real quicks but not Broad. He gets the new ball, bowls a bit of away swing at a friendly pace and that's about it. It was mostly depressing watching the first day of the Lords test. We got early wickets and although we took wickets throughout the day that was more as a result of a cooperative South African batting performance than good bowling except for Finn. It seems to me to be ridiculous not to give him the new ball. He is a genuine fast bowler and hostile with it.
Watching England in the field is like reading a well thumbed script. Anderson and Broad bowl a few overs, one of them comes off and Finn bowls and the other one then comes on at the other end. The odd over of spin before lunch and that's it. The problem is that after about 35 overs when the ball is losing both hardness and shine we have run out of ideas and are just filling in time until the second new ball.
This moves me nicely on to captaincy. In test matches we make decisions through a committee/video system. Instead of a more usual 6:3 field for the opening bowlers it is 4:5 (that's 5 on the leg side) for Graeme Smith. I don't object to this at all but this isn't a decision made by the captain. The team troops onto the field and they all march to their appointed positions and there they stay. The way that the match is planned we don't need a captain and that is pretty sad I think. These days the role of a captain is decreasingly important the longer the format of the game.
I also agree with Jack (sorry about being so agreeable!) with what he says about Strauss. Strauss had been struggling for some time. It would have taken a brave decision to have replaced him but who was surprised when he performed so poorly? He was captain for about four years and Vaughan before him for five. Perhaps with all the media pressure on England captains that is about what we should expect.
The biggest surprise for me in last month's edition were the words of "sympathy" (or something like it) expressed by the Professor for "Our Kevin". Apparently his problems stem not from a gigantic ego but from his mother having taken him off the potty too early and irreparably damaged his development as a human being (I'm referring here to Kevin by the way). I would have expected the Prof to be up there putting the boot in, but no he blames Pietersen's misfortunes on the failure of England's management. For Pietersen to send text messages with the content they apparently had to the opposition, --------well, what do your readers think? Not too surprising that his mates in the South African side used these to their advantage is it?
Some sportsmen seem to excite extremes of emotion in supporters of the game that they play and Pietersen is one of these. On his day a great batsman but what a pain in the arse! However I don't doubt that "management" will cobble together some kind of compromise so that he can return to the fold and play for another couple of years until something else happens from which there will no coming back.
Warwickshire Matters
I have said on more than one occasion that I couldn’t understand how Warwickshire could have won the County Championship. I think that I had better retract these words before I get hunted down by Flipper Seal and his five angry sons. King Cricket gave this explanation as to why they did win:
“By being better than everyone else. They’ve won a few matches and when they haven’t won, they’ve generally drawn. They’ve only lost once. That’s easily enough to win the County Championship in a wet summer.
Batting
One thing Warwickshire players have been particularly good at this year is hitting the ball using their cricket bats. When no other side could bat out a session at the start of the season, Warwickshire did – and they’ve pretty much just carried on all season. In all, nine different players have hit hundreds and they have 18 centuries between them. By way of contrast, last year’s champions, Lancashire, have six hundreds and only three players have made it to three figures. Similarly, Warwickshire have eight players averaging over 40 this year; Lancashire have three averaging over 30 – one of whom is number 10 batsman, Kyle Hogg, who has eight not outs to his name. However, the Warwickshire magic is best exemplified by loan signing, Big Fat Ian Blackwell.
Big Fat Ian Blackwell played five matches for Durham this season and averaged 17. In three matches for Warwickshire, he averages 61.33.
Bowling
Warwickshire have also been pretty good at preventing their opponents from hitting the ball properly using their bats. Quite often, the ball has hit only a little bit of the bat, on the edge, and the ball has then gone backwards and been snaffled by a slyly-positioned fielder. Some say that the men doing the bowling have been encouraging this to happen by making the ball do funny things after they’ve let go of it. We cannot confirm this, but Keith Barker and Chris Wright have both taken over 50 wickets at an average in the low 20s, while Jeetan Patel took 46 at a similar average.
All-rounders
No, we’re not talking about Big Fat Ian Blackwell (although he is an all-rounder as well as being all round). We’re talking about Chris Woakes and Rikki Clarke. Woakes has averaged 87.75 with the bat and 23.32 with the ball. Clarke has averaged 46.13 with the bat and 26.50 with the ball. You could throw in Tim Ambrose as well, we suppose. The wicketkeeper has averaged 44.50 this season and that is undoubtedly ‘a good thing’ because Ambrose had a right flop after being dropped by England and ended up getting dropped by Warwickshire as well. Good on him for not descending into forlorn debauchery, playing Jenga for money and selling spokey-dokeys on the black market.
And the Great Jack Morgan noted
I suppose we have to congratulate Warwickshire on winning the Championship (especially with their unsung bowlers eg Wright, Barker and Rankin doing so well), but Middlesex fans are slightly baffled and rather dubious about their success. At Uxbridge, they were extremely negative and refused to make an interesting game of it in case they lost and at Edgbaston only the rain saved them from defeat.
Coleman Matters
Jeff Coleman sent me this
That indefatigable fund raiser Vic Demain, the Uxbridge groundsman, is raising yet more money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer at a Christmas Bazaar on the morning of Saturday December 8th. I know that not many of you will not find a December trip to Uxbridge particularly appetising - some don't find it too appetising even on a hot August day.
But if you want to contribute and maybe get your hands on Straussy's stump here are some words from Vic together with the link to the fundraising page.
Andrew Strauss played his last game for Middx at Uxbridge v Notts between the 11th and 14th July 2012 scoring 50 out of 98 in the first dig and 120 odd not out in the second. For your chance to win a stump from that game signed by Andrew and engraved, please visit [uk.virginmoneygiving.com] where you can pledge £5 for each ticket in the draw.
All monies raised will go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer and help further research into finding a cure.
Please feel free to pass the link on to any friends who may be interested in getting their hands on a fantastic Xmas present for someone.
Weird matters
At the annual Alumni meeting of the South Hampstead Wednesday Eleven Ken James suggested that they all go for a swim……....
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 118
October 2012
Out and About with the Professor
So two warm sunny days in Leeds (not a sentence you often see in print) was more or less all it took to polish off Glamorgan who, in truth, didn't look that good a side. Thence to Chelmsford - where the only real resistance to the Yorkshire attack came from Welwyn Garden City's Owais Shah - and Yorkshire are once more back where they belong in Division One. My neighbour's delight is, I think, slightly more than doubled by the simultaneous relegation of Lancashire. Also pleased will be Yorkshire’s much loathed President, Sir Geoffrey, who at the last AGM demanded that the Club win promotion so that they are in a position to win the Championship title in 2013 – their 150th year. So far, so good.
Following county cricket has been a bit of a minority interest this year - by which I mean even more of a minority than usual - given the focus on other summer sports, most obviously the Olympics…and, of course, the weather. But I wonder what Googlies readers’ views are about the two-division championship. We have discussed it before but my couple of observations would be that first there does seem to be a noticeable difference in quality between the cricket played in the two divisions. I have only seen Yorkshire in Division One up to this year and my impression is that in general (not of course in particular instances) the teams Yorkshire played this year were significantly poorer. I haven't checked, but my guess is that the totals and averages for Division Two reflect that divide. Two-up two-down, which has always seemed excessive in a nine team table, doesn't appear to have done much to equalise things although Derbyshire's promotion (ably steered by Radlett's former captain Dave Houghton) is to be welcomed. Nevertheless, have Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Northants and Derbyshire, in aggregate, spent as much as half-a-dozen seasons in the top division since its instigation?
If there is a gap in class between the two divisions I suppose Yorkshire and Derby will face the familiar problem of promoted football teams as to how to stay up. Yorkshire’s last couple of games were won without their overseas signings but it is hard to see the current attack bowling out stronger sides. The other problem might also be the familiar one of England call-ups: Bresnan, Bairstow and Root are now in the Test squad and Rafiq and Ballance (who has been here long enough now to be English) are also on their way to India in the development team. So that is almost half of the Yorkshire side. The "Director of Cricket" Martyn Moxon has declared himself "delighted" that his players are winning this recognition but his job will be on the line if Yorkshire go down again notwithstanding the Chairman's "120% support" for Moxon at last years' AGM. (Given his huge financial contribution to the Club no one feels moved to pick him up on this ridiculous numerical solecism).
No one in Moxon's position can realistically be happy about the loss of his best players any more than a Premiership manager really wants his players to play for their respective countries. I suppose the only way that the county aspirations might be consistent with the country's might be if there was a significant financial incentive for counties to produce England players. I recall Jim Cumbes suggesting something along those lines some time ago. I suppose that if a county got a very big payout for producing an England player (rather than just a modest compensation) they would simply spend it on whichever overseas player might be available. It might also put yet more pressure on national selectors and increase anxieties about corruption which I sense are still just below the surface in international cricket.
Apart from the current big bash on the TV the next live cricket will be in India and I'm very pleased to say that I will be there for the second and third Tests, (so sad to be away from Yorkshire in November). I hope to be able to report that someone has learned how to play spin by then – but it wouldn’t do to be too optimistic.
Middlesex Matters
The Great jack Morgan takes us through the final matches
Middlesex must have been disappointed that Worcestershire reached 323 after putting them in as they are not a strong batting side; D Mitchell (133*) was the culprit, TSRJ (5-72) the hero. Then they fell to 61 for 3, but were rescued by Robbo (72) and Dexy (90), but still suffered a first innings deficit. However, Toby, with 5 more wickets and 10 for 118 in the match, gave Middlesex a surprise chance of victory, needing 204 at about four and a half an over. There were 5 wkts to spare, but little time as all seven batters contributed a few. J Denly's 48 was his highest since his 95 v Warwickshire at Uxbridge nearly a month ago. TSRJ is now both top of the wicket takers (62) and the averages (18.48). I think we are now safe from the drop mathematically and are fourth in the table having played a game more than most.
"Nothing changes" thought most Middlesex supporters as we lost yet another toss in the Championship match against Lancashire at Lord's, were invited to bat first on another green wicket, were 4 for 2 after ten minutes and then 39 for 3. However, that was when things did change because Middlesex refused to accept that the customary collapse was inevitable: Sam Robson was batting well and now he found a reliable partner in Neil Dexter as the pair put on 63 for the fourth wicket. When Robson fell just before lunch for 49 (with 8 fours), Dexter took over the leading role and put on another 62 with John Simpson for the fifth wicket. Then we saw some of the best batting of the match as Gareth Berg played a great innings of 83 off 123 balls in a partnership of 148 with Dexter for the sixth wicket and then Steve Crook, possibly batting even better than Berg, contributed a rapid 66 off 80 balls with 8 fours and a six and added another 79 with Dexter; the latter was finally out for an excellent 125 (with 16 fours) as Middlesex made a thoroughly entertaining 446 all out from 112.5 overs. Skipper Glenn Chapple was outstanding for Lancashire with 5 for 86, while keeper Gareth Cross took four catches. The Lancashire reply was a much more pedestrian affair: Tom Smith hit 8 fours in his 55 and Paul Horton hit 9 fours in his 64, but Luke Procter ("Proctor" on the scorecard) laboured for 119 balls over 30, Ashwell Prince took 167 balls to make 71 and Karl Brown needed 175 balls for his 78. However, Smith and Procter put on 95 for the first wicket, Horton and Prince 130 for he third wicket and when Cross hit a brilliant 59 (off 35 balls with 8 fours and a six) out of 77 for the sixth wicket with Brown, the visitors' score was approaching the Middlesex total.
However, Lancashire needed to win this match to give themselves a chance to avoid relegation, so it was baffling to most of us that they should build their score so slowly and that Chapple did not consider a declaration behind the Middlesex total, thus inviting Chris Rogers to set them a target which would surely have been more generous than the challenge they eventually received. Instead, Chapple decided to bat on for a first innings lead of two which had taken 135.2 overs to acquire. Slow left armer Ravi Patel took 4 for 126 and keeper John Simpson claimed four victims. The Middlesex second innings was dominated by a splendid third wicket stand of 134 between captain Rogers (86 off 146 balls with 11 fours) and Dawid Malan (95 off 187 balls) before the declaration finally came at 305 for 9 (Chapple 5 for 47), setting Lancashire a tough 304 to win off 39 overs.
There had been an amusing incident when Crook was out at 289 for 8 and all the players trooped off the field under the impression that Rogers had declared, while the bowling figures appeared on the screens and we spectators filled in our scorecards. There were soon desperate calls for Tippex, however, as it turned out that there had been no declaration, the players were returning to the pitch and scorecards needed hasty correction. The news from the Oval was that Surrey had won and there was no alternative but for Lancs to have a go at the unlikely target. Steve Croft (30 off 28 balls) and a Karl Brown who was completely transformed from his first innings strokelessness (33 off 24 balls) added 57 in 27 minutes for the third wicket, but when Crook (5 for 48) produced a devastating spell of pace bowling, Lancashire's slim chance of victory disappeared and Middlesex had won by 109 runs. Patel took four more wickets to give him match figures of 8 for 198 which put his opposite number, England Lions man Simon Kerrigan (2 for 163), in the shade.
Toby Roland-Jones and Joe Denly were awarded their county caps at lunch on day one and I do not think that anyone thought that Toby did not deserve his cap. There was much less agreement about the award of Joe's cap however: like many batsmen he has endured an erratic season with the bat that faded away rather badly after some good early form. His 840 Championship runs at an average of 35 was nothing special and compares unfavourably with the 885 Championship runs at 59 that Sam Robson scored in 2011; even now, Robson remains uncapped and this is only one example of the preferential treatment that "big signings" receive in the award of county caps. Another point that needs to be made is that it is September 7th, the weather is absolutely glorious, yet Middx's season is over. There are various reasons why this season has been arranged particularly eccentrically, but it is absolutely ridiculous that we began the season in the bitter chill of March 31, yet September's pleasant weather is being wasted because we are being ruled by T20 competitions abroad, which are of little or no interest to most of us. Give us our season back! Middlesex 23 points Lancashire 7.
Middlesex finished third in the Championship and whilst this is nice, demonstrates that progress is being made and brings in a little prize money, I think it flatters us a bit. At no stage did we look like winning the Championship and I hope that efforts to strengthen the squad are continuing. At this time of year, it is common to read that such and such a player has turned down a new deal at Blankshire and one usually wonders whether it is Middlesex that has managed to lure them away: usually it is not, but I remain optimistic. It was great for Derbyshire to win Division Two and return to the top Division after such a long time. There are some poor teams in the bottom half of Division Two (Middlesex were next to bottom only two years ago) and Gloucestershire and Northants were so bad that they managed to get below Leicestershire!
England Matters
The Great Jack Morgan gives us the lowdown
At the start of most England tours in recent years, they have had a settled team and probably ten of them were pretty certain of their places while the final place went to the bowler who looked most likely given the different conditions likely to be encountered. This time, however, I reckon that at least four places are totally open. Root, Compton, Morgan, Bairstow and Patel are probably competing for 3 places, while Bresnan, Onions, Finn and Panesar are all contesting the final bowling spot. As you know, I would have five bowlers in, probably two of them would be spinners and one of them would not be Patel. I do not see much point in picking Nick Compton at his age if they are not going to give him a go, so I would have him in. He has always looked a good player, but was very inconsistent at Middlesex. His first season at Somerset was nothing special either, but then there was a big improvement: is it all down to the Taunton featherbeds? Probably not, as he got runs in some awkward conditions this year. It is also great for another ex-Middlesex man Chris Wright to make the "performance programme squad" (how is this different from the Lions?) at the age of 27, which makes him comfortably the senior man. Again, his selection is well deserved, but it is tough on his team mate Keith Barker, who had a better season with the ball, is slightly younger and a better bat, but who only makes the squad for the Hong Kong Sixes! There is absolutely no debate about Toby Roland-Jones's inclusion in the PPS (may we now use PPS to mean performance programme squad?); he must have been one of the first names on the list, but I am a little bit worried that he will not find Indian conditions to his liking. Ben Foakes is a bit of a wild card as was his Essex 2s team mate Tymal Mills last time.
Sofa Cricket
Hampshire v Warwickshire CB40 final
Hampshire had a very strong top order for this match which included McKenzie who was flown in from the southern hemisphere to make what turned out to be 19 from 36 balls. They avoided some of the seam and swing pitfalls of previous September Lord’s finals by starting at 11.30 am instead of 10am. They never really got going on what looked to be a good wicket and although most players made a start no one went on to play a match winning innings. Adams and Ervine both made fifties and then got out. The surprise to me was that Katich didn’t come in till number six. The Prof and I saw him make a run a ball hundred on the first day of the championship match at Headingley and he must be their best player. At Lord’s he scored 35 not out from 26 balls and had he come in earlier they may have scored another 20 or so which would have been critical.
Lardarse was waddling about in the field for Warwickshire giving the crowd plenty to giggle about and he bowled his allotment of overs economically. He has good reason to resent his exclusion from the England set up as he was left out when fat was bad as opposed to the current arrangements where it is tolerated (Samit) if there are no other options available. I wouldn’t want to sit next to either Lardarse or Samit on a plane.
When Warwickshire batted much depended on Bell who looks in a different class when playing at the county level. He didn’t disappoint and made 81 at a run a ball until he holed out, hitting a full toss down deep square leg’s throat. The commentators were beside themselves with Nick Knight exclaiming “Game on” almost every ball depending on whether the ball was blocked or a boundary was hit. It seemed as if Warwickshire had blown it until Woakes hit a timely 24 from 16 balls but he lost the strike in the final over and although Carter hit the penultimate ball for four to level the scores he was bowled by the final ball. This left Hampshire victors as they had lost fewer wickets.
The outstanding bowler for Hampshire was Chris Wood who bowls left arm over at a brisk pace. He always wants to bowl and seems to relish being under pressure. He played a key role in the T20 final and did so again here. He is only 22 and at 6’ 3” may just get into the England set up as the one permitted shortarse.
Bangladesh v New Zealand T20 World Cup
I only saw the highlights of this but it was worth it to see yet another wondrous display of power hitting by Brendan McCullum. His 123 was made from just 58 balls and included seven sixes. He clearly has got the Gayle message.
Ireland v West Indies T20 World Cup
I didn’t see any of the Olympics and so don’t know what happened when the National Anthems were played. Before this match the Irish anthem was played and many players seemed to be having a stab at singing along. That is until the camera reached Paul Stirling who apparently hasn’t reached the school grade which deals with singing or memory. Perhaps he should have joined the West Indians. When their anthem was played none of the players joined in and indeed seemed to be hearing the strange tune for the first time. For whose benefit is this ritual carried out and whilst we are at it why do the players have to be accompanied by small children to perform it?
Although it was fairly difficult to see how Ireland could win this match they were unlucky in losing the toss and finding themselves batting before and after a longish rain break which seriously disrupted their innings. Porterfield was bowled by a beauty first ball from Fidel Edwards who, when he gets it right, can be as devastating as Malinga. This left Porterfield with the inglorious King pair from his trip to Sri Lanka. Thereafter Paul Stirling started to bat like Middlesex know he can and he threatened to take the attack apart as he had done at, say, Canterbury a few weeks earlier. However, it then rained and when they eventually returned Joyce fell to Narine and in the next over Stirling holed out. Ireland never got going again and their 129 would surely not have been enough. In the event there was no further play and West Indies went through.
Most of the Irish side play county cricket now and it is a bit like watching Welsh or Scottish football sides of years gone by as you recognised their various players. The latter is no longer the case unless you make a habit of watching reserve fixtures.
Bangladesh v Pakistan T20 World Cup
This was another big one as the losers would go out. Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat. Ashraful is 28 now and is still hailed as a young hopeful who trades on his hundred in England which was probably in the last century. He is clearly talented but has learnt nothing along the way and soon gave his wicket away after a promising start. This brought Shakib in to join Tamim Iqbal. The latter had made 24 from 12 deliveries when Shakib gave him the classic “yes/no” call for a short run and he was totally stuffed. Nobody else got anywhere near his strike rate and this was probably the event that took Bangladesh out of the competition. Their eventual 175 might have been over 200 had he stayed in. Thereafter only Shakib made a significant contribution and he batted beautifully for his 84 from 54 deliveries.
The stand out bowler for Pakistan was Afridi with 1 for 20 from his four overs and Yasir Arafat turned up as the sixth bowler used and he took 3 for 25 at the death to stop Bangladesh finishing with a flourish.
You never know quite what or who to expect with Pakistan batting and here there is no Abdul Razzaq, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq or Mohammad Yousuf. The captain (another Pakistan lottery), Hafeez, opened with Imran Nazir (who?). They treated the Bangladesh attack with disdain and when Nazir was out with the score at 124 he had made 72 from 36 balls. He hit a third of balls received for boundaries- nine fours and three sixes. This seems to be an emerging statistic for the really telling innings in this form of the game.
Kamran Akmal has been reinstated to the Pakistan side for this competition presumably for his batting. He is laughable behind the stumps and fumbled and dropped chances behind the stumps in the way we have come to know and love. He is the Norman Wisdom of international wicket keepers.
Much has been made of the new England batting guns and their prodigious hitting- Bairstow, Buttler, Hales and so on. Other countries don’t seem to have these talents or do they? No one seems to rate the new Aussie batsmen and it seems odd that they have been preferred to David Hussey; Kholi is top class for India but he has been around a bit and South Africa’s run merchants just keep going leaving no room for anybody else. Not so with Pakistan. Nazir’s dismissal brought in the splendidly named Jamshed who looks the complete package. He had previously taken a fifty off Australia and here he looked technically organised and hit powerfully. He finished off the job for Pakistan with 29 from 14 balls without breaking sweat. Look out for this guy-he is special.
England v West Indies T20 World Cup
All in all on a good wicket England were probably pretty pleased to contain the West Indians to 179 from their 20 overs. Finn and Broad both went for 26 which was creditable. But why does Dernbach play at this level? Paddy Carlin, who knows about these things, wouldn’t pick him for the Surrey eleven but Andy Flower seems to like his tattoos and so he gets picked ahead of a queue of better qualified candidates. Jade, you can’t be a serious fast bowler with a name like this, believes his publicity as a mystery bowler and has now developed the glare as part of his ineffective armoury. Now when he floats up a wide slow full toss which gets clattered over cover to the boundary he stands aghast and glares at the batsman who has dared to treat his rubbish with the disdain that it deserves.
Gayle batted in typical fashion for ten overs taking 58 from 35 deliveries with four sixes and six fours. The surprise was that he holed to Swann when he could have gone on to a massive score. The commentators, particularly our Nass, kept voicing that they couldn’t understand why Johnson Charles was batting let alone opening. He soon showed why with a series of clean hits that took him to 84 from 56 balls. Samuels, Pollard and Sammy fell cheaply but this side is awash with big hitters and Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell played important big shots in the final overs.
I missed the England innings. It seems that the problem centred on Bairstow making only 18 from 29 deliveries. It’s OK to make a measured start but you have to then go on and up your scoring rate as Charles had done earlier. In the event Morgan played another exceptional innings with 71 from 36 deliveries. The required scoring rate for the last seven overs was around 14 an over and England only finished 16 short. The understanding that these sort of rates can be achieved has changed the nature of these chases.
Middlesex League Matters
Winchmore Hill won the Middlesex League this season which is a refreshing change from Ealing’s recent dominance. Indeed Teddington beat Ealing into third place this season. If you want a flavour of modern club cricket in the final round of matches Finchley were all out for 261 from 61 overs. Ealing knocked them off in under 38 overs.
In the second division the phenomenon was Aaron Johnson of Shepherds Bush who scored 808 runs during the season with some exceptional hitting. You have to go down to the third division to find South Hampstead under their new Chairman, Bob Peach, who finished seventh. On the final day of the league season they were beaten by seven wickets by Harrow St Mary’s (?) who were promoted to the second division.
Daft Matters
The latest silly fielding trend is for one guy to chase the ball, slide unnecessarily and then lob the ball up to a colleague who then throws it in. The theory may or may not be sound but I have stopped counting the number of instances where the lob is not caught by the second fielder which gives away the run that could have been saved if the first fielder had thrown the ball in. On one memorable occasion the second fielder successfully caught the lob but inexplicably decided to lob it in turn to a third fielder who predictably, taken by surprise shelled it and thereby conceded the run that they were trying to save.
I never understand why the groundsman takes a rope round after there has been a rain break. At Chesterfield the Professor told me that it knocks the rain drops off the blades of grass. I am always gullible to this sort of crap and still don’t know if he was taking the piss. However, an effective alternative would be to dress the fielding side in towelling trousers and get them to spend ten minutes practising their silly fielding slides on the outfield. This would soon mop it up.
Wright matters
Steve Wright sent me this
There were a number of reasons we were beaten by the South Africans in the Test series. By and large they were superior all round and it's a surprise to me that we got so close and were even dreaming of levelling the series during the last day of the third test. Jack makes the point about Anderson and Broad bowling at only medium pace and I think that was the key factor in our demise as the number one test team. They were both down to about 80mph at times and on good wickets that is just not testing enough. I can understand Anderson cutting down on speed. He is older than Broad, wants to prolong his career and because he is a swing bowler depends on accuracy more than the real quicks but not Broad. He gets the new ball, bowls a bit of away swing at a friendly pace and that's about it. It was mostly depressing watching the first day of the Lords test. We got early wickets and although we took wickets throughout the day that was more as a result of a cooperative South African batting performance than good bowling except for Finn. It seems to me to be ridiculous not to give him the new ball. He is a genuine fast bowler and hostile with it.
Watching England in the field is like reading a well thumbed script. Anderson and Broad bowl a few overs, one of them comes off and Finn bowls and the other one then comes on at the other end. The odd over of spin before lunch and that's it. The problem is that after about 35 overs when the ball is losing both hardness and shine we have run out of ideas and are just filling in time until the second new ball.
This moves me nicely on to captaincy. In test matches we make decisions through a committee/video system. Instead of a more usual 6:3 field for the opening bowlers it is 4:5 (that's 5 on the leg side) for Graeme Smith. I don't object to this at all but this isn't a decision made by the captain. The team troops onto the field and they all march to their appointed positions and there they stay. The way that the match is planned we don't need a captain and that is pretty sad I think. These days the role of a captain is decreasingly important the longer the format of the game.
I also agree with Jack (sorry about being so agreeable!) with what he says about Strauss. Strauss had been struggling for some time. It would have taken a brave decision to have replaced him but who was surprised when he performed so poorly? He was captain for about four years and Vaughan before him for five. Perhaps with all the media pressure on England captains that is about what we should expect.
The biggest surprise for me in last month's edition were the words of "sympathy" (or something like it) expressed by the Professor for "Our Kevin". Apparently his problems stem not from a gigantic ego but from his mother having taken him off the potty too early and irreparably damaged his development as a human being (I'm referring here to Kevin by the way). I would have expected the Prof to be up there putting the boot in, but no he blames Pietersen's misfortunes on the failure of England's management. For Pietersen to send text messages with the content they apparently had to the opposition, --------well, what do your readers think? Not too surprising that his mates in the South African side used these to their advantage is it?
Some sportsmen seem to excite extremes of emotion in supporters of the game that they play and Pietersen is one of these. On his day a great batsman but what a pain in the arse! However I don't doubt that "management" will cobble together some kind of compromise so that he can return to the fold and play for another couple of years until something else happens from which there will no coming back.
Warwickshire Matters
I have said on more than one occasion that I couldn’t understand how Warwickshire could have won the County Championship. I think that I had better retract these words before I get hunted down by Flipper Seal and his five angry sons. King Cricket gave this explanation as to why they did win:
“By being better than everyone else. They’ve won a few matches and when they haven’t won, they’ve generally drawn. They’ve only lost once. That’s easily enough to win the County Championship in a wet summer.
Batting
One thing Warwickshire players have been particularly good at this year is hitting the ball using their cricket bats. When no other side could bat out a session at the start of the season, Warwickshire did – and they’ve pretty much just carried on all season. In all, nine different players have hit hundreds and they have 18 centuries between them. By way of contrast, last year’s champions, Lancashire, have six hundreds and only three players have made it to three figures. Similarly, Warwickshire have eight players averaging over 40 this year; Lancashire have three averaging over 30 – one of whom is number 10 batsman, Kyle Hogg, who has eight not outs to his name. However, the Warwickshire magic is best exemplified by loan signing, Big Fat Ian Blackwell.
Big Fat Ian Blackwell played five matches for Durham this season and averaged 17. In three matches for Warwickshire, he averages 61.33.
Bowling
Warwickshire have also been pretty good at preventing their opponents from hitting the ball properly using their bats. Quite often, the ball has hit only a little bit of the bat, on the edge, and the ball has then gone backwards and been snaffled by a slyly-positioned fielder. Some say that the men doing the bowling have been encouraging this to happen by making the ball do funny things after they’ve let go of it. We cannot confirm this, but Keith Barker and Chris Wright have both taken over 50 wickets at an average in the low 20s, while Jeetan Patel took 46 at a similar average.
All-rounders
No, we’re not talking about Big Fat Ian Blackwell (although he is an all-rounder as well as being all round). We’re talking about Chris Woakes and Rikki Clarke. Woakes has averaged 87.75 with the bat and 23.32 with the ball. Clarke has averaged 46.13 with the bat and 26.50 with the ball. You could throw in Tim Ambrose as well, we suppose. The wicketkeeper has averaged 44.50 this season and that is undoubtedly ‘a good thing’ because Ambrose had a right flop after being dropped by England and ended up getting dropped by Warwickshire as well. Good on him for not descending into forlorn debauchery, playing Jenga for money and selling spokey-dokeys on the black market.
And the Great Jack Morgan noted
I suppose we have to congratulate Warwickshire on winning the Championship (especially with their unsung bowlers eg Wright, Barker and Rankin doing so well), but Middlesex fans are slightly baffled and rather dubious about their success. At Uxbridge, they were extremely negative and refused to make an interesting game of it in case they lost and at Edgbaston only the rain saved them from defeat.
Coleman Matters
Jeff Coleman sent me this
That indefatigable fund raiser Vic Demain, the Uxbridge groundsman, is raising yet more money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer at a Christmas Bazaar on the morning of Saturday December 8th. I know that not many of you will not find a December trip to Uxbridge particularly appetising - some don't find it too appetising even on a hot August day.
But if you want to contribute and maybe get your hands on Straussy's stump here are some words from Vic together with the link to the fundraising page.
Andrew Strauss played his last game for Middx at Uxbridge v Notts between the 11th and 14th July 2012 scoring 50 out of 98 in the first dig and 120 odd not out in the second. For your chance to win a stump from that game signed by Andrew and engraved, please visit [uk.virginmoneygiving.com] where you can pledge £5 for each ticket in the draw.
All monies raised will go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer and help further research into finding a cure.
Please feel free to pass the link on to any friends who may be interested in getting their hands on a fantastic Xmas present for someone.
Weird matters
At the annual Alumni meeting of the South Hampstead Wednesday Eleven Ken James suggested that they all go for a swim……....
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