GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 153
September 2015
King Cricket Matters
I quite liked Alex Bowden’s take on this summer’s main event
Where does 2015 rank in the pantheon of Ashes series? Somewhere in the middle, we’d guess. It was certainly dramatic, but it probably wasn’t even the best Test series this summer.
It was unpredictable from one match to the next, but the same quality wasn’t particularly apparent within any individual Test. There were no plot twists here, just derivative scriptwriting linking together the occasional explosive action sequence. To confusingly and unnecessarily switch art forms a moment, if a Rolf Harris drawing starts out looking like one thing but ends up as something completely different, these Tests had bold outlines drawn right from the outset.
What we basically had were two inexperienced teams who can’t bat, only one took much longer to come to terms with this. Australia’s batsmen didn’t accept that they were inexperienced in English conditions and played as if they knew better. Australia’s selectors didn’t accept that at least one of their inexperienced bowlers should have made way for some less dynamic steadiness.
As for England, they didn’t so much play to their limitations as resign themselves to them. They accepted that the cupboard was more or less bare and so vowed to feed voraciously, like a pack of starved velociraptors, on those rare occasions when they did get to tuck in.
It was playing to your strengths taken to an almost delusional extreme. If a triathlete can’t swim and doesn’t have a bike, you wouldn’t think they could compete. England borrowed their gran’s shopping bike with a basket on the front, did a bit of doggy paddle and then basically just sprinted through the run as fast as they could.
And they won, so yeah… approach vindicated. It will be 18 years since Australia last won the Ashes in England when they next get a chance to have a go.
Out and About with the Professor
St Katherine’s Dock in London is a pleasant enough spot to spend an hour or so: several bars, a number of slightly over-priced restaurants and, unsurprisingly, a few boats to look at. I’ve never been in the slightest bit interested in sailing, but my son is, and this weekend he jumped aboard a yacht called “Garmin” to set sail in something called the Clipper Round the World Race. It will take 11 months; there are 20 people on a boat scarcely bigger than a cricket pitch, and no showers. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Shortly after he was born we gave him three initials in order that he might have the necessary prerequisite for batting in England’s middle-order (think PBH or DCS) but he never showed much interest or aptitude at the sport - and that set me thinking about other father/son combinations.
It is quite common in club cricket for fathers to be followed by their sons into the senior teams and, often, to prove rather better players, but how common is it at the more exalted level of international cricket? We can all think of obvious examples of course: Hutton, Cowdrey, Hadlee, Pollock, but is it a very long list? A couple of thousand, or so, men have played Test cricket. Presumably some of them had no children and some of those that did had no sons. But to be the son of an international cricketer must be to have been exposed to the most intense form of subliminal persuasion to take up the sport. We hear endless stuff these days about “role models”; if your Dad opens the batting for your country, I should have thought that the role modeling was about as intense as it can get. It is common now to see the players take their children onto the field at the end of a match/series; how much bigger prompt would you need to take up the game. Perhaps it is a bit of aversion therapy and the son shies away from the sport at which his father excelled – remember Stanley Matthews junior who became a not-very-good tennis player. How many sons became better players than their father had been? This must be a challenge for the Great Jack Morgan: two teams of “Fathers” and “Sons” who had played Test cricket; which side is the stronger?
The current England side is unusual – or so it seems to me – in having two “sons” in the team, both of whom are better than were their fathers. Perhaps that should be qualified: Broad, as we all know, is: “Big, Bad and better than his Dad” but Bairstow is not yet, to my mind at least, as good a ‘keeper as David…although he is obviously a much superior bat. Which brings us to the current England side.
First I think it worth noting what an achievement Cook’s side has pulled off. How many Googlies readers (be honest) thought England had a ghost of a chance in this series? Remember the shambles last winter of resignations and sackings, the Pietersen business droning on endlessly (“Why”, he tweeted, “am I lying on a beach when England so obviously need me?”), doubts about Cook, the poor performance in the last test in the West Indies, the search for a manager, the shambles of the World Cup and on and on. How could this lot beat Warner, Smith, Clarke, Johnson, et al. 5-0? 4-1(being generous)? Perhaps a draw somewhere if it rained? Not so. To be at Edgbaston and see the way in which England bowled and fielded was quite stunning. Lucky those who had a ticket for (the first two days) at Trent Bridge.
Where to go from here? Well, notwithstanding the victory there are some obviously pressing issues: opening bat, ‘keeper, spin bowler…add to the list as you wish. Indeed it is very odd that an Ashes winning side has so many obvious weaknesses…but they do. My contributions would be to drop Lyth – who I never thought of as a Test player – and replace Buttler behind the stumps with Bairstow. This would give two slots for another batter and a spin bowler. But who? Well, there are still one or two Yorkshire players that haven’t yet been picked and I suppose the Academy might be worth a look - anyone 16 or over might be worth a try…perhaps even that is a bit old these days. Bring back Ballance and move Ali to open? Many have suggested this as an option but is there any evidence that Ali would succeed as a Test opener (as distinct from being far too low down at 8). Recall Compton? Try Hales or Hildreth? My preference would be for an opener who didn’t want to get out; is there one of those in county cricket? Selvey gave as his “shot of the series” the “leave” and that is about right I think. Is there anyone now qualified for England (other than Cook) who knows when to leave the ball alone? As for a spin bowler, I don’t think Rashid is tight enough but I haven’t seen anyone this season who looks (as yet) to be Test material. There seems to be some support again for Borthwick but he now looks like a batter who bowls a bit and the last time I saw him play he bowled more long-hops than Rashid.
So, it all looks a bit tricky. Meanwhile, Yorkshire, with half the team tied up with England, move impressively onwards to a second successive title. Eight wins so far, let’s see what they can do against Somerset.
More England Matters
The Great Jack Morgan adds his Tuppence worth
Yes, another disaster at the Oval with very few home players emerging with credit. Only three batters averaged more than 30 in the series and only three bowlers averaged under 30: how did we win he series? The Oz figures look better with three batters averaging over 45 and five bowlers (though this includes Smith) averaging under 30. Hazlewood was considered disappointing and dropped, but his average (25.75) was better than Lyon (28.25), Starc (30.5) and Johnson (34.93). I do not rejoice because England lost, but I do think it puts a more realistic perspective on the situation and they will not be able to pretend that everything is hunky dory. Buttler's batting has deteriorated, but his keeping has been pretty good from what I have seen, so I would not consider giving Bairstow the gloves... unless Buttler is dropped for not getting enough runs!
Squads have been announced for the five ODIs and one T20. It is hard to know who has been axed, who is no longer considered an ODI regular and who needs a rest. Eoin has no form whatsoever and is lucky to be in at all let alone as captain, especially at the expense of Bairstow who won the ODI v NZ at Chester-le-St. If we keep needing to rest players, doesn't that mean they are arranging too many international fixtures? Or is resting now going to become a regular feature of international squads so that revenue can be generated by the huge number of internationals?
Middlesex Matters - Part 1
The Great Jack Morgan updates us on progress at the Championship contenders
Sussex captain Harry Finch won the toss and chose to bat first in the Second XI Championship match between Middlesex and Sussex at Richmond starting on July 28. However, Sussex were soon in trouble against the home seamers Harry Podmore, George Scott and captain Tim Murtagh and quickly slumped to 47 for 5. The innings was saved from disaster by the inexperienced pair of Graeme van Buren and Phil Salt who put on an excellent 103 for the sixth wicket before Salt fell for an enterprising 59 off 51 balls with 10 fours, but when van Buren followed for a composed 52 off 73 balls with 8 fours, the visitors collapsed to 177 all out. Podmore was the hero for Middlesex with 5 for 37 off 16 overs, while Scott returned figures of 2 for 38 and Murtagh took 2 for 48.
Opening pair Steve Eskinazi and Cameron Steel (both brought up in Western Australia) gave the Middlesex innings a superb start with a stand of 97 before Eskinazi departed for 40 with 5 fours. Steel continued to bat well, but wickets were tumbling at the other end until Scott, batting at 6, stopped the rot. Steel reached an impressive century before finally falling for 104 off 192 balls with 13 fours and a six. Nathan Sowter (from Penrith, NSW) then joined Scott in a useful stand of 51 for the seventh wicket before Scott departed for 42 with 4 fours. Sowter continued to bat confidently until he was last man out for a valuable 48 off 72 balls with 6 fours as the innings closed on 328. For Sussex, the hostile pace bowler Abidine Sakande took 4 for 59 in 13 overs, while slow left armer van Buren took 2 for 58 and left arm opening bowler Lewis Hatchett, still struggling to recapture the promise of his early years, finished with 2 for 66.
The visitors' second innings got off to an ordinary start and then got worse as they slumped to 93 for 7 and the cause of this was Sowter, a 22 year old leg spinner, who looked like leading Middlesex to an innings victory. However, entering the stage at number nine with a runner was Ashar Zaidi, who has scored a first class century this season and scored another hundred against Middlesex in the fifty over game that took place the day before this three-dayer. Zaidi saw little point in defence and immediately began to throw the bat with great success. He found a useful partner in Leo Cammish, an 18 year old wicket keeper who had come into the team on day two to replace Matt Hobden, who had been called into the first team squad. Zaidi and Cammish put on exactly 100 for the eighth wicket and Zaidi was still not finished as he took the total on to 256 all out whilst he remained unbeaten on a magnificent 114 not out from 91 balls with 14 fours and 4 sixes. Sowter was the outstanding bowler for Middlesex with 6 for 70 off 18 overs, while Murtagh picked up 2 for 45.
Middlesex lost two wickets with the score on 35, both of them to seamer Stuart Whittingham, but then Steel was joined by Ryan Higgins, who clearly wanted the game over as quickly as possible and these two took Middlesex to the brink of victory with a fine stand of 65 before Steel fell for 40 off 56 balls with 8 fours. Higgins wasted no time in finishing the job just before lunch on day three and ended his entertaining innings on 38 not out off 30 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes as Middlesex won by seven wickets. It was nice that our esteemed editor was able to join me on day three... shame he only saw two and a quarter hours of cricket! Middlesex 24 points Sussex 5.
Eoin is being “rested” by Middlesex and will miss three RLC games and a Championship match. The plan seemed to work in the first RLC game without him as Middlesex ran up a record for the club 367-6 (D Malan 131, N Gubbins 141) at Hove, but there were several failures (Compton 2, Franklin 6 and Dexter 1). Robson was also axed, but the replacements Dexter and Balbirnie (the selectors were obviously impressed by his double failure at Richmond) did not shine particularly as Dexter failed (though he took 3 for 46 when Sussex batted) and Balbirnie did not get a bat! Sussex made 305-9 in their 40 overs (mainly due to G Bailey) and D/L reckoned that Middlesex had won by 3 runs. Harris's eight overs went for 86! Four teams go through to the next round and Middlesex are not out of it yet. Lizzie Ammon in the G gave plenty of praise to Gubbo and described Dawid's off-driving as "beautiful".
Just after hearing that Middlesex had signed up Pakistan left arm seamer Junaid Khan, I read in the Cricketer that i) his figures in the first two Tests in the recent series against Sri Lanka were 0-38, 0-23, 1-89 and 0-30; ii) he was dropped for the third Test; and iii) Ahmer Naqvi described him as "woefully out of form"... he should fit in well!
Is there some sort of cricket mania going on at the moment? When I arrived at Lord's this am for the start of the CC match against Sussex, there were queues down Wellington Road! It was a very good crowd too, but I suppose they only had the usual one man (with dog?) on the turnstiles. I asked the bloke on the gate as I breezed through with my (Life) Membership card what was going on, but he had no answer at all! In the end, I came to the conclusion that it was all due to Ashes Mania and loads of people just wanted to be at the cricket! Life got worse on Saturday when the crowd was actually smaller, but because it was the day that the Ashes were finally clinched, it seemed like every one in the ground wanted to get totally pissed as soon as the result was announced at 11.40 am. It was horrifically noisy by 3pm and stayed that way.
Fire Matters
My wife, Rosemary, achieved some fleeting celebrity last year when she adopted a long-term inhabitant from the Tree House Cat Sanctuary in Chicago. When she attended their Summer Fair last month she won one of the prizes, which turned out to be four tickets to Chicago Fire’s home match against the Colorado Rapids. This is soccer, not one of the strange sports that America has failed to inflict on the rest of the world. Rosemary lived in the UK for nearly twenty years and never went to a soccer match nor expressed any interest in watching a match on television. She had never watched a match in the USA either and so I was amazed that she planned to utilize the tickets and that she had invited her friend, Judy, another soccer virgin, to join us. I was deployed as driver for this event.
The Fire play in a purpose built stadium south west of Chicago and like many American stadiums it is surrounded by acres of car park. Once we had parked up we commenced a not insubstantial walk to the stadium itself and the closer we got we passed numerous tailgate parties which included barbecues and in one case an erected gazebo. Once inside the ground I realised that we hadn’t got a programme but then nor had anyone else and any attempt at identifying the players would be futile. This was partly rectified by an overexuberant announcer who listed the Fire players but who chose to give no details about the visitors.
Before the match began we all had to stand for the National anthem for which I can find no pertinence. Perhaps the nonsense of Jerusalem at test matches (except thankfully at Lord’s) is the UK equivalent. Once the match kicked off the Rapids moved the ball forward and as the cross from the right arrived in the box an unidentifiable forward was on hand to sweep the ball home. I thought that the player who had supplied the pass had himself been offside but that linesman didn’t seem to apply the offside rule at all throughout the half. Perhaps I should have explained that the American football season runs from March till October and so is reaching its conclusion. I should also have added that the Fire are bottom of the Eastern Conference and that the Rapids are bottom of the Western Conference. This goal then was greeted by groans from the long-suffering locals. There are rarely visiting supporters at American matches because of the distances between the cities.
As the match progressed the Fire became ever more frantic and the Rapids concentrated on packed defence and speedy counter attacks. Meanwhile in the stands, where everyone was seated, there was a constant flow of people toing and froing to get unedifying polystyrene packs of nachos, hot dogs, candyfloss and miscellaneous beverages. These movements paid no heed to the viewing requirements of the rest of us and on more than one occasion I upset Rosemary by vociferously objecting to my observation of the action being interrupted. At halftime she rewarded herself with the most expensive beer I have ever bought and the game was soon back in progress. We had an excellent vantage point from the halfway line and I enjoyed being able to appreciate the tactics across the whole pitch rather that the reduced scope afforded by television.
There were no more goals and the Fire support effected a clearly preplanned happening when after 85 minutes two black plastic sheets were unfurled across the spectators the full depth of the terrace behind one of the goals. These covered hundreds of spectators who didn’t seem to object presumably because it spared them the agony of watching their side succumb to another defeat.
Given their league position it was quite impressive that the match attracted a crowd of over 18,000. The pitch had played immaculately and the action was skilful and played at a fast pace. I had to keep reminding myself that the USA does better than England in most international competitions. As more European players are attracted into the American League the play will become ever more like European football and no doubt clubs will start to compete across the Atlantic.
Red Mist matters
Who is the biggest hitter in this year’s T20 blast? The obvious candidates are Gayle who scored over 300 runs in his three matches for Somerset or McCullum who made 158 not out from 64 balls for Birmingham (nee Warwickshire) against Derbyshire. McCullum’s innings included eleven sixes.
Ross Whitely came in at 63 for 4 in the tenth over at Headingley for Worcestershire against Yorkshire. He faced 35 balls and hit eleven of them for six finishing on 91 not out. Why does he come in at number six? Yorkshire were so demoralised by this onslaught that they got nowhere near the target set.
David Willey took 3 for 27 at Hove in the Twenty20 quarter final but instead of putting his feet up he went out to open the batting and scored 100 from 41 balls including ten sixes.
Middlesex Matters - Part 2
More from TGJM
Middlesex brought in Nick Gubbins, Ravi Patel and Jimmy Harris for Joe Burns, Eoin Morgan and Steve Finn for the Championship match against Sussex at Lord's starting on August 7th. The wicket looked slightly less green than usual, both teams seemed to think that the pitch would spin and Middlesex skipper James Franklin, on wining the toss, decided to bat first, when batting second is the common choice these days. Things did not go smoothly for the home team, however, as they were soon 24 for 2. A good third wicket stand of 90 between Nick Compton (39 with 8 fours) and Dawid Malan, temporarily restored spirits before a severe collapse left them in deep trouble at 123 for 6. Fortunately, Malan was still there and he found a sound ally in Ollie Rayner and these two put on 55 for the seventh wicket. Malan continued to play well, but when he was out for a top class 93 off 178 balls with 12 fours, the end was in sight and Middlesex were soon all out for a disappointing 234. The visitors' trio of pace bowlers Steve Magoffin from Queensland (4-48), left armer Chris Liddle from Middlesbrough (3 for 49) and Ollie Robinson from Margate (3 for 64) shared the wickets.
An excellent second wicket stand of 134 between the patient Luke Wells (son of Alan) and the aggressive Scottish international Matt Machan put Sussex well on top until Patel suddenly made inroads into the visitors' batting. First he got rid of the impressive Machan for 81 off 107 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes, then three more followed including the adhesive Wells for 61 off 133 balls with 12 fours. Another stumbling block remained, however, ex-England ODI man Mike Yardy was demonstrating his eccentric technique to good effect and he had accumulated 70 valuable runs off 141 balls with 8 fours when he was ninth out just before the innings closed on 300. Patel (4-42) was the most successful home bowler and Toby Roland-Jones (3-88) also deserves praise for a persevering effort.
Sam Robson took the leading role in the Middlesex second innings as he and Gubbins put on 61 for the first wicket and when Robbo was second man out with the score on 109, he had made 77 of those runs off 105 balls with 11 fours in one his most attractive displays ever. Things did not look good at 137 for 4, but the reliable Malan was now joined by keeper John Simpson and 78 useful runs were added for the fifth wicket. However at 249 for 7, Middlesex were only 183 ahead and defeat was looming, but Malan was still there and he now found another willing companion in Roland-Jones and these two added 77 excellent runs for the eighth wicket before Toby fell for a valuable 36 in the last over of day 3. Malan went on to an exceptional 120 not out off 207 balls with 10 fours (taking his first class average for the season to 97.5 and his Championship average to 104.8) and he gets full praise for that, of course, but he must also accept some criticism for the inept way that he failed to protect his tailenders on the fourth morning, especially Patel, who actually stole the strike off the last ball of the 113th over and was predictably dismissed by the first ball of the 114th, leaving Middlesex all out for 331 setting Sussex a target of 266 to win in more than 90 overs. It seemed that the wicket was actually easing and that 30 or 40 extra runs could and should have been obtained to put more pressure on Sussex, who were desperate for a win to ease their plight in the relegation zone. Magoffin was again the pick of the visiting bowlers with 5 for 73, while the medium fast Robinson collected three wickets after switching to his off breaks and finished with 3 for 88.
When Sussex batted again, Harris came on as first change and quickly put Middlesex on top with three wickets in his first two overs as the visitors fell to 70 for 4, but ex-Loughborough man Chris Nash was batting very well and when keeper Ben Brown joined him 60 runs came quickly for the sixth wicket. However, Roland-Jones was in the middle of a magnificent spell of 15 consecutive overs of high quality swing and seam bowling from the pavilion end and he finally dispatched Nash for a classy 66 off 85 balls with 11 fours due to a brilliant catch at second slip by Rayner, one of three by Ollie in the innings. Brown was still batting well, however, and with plenty of time to get the runs, he needed to guide the tail through another 103 runs to ensure the win. He got some assistance from Ashar Zaidi as 34 were added for the seventh wicket, but Robinson and Magoffin both went quickly and Brown had only number eleven, Liddle, for company as he tried to add 51 more for victory. Both Brown and Liddle did surprisingly well as 30 runs came without alarm, but just when it looked like Sussex might actually clinch the win, Brown pulled a long hop from Murtagh straight down the throat of the smiling captain Franklin lurking in front of the Mound Stand at deep square leg and Middlesex had won by 20 runs. Brown had played splendidly for 68 off 129 balls with 11 fours. Harris took 4 for 57 and TSRJ 3 for 78. Murtagh was not at his best, but did achieve the career milestone of 500 first class wickets for Middlesex in his benefit year.
After five fairly up and down years at Middlesex, Rayner was belatedly presented with his county cap at lunch on day one and Franklin, after only five even more inconsistent months at Middlesex, was prematurely awarded his cap at the same ceremony. Middlesex gained 19 points from the match after having one deducted for the slow over rate and Sussex took 6. Middlesex are now second in the Championship First Division, 38 points behind Yorkshire, who have a game in hand. This was Middlesex's fifth win of the season, which pleased me because last year's four wins only allowed us to stay up by the skin of our teeth.
That was a bit of a disaster at Colchester, probably starting with team selection: Compo has been terrible, but his replacement, Robbo, is not really a one day player and Middlesex got off to a slow start (by today's standards); G Sandhu came in for TSRJ (who can only have been injured, surely?), but is Gurjit the best available replacement? He does not usually look very threatening in the 2s. Gubbo, Balbirnie and Franky all did pretty well, but 296 is probably not anything special these days, especially if (as I suspect) the pitch was good and the boundaries were short. The bowling also seems to have been ineffective, Junaid had done OK until this one, but we need better than 0-68 from our overseas bowler.
TSRJ and G Scott replaced Harris and Dexter for the Notts RLC game, which I was not able to attend because of the tube strike. Is this just squad rotation? It does not seem designed to win the trophy. Ollie did well with 4-35, but Robbo getting runs (88) is a recipe for defeat rather than victory because he just does not score quickly enough for the modern game. Junaid's 0-73 looks particularly grim, but it depends when he is asked to bowl really. Why are Higgins, Murtagh, Steel and Podmore (for example) being excluded in favour of the likes of Robson, Sandhu and Scott.
Middlesex brought in Paul Stirling, Neil Dexter, Nick Compton, Jimmy Harris and Tim Murtagh for Nick Gubbins, Andy Balbirnie, George Scott, Toby Roland-Jones and Gurjit Sandhu for the 50 over cup match against Glamorgan at Lord's on 17 August. Visiting captain Jacques Rudolph won the toss and chose to bat first and he and ex-Middlesex 2s batsman James Kettleborough put on 53 for the first wicket. Test batsman Rudolph then shared another partnership of 51 for the third wicket with his fellow South African, ODI batsman Colin Ingram, before the skipper departed for 58 off 82 balls with 6 fours. However, the pace had been very pedestrian and the score was only 105 with more than half of the overs gone. Ingram tried to improve the scoring rate and received some assistance from yet another South African, keeper Chris Cooke, in a stand of 50 for the fourth wicket. Ingram went on to 102 off 93 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, falling just before the innings closed on 251 for 9. Harris accounted for Ingram and finished with 4 for 38, while Dexter took 2 for 36 and Ollie Rayner collected two good catches as well as a couple of wickets.
Glamorgan had picked a very inexperienced bowling attack and openers Stirling and Dawid Malan were soon scoring at a cracking pace against the four young seamers: after ten overs they had 72 on the board, which was more than the visitors had scored after twenty. The youthful spinners Andrew Salter and Kieran Bull slowed the run rate slightly and Bull even picked up the wicket of Stirling for an entertaining 58 off 58 balls with 6 fours and a six after an opening stand of 139. Middlesex had only a hint of a chance of qualifying for the quarter finals, but to do so they surely had to improve their overall run rate so it seemed very odd to send in Sam Robson at no 3. However, Malan was in full flow and another 76 were quickly added for the second wicket before the suffering Dewi Penrhyn Jones (6.4-0-73-1) had his only moment of joy with the wicket of Robson. By now, Malan had sailed past his century and it was not long before Dexter hit the winning 6 into the Taverners Stand and Middlesex had won convincingly by eight wickets. Malan, in brilliant form at present, played the outstanding innings of 156* off 128 balls with 18 fours and 4 sixes and Middlesex did not even need 40 overs to complete the win. Salter managed to return the highly respectable figures of 10-0-36-0, which was a stark contrast to the combined figures of the four pace bowlers: 21.4-1-178-1. The match finished early and Middlesex briefly moved into the fourth qualifying place in group B, but later wins for Kent and Lancs sent Middlesex, who are the only team to have completed their group matches, down to sixth, with Warwicks also having the chance to go above them.
Richard Johnson is getting much of the credit for returning S Finn to his best after two years of problems with his run up, action, pace etc. Sharing some of the praise are Kevin Shine and someone called Raph (not Ralph) Brandon.
Ged Matters
Ged writes:
“How did Charley the Gent Malloy get on, sitting on these infernal pavilion benches with his sore back when you came here with him the other week?” asked Daisy.
“We didn’t stay here long,” I replied. “Although his main beef was less the pain, more the fact that you had laughed at the email in which he described his unfortunate tumble.”
“Why did you tell him I laughed?” rebuked Daisy.
“I broke down under interrogation,” I said. “He made me swear that I didn’t laugh, which I was honestly able to say. Then he asked me to swear that you didn’t laugh either.”
“If he hadn’t wanted anyone to laugh, he shouldn’t have written the email in comedic style, describing in detail how he prevented the laptop from getting any damage by taking the brunt of the fall himself in painful places,” said Daisy. “Only a man!”
This time we both laughed.
“Anyway,” Daisy continued. “These pavilion benches are agony even without a sore back. Why on earth do the gentlemen of the MCC put up with this, while at the same time they spend all that money making the rest of the seating at Lord’s more comfortable?”
“That’s what I always say,” said the lady-half of an equally rebellious Middlesex couple sitting in front of us. “I make it more tolerable with these cushions,” she continued, showing off a Middlesex-emblazoned cushion thing for rump and lower back. We discussed the contraption and other things besides with the nice couple for a while.
After seeing Daisy fidget again, I said: “You usually prefer to sit on the sun deck, Daisy, where the seating is a bit more comfy.”
So we were off like a flash to the top deck. We found a very comfortable spot, right at the front of the turret furthest from the action. It had a suitable table for our picnic, as well as directors’ chairs, which pleased Daisy, who had made the picnic that day. I hesitate to set out the delights of that picnic to you in detail, dear reader. My description might induce envy and upset, whereas my purpose is to provide you with levity and cheer. Suffice it to say that Daisy had pulled off a blinder that day.
Later, when the rain came, Daisy suggested we look at the new club shop behind the pavilion, which is controversially now stocking both Middlesex (MCCC) and Marylebone (MCC) cricket club goods and gimcrack. In particular, Daisy wanted to check out the lauded cushions. The delightful shop lady explained the various rump-support wares to Daisy, while I looked on the other side of the shop at cricket balls and other boy-stuff.
“There are Middlesex cushions and also MCC cushions, but you need to be a member of the MCC to buy the latter,” Daisy called out to me.
“What’s the difference between the two?” I asked.
“The MCC ones are twice as thick and twice as much money,” said Daisy.
“So true in so many ways,” I thought to myself.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 153
September 2015
King Cricket Matters
I quite liked Alex Bowden’s take on this summer’s main event
Where does 2015 rank in the pantheon of Ashes series? Somewhere in the middle, we’d guess. It was certainly dramatic, but it probably wasn’t even the best Test series this summer.
It was unpredictable from one match to the next, but the same quality wasn’t particularly apparent within any individual Test. There were no plot twists here, just derivative scriptwriting linking together the occasional explosive action sequence. To confusingly and unnecessarily switch art forms a moment, if a Rolf Harris drawing starts out looking like one thing but ends up as something completely different, these Tests had bold outlines drawn right from the outset.
What we basically had were two inexperienced teams who can’t bat, only one took much longer to come to terms with this. Australia’s batsmen didn’t accept that they were inexperienced in English conditions and played as if they knew better. Australia’s selectors didn’t accept that at least one of their inexperienced bowlers should have made way for some less dynamic steadiness.
As for England, they didn’t so much play to their limitations as resign themselves to them. They accepted that the cupboard was more or less bare and so vowed to feed voraciously, like a pack of starved velociraptors, on those rare occasions when they did get to tuck in.
It was playing to your strengths taken to an almost delusional extreme. If a triathlete can’t swim and doesn’t have a bike, you wouldn’t think they could compete. England borrowed their gran’s shopping bike with a basket on the front, did a bit of doggy paddle and then basically just sprinted through the run as fast as they could.
And they won, so yeah… approach vindicated. It will be 18 years since Australia last won the Ashes in England when they next get a chance to have a go.
Out and About with the Professor
St Katherine’s Dock in London is a pleasant enough spot to spend an hour or so: several bars, a number of slightly over-priced restaurants and, unsurprisingly, a few boats to look at. I’ve never been in the slightest bit interested in sailing, but my son is, and this weekend he jumped aboard a yacht called “Garmin” to set sail in something called the Clipper Round the World Race. It will take 11 months; there are 20 people on a boat scarcely bigger than a cricket pitch, and no showers. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Shortly after he was born we gave him three initials in order that he might have the necessary prerequisite for batting in England’s middle-order (think PBH or DCS) but he never showed much interest or aptitude at the sport - and that set me thinking about other father/son combinations.
It is quite common in club cricket for fathers to be followed by their sons into the senior teams and, often, to prove rather better players, but how common is it at the more exalted level of international cricket? We can all think of obvious examples of course: Hutton, Cowdrey, Hadlee, Pollock, but is it a very long list? A couple of thousand, or so, men have played Test cricket. Presumably some of them had no children and some of those that did had no sons. But to be the son of an international cricketer must be to have been exposed to the most intense form of subliminal persuasion to take up the sport. We hear endless stuff these days about “role models”; if your Dad opens the batting for your country, I should have thought that the role modeling was about as intense as it can get. It is common now to see the players take their children onto the field at the end of a match/series; how much bigger prompt would you need to take up the game. Perhaps it is a bit of aversion therapy and the son shies away from the sport at which his father excelled – remember Stanley Matthews junior who became a not-very-good tennis player. How many sons became better players than their father had been? This must be a challenge for the Great Jack Morgan: two teams of “Fathers” and “Sons” who had played Test cricket; which side is the stronger?
The current England side is unusual – or so it seems to me – in having two “sons” in the team, both of whom are better than were their fathers. Perhaps that should be qualified: Broad, as we all know, is: “Big, Bad and better than his Dad” but Bairstow is not yet, to my mind at least, as good a ‘keeper as David…although he is obviously a much superior bat. Which brings us to the current England side.
First I think it worth noting what an achievement Cook’s side has pulled off. How many Googlies readers (be honest) thought England had a ghost of a chance in this series? Remember the shambles last winter of resignations and sackings, the Pietersen business droning on endlessly (“Why”, he tweeted, “am I lying on a beach when England so obviously need me?”), doubts about Cook, the poor performance in the last test in the West Indies, the search for a manager, the shambles of the World Cup and on and on. How could this lot beat Warner, Smith, Clarke, Johnson, et al. 5-0? 4-1(being generous)? Perhaps a draw somewhere if it rained? Not so. To be at Edgbaston and see the way in which England bowled and fielded was quite stunning. Lucky those who had a ticket for (the first two days) at Trent Bridge.
Where to go from here? Well, notwithstanding the victory there are some obviously pressing issues: opening bat, ‘keeper, spin bowler…add to the list as you wish. Indeed it is very odd that an Ashes winning side has so many obvious weaknesses…but they do. My contributions would be to drop Lyth – who I never thought of as a Test player – and replace Buttler behind the stumps with Bairstow. This would give two slots for another batter and a spin bowler. But who? Well, there are still one or two Yorkshire players that haven’t yet been picked and I suppose the Academy might be worth a look - anyone 16 or over might be worth a try…perhaps even that is a bit old these days. Bring back Ballance and move Ali to open? Many have suggested this as an option but is there any evidence that Ali would succeed as a Test opener (as distinct from being far too low down at 8). Recall Compton? Try Hales or Hildreth? My preference would be for an opener who didn’t want to get out; is there one of those in county cricket? Selvey gave as his “shot of the series” the “leave” and that is about right I think. Is there anyone now qualified for England (other than Cook) who knows when to leave the ball alone? As for a spin bowler, I don’t think Rashid is tight enough but I haven’t seen anyone this season who looks (as yet) to be Test material. There seems to be some support again for Borthwick but he now looks like a batter who bowls a bit and the last time I saw him play he bowled more long-hops than Rashid.
So, it all looks a bit tricky. Meanwhile, Yorkshire, with half the team tied up with England, move impressively onwards to a second successive title. Eight wins so far, let’s see what they can do against Somerset.
More England Matters
The Great Jack Morgan adds his Tuppence worth
Yes, another disaster at the Oval with very few home players emerging with credit. Only three batters averaged more than 30 in the series and only three bowlers averaged under 30: how did we win he series? The Oz figures look better with three batters averaging over 45 and five bowlers (though this includes Smith) averaging under 30. Hazlewood was considered disappointing and dropped, but his average (25.75) was better than Lyon (28.25), Starc (30.5) and Johnson (34.93). I do not rejoice because England lost, but I do think it puts a more realistic perspective on the situation and they will not be able to pretend that everything is hunky dory. Buttler's batting has deteriorated, but his keeping has been pretty good from what I have seen, so I would not consider giving Bairstow the gloves... unless Buttler is dropped for not getting enough runs!
Squads have been announced for the five ODIs and one T20. It is hard to know who has been axed, who is no longer considered an ODI regular and who needs a rest. Eoin has no form whatsoever and is lucky to be in at all let alone as captain, especially at the expense of Bairstow who won the ODI v NZ at Chester-le-St. If we keep needing to rest players, doesn't that mean they are arranging too many international fixtures? Or is resting now going to become a regular feature of international squads so that revenue can be generated by the huge number of internationals?
Middlesex Matters - Part 1
The Great Jack Morgan updates us on progress at the Championship contenders
Sussex captain Harry Finch won the toss and chose to bat first in the Second XI Championship match between Middlesex and Sussex at Richmond starting on July 28. However, Sussex were soon in trouble against the home seamers Harry Podmore, George Scott and captain Tim Murtagh and quickly slumped to 47 for 5. The innings was saved from disaster by the inexperienced pair of Graeme van Buren and Phil Salt who put on an excellent 103 for the sixth wicket before Salt fell for an enterprising 59 off 51 balls with 10 fours, but when van Buren followed for a composed 52 off 73 balls with 8 fours, the visitors collapsed to 177 all out. Podmore was the hero for Middlesex with 5 for 37 off 16 overs, while Scott returned figures of 2 for 38 and Murtagh took 2 for 48.
Opening pair Steve Eskinazi and Cameron Steel (both brought up in Western Australia) gave the Middlesex innings a superb start with a stand of 97 before Eskinazi departed for 40 with 5 fours. Steel continued to bat well, but wickets were tumbling at the other end until Scott, batting at 6, stopped the rot. Steel reached an impressive century before finally falling for 104 off 192 balls with 13 fours and a six. Nathan Sowter (from Penrith, NSW) then joined Scott in a useful stand of 51 for the seventh wicket before Scott departed for 42 with 4 fours. Sowter continued to bat confidently until he was last man out for a valuable 48 off 72 balls with 6 fours as the innings closed on 328. For Sussex, the hostile pace bowler Abidine Sakande took 4 for 59 in 13 overs, while slow left armer van Buren took 2 for 58 and left arm opening bowler Lewis Hatchett, still struggling to recapture the promise of his early years, finished with 2 for 66.
The visitors' second innings got off to an ordinary start and then got worse as they slumped to 93 for 7 and the cause of this was Sowter, a 22 year old leg spinner, who looked like leading Middlesex to an innings victory. However, entering the stage at number nine with a runner was Ashar Zaidi, who has scored a first class century this season and scored another hundred against Middlesex in the fifty over game that took place the day before this three-dayer. Zaidi saw little point in defence and immediately began to throw the bat with great success. He found a useful partner in Leo Cammish, an 18 year old wicket keeper who had come into the team on day two to replace Matt Hobden, who had been called into the first team squad. Zaidi and Cammish put on exactly 100 for the eighth wicket and Zaidi was still not finished as he took the total on to 256 all out whilst he remained unbeaten on a magnificent 114 not out from 91 balls with 14 fours and 4 sixes. Sowter was the outstanding bowler for Middlesex with 6 for 70 off 18 overs, while Murtagh picked up 2 for 45.
Middlesex lost two wickets with the score on 35, both of them to seamer Stuart Whittingham, but then Steel was joined by Ryan Higgins, who clearly wanted the game over as quickly as possible and these two took Middlesex to the brink of victory with a fine stand of 65 before Steel fell for 40 off 56 balls with 8 fours. Higgins wasted no time in finishing the job just before lunch on day three and ended his entertaining innings on 38 not out off 30 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes as Middlesex won by seven wickets. It was nice that our esteemed editor was able to join me on day three... shame he only saw two and a quarter hours of cricket! Middlesex 24 points Sussex 5.
Eoin is being “rested” by Middlesex and will miss three RLC games and a Championship match. The plan seemed to work in the first RLC game without him as Middlesex ran up a record for the club 367-6 (D Malan 131, N Gubbins 141) at Hove, but there were several failures (Compton 2, Franklin 6 and Dexter 1). Robson was also axed, but the replacements Dexter and Balbirnie (the selectors were obviously impressed by his double failure at Richmond) did not shine particularly as Dexter failed (though he took 3 for 46 when Sussex batted) and Balbirnie did not get a bat! Sussex made 305-9 in their 40 overs (mainly due to G Bailey) and D/L reckoned that Middlesex had won by 3 runs. Harris's eight overs went for 86! Four teams go through to the next round and Middlesex are not out of it yet. Lizzie Ammon in the G gave plenty of praise to Gubbo and described Dawid's off-driving as "beautiful".
Just after hearing that Middlesex had signed up Pakistan left arm seamer Junaid Khan, I read in the Cricketer that i) his figures in the first two Tests in the recent series against Sri Lanka were 0-38, 0-23, 1-89 and 0-30; ii) he was dropped for the third Test; and iii) Ahmer Naqvi described him as "woefully out of form"... he should fit in well!
Is there some sort of cricket mania going on at the moment? When I arrived at Lord's this am for the start of the CC match against Sussex, there were queues down Wellington Road! It was a very good crowd too, but I suppose they only had the usual one man (with dog?) on the turnstiles. I asked the bloke on the gate as I breezed through with my (Life) Membership card what was going on, but he had no answer at all! In the end, I came to the conclusion that it was all due to Ashes Mania and loads of people just wanted to be at the cricket! Life got worse on Saturday when the crowd was actually smaller, but because it was the day that the Ashes were finally clinched, it seemed like every one in the ground wanted to get totally pissed as soon as the result was announced at 11.40 am. It was horrifically noisy by 3pm and stayed that way.
Fire Matters
My wife, Rosemary, achieved some fleeting celebrity last year when she adopted a long-term inhabitant from the Tree House Cat Sanctuary in Chicago. When she attended their Summer Fair last month she won one of the prizes, which turned out to be four tickets to Chicago Fire’s home match against the Colorado Rapids. This is soccer, not one of the strange sports that America has failed to inflict on the rest of the world. Rosemary lived in the UK for nearly twenty years and never went to a soccer match nor expressed any interest in watching a match on television. She had never watched a match in the USA either and so I was amazed that she planned to utilize the tickets and that she had invited her friend, Judy, another soccer virgin, to join us. I was deployed as driver for this event.
The Fire play in a purpose built stadium south west of Chicago and like many American stadiums it is surrounded by acres of car park. Once we had parked up we commenced a not insubstantial walk to the stadium itself and the closer we got we passed numerous tailgate parties which included barbecues and in one case an erected gazebo. Once inside the ground I realised that we hadn’t got a programme but then nor had anyone else and any attempt at identifying the players would be futile. This was partly rectified by an overexuberant announcer who listed the Fire players but who chose to give no details about the visitors.
Before the match began we all had to stand for the National anthem for which I can find no pertinence. Perhaps the nonsense of Jerusalem at test matches (except thankfully at Lord’s) is the UK equivalent. Once the match kicked off the Rapids moved the ball forward and as the cross from the right arrived in the box an unidentifiable forward was on hand to sweep the ball home. I thought that the player who had supplied the pass had himself been offside but that linesman didn’t seem to apply the offside rule at all throughout the half. Perhaps I should have explained that the American football season runs from March till October and so is reaching its conclusion. I should also have added that the Fire are bottom of the Eastern Conference and that the Rapids are bottom of the Western Conference. This goal then was greeted by groans from the long-suffering locals. There are rarely visiting supporters at American matches because of the distances between the cities.
As the match progressed the Fire became ever more frantic and the Rapids concentrated on packed defence and speedy counter attacks. Meanwhile in the stands, where everyone was seated, there was a constant flow of people toing and froing to get unedifying polystyrene packs of nachos, hot dogs, candyfloss and miscellaneous beverages. These movements paid no heed to the viewing requirements of the rest of us and on more than one occasion I upset Rosemary by vociferously objecting to my observation of the action being interrupted. At halftime she rewarded herself with the most expensive beer I have ever bought and the game was soon back in progress. We had an excellent vantage point from the halfway line and I enjoyed being able to appreciate the tactics across the whole pitch rather that the reduced scope afforded by television.
There were no more goals and the Fire support effected a clearly preplanned happening when after 85 minutes two black plastic sheets were unfurled across the spectators the full depth of the terrace behind one of the goals. These covered hundreds of spectators who didn’t seem to object presumably because it spared them the agony of watching their side succumb to another defeat.
Given their league position it was quite impressive that the match attracted a crowd of over 18,000. The pitch had played immaculately and the action was skilful and played at a fast pace. I had to keep reminding myself that the USA does better than England in most international competitions. As more European players are attracted into the American League the play will become ever more like European football and no doubt clubs will start to compete across the Atlantic.
Red Mist matters
Who is the biggest hitter in this year’s T20 blast? The obvious candidates are Gayle who scored over 300 runs in his three matches for Somerset or McCullum who made 158 not out from 64 balls for Birmingham (nee Warwickshire) against Derbyshire. McCullum’s innings included eleven sixes.
Ross Whitely came in at 63 for 4 in the tenth over at Headingley for Worcestershire against Yorkshire. He faced 35 balls and hit eleven of them for six finishing on 91 not out. Why does he come in at number six? Yorkshire were so demoralised by this onslaught that they got nowhere near the target set.
David Willey took 3 for 27 at Hove in the Twenty20 quarter final but instead of putting his feet up he went out to open the batting and scored 100 from 41 balls including ten sixes.
Middlesex Matters - Part 2
More from TGJM
Middlesex brought in Nick Gubbins, Ravi Patel and Jimmy Harris for Joe Burns, Eoin Morgan and Steve Finn for the Championship match against Sussex at Lord's starting on August 7th. The wicket looked slightly less green than usual, both teams seemed to think that the pitch would spin and Middlesex skipper James Franklin, on wining the toss, decided to bat first, when batting second is the common choice these days. Things did not go smoothly for the home team, however, as they were soon 24 for 2. A good third wicket stand of 90 between Nick Compton (39 with 8 fours) and Dawid Malan, temporarily restored spirits before a severe collapse left them in deep trouble at 123 for 6. Fortunately, Malan was still there and he found a sound ally in Ollie Rayner and these two put on 55 for the seventh wicket. Malan continued to play well, but when he was out for a top class 93 off 178 balls with 12 fours, the end was in sight and Middlesex were soon all out for a disappointing 234. The visitors' trio of pace bowlers Steve Magoffin from Queensland (4-48), left armer Chris Liddle from Middlesbrough (3 for 49) and Ollie Robinson from Margate (3 for 64) shared the wickets.
An excellent second wicket stand of 134 between the patient Luke Wells (son of Alan) and the aggressive Scottish international Matt Machan put Sussex well on top until Patel suddenly made inroads into the visitors' batting. First he got rid of the impressive Machan for 81 off 107 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes, then three more followed including the adhesive Wells for 61 off 133 balls with 12 fours. Another stumbling block remained, however, ex-England ODI man Mike Yardy was demonstrating his eccentric technique to good effect and he had accumulated 70 valuable runs off 141 balls with 8 fours when he was ninth out just before the innings closed on 300. Patel (4-42) was the most successful home bowler and Toby Roland-Jones (3-88) also deserves praise for a persevering effort.
Sam Robson took the leading role in the Middlesex second innings as he and Gubbins put on 61 for the first wicket and when Robbo was second man out with the score on 109, he had made 77 of those runs off 105 balls with 11 fours in one his most attractive displays ever. Things did not look good at 137 for 4, but the reliable Malan was now joined by keeper John Simpson and 78 useful runs were added for the fifth wicket. However at 249 for 7, Middlesex were only 183 ahead and defeat was looming, but Malan was still there and he now found another willing companion in Roland-Jones and these two added 77 excellent runs for the eighth wicket before Toby fell for a valuable 36 in the last over of day 3. Malan went on to an exceptional 120 not out off 207 balls with 10 fours (taking his first class average for the season to 97.5 and his Championship average to 104.8) and he gets full praise for that, of course, but he must also accept some criticism for the inept way that he failed to protect his tailenders on the fourth morning, especially Patel, who actually stole the strike off the last ball of the 113th over and was predictably dismissed by the first ball of the 114th, leaving Middlesex all out for 331 setting Sussex a target of 266 to win in more than 90 overs. It seemed that the wicket was actually easing and that 30 or 40 extra runs could and should have been obtained to put more pressure on Sussex, who were desperate for a win to ease their plight in the relegation zone. Magoffin was again the pick of the visiting bowlers with 5 for 73, while the medium fast Robinson collected three wickets after switching to his off breaks and finished with 3 for 88.
When Sussex batted again, Harris came on as first change and quickly put Middlesex on top with three wickets in his first two overs as the visitors fell to 70 for 4, but ex-Loughborough man Chris Nash was batting very well and when keeper Ben Brown joined him 60 runs came quickly for the sixth wicket. However, Roland-Jones was in the middle of a magnificent spell of 15 consecutive overs of high quality swing and seam bowling from the pavilion end and he finally dispatched Nash for a classy 66 off 85 balls with 11 fours due to a brilliant catch at second slip by Rayner, one of three by Ollie in the innings. Brown was still batting well, however, and with plenty of time to get the runs, he needed to guide the tail through another 103 runs to ensure the win. He got some assistance from Ashar Zaidi as 34 were added for the seventh wicket, but Robinson and Magoffin both went quickly and Brown had only number eleven, Liddle, for company as he tried to add 51 more for victory. Both Brown and Liddle did surprisingly well as 30 runs came without alarm, but just when it looked like Sussex might actually clinch the win, Brown pulled a long hop from Murtagh straight down the throat of the smiling captain Franklin lurking in front of the Mound Stand at deep square leg and Middlesex had won by 20 runs. Brown had played splendidly for 68 off 129 balls with 11 fours. Harris took 4 for 57 and TSRJ 3 for 78. Murtagh was not at his best, but did achieve the career milestone of 500 first class wickets for Middlesex in his benefit year.
After five fairly up and down years at Middlesex, Rayner was belatedly presented with his county cap at lunch on day one and Franklin, after only five even more inconsistent months at Middlesex, was prematurely awarded his cap at the same ceremony. Middlesex gained 19 points from the match after having one deducted for the slow over rate and Sussex took 6. Middlesex are now second in the Championship First Division, 38 points behind Yorkshire, who have a game in hand. This was Middlesex's fifth win of the season, which pleased me because last year's four wins only allowed us to stay up by the skin of our teeth.
That was a bit of a disaster at Colchester, probably starting with team selection: Compo has been terrible, but his replacement, Robbo, is not really a one day player and Middlesex got off to a slow start (by today's standards); G Sandhu came in for TSRJ (who can only have been injured, surely?), but is Gurjit the best available replacement? He does not usually look very threatening in the 2s. Gubbo, Balbirnie and Franky all did pretty well, but 296 is probably not anything special these days, especially if (as I suspect) the pitch was good and the boundaries were short. The bowling also seems to have been ineffective, Junaid had done OK until this one, but we need better than 0-68 from our overseas bowler.
TSRJ and G Scott replaced Harris and Dexter for the Notts RLC game, which I was not able to attend because of the tube strike. Is this just squad rotation? It does not seem designed to win the trophy. Ollie did well with 4-35, but Robbo getting runs (88) is a recipe for defeat rather than victory because he just does not score quickly enough for the modern game. Junaid's 0-73 looks particularly grim, but it depends when he is asked to bowl really. Why are Higgins, Murtagh, Steel and Podmore (for example) being excluded in favour of the likes of Robson, Sandhu and Scott.
Middlesex brought in Paul Stirling, Neil Dexter, Nick Compton, Jimmy Harris and Tim Murtagh for Nick Gubbins, Andy Balbirnie, George Scott, Toby Roland-Jones and Gurjit Sandhu for the 50 over cup match against Glamorgan at Lord's on 17 August. Visiting captain Jacques Rudolph won the toss and chose to bat first and he and ex-Middlesex 2s batsman James Kettleborough put on 53 for the first wicket. Test batsman Rudolph then shared another partnership of 51 for the third wicket with his fellow South African, ODI batsman Colin Ingram, before the skipper departed for 58 off 82 balls with 6 fours. However, the pace had been very pedestrian and the score was only 105 with more than half of the overs gone. Ingram tried to improve the scoring rate and received some assistance from yet another South African, keeper Chris Cooke, in a stand of 50 for the fourth wicket. Ingram went on to 102 off 93 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, falling just before the innings closed on 251 for 9. Harris accounted for Ingram and finished with 4 for 38, while Dexter took 2 for 36 and Ollie Rayner collected two good catches as well as a couple of wickets.
Glamorgan had picked a very inexperienced bowling attack and openers Stirling and Dawid Malan were soon scoring at a cracking pace against the four young seamers: after ten overs they had 72 on the board, which was more than the visitors had scored after twenty. The youthful spinners Andrew Salter and Kieran Bull slowed the run rate slightly and Bull even picked up the wicket of Stirling for an entertaining 58 off 58 balls with 6 fours and a six after an opening stand of 139. Middlesex had only a hint of a chance of qualifying for the quarter finals, but to do so they surely had to improve their overall run rate so it seemed very odd to send in Sam Robson at no 3. However, Malan was in full flow and another 76 were quickly added for the second wicket before the suffering Dewi Penrhyn Jones (6.4-0-73-1) had his only moment of joy with the wicket of Robson. By now, Malan had sailed past his century and it was not long before Dexter hit the winning 6 into the Taverners Stand and Middlesex had won convincingly by eight wickets. Malan, in brilliant form at present, played the outstanding innings of 156* off 128 balls with 18 fours and 4 sixes and Middlesex did not even need 40 overs to complete the win. Salter managed to return the highly respectable figures of 10-0-36-0, which was a stark contrast to the combined figures of the four pace bowlers: 21.4-1-178-1. The match finished early and Middlesex briefly moved into the fourth qualifying place in group B, but later wins for Kent and Lancs sent Middlesex, who are the only team to have completed their group matches, down to sixth, with Warwicks also having the chance to go above them.
Richard Johnson is getting much of the credit for returning S Finn to his best after two years of problems with his run up, action, pace etc. Sharing some of the praise are Kevin Shine and someone called Raph (not Ralph) Brandon.
Ged Matters
Ged writes:
“How did Charley the Gent Malloy get on, sitting on these infernal pavilion benches with his sore back when you came here with him the other week?” asked Daisy.
“We didn’t stay here long,” I replied. “Although his main beef was less the pain, more the fact that you had laughed at the email in which he described his unfortunate tumble.”
“Why did you tell him I laughed?” rebuked Daisy.
“I broke down under interrogation,” I said. “He made me swear that I didn’t laugh, which I was honestly able to say. Then he asked me to swear that you didn’t laugh either.”
“If he hadn’t wanted anyone to laugh, he shouldn’t have written the email in comedic style, describing in detail how he prevented the laptop from getting any damage by taking the brunt of the fall himself in painful places,” said Daisy. “Only a man!”
This time we both laughed.
“Anyway,” Daisy continued. “These pavilion benches are agony even without a sore back. Why on earth do the gentlemen of the MCC put up with this, while at the same time they spend all that money making the rest of the seating at Lord’s more comfortable?”
“That’s what I always say,” said the lady-half of an equally rebellious Middlesex couple sitting in front of us. “I make it more tolerable with these cushions,” she continued, showing off a Middlesex-emblazoned cushion thing for rump and lower back. We discussed the contraption and other things besides with the nice couple for a while.
After seeing Daisy fidget again, I said: “You usually prefer to sit on the sun deck, Daisy, where the seating is a bit more comfy.”
So we were off like a flash to the top deck. We found a very comfortable spot, right at the front of the turret furthest from the action. It had a suitable table for our picnic, as well as directors’ chairs, which pleased Daisy, who had made the picnic that day. I hesitate to set out the delights of that picnic to you in detail, dear reader. My description might induce envy and upset, whereas my purpose is to provide you with levity and cheer. Suffice it to say that Daisy had pulled off a blinder that day.
Later, when the rain came, Daisy suggested we look at the new club shop behind the pavilion, which is controversially now stocking both Middlesex (MCCC) and Marylebone (MCC) cricket club goods and gimcrack. In particular, Daisy wanted to check out the lauded cushions. The delightful shop lady explained the various rump-support wares to Daisy, while I looked on the other side of the shop at cricket balls and other boy-stuff.
“There are Middlesex cushions and also MCC cushions, but you need to be a member of the MCC to buy the latter,” Daisy called out to me.
“What’s the difference between the two?” I asked.
“The MCC ones are twice as thick and twice as much money,” said Daisy.
“So true in so many ways,” I thought to myself.
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