G&C 186
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 186
June 2018
Caption Competition
Jonathan Agnew: So what went wrong at Lord’s?
Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root (in unison): We learned it but we don’t believe it.
Michael holding: Is he one of the new youngsters?
Stats man: No he is 42.
Out and About with the Professor
So how does one explain the results in this Test series (if two matches are worthy of the “series” title). The two matches have been close to mirror images and apart from concluding that both captains made the wrong decision at the toss, it seems very hard (for me at least) to resolve the outcomes. Of course, there were some changes in the England side but I think you would be hard put to say that they were decisive. I have always thought that Jennings looked like a Test opener but then he appeared to get something approaching stage fright in his last series and even here was out in the tamest of manners. Curran bowled tidily, and Bess got his wickets in the second innings but a couple of them were horrible slogs which, while obviously a victory to the bowler, hardly gives the impression of unplayable spin.
Both the pitches appeared to be set up to the liking of seam bowlers. While Lord’s looked quite green the one here at Headingley was bare enough (as indeed were parts of the outfield) but the ball moved about all the game. Indeed, on the third day here Pakistan played and missed so often that they could easily have been all out before lunch...and they only had an hour to bat. To be fair, playing and missing was far from a rarity in the England innings and had Buttler been caught early on things might have been different, but, but, but, how to explain the complete inversion of the result. It can’t be enough to say that England batted badly at Lord’s and Pakistan at Headingley…why? In the second innings here it was difficult to see how they could ever have made 360 odd in the first match. Only Salahuddin looked likely to make any runs at all. Perhaps they didn’t bat that well at Lord’s but were given far too many lives by the fielders. It is all rather strange, clearly the pitches have played a major part – neither game went very far past half-way – but why did one team bat well on the surface and another not…and why different teams in each case?
Ashraf getting ready to sky Bess to Malan from a top-edged slog.
I thought, from an England point of view, there were three matters of particular interest: how well Bess and Curran played and how effectively Root captained the side. The two new boys both had reasonable games and they both are obviously very talented young cricketers. They can both bat, bowl and field – Bess took his catch very well and Curran is very quick in the outfield – and they obviously have a future, but is it a future at this level? Curran got the ball to move but at Test level he is quite pedestrian in pace. I kept thinking back to last winter and wondering how he would do in an Ashes series. By the same token, both of them got runs (in consecutive Tests for Bess) but they were runs against pace 10-15 mph less than the Australian quartet produced. Would Curran be rocking forward comfortably to a 90-mph ball that was going to hit him in the face? If I had to bet on one of them, I think it might be Bess. He bowled a very full length which he didn’t pull back when he was hit over the top. Having said that he didn’t seem to spin the ball too much either (except out of the follow-throughs) but I suppose it was only Day 3.
I recall when Cook was pondering whether to continue as captain Michael Atherton was a very vocal supporter of Root’s accession, despite the fact that he appeared to have little captaincy experience and, at First Class level, not very successful experience at that. Now I’m told the Murdoch man is a sharp critic of Root. I suppose one of the benefits of journalism is the absence of any need to be patriotic to your previous opinion (and we all have the example of President Trump to emulate) but it does seem a bit soon. The only obvious advantage Root had over other candidates at the time was that he definitely made the side and he wasn’t Broad or Stokes. I felt in Australia that he fiddled about too much with the field trying (too hard) to appear “innovative” and, thus, unlike his predecessor. But it is famously hard to captain a side that is getting thrashed. Today, at Headingley, he had comparatively little to do and almost all of his bowling changes worked because Pakistan played so poorly. However, when the tailenders were thrashing around in the first innings. I heard a commentator say that he should have a third man. since the ball was flying off the edge down there. Today he had both a third man and a fine leg to Woakes when the ball was only being edged to the slips. I wonder if he responds a bit slavishly to criticism? We shall see.
So, all-in-all a good day for an England supporter (and they have not been too frequent of late) although the Yorkshire management will not be too pleased with a three day Test.
Mind you, it’s never too easy to please the Yorkshire management.
This and That
I missed four weeks of the IPL and then returned to see why Rishabh Pant cost so much. At 43 for 3 in the eighth over a score of 140 looked a long way off for the Delhi Daredevils. Pant then scored 128 not out from 63 balls with 7 sixes and 15 fours. This was an incredible display of hitting from a poor position and took their total to a very unlikely 187 for 5. In the end though it was easily overhauled by the Sunrisers Hyderabad who, after Hales was out, cruised to a nine-wicket victory thanks to Dhawan and Williamson.
The commentators often predict the sort of delivery the bowler will release which until recently I found puzzling. I now realise that they can see all the fielders which is rarely, if ever, possible on the TV screen. It does explain how the batsmen can get into changed positions so quickly in that they are able to make similar predictions.
Once again we have the farce of England going into a test match without adequate match practice. Only Malan had made a hundred and that was several weeks ago. Most of then didn’t bat in the last three weeks. Stoneman, it turns out, is also a poor fielder and it is no surprise that he has gone. Gubbings must have been close to selection and I would probably have gone back to Lyth before Jennings. But, of course, there is no county cricket at present and so no one can press serious claims for a place. And today, a Bank Holiday, there is no cricket at all!
Middlesex don’t seem like a county determined to get out of division 2. They don’t seem to have a strategy for winning their games and the appointment of Malan as captain is bizarre in that he is unlikely to ever be available.
I watched some of the second half of the game at Glamorgan. Franklin was the unlikely saviour of the Middlesex innings and then Glamorgan somehow contrived to lose a game that they always seemed to be winning. The win at Hove looked convincing but after being 198 for 0 Middlesex only scored at 5 an over thereafter. The Somerset game was dire and the eventual loss by 50 odd disguises the fact that we were 128 for 7 chasing 283.
In the early stages of the RLC the stars appear to be the big hitters down the order: Zaidi, Whiteley and Higgins as well a few at the top: Stirling, Kohler-Cadmore and Rossouw. It seems that Stirling is batting now more circumspectly?
Leicestershire must have been pretty content with their 376 for4 against Worcestershire but the visitors had other ideas and won at a canter with ageing Aussie Callum Ferguson getting an enormous 192. Playfair doesn’t list him but didn’t he tour about ten years ago? Ross Whitely only got to the crease with 7 required. Ancient Aussies are dominating this week with Shane Watson winning the IPL for the Chennai Super Kings.
There were conflicting styles this week in the Cricket Debate on Sky. After the Lord’s test Bob Willis was predictably outspoken but James Taylor was vehement in his support of the English set up and their style of preparation. A couple of days later the likeable but gullible Ravi Bopara admitted that the Championship was no preparation for test batsmen since the wickets were now so poor because the counties were looking to get results. Taunton and Chelmsford were cited. This was also a reason why there are no quicks being developed since it was the wobblers who thrived on these surfaces. Darren Stevens is a classic example. Strangely we are now getting a reversion to the sort of bowlers who did well on the uncovered wickets of our youth – Bob Appleyard, Don Shepherd, Derek Underwood et al. He also admitted that many promising players were not interested in red ball cricket since it was not a route to a lucrative contract in one of the many T20 leagues. The ECB whilst promoting more one-day cricket with their new 100 ball stuff will make it even harder to find test players.
Morgan Matters
The GJM is now back in the swing of things
D Malan thinks pink balls should be used in early season matches because of the amount of time lost to bad light even when the lights are on. How about playing in the summer instead?
It was a shock to see that England have gone top of the ODI rankings.
Max Holden was the hero for Middlesex at Hove as they recovered from 76-5 and 169-8 to reach an almost respectable 230 a/o (O Robinson 7-58). MH made 84*, S Eskinazi 38, J Simpson 26, T Murtagh 26. Then Sx closed on 60-4, Jimmy and Tim have 2 each.
As the weather was so lovely (though not lovely enough to tempt me to Hove), I actually went to the Oval and saw Surrey run up 278-4 (R Burns 137*, he gets runs every time I see him and should surely be in the England reckoning? B Foakes 72, possibly the best innings I have seen him play) v Worcestershire, who stuck to their task admirably and stopped Surrey running riot.
There is a dubious pattern of weather emerging in London this season: when Middx are at home it is cold, dark, wet and windy, but when Surrey are at home, it is dry, warm and sunny! The gods just do not play fair these days.
Nice to have Gubbins (107) and Malan (119) back in the team, but it has been another fairly pathetic effort by the others with only Holden and Simpson reaching double figures. They have an outside chance of a win, I suppose, but another defeat looks more likely. Cartwright has been terribly disappointing with the bat and, in fact, is doing even worse than Robson: 78 runs in 8 innings av 9.75, though his bowling has been OK: 5 for 119 (so far).
Middlesex have four bowlers with averages below 20: J Harris 13.67, D Malan 15, T Murtagh 15.94, H Cartwright 19.43... I'll draw a veil over the others.
Steve Finn will captain Middlesex in the RLODC this season. John Simpson will be vice.
WI allrounder Dwayne Bravo has joined Middlesex... but only for T20... and only for six games.
Four Middlesex players (two current, two former) Ed Joyce, Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh will make their Test debuts tomorrow v Pakistan in Dublin (Malahide actually) ... if the weather is fine, which it is not expected to be.
E Smith's first England selection looks fairly odd to me: i) Stoneman has had a poor start to the season and yet he is preferred to J Vince, for example, who has just hit an unbeaten double ton and Stoneman's opening partner at Surrey, R Burns, who is in far better form; ii) Dawid is listed at 3, which he is known not to be keen on; iii) Buttler has been listed to bat at 7 as a specialist batsman despite having played no first class cricket since goodness knows when; and iv) D Bess (not a bad bat) is listed below Anderson, which made me think they might leave him out, but that would leave them with no specialist spinner at all, so I am assuming that Bess will play and either Woakes or Wood will be left out.
The G has a good go at C Graves (ECB Chairman) calling him the "Blazered Terminator" for "destabilising the game he is supposed to champion" and saying "his distaste for cricket appears ever more open"! Nice One.
As you know, I have retired from attending Radlett (although the weather was so glorious today, despite an ordinary forecast, that I could easily have changed my mind) so I did not have to suffer a thumping defeat at the hands of Essex in the RLODC.
E Joyce has retired from playing to "focus on a new national team coaching and leadership role".
J Bairstow's batting average when he keeps wicket in Tests declines from 59 when he bats in the first innings of a Test to 21.57 in the fourth innings. Rob Smyth (in the G) thinks that the presence of Buttler in the Test team provides the solution to this.
Division 2
The GJM reports from Lord’s
For the Championship match against Gloucestershire starting at Lord's on May 11th, Middlesex brought in Steve Finn for Tim Murtagh (away representing Ireland in their first ever Test Match), Tom Helm for Tom Barber and Eoin Morgan, playing his first Championship match since 2015, for Max Holden. The toss was uncontested, but it was unclear why Gloucs were keen to bowl first as the pitch was nothing like the bright green devil that was offered for the Northants match, but was a light brownish coloured affair and I was sure that Middx were happy to bat first on it. This proved to be the case as Middx went in to lunch on 122-1 off 28 overs, with Sam Robson the man out for 36 (his highest in the Championship this season) after a good opening stand of 77 with Nick Gubbins.
Stevie Eskinazi joined Gubbins and runs continued to come at a good rate during the second wicket stand of 88 before Eskinazi departed for 31. Unfortunately, Gubbins fell soon afterwards for a thoroughly impressive 99 off 138 balls with 18 fours. Skipper Dawid Malan was now joined by Morgan and both looked in good form from the start as they rapidly compiled an excellent partnership of 132 before the captain fell for 76 off 145 balls with 9 fours. After Hilton Cartwright's usual failure with the bat (nought this time), Morgan followed for another 76 (his best score in the Championship since 2014) off 132 balls with 8 fours and a six. John Simpson (32), Jimmy Harris (24), Ollie Rayner (27*) and Tom Helm (25*) all made handy contributions before rain arrived just before lunch on day 2, which led to the declaration on 455 for 8, though the Gloucester innings was unable to start until day 3. Aussie seamer Dan Worrall was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 73, while Springbok keeper Gareth Roderick held 3 catches behind the stumps.
The visitors' skipper Chris Dent and 21-year-old James Bracey started well with a stand of 72, but when Bracey fell for 28, wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Jack Taylor (who is banned from bowling this season because of his extremely dodgy action) made 22, Dent eventually fell for a determined 66 off 140 balls with 9 fours and French born Benny Howell, who had been scheduled to open, but actually batted at 7, made an enterprising 47 off 87 balls with 4 fours, before being last out with the total on a disappointing 210, 245 in arrears. Cartwright has been doing much better with the ball than the bat so far this season and this was again the case here as he finished with 4-33 with his fast-medium seamers, Helm claimed 3-48 also with fast medium seamers, while Ollie Rayner deserves a mention for his 2 for 23 in 15.5 overs of controlled off spin and John Simpson for 3 catches behind the stumps.
Because of the time lost on day 2, Middlesex were obviously going to enforce the follow-on. However, if they thought that the Gloucester second innings would be a replica of the first innings, they got a nasty shock as Dent (35), Roderick (48 with 5 fours), Taylor (41 off 76 balls with 7 fours), Graeme van Buuren from Pretoria (46* from 74 balls with 7 fours) and, in particular, Bracey, with an excellent 125* off 271 balls with 16 fours, ensured that there would be nothing for Middlesex to celebrate as the visitors ended the match on 326 for 4. Harris was the best of the Middlesex bowlers with 3 for 60. Middlesex 12 points, Gloucestershire 8.
Three Days On The Trot At Lord's
Ian Harris (Ged) uses up some leave
It had not been my plan personally to spend three days on the trot at Lord's for this test match. The plans, hatched many, many moons before, revolved around a request from Charles "Charley the Gent Malloy" Bartlett and Nigel "Father Barry White" Hinks for me to assist those two in a mission to spend three days together at the Lord's test.
The plans were:
Thursday - I would join Chas and Nigel;
Friday - just Chas and Nigel;
Saturday - Daisy and I would both join Chas and Nigel.
The logistics of implementing those plans to the point that we had tickets to enable all that were complex, onerous and uninteresting to the casual reader. Still, the plans were all in place...but we all know what can happen to plans...and Nigel's knee decided to muck up the plans by rendering Nigel unable to attend Lord's. Here's wishing Nigel a rapid and speedy recovery.
The logistics of reworking the plans to the point that we were not dumped with unwanted tickets were complex and uninteresting to the casual reader. Hats off to the MCC ticket office for helping to minimise the onerousness of it. But the upshot was that I agreed to join Charles on the Friday, so he could avoid being "Charley No Mates" that day. Hence three days on a row for me.
Day One: Thursday 24 May
I went to the gym early and then got to Lord's really early to avoid the crush and to observe the real tennis for a good few minutes before taking up my seat. I had learned that Mr Johnny Friendly was to be playing at doubles that morning; I wanted to observe his technique now that I play.
When I got to my Upper Compton Stand seat, about 10 minutes before the start of play, I observed that Chas had not yet arrived and that a well-built gentleman was sitting in the seat that would have been Nigel's. Chas arrived some 15-20 minutes after the start of play, bemoaning the length of the queues for security at that hour at Lord's...as if he's never been before.
"How come I'm sitting next to the big bloke?" asked Chas, in a voice that sounded, to me, loud enough for said big bloke to hear. Soon enough, though, we were both in conversation with Liam Big Bloke, who turned out to be a really pleasant young man, well-versed in matters cricket and also in matters food - he is a trainee chef working for Sat Bains in Nottingham's only two-star Michelin restaurant.
At one point in the conversation, Chas talked up Daisy's cooking ability in glowing terms. "Really good homely cooking," I interjected, "not two-star Michelin style". "I understand", said Liam gently; I'm quite sure he did. In fact, everyone in our immediate vicinity on our row seemed very nice. A very friendly couple to my right; the woman, Marilyn, said, "excuse me, young man" to me, on the first occasion she wanted to leave her seat. I told her that I am thus addressed all-too rarely these days, even at Lord's and the Wigmore Hall. She seemed to find that funny but found different appellations for me each time for the rest of the day.
I wish I could speak highly of other people around us, but sadly the group of young men behind us were very loud, very drunk from very early in the day and really quite a nuisance. My back was soaked in lager at about 11:30 - anyone can have an accident, but I really didn't appreciate them finding the incident funny and needing to be told to apologise and to try and sort out the mess.
By the end of the day, that group was singing raucous Barmy Army songs and trying (without success) to start a Mexican wave in the crowd. It's the first time at Lord's that I have really felt stuck in front of an unpleasant crew all day. At least the rapidly drunken posh boys in 2014 only managed to stick the first session. In front of us was a very grumpy couple, the man of which wanted to read his book in the quiet and seemed as pissed off with our row for being gently convivial as he was with the raucous row behind us for being raucous. The woman of the couple left early.
Still, the day had its compensations, not least one of Mrs Malloy's splendid picnics, complete with personalised notes in ornate gold-coloured calligraphy describing our sandwiches in mouth-watering detail. The centrepiece of one being corned beef, the centrepiece of the other being smoked cheese. I brought a bottle of wine, an Austrian Grüner Veltliner since you asked, which we had agreed would be enough for the two of us that day. I also brought arm-extending quantities of liquid and fruit, as promised, but Chas had forgotten that promise so also brought heavy quantities of liquid.
Day Two: Friday 25 May
Same morning routine as the previous day - early gym, cab to the ground, virtually queue-free passage through security, followed by 30 to 40 minutes of observation from the dedans of Mr Johnny Friendly and others at real tennis doubles. Seats at the front of the Lower Compton for today. Chas was already in his seat when I got there, chatting with the two gentlemen who were to be our neighbours for the day; Michael and Peter. A pair of cricket fans who had known each other for years and whose sons - also keen young cricketers- had ended up at the same school.
After a few casual questions, we ascertained that Michael had grown up very near me, around Tooting Bec Common and that Michael had been very friendly with the Rich family from around the corner. Michael (and Steven Rich) are a few years younger than me, but I grew up with the older sister Gillian, who was my contemporary. What a small world it is. That pair were really good company for most of the first two sessions, until Michael got called away to a family emergency just before tea and Peter agreed to collect their children from school.
Meanwhile, I had learnt that Simon "Awesome Simo" Jacobs was at Lord's that day, just above us, with his mother, Awesome Mummy. We had arranged to meet behind the Compton at tea, but with the unexpected departure of our neighbours, I texted Simon to suggest that the Awesome Duo join me and Chas in the front row of the Lower Compo for the final session, which they did, with predictably convivial results.
Chas and I had agreed that Friday would be a light picnic and dry day. Mrs Malloy had provided some mini pork pies, sausage rolls and nibbles just to ensure the absence of the wolf from the door. During the final session, we nibbled at some sweetmeats and Awesome Mummy's strawberries, although we lost a few of each to the delightfully friendly but increasingly clumsy passers-by on our row during the latter stages of the game.
Chas asked me, quietly and sensitively, whether he should offer the remainder of the porky snacks to either of the Awesome Duo. I suggested better not, unsure but suspecting that Awesome Mummy might not approve.
I had pre-warned Chas (and latterly the Awesome Duo) that I would need to leave before stumps, as Friday had not been part of my plan and I had a late night concert to get to at the Wigmore Hall. So I personally upped sticks at six (about half-an-hour before the umpires did same) and walked home.
Day Three: Saturday 26 May
Due to the change of plans, Daisy very kindly took over picnic responsibilities and we thus switched our overnight location from the planned night at Cityland to Noddyland. So a very early start, Daisy made up a splendid picnic and we set off for Lord's early to secure good seats in the Warner. We timed our arrival to perfection. Chas arrived about 30 minutes after the start of play, by which time a very nice gentleman from Fulham had done a superb job of manspreading onto the seat we had saved for Chas. Mercifully we all managed to come out the other side of that etiquette-dilemma socially unscathed.
Daisy's picnic was a slight variation on the theme of the amazing picnic she produced for the Women's World Cup Final last year. The wasabi mayonnaise had gone down so well last year, Janie used it with the turkey as well as with the beef. We took a bottle of white (Vouvrey) and a bottle of red (Jip Jip Rock Shiraz) but no option for a bottle of rose instead.
I got a message from Awesome Sue (Awesome Simo's sister) wondering if we were at the ground, as she was there with her sister Ruth and daughter Lily. I knew that, of course, having spent best part of a session with Awesome Simo and Awesome Mummy yesterday. In fact I had intended to message Sue myself, but she beat me to it. So we agreed to meet up behind the Warner at tea. Which we did.
Only after Daisy had finished taking photos did we realise that Awesome Lily was temporarily absent from the shoot. That is a shame, not least because Lily is probably the only member of that family to have, in cricket terms, earned the moniker "Awesome", having consistently taken five wicket hauls so far this season for Gloucestershire Under 15s et. al. Anyway, it was really nice to catch up, albeit briefly, with Simon's awesomely lovely family. We needed to keep the catch-up brief, for fear that we might all miss the end of the match if we didn't keep a watchful eye over the England cricketers for the next two hours or more.
For in truth, although we had a good time at Lord's, as always, the England cricket team had a shocker pretty much from start to finish. In fact, that final session on the Saturday was England's only decent session in the whole match.
Not just a bad match for England - a shockingly bad one. All credit to Pakistan for playing really well, but England didn't even compete.
Sunbury Matters
The GJM reports
I went to Sunbury for the Second XI (50 Overs) Trophy match between Surrey and Middlesex on 22nd May in gloriously sunny weather, though the breeze was a little too strong for some tastes. Surrey won the toss and chose to bat first, but they were soon in trouble on 20 for 2. Skipper Arun Harinath (38 off 62 balls with 2 fours) and fellow lefty "Ed" Woods (42 off 67 balls with 3 fours) brought the home team back into it with a stand of 69, but then wickets started to tumble again despite a cool 42* (off 45 balls with 2 fours) from Freddie van den Bergh and Surrey finished on a below par 212 for 9 in their 50 overs. Leg spinner JP Rogers (3 for 40) was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers, capably assisted by off-spinner Ollie Rayner (2 for 35) and slow left armer "Wally" Wallamallita (2 for 38).
Surrey's target never looked like being a problem for Middlesex despite the presence of SA Test paceman Morne Morkel (7-0-28-0) in the home attack. Sam Robson and Max Holden got the visitors' reply off to a great start with an opening stand of 121 before Robson departed for a fluent 63 (off 81 balls with 8 fours) and Holden for an impressive 53 (off 59 balls with 5 fours). Skipper George Scott then took control and though he lost his partner, keeper Rob White, to a blow to the head, he took Middlesex to an easy win by 8 wickets with a splendidly aggressive knock of 59 not out (off 47 balls with 11 fours) as the visitors strolled to victory with more than 15 overs in hand. Seamer Gus Atkinson took both of the wickets to fall for 40, both caught by keeper JD Smith. Middlesex have now won all five of their matches in this competition and, though they have one match still to come versus Sussex at Blackstone Academy (north-west of Brighton), they look sure to qualify for the semi-final on June 15th.
Old Danes Gathering
There will be an Old Danes Gathering at Shepherds Bush Cricket Club on Friday 27 July which is the Friday of their Cricket Week. This event is not a Boys only event and wives, girlfriends and others will all be welcome. There will be an open bar throughout the afternoon and evening with proceedings commencing around 2pm and continuing until you’ve had enough. Thanks to those who have already responded to the invite. I will distribute in May a list of those planning to attend.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
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James Sharp
Broad Lee House
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 186
June 2018
Caption Competition
- Jonathan Agnew: Well, did you learn anything from the winter Ashes series?
Jonathan Agnew: So what went wrong at Lord’s?
Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root (in unison): We learned it but we don’t believe it.
- Ed Smith: Is Callum Ferguson English?
- Michael Holding: Who is the most successful bowler in county cricket?
Michael holding: Is he one of the new youngsters?
Stats man: No he is 42.
Out and About with the Professor
So how does one explain the results in this Test series (if two matches are worthy of the “series” title). The two matches have been close to mirror images and apart from concluding that both captains made the wrong decision at the toss, it seems very hard (for me at least) to resolve the outcomes. Of course, there were some changes in the England side but I think you would be hard put to say that they were decisive. I have always thought that Jennings looked like a Test opener but then he appeared to get something approaching stage fright in his last series and even here was out in the tamest of manners. Curran bowled tidily, and Bess got his wickets in the second innings but a couple of them were horrible slogs which, while obviously a victory to the bowler, hardly gives the impression of unplayable spin.
Both the pitches appeared to be set up to the liking of seam bowlers. While Lord’s looked quite green the one here at Headingley was bare enough (as indeed were parts of the outfield) but the ball moved about all the game. Indeed, on the third day here Pakistan played and missed so often that they could easily have been all out before lunch...and they only had an hour to bat. To be fair, playing and missing was far from a rarity in the England innings and had Buttler been caught early on things might have been different, but, but, but, how to explain the complete inversion of the result. It can’t be enough to say that England batted badly at Lord’s and Pakistan at Headingley…why? In the second innings here it was difficult to see how they could ever have made 360 odd in the first match. Only Salahuddin looked likely to make any runs at all. Perhaps they didn’t bat that well at Lord’s but were given far too many lives by the fielders. It is all rather strange, clearly the pitches have played a major part – neither game went very far past half-way – but why did one team bat well on the surface and another not…and why different teams in each case?
Ashraf getting ready to sky Bess to Malan from a top-edged slog.
I thought, from an England point of view, there were three matters of particular interest: how well Bess and Curran played and how effectively Root captained the side. The two new boys both had reasonable games and they both are obviously very talented young cricketers. They can both bat, bowl and field – Bess took his catch very well and Curran is very quick in the outfield – and they obviously have a future, but is it a future at this level? Curran got the ball to move but at Test level he is quite pedestrian in pace. I kept thinking back to last winter and wondering how he would do in an Ashes series. By the same token, both of them got runs (in consecutive Tests for Bess) but they were runs against pace 10-15 mph less than the Australian quartet produced. Would Curran be rocking forward comfortably to a 90-mph ball that was going to hit him in the face? If I had to bet on one of them, I think it might be Bess. He bowled a very full length which he didn’t pull back when he was hit over the top. Having said that he didn’t seem to spin the ball too much either (except out of the follow-throughs) but I suppose it was only Day 3.
I recall when Cook was pondering whether to continue as captain Michael Atherton was a very vocal supporter of Root’s accession, despite the fact that he appeared to have little captaincy experience and, at First Class level, not very successful experience at that. Now I’m told the Murdoch man is a sharp critic of Root. I suppose one of the benefits of journalism is the absence of any need to be patriotic to your previous opinion (and we all have the example of President Trump to emulate) but it does seem a bit soon. The only obvious advantage Root had over other candidates at the time was that he definitely made the side and he wasn’t Broad or Stokes. I felt in Australia that he fiddled about too much with the field trying (too hard) to appear “innovative” and, thus, unlike his predecessor. But it is famously hard to captain a side that is getting thrashed. Today, at Headingley, he had comparatively little to do and almost all of his bowling changes worked because Pakistan played so poorly. However, when the tailenders were thrashing around in the first innings. I heard a commentator say that he should have a third man. since the ball was flying off the edge down there. Today he had both a third man and a fine leg to Woakes when the ball was only being edged to the slips. I wonder if he responds a bit slavishly to criticism? We shall see.
So, all-in-all a good day for an England supporter (and they have not been too frequent of late) although the Yorkshire management will not be too pleased with a three day Test.
Mind you, it’s never too easy to please the Yorkshire management.
This and That
I missed four weeks of the IPL and then returned to see why Rishabh Pant cost so much. At 43 for 3 in the eighth over a score of 140 looked a long way off for the Delhi Daredevils. Pant then scored 128 not out from 63 balls with 7 sixes and 15 fours. This was an incredible display of hitting from a poor position and took their total to a very unlikely 187 for 5. In the end though it was easily overhauled by the Sunrisers Hyderabad who, after Hales was out, cruised to a nine-wicket victory thanks to Dhawan and Williamson.
The commentators often predict the sort of delivery the bowler will release which until recently I found puzzling. I now realise that they can see all the fielders which is rarely, if ever, possible on the TV screen. It does explain how the batsmen can get into changed positions so quickly in that they are able to make similar predictions.
Once again we have the farce of England going into a test match without adequate match practice. Only Malan had made a hundred and that was several weeks ago. Most of then didn’t bat in the last three weeks. Stoneman, it turns out, is also a poor fielder and it is no surprise that he has gone. Gubbings must have been close to selection and I would probably have gone back to Lyth before Jennings. But, of course, there is no county cricket at present and so no one can press serious claims for a place. And today, a Bank Holiday, there is no cricket at all!
Middlesex don’t seem like a county determined to get out of division 2. They don’t seem to have a strategy for winning their games and the appointment of Malan as captain is bizarre in that he is unlikely to ever be available.
I watched some of the second half of the game at Glamorgan. Franklin was the unlikely saviour of the Middlesex innings and then Glamorgan somehow contrived to lose a game that they always seemed to be winning. The win at Hove looked convincing but after being 198 for 0 Middlesex only scored at 5 an over thereafter. The Somerset game was dire and the eventual loss by 50 odd disguises the fact that we were 128 for 7 chasing 283.
In the early stages of the RLC the stars appear to be the big hitters down the order: Zaidi, Whiteley and Higgins as well a few at the top: Stirling, Kohler-Cadmore and Rossouw. It seems that Stirling is batting now more circumspectly?
Leicestershire must have been pretty content with their 376 for4 against Worcestershire but the visitors had other ideas and won at a canter with ageing Aussie Callum Ferguson getting an enormous 192. Playfair doesn’t list him but didn’t he tour about ten years ago? Ross Whitely only got to the crease with 7 required. Ancient Aussies are dominating this week with Shane Watson winning the IPL for the Chennai Super Kings.
There were conflicting styles this week in the Cricket Debate on Sky. After the Lord’s test Bob Willis was predictably outspoken but James Taylor was vehement in his support of the English set up and their style of preparation. A couple of days later the likeable but gullible Ravi Bopara admitted that the Championship was no preparation for test batsmen since the wickets were now so poor because the counties were looking to get results. Taunton and Chelmsford were cited. This was also a reason why there are no quicks being developed since it was the wobblers who thrived on these surfaces. Darren Stevens is a classic example. Strangely we are now getting a reversion to the sort of bowlers who did well on the uncovered wickets of our youth – Bob Appleyard, Don Shepherd, Derek Underwood et al. He also admitted that many promising players were not interested in red ball cricket since it was not a route to a lucrative contract in one of the many T20 leagues. The ECB whilst promoting more one-day cricket with their new 100 ball stuff will make it even harder to find test players.
Morgan Matters
The GJM is now back in the swing of things
D Malan thinks pink balls should be used in early season matches because of the amount of time lost to bad light even when the lights are on. How about playing in the summer instead?
It was a shock to see that England have gone top of the ODI rankings.
Max Holden was the hero for Middlesex at Hove as they recovered from 76-5 and 169-8 to reach an almost respectable 230 a/o (O Robinson 7-58). MH made 84*, S Eskinazi 38, J Simpson 26, T Murtagh 26. Then Sx closed on 60-4, Jimmy and Tim have 2 each.
As the weather was so lovely (though not lovely enough to tempt me to Hove), I actually went to the Oval and saw Surrey run up 278-4 (R Burns 137*, he gets runs every time I see him and should surely be in the England reckoning? B Foakes 72, possibly the best innings I have seen him play) v Worcestershire, who stuck to their task admirably and stopped Surrey running riot.
There is a dubious pattern of weather emerging in London this season: when Middx are at home it is cold, dark, wet and windy, but when Surrey are at home, it is dry, warm and sunny! The gods just do not play fair these days.
Nice to have Gubbins (107) and Malan (119) back in the team, but it has been another fairly pathetic effort by the others with only Holden and Simpson reaching double figures. They have an outside chance of a win, I suppose, but another defeat looks more likely. Cartwright has been terribly disappointing with the bat and, in fact, is doing even worse than Robson: 78 runs in 8 innings av 9.75, though his bowling has been OK: 5 for 119 (so far).
Middlesex have four bowlers with averages below 20: J Harris 13.67, D Malan 15, T Murtagh 15.94, H Cartwright 19.43... I'll draw a veil over the others.
Steve Finn will captain Middlesex in the RLODC this season. John Simpson will be vice.
WI allrounder Dwayne Bravo has joined Middlesex... but only for T20... and only for six games.
Four Middlesex players (two current, two former) Ed Joyce, Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh will make their Test debuts tomorrow v Pakistan in Dublin (Malahide actually) ... if the weather is fine, which it is not expected to be.
E Smith's first England selection looks fairly odd to me: i) Stoneman has had a poor start to the season and yet he is preferred to J Vince, for example, who has just hit an unbeaten double ton and Stoneman's opening partner at Surrey, R Burns, who is in far better form; ii) Dawid is listed at 3, which he is known not to be keen on; iii) Buttler has been listed to bat at 7 as a specialist batsman despite having played no first class cricket since goodness knows when; and iv) D Bess (not a bad bat) is listed below Anderson, which made me think they might leave him out, but that would leave them with no specialist spinner at all, so I am assuming that Bess will play and either Woakes or Wood will be left out.
The G has a good go at C Graves (ECB Chairman) calling him the "Blazered Terminator" for "destabilising the game he is supposed to champion" and saying "his distaste for cricket appears ever more open"! Nice One.
As you know, I have retired from attending Radlett (although the weather was so glorious today, despite an ordinary forecast, that I could easily have changed my mind) so I did not have to suffer a thumping defeat at the hands of Essex in the RLODC.
E Joyce has retired from playing to "focus on a new national team coaching and leadership role".
J Bairstow's batting average when he keeps wicket in Tests declines from 59 when he bats in the first innings of a Test to 21.57 in the fourth innings. Rob Smyth (in the G) thinks that the presence of Buttler in the Test team provides the solution to this.
Division 2
The GJM reports from Lord’s
For the Championship match against Gloucestershire starting at Lord's on May 11th, Middlesex brought in Steve Finn for Tim Murtagh (away representing Ireland in their first ever Test Match), Tom Helm for Tom Barber and Eoin Morgan, playing his first Championship match since 2015, for Max Holden. The toss was uncontested, but it was unclear why Gloucs were keen to bowl first as the pitch was nothing like the bright green devil that was offered for the Northants match, but was a light brownish coloured affair and I was sure that Middx were happy to bat first on it. This proved to be the case as Middx went in to lunch on 122-1 off 28 overs, with Sam Robson the man out for 36 (his highest in the Championship this season) after a good opening stand of 77 with Nick Gubbins.
Stevie Eskinazi joined Gubbins and runs continued to come at a good rate during the second wicket stand of 88 before Eskinazi departed for 31. Unfortunately, Gubbins fell soon afterwards for a thoroughly impressive 99 off 138 balls with 18 fours. Skipper Dawid Malan was now joined by Morgan and both looked in good form from the start as they rapidly compiled an excellent partnership of 132 before the captain fell for 76 off 145 balls with 9 fours. After Hilton Cartwright's usual failure with the bat (nought this time), Morgan followed for another 76 (his best score in the Championship since 2014) off 132 balls with 8 fours and a six. John Simpson (32), Jimmy Harris (24), Ollie Rayner (27*) and Tom Helm (25*) all made handy contributions before rain arrived just before lunch on day 2, which led to the declaration on 455 for 8, though the Gloucester innings was unable to start until day 3. Aussie seamer Dan Worrall was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 73, while Springbok keeper Gareth Roderick held 3 catches behind the stumps.
The visitors' skipper Chris Dent and 21-year-old James Bracey started well with a stand of 72, but when Bracey fell for 28, wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Jack Taylor (who is banned from bowling this season because of his extremely dodgy action) made 22, Dent eventually fell for a determined 66 off 140 balls with 9 fours and French born Benny Howell, who had been scheduled to open, but actually batted at 7, made an enterprising 47 off 87 balls with 4 fours, before being last out with the total on a disappointing 210, 245 in arrears. Cartwright has been doing much better with the ball than the bat so far this season and this was again the case here as he finished with 4-33 with his fast-medium seamers, Helm claimed 3-48 also with fast medium seamers, while Ollie Rayner deserves a mention for his 2 for 23 in 15.5 overs of controlled off spin and John Simpson for 3 catches behind the stumps.
Because of the time lost on day 2, Middlesex were obviously going to enforce the follow-on. However, if they thought that the Gloucester second innings would be a replica of the first innings, they got a nasty shock as Dent (35), Roderick (48 with 5 fours), Taylor (41 off 76 balls with 7 fours), Graeme van Buuren from Pretoria (46* from 74 balls with 7 fours) and, in particular, Bracey, with an excellent 125* off 271 balls with 16 fours, ensured that there would be nothing for Middlesex to celebrate as the visitors ended the match on 326 for 4. Harris was the best of the Middlesex bowlers with 3 for 60. Middlesex 12 points, Gloucestershire 8.
Three Days On The Trot At Lord's
Ian Harris (Ged) uses up some leave
It had not been my plan personally to spend three days on the trot at Lord's for this test match. The plans, hatched many, many moons before, revolved around a request from Charles "Charley the Gent Malloy" Bartlett and Nigel "Father Barry White" Hinks for me to assist those two in a mission to spend three days together at the Lord's test.
The plans were:
Thursday - I would join Chas and Nigel;
Friday - just Chas and Nigel;
Saturday - Daisy and I would both join Chas and Nigel.
The logistics of implementing those plans to the point that we had tickets to enable all that were complex, onerous and uninteresting to the casual reader. Still, the plans were all in place...but we all know what can happen to plans...and Nigel's knee decided to muck up the plans by rendering Nigel unable to attend Lord's. Here's wishing Nigel a rapid and speedy recovery.
The logistics of reworking the plans to the point that we were not dumped with unwanted tickets were complex and uninteresting to the casual reader. Hats off to the MCC ticket office for helping to minimise the onerousness of it. But the upshot was that I agreed to join Charles on the Friday, so he could avoid being "Charley No Mates" that day. Hence three days on a row for me.
Day One: Thursday 24 May
I went to the gym early and then got to Lord's really early to avoid the crush and to observe the real tennis for a good few minutes before taking up my seat. I had learned that Mr Johnny Friendly was to be playing at doubles that morning; I wanted to observe his technique now that I play.
When I got to my Upper Compton Stand seat, about 10 minutes before the start of play, I observed that Chas had not yet arrived and that a well-built gentleman was sitting in the seat that would have been Nigel's. Chas arrived some 15-20 minutes after the start of play, bemoaning the length of the queues for security at that hour at Lord's...as if he's never been before.
"How come I'm sitting next to the big bloke?" asked Chas, in a voice that sounded, to me, loud enough for said big bloke to hear. Soon enough, though, we were both in conversation with Liam Big Bloke, who turned out to be a really pleasant young man, well-versed in matters cricket and also in matters food - he is a trainee chef working for Sat Bains in Nottingham's only two-star Michelin restaurant.
At one point in the conversation, Chas talked up Daisy's cooking ability in glowing terms. "Really good homely cooking," I interjected, "not two-star Michelin style". "I understand", said Liam gently; I'm quite sure he did. In fact, everyone in our immediate vicinity on our row seemed very nice. A very friendly couple to my right; the woman, Marilyn, said, "excuse me, young man" to me, on the first occasion she wanted to leave her seat. I told her that I am thus addressed all-too rarely these days, even at Lord's and the Wigmore Hall. She seemed to find that funny but found different appellations for me each time for the rest of the day.
I wish I could speak highly of other people around us, but sadly the group of young men behind us were very loud, very drunk from very early in the day and really quite a nuisance. My back was soaked in lager at about 11:30 - anyone can have an accident, but I really didn't appreciate them finding the incident funny and needing to be told to apologise and to try and sort out the mess.
By the end of the day, that group was singing raucous Barmy Army songs and trying (without success) to start a Mexican wave in the crowd. It's the first time at Lord's that I have really felt stuck in front of an unpleasant crew all day. At least the rapidly drunken posh boys in 2014 only managed to stick the first session. In front of us was a very grumpy couple, the man of which wanted to read his book in the quiet and seemed as pissed off with our row for being gently convivial as he was with the raucous row behind us for being raucous. The woman of the couple left early.
Still, the day had its compensations, not least one of Mrs Malloy's splendid picnics, complete with personalised notes in ornate gold-coloured calligraphy describing our sandwiches in mouth-watering detail. The centrepiece of one being corned beef, the centrepiece of the other being smoked cheese. I brought a bottle of wine, an Austrian Grüner Veltliner since you asked, which we had agreed would be enough for the two of us that day. I also brought arm-extending quantities of liquid and fruit, as promised, but Chas had forgotten that promise so also brought heavy quantities of liquid.
Day Two: Friday 25 May
Same morning routine as the previous day - early gym, cab to the ground, virtually queue-free passage through security, followed by 30 to 40 minutes of observation from the dedans of Mr Johnny Friendly and others at real tennis doubles. Seats at the front of the Lower Compton for today. Chas was already in his seat when I got there, chatting with the two gentlemen who were to be our neighbours for the day; Michael and Peter. A pair of cricket fans who had known each other for years and whose sons - also keen young cricketers- had ended up at the same school.
After a few casual questions, we ascertained that Michael had grown up very near me, around Tooting Bec Common and that Michael had been very friendly with the Rich family from around the corner. Michael (and Steven Rich) are a few years younger than me, but I grew up with the older sister Gillian, who was my contemporary. What a small world it is. That pair were really good company for most of the first two sessions, until Michael got called away to a family emergency just before tea and Peter agreed to collect their children from school.
Meanwhile, I had learnt that Simon "Awesome Simo" Jacobs was at Lord's that day, just above us, with his mother, Awesome Mummy. We had arranged to meet behind the Compton at tea, but with the unexpected departure of our neighbours, I texted Simon to suggest that the Awesome Duo join me and Chas in the front row of the Lower Compo for the final session, which they did, with predictably convivial results.
Chas and I had agreed that Friday would be a light picnic and dry day. Mrs Malloy had provided some mini pork pies, sausage rolls and nibbles just to ensure the absence of the wolf from the door. During the final session, we nibbled at some sweetmeats and Awesome Mummy's strawberries, although we lost a few of each to the delightfully friendly but increasingly clumsy passers-by on our row during the latter stages of the game.
Chas asked me, quietly and sensitively, whether he should offer the remainder of the porky snacks to either of the Awesome Duo. I suggested better not, unsure but suspecting that Awesome Mummy might not approve.
I had pre-warned Chas (and latterly the Awesome Duo) that I would need to leave before stumps, as Friday had not been part of my plan and I had a late night concert to get to at the Wigmore Hall. So I personally upped sticks at six (about half-an-hour before the umpires did same) and walked home.
Day Three: Saturday 26 May
Due to the change of plans, Daisy very kindly took over picnic responsibilities and we thus switched our overnight location from the planned night at Cityland to Noddyland. So a very early start, Daisy made up a splendid picnic and we set off for Lord's early to secure good seats in the Warner. We timed our arrival to perfection. Chas arrived about 30 minutes after the start of play, by which time a very nice gentleman from Fulham had done a superb job of manspreading onto the seat we had saved for Chas. Mercifully we all managed to come out the other side of that etiquette-dilemma socially unscathed.
Daisy's picnic was a slight variation on the theme of the amazing picnic she produced for the Women's World Cup Final last year. The wasabi mayonnaise had gone down so well last year, Janie used it with the turkey as well as with the beef. We took a bottle of white (Vouvrey) and a bottle of red (Jip Jip Rock Shiraz) but no option for a bottle of rose instead.
I got a message from Awesome Sue (Awesome Simo's sister) wondering if we were at the ground, as she was there with her sister Ruth and daughter Lily. I knew that, of course, having spent best part of a session with Awesome Simo and Awesome Mummy yesterday. In fact I had intended to message Sue myself, but she beat me to it. So we agreed to meet up behind the Warner at tea. Which we did.
Only after Daisy had finished taking photos did we realise that Awesome Lily was temporarily absent from the shoot. That is a shame, not least because Lily is probably the only member of that family to have, in cricket terms, earned the moniker "Awesome", having consistently taken five wicket hauls so far this season for Gloucestershire Under 15s et. al. Anyway, it was really nice to catch up, albeit briefly, with Simon's awesomely lovely family. We needed to keep the catch-up brief, for fear that we might all miss the end of the match if we didn't keep a watchful eye over the England cricketers for the next two hours or more.
For in truth, although we had a good time at Lord's, as always, the England cricket team had a shocker pretty much from start to finish. In fact, that final session on the Saturday was England's only decent session in the whole match.
Not just a bad match for England - a shockingly bad one. All credit to Pakistan for playing really well, but England didn't even compete.
Sunbury Matters
The GJM reports
I went to Sunbury for the Second XI (50 Overs) Trophy match between Surrey and Middlesex on 22nd May in gloriously sunny weather, though the breeze was a little too strong for some tastes. Surrey won the toss and chose to bat first, but they were soon in trouble on 20 for 2. Skipper Arun Harinath (38 off 62 balls with 2 fours) and fellow lefty "Ed" Woods (42 off 67 balls with 3 fours) brought the home team back into it with a stand of 69, but then wickets started to tumble again despite a cool 42* (off 45 balls with 2 fours) from Freddie van den Bergh and Surrey finished on a below par 212 for 9 in their 50 overs. Leg spinner JP Rogers (3 for 40) was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers, capably assisted by off-spinner Ollie Rayner (2 for 35) and slow left armer "Wally" Wallamallita (2 for 38).
Surrey's target never looked like being a problem for Middlesex despite the presence of SA Test paceman Morne Morkel (7-0-28-0) in the home attack. Sam Robson and Max Holden got the visitors' reply off to a great start with an opening stand of 121 before Robson departed for a fluent 63 (off 81 balls with 8 fours) and Holden for an impressive 53 (off 59 balls with 5 fours). Skipper George Scott then took control and though he lost his partner, keeper Rob White, to a blow to the head, he took Middlesex to an easy win by 8 wickets with a splendidly aggressive knock of 59 not out (off 47 balls with 11 fours) as the visitors strolled to victory with more than 15 overs in hand. Seamer Gus Atkinson took both of the wickets to fall for 40, both caught by keeper JD Smith. Middlesex have now won all five of their matches in this competition and, though they have one match still to come versus Sussex at Blackstone Academy (north-west of Brighton), they look sure to qualify for the semi-final on June 15th.
Old Danes Gathering
There will be an Old Danes Gathering at Shepherds Bush Cricket Club on Friday 27 July which is the Friday of their Cricket Week. This event is not a Boys only event and wives, girlfriends and others will all be welcome. There will be an open bar throughout the afternoon and evening with proceedings commencing around 2pm and continuing until you’ve had enough. Thanks to those who have already responded to the invite. I will distribute in May a list of those planning to attend.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
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