G&C 187
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 187
July 2018
Caption Competition
Out & About with the Professor
There is always a sentimental pleasure in “going home” and that is pretty much my state of mind when I return to the club I joined in the early 1970s and where I have remained a member ever since. While the ground remains much the same, the facilities improve year on year: not only the club house and changing rooms ( a separate changing room for umpires for example) but also the ground equipment (covers, double sight-screens, mechanised heavy rollers, etc.) which are essential for clubs at this level (ECB Premier) and are little different to the kit that First Class counties utilised twenty or thirty years’ ago.
The other thing that changes of course is the level of success on the field. Last year Welwyn Garden were Hertfordshire League champions as well as winners of the knock-out play-off between the top four teams. This year, it seems unlikely that the same level of success will be achieved...although it doesn’t do to be despondent, there is still some way to go. I watched a heavy defeat to West Herts (effectively “Watford”) who looked a very handy side, most especially their No. 3, Ali, who, so the story went, had played for Pakistan A recently, scoring a hundred against the MCC/England A…or someone. Whatever the truth of that, he followed that it up with a classy 150 against us.
Owais Shah bowling for Welwyn Garden City this weekend
We have our own star of course in the shape of Owais Shah and he is a very fine player at this level. He very seldom fails with the bat and is more than a useful bowler. He joins a team with a few players with First Class (mainly university) experience. The problem is that most clubs have cricketers with similar experience. Indeed, the current table leaders, Totteridge Millhillians, can field a team with players of the experience of Porterfield, Rossington, Selwood and Howgego. Totteridge are a good example of the changing fortunes that clubs go through. When I was playing they were a sort of urban village team: an attractive, slightly quirky, sloping outfield; a modest but pleasant pavilion and some generally welcoming members for a Sunday match. No longer. The topography remains and, I trust, the welcome, but they are now serious contenders for title. The change seems to have come about as a result of the merger with Millhillians (themselves a very useful club who have included Justin Langer and Darren Sammy in earlier sides) and significant amounts of money being donated by one or more members. By contrast, one of the strongest clubs in Hertfordshire, for many years, was St Albans. They are now in (what is in effect) the fourth division.
Sunday cricket is another area of substantial change, in that it seems to have largely disappeared. This is true of Hertfordshire and I’m told of elsewhere in the country. Perhaps (and hopefully) Googlies readers know differently but there seems to be little enthusiasm for cricket on Sundays. I wonder why? Most people say that cricket is too time consuming to play twice in a weekend...but then it always was. There are lots of alternative attractions for people’s time but then if you really enjoy playing cricket why do something else? Surely not too many can be attracted by the grim activity called “shopping”. The lure of Saturday cricket is the competitiveness; but then there have been Sunday competitions that have been tried but with limited success. The one thing we do know is that the players are not in church - parish church attendance is in terminal decline of a similar order to Sunday cricket. Are families more demanding of the male parent’s time than they were? One game a week is enough for a family man? But what about young single players? Who knows.
Perhaps people just stay at home and tend their gardens ...and there is a sentimental pleasure in being at home.
This and That
I have been in Chicago for the past two weeks and have not seen any of the World Cup matches. The USA didn’t qualify and so there is limited interest here. I believe some of the knock out matches may be televised if you subscribe to or can find the channels they will be on. Nevertheless, I hear plenty on the radio and there seems to be a head of steam building up behind England’s prospects after wins against Tunisia and Panama and Germany’s demise. We shall see. It will get much tougher from now on whoever they play against.
It is difficult to find words to say about the total shambles that is Middlesex cricket. Having been Leicester’s first victim in four years it looked like they were going all out to present them with a double until they pulled off the unlikeliest run chase to win by one wicket. But as if to reassure that all was really crap they went on to lose at Canterbury by 342 runs. Tim Murtagh top scored with 40. Meanwhile, Grant Stewart batting at 10 with a previous highest score of 15 scored 103 out of 115 added for the last two wickets.
Ollie seems to have taken the easy route to first division cricket by slipping off to Hants. Why has Patel, who has featured strongly with the Lions in recent years, not featured in the talks of likely spinners for England? Perhaps he needs to migrate to Somerset?
In search of an explanation of Middlesex’ ineptitude I turned to their website but it was extolling me to purchase tickets for the T20 blast and celebrating the 2nd XI victory in the SET. Walallawita and Barber added 31 for the 10th wicket in a successful chase against Somerset in the final.
Morgan’s white ball crew are looking good. I was pleased to see Hales back in the side since he is probably the most devastating on his day, or at Trent Bridge. They have assembled an awesome list of hitters and seem to work on the basis that they will score more than the opposition and so the bowling doesn’t matter that much. Rashid can go for as many as he likes and is bound to pick up the odd wicket. All of this is, of course, without me having seen a ball bowled.
Middlesex Matters
Steve Finn won the toss for Middlesex and chose to bat first in the Royal London One-Day Cup match against local rivals Surrey at Lord's on Sunday June 3rd. However, Middlesex got off to a bad start, slumping to 78 for 4 in the sixteenth over, but Paul Stirling was going well and he found some useful support from John Simpson (21) in a stand of 45 for the fifth wicket. When Stirling fell for an excellent 67 off 93 balls with 9 fours, things looked grim for the home team on 154 for 6 and immediately got worse as James Franklin departed for 20 on 160 for 7. However, Nathan Sowter (29) and Tom Helm (30) put together a useful stand of 44 for the eighth wicket, but that was as good as it got for Middlesex as they were all out off the last ball of the fiftieth over for 234, which never looked like being enough. Tom Curran (4 for 33) was the star of the visiting attack and keeper Ben Foakes held 3 catches.
The Surrey innings also got off to a disappointing start with the top three out for only 44, but skipper Rory Burns (40 off 56 balls) and Foakes put together a fine stand of 89 for the fourth wicket and when Burns was dismissed at 133 for 4, Ollie Pope joined Foakes in an even better stand of 98 for the fifth wicket, which confirmed that Surrey would win the match. Foakes eventually departed for an impressive 86 off 116 balls with 7 fours just before victory was confirmed by a mature display by 20 year old Pope, who finished on 57 not out off 71 deliveries with 2 fours and 2 sixes, as Surrey won by 5 wickets in the 49th over. I would have given the Man of the Match award to Foakes for his fine innings and sound wicket keeping. Sadly and finally, it now has to be admitted that Middlesex cannot possibly qualify for the later stages of the cup.
Compared to the team that won convincingly at Bristol on Wednesday 6th June, Middlesex left out Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan (both away with England), Paul Stirling, John Simpson, Tom Helm and Jimmy Harris, bringing in Max Holden, Stevie Eskinazi, George Scott, Robbie White, Steve Finn and Tom Barber for the 50 over game against the Australians at Lord's on Saturday 9th June. Both Morgan and Stirling had made centuries against Gloucestershire. Visiting captain Tim Paine won the toss and chose to bat first on a good looking track. D'Arcy Short fell to the quickish left arm over of Barber, but Travis Head and Shaun Marsh were soon enjoying a productive partnership for the second wicket and they had put on 114 together when Marsh surprisingly fell to the apprentice off spinner Max Holden (he has four first class wickets to his name, but here he returned the creditable figures of 10-1-29-1) for a useful 49 off 64 balls with 6 fours. Head formed another alliance worth 88 with Aaron Finch before the opener departed for an excellent 106 off 141 balls with 9 fours. Finch played a powerful innings of 54 off 52 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes and there was just time for a glimpse of Ashton Agar (20 not out), who will soon be turning out for Middlesex, before the innings closed on 283-6. Barber returned the best figures for the home team with 3 for 62.
When Middlesex batted, Holden and Nick Gubbins started promisingly with a stand of 48 for the first wicket, but this rapidly became 60 for 3. Holden was still there, however, and he found a handy partner in Australian overseas player Hilton Cartwright before the latter fell for 31 out of the partnership of 61. Holden soon followed for an impressive 71 off 71 balls with 8 fours. James Franklin also contributed 31, but the innings was subsiding badly at this stage and Middlesex were soon all out for a disappointing 182 after 41 overs and Australia had won by 101 runs. Seamer Kane Richardson was the best of the visiting bowlers with 3 for 31.
Canterbury: in the day/nighter CC match: Middlesex brought in G Scott and J Fuller (I had almost forgotten he was still on the staff!) for P Stirling and S Finn. Kent made a respectable 241 a/o (J Fuller 4-86) and then Middlesex slumped to 54-9 off 22 at the close with only Esky (25) in double figures! This is re-election form!
Middlesex managed 56 all out (Grant Stewart 6-22). I have now looked up G Stewart and (guess what?) he is a 24 year old from Kalgoorlie WA who bowls RMF and is both NQ (which means not qualified for England doesn't it?) and "UK qualified due to Italian mother"! He played once last season. Kent went on to 281 and this was all due to (guess who?) yep... G Stewart, who made 103 and who shared a last wicket stand of 100 with Ivan Thomas, who made 1*! Cartwright 3-33, Murtagh 3-54, Fuller 0-88 in 17, G Scott 0-23 in 12, Harris bowled only 4 overs (1-13), which sounds bad.
Middlesex were shot out for 124 to lose by a humiliating 342! Here is the roll of shame: Holden 0, Robson 11, Eskinazi 5, Patel 13, Malan 0, Cartwright 4, Scott 13, Simpson 12, Harris 7*, Fuller 8 and the only hero was T Murts (no 11) with 40 off 21 balls with 8 fours... and guess who shot us out? Yes, Harry Podmore with 6-36! How come he could never get in our team? Sack the manager! Looking at the Middlesex batting averages, one or two are doing well (Gubbins averages 71 and Eskinazi 48.5), but most of the others are very ordinary... or downright rubbish. What has happened to this team? It is less than two years since they won the Championship... and even last season they were very unlucky to be relegated... now they look like a minor county!
Molloy Matters
Ken Molloy tells me that he hadn’t been to an international match for over fifty years and chose the Trent Bridge ODI for his comeback, which makes him one smart chappy. The Professor was there for the last big run fest and Ken saw an even more amazing display with England almost getting up to 500 in their 50 overs.
Morgan Matters
The Great man shares some diary entries
I have no more limited overs cricket to watch this season and my next first class game will be on 22/7 (Warwickshire at Lord's), which will prevent me from making my annual trip to Finchampstead to see Berkshire... after that, my next first class game is on 29/8 (Sussex at Lord's).
Blimey! That was an interesting game in Edinburgh, wasn't it? I did not know the result when I watched the highlights, so I was fascinated by developments. C MacLeod (140* off 94) and J Bairstow (105 off 59) were particularly impressive and a veil needs to be drawn over the bowling figures. Hearty congratulations to the Scots, but how come a team that is not good enough to qualify for the WC is good enough to thump the no 1 ODI team in the world? It is at times like this that I remember to boast of our family's strong Scottish connections on my mother's side (on my father's side we have strong Welsh and Irish connections so we are pretty well covered for British victories), the name Murray, for example, features as both a surname and a first name among my mother's family. MacLeod has now signed for Dy.
Blimey: it is mid-June, but the paper is full of football, not only the wretched WC (on which today's G has 13 pages), but the G now also has a big spread on next season's Premier fixtures!
RLODC SF: at the Rose Bowl, Yorkshire look to be going out as they are currently 181-6 after 35, chasing H's 348-9 (J Vince 171 off 126)... and out they went by 107 runs, despite 89 from Jonny Tattersall, who is Yorkshire's current keeper (and, apparently, the cause of A Hodd's imminent retirement), despite being described in both Playfair and the Who's Who as a batsman and leg-spinner! No other Yorkie got more than 26.
19/6: the G has 14 pages of football and less than a page of cricket.
I was shocked to hear that O Rayner is being loaned out to Hampshire and wondered if it was just for limited overs games (as he does not get in the Middlesex side for those), but it is not, he will miss at least two CC matches for Middlesex. He is having a poor season so far, averaging 12 with the bat and 64.5 with the ball in fc matches, though his 7 catches at second slip are easily the most for a Middlesex non-keeper.
England had a good first day in Leeds, bowling Pak out for 174 (Broad, Anderson and Woakes 3 wkts each) and ending the day on 106-2 (Jennings out for 29, Cook 46). I was not too convinced by team selection: C Woakes was not that big a surprise, but how did S Curran suddenly get ahead of Wood? Is it because he can bat a bit? And how did S Curran also get ahead of T Curran? Is it because he can bat a bit? Probably, but he is an inferior bowler to both Wood and TC, causing concern in some quarters. I have nothing against Sam and have seen him bat well on several occasions... perhaps I have just been absent when he has looked like a Test match bowler?
Astonishing Test: Buttler and the bowlers did very well... but how did Eng manage to turn around that dismal Lord's form, especially with a weaker team (S Curran and Woakes replacing Stokes and Wood)? And how did Pak go in completely the opposite direction: very good at Lord's to completely hopeless at Headingley?
Cricket collapse
George drew my attention to the following
Bottom of Form
Surreal. Incredible. Embarrassing. Some of the descriptions for a remarkable cricket turnaround. Needing just three runs to win off the final two overs, at 186-3, High Wycombe were easing to victory and the last 16 of the National Club Championship. But a spectacular collapse ensued - all out for 187, losing seven wickets in 11 balls to opponents Peterborough Town. A four-wicket maiden was followed by three more dismissals in the final over, courtesy of the sixth-choice bowler, an off-spinner aged 16.
Seamer Kieran Jones, brought in from the second XI because several first-team players were unavailable, claimed four scalps in four balls from the start of the penultimate over before teenager Danyaal Malik took the final three wickets for the home side. Beaten skipper Nathan Hawkes, who ran a single in the final over, was left bemused, unbeaten on 59 as seven of his side were out for ducks. "Needing three runs off 12 balls with seven wickets in hand, you ought to be able to get that. It was bizarre. There was some uneven bounce and a bit of turn, but from my point of view, it was a little bit embarrassing."
In the true spirit of cricket, High Wycombe's defeated players stayed behind afterwards as Peterborough celebrated. "They hosted us well and brought drinks into the changing room," said Hawkes, whose side had reached the competition's quarter-finals in the previous two years.
Three Days in Leicester Mostly for Cricket, 20 to 22 June 2018
Ian Harris(Ged) reports on a recent trip
I had arranged a fair smattering of away county championship cricket for late June – this visit to Leicester was the start of that sojourn.
Wednesday 20 June
I went to the gym first thing and dropped off a test match ticket at DJ’s place on my way out of town, getting to Grace Road just after the match had started. I saw the first wicket fall as I walked around the ground to find the Committee Room. The hospitality was warm and friendly at Grace Road. The food was very good too – roast belly of pork being the main dish of choice.
The weather, on arrival, was a bit cloudy and mizzley – indeed play was even interrupted for a few minutes in that first session – but Middlesex did not make as much progress with the ball as the conditions suggested they might. This was to be the story of my visit – the Middlesex under-performance bit – not the weather bit – the weather improved massively in the afternoon and stayed glorious for the rest of all time.
Bob Baxter from the Middlesex Committee was with us that day; it was a good opportunity to chat with him as well as our Leicestershire hosts.
This trip included my first ever use of Airbnb. I drove into town after stumps to my loft apartment in Newarke Street, where Jitesh and Rita met me (the owner, their son, Hersh, works in London during the week).
I simply got my bearings that evening, together with some light bite food for that evening and biscuits for the mornings. I played my baroq-ulele a little and went to bed early.
Thursday 21 June
A relaxing morning with a bit more music before walking to Grace Road today. A similar crowd in the Committee Room again today. Again I spent quite a lot of time talking to Paul Haywood (the Leicestershire President) today…and being quizzed by John Lee, who seemed pleasantly surprised by my cricket trivia knowledge but a little put out that I have no such knowledge of football. Mike & Mrs Soper joined us for the day, somewhat unexpectedly, which added to the interesting mix.
Another very good lunch – this was the one and only time I had a little wine with my food; an excellent soft beef dish was the centrepiece today. Richard Goatley was up for the day today; we had a wander around the ground and a chat during the third session of play, while the Middlesex first innings imploded. We chatted with the other Richards (Scott and Johnson) for a while. I thought about making a Richard III joke at that point, but that felt off colour while we were in such close proximity to that monarch’s Leicestershire Car Park.
After stumps, I walked back to my apartment, not realising how very close I was to the bodies of all those characters from the Shakespeare history plays. A quick shower and change, then on to The Cosy Club to meet Mike Wardle and his charming girlfriend Zoe. That was a very pleasant evening indeed. The Cosy Club is basically a rather chic bar restaurant which enabled us all to eat as much or as little as we wished – an ideal set up for three people, two of whom had lunched and “tead”.
I had promised to report back to the Leicestershire grandees on this place, which I think they imagined (due to its name) to be a seedy Leicester establishment which had somehow managed to escape their attention all of these years. But in fact they didn’t need my help on the topic of the Cosy Club; Neil Dexter wandered in while we were there, so he can tell the locals all about it in his and their own time.
Friday 22 June
I went for a stroll around central Leicester – not least to find birthday cards early morning – which were not so hard to find thanks to Mr Google – then I checked out of my Airbnb apartment – both Jitesh and Rita came to get the keys – and presumably get the place ready for the next guest. They might not be the “Bank of Mum & Dad” but for sure they are the “Housekeeping Team of Mum & Dad” when son Hersh is away.
I found a nice shady spot to park Dumbo for the day at Grace Road, I spent much of Friday chatting with Jack Birkenshaw, who was very interesting and enjoyable company. The lunch was once again excellent. We were joined by Glenys Odams, who was the first ever woman to serve on the board of a first class county cricket club and has continued to represent Leicestershire at county level (albeit as a veteran table tennis player) into her 80’s – respect – what an extraordinary person. She was also very jolly company. Middlesex started to play a little better on the Friday, although it felt like a pretty hopeless cause at the time.
I was advised that the best way to avoid the Friday traffic was to stick around until stumps, which I did…and indeed got a surprisingly quick run back into London, driving straight to Noddyland from Grace Road after saying goodbye to my kind and charming hosts.
Postscript - So sure was I the next day that this match was a hopeless cause for Middlesex, I got on with things without really following the game, until right towards the end, when I switched on the internet radio and was utterly transfixed listening to the last few minutes of the match.
How about a nine-ball over?
Alex Bowden reflects on the proposed new rules for T100 cricket
The prospects of there being a fresh tactical dimension in The Hundred have been all but dashed after Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) chairman Daryl Mitchell said that no-one was really up for the 10-ball over because it seems kind of tiring.
Speaking to The Mail, he said: “People who are going to bowl at the death are concerned about that because of the physical demands and mental well-being. I don’t think it would be possible to ask, say, Tymal Mills to bowl a 10-ball over at 92-93 miles per hour, especially if you throw in the odd wide or no ball.”
So, to be clear: a whole extra limited overs competition is fine, but one guy bowling an extra four balls in one of his overs is far too great a workload.
Mitchell then raised an interesting question about the PCA’s workload thresholds by suggesting: “Maybe we could have eight-ball overs at the start and end of an innings to make up the hundred.”
Or maybe you could have nine-ball overs? How does that grab you? An innovative solution or would it not be possible to ask, say, Tymal Mills to bowl a nine-ball over at 92-93 miles per hour, especially if you throw in the odd wide or no ball?
Cutting to the very heart of the issue, Mitchell then said: “There’s not really an easy way to get to a hundred balls and the fact it’s not divisible by six does cause a problem.”
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 an updated 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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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 187
July 2018
Caption Competition
- Genial Pensioner: Good cricket weather we’ve been having.
- Jonathan Agnew: Who will replace Trevor Bayliss as test team coach?
- Jonathan Agnew: How are your benefit matches going?
- Ben Stokes: Do you think that this headgear is a good look for my next court appearance?
- Jonathan Agnew: How would you rate you team’s performance this year?
Out & About with the Professor
There is always a sentimental pleasure in “going home” and that is pretty much my state of mind when I return to the club I joined in the early 1970s and where I have remained a member ever since. While the ground remains much the same, the facilities improve year on year: not only the club house and changing rooms ( a separate changing room for umpires for example) but also the ground equipment (covers, double sight-screens, mechanised heavy rollers, etc.) which are essential for clubs at this level (ECB Premier) and are little different to the kit that First Class counties utilised twenty or thirty years’ ago.
The other thing that changes of course is the level of success on the field. Last year Welwyn Garden were Hertfordshire League champions as well as winners of the knock-out play-off between the top four teams. This year, it seems unlikely that the same level of success will be achieved...although it doesn’t do to be despondent, there is still some way to go. I watched a heavy defeat to West Herts (effectively “Watford”) who looked a very handy side, most especially their No. 3, Ali, who, so the story went, had played for Pakistan A recently, scoring a hundred against the MCC/England A…or someone. Whatever the truth of that, he followed that it up with a classy 150 against us.
Owais Shah bowling for Welwyn Garden City this weekend
We have our own star of course in the shape of Owais Shah and he is a very fine player at this level. He very seldom fails with the bat and is more than a useful bowler. He joins a team with a few players with First Class (mainly university) experience. The problem is that most clubs have cricketers with similar experience. Indeed, the current table leaders, Totteridge Millhillians, can field a team with players of the experience of Porterfield, Rossington, Selwood and Howgego. Totteridge are a good example of the changing fortunes that clubs go through. When I was playing they were a sort of urban village team: an attractive, slightly quirky, sloping outfield; a modest but pleasant pavilion and some generally welcoming members for a Sunday match. No longer. The topography remains and, I trust, the welcome, but they are now serious contenders for title. The change seems to have come about as a result of the merger with Millhillians (themselves a very useful club who have included Justin Langer and Darren Sammy in earlier sides) and significant amounts of money being donated by one or more members. By contrast, one of the strongest clubs in Hertfordshire, for many years, was St Albans. They are now in (what is in effect) the fourth division.
Sunday cricket is another area of substantial change, in that it seems to have largely disappeared. This is true of Hertfordshire and I’m told of elsewhere in the country. Perhaps (and hopefully) Googlies readers know differently but there seems to be little enthusiasm for cricket on Sundays. I wonder why? Most people say that cricket is too time consuming to play twice in a weekend...but then it always was. There are lots of alternative attractions for people’s time but then if you really enjoy playing cricket why do something else? Surely not too many can be attracted by the grim activity called “shopping”. The lure of Saturday cricket is the competitiveness; but then there have been Sunday competitions that have been tried but with limited success. The one thing we do know is that the players are not in church - parish church attendance is in terminal decline of a similar order to Sunday cricket. Are families more demanding of the male parent’s time than they were? One game a week is enough for a family man? But what about young single players? Who knows.
Perhaps people just stay at home and tend their gardens ...and there is a sentimental pleasure in being at home.
This and That
I have been in Chicago for the past two weeks and have not seen any of the World Cup matches. The USA didn’t qualify and so there is limited interest here. I believe some of the knock out matches may be televised if you subscribe to or can find the channels they will be on. Nevertheless, I hear plenty on the radio and there seems to be a head of steam building up behind England’s prospects after wins against Tunisia and Panama and Germany’s demise. We shall see. It will get much tougher from now on whoever they play against.
It is difficult to find words to say about the total shambles that is Middlesex cricket. Having been Leicester’s first victim in four years it looked like they were going all out to present them with a double until they pulled off the unlikeliest run chase to win by one wicket. But as if to reassure that all was really crap they went on to lose at Canterbury by 342 runs. Tim Murtagh top scored with 40. Meanwhile, Grant Stewart batting at 10 with a previous highest score of 15 scored 103 out of 115 added for the last two wickets.
Ollie seems to have taken the easy route to first division cricket by slipping off to Hants. Why has Patel, who has featured strongly with the Lions in recent years, not featured in the talks of likely spinners for England? Perhaps he needs to migrate to Somerset?
In search of an explanation of Middlesex’ ineptitude I turned to their website but it was extolling me to purchase tickets for the T20 blast and celebrating the 2nd XI victory in the SET. Walallawita and Barber added 31 for the 10th wicket in a successful chase against Somerset in the final.
Morgan’s white ball crew are looking good. I was pleased to see Hales back in the side since he is probably the most devastating on his day, or at Trent Bridge. They have assembled an awesome list of hitters and seem to work on the basis that they will score more than the opposition and so the bowling doesn’t matter that much. Rashid can go for as many as he likes and is bound to pick up the odd wicket. All of this is, of course, without me having seen a ball bowled.
Middlesex Matters
Steve Finn won the toss for Middlesex and chose to bat first in the Royal London One-Day Cup match against local rivals Surrey at Lord's on Sunday June 3rd. However, Middlesex got off to a bad start, slumping to 78 for 4 in the sixteenth over, but Paul Stirling was going well and he found some useful support from John Simpson (21) in a stand of 45 for the fifth wicket. When Stirling fell for an excellent 67 off 93 balls with 9 fours, things looked grim for the home team on 154 for 6 and immediately got worse as James Franklin departed for 20 on 160 for 7. However, Nathan Sowter (29) and Tom Helm (30) put together a useful stand of 44 for the eighth wicket, but that was as good as it got for Middlesex as they were all out off the last ball of the fiftieth over for 234, which never looked like being enough. Tom Curran (4 for 33) was the star of the visiting attack and keeper Ben Foakes held 3 catches.
The Surrey innings also got off to a disappointing start with the top three out for only 44, but skipper Rory Burns (40 off 56 balls) and Foakes put together a fine stand of 89 for the fourth wicket and when Burns was dismissed at 133 for 4, Ollie Pope joined Foakes in an even better stand of 98 for the fifth wicket, which confirmed that Surrey would win the match. Foakes eventually departed for an impressive 86 off 116 balls with 7 fours just before victory was confirmed by a mature display by 20 year old Pope, who finished on 57 not out off 71 deliveries with 2 fours and 2 sixes, as Surrey won by 5 wickets in the 49th over. I would have given the Man of the Match award to Foakes for his fine innings and sound wicket keeping. Sadly and finally, it now has to be admitted that Middlesex cannot possibly qualify for the later stages of the cup.
Compared to the team that won convincingly at Bristol on Wednesday 6th June, Middlesex left out Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan (both away with England), Paul Stirling, John Simpson, Tom Helm and Jimmy Harris, bringing in Max Holden, Stevie Eskinazi, George Scott, Robbie White, Steve Finn and Tom Barber for the 50 over game against the Australians at Lord's on Saturday 9th June. Both Morgan and Stirling had made centuries against Gloucestershire. Visiting captain Tim Paine won the toss and chose to bat first on a good looking track. D'Arcy Short fell to the quickish left arm over of Barber, but Travis Head and Shaun Marsh were soon enjoying a productive partnership for the second wicket and they had put on 114 together when Marsh surprisingly fell to the apprentice off spinner Max Holden (he has four first class wickets to his name, but here he returned the creditable figures of 10-1-29-1) for a useful 49 off 64 balls with 6 fours. Head formed another alliance worth 88 with Aaron Finch before the opener departed for an excellent 106 off 141 balls with 9 fours. Finch played a powerful innings of 54 off 52 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes and there was just time for a glimpse of Ashton Agar (20 not out), who will soon be turning out for Middlesex, before the innings closed on 283-6. Barber returned the best figures for the home team with 3 for 62.
When Middlesex batted, Holden and Nick Gubbins started promisingly with a stand of 48 for the first wicket, but this rapidly became 60 for 3. Holden was still there, however, and he found a handy partner in Australian overseas player Hilton Cartwright before the latter fell for 31 out of the partnership of 61. Holden soon followed for an impressive 71 off 71 balls with 8 fours. James Franklin also contributed 31, but the innings was subsiding badly at this stage and Middlesex were soon all out for a disappointing 182 after 41 overs and Australia had won by 101 runs. Seamer Kane Richardson was the best of the visiting bowlers with 3 for 31.
Canterbury: in the day/nighter CC match: Middlesex brought in G Scott and J Fuller (I had almost forgotten he was still on the staff!) for P Stirling and S Finn. Kent made a respectable 241 a/o (J Fuller 4-86) and then Middlesex slumped to 54-9 off 22 at the close with only Esky (25) in double figures! This is re-election form!
Middlesex managed 56 all out (Grant Stewart 6-22). I have now looked up G Stewart and (guess what?) he is a 24 year old from Kalgoorlie WA who bowls RMF and is both NQ (which means not qualified for England doesn't it?) and "UK qualified due to Italian mother"! He played once last season. Kent went on to 281 and this was all due to (guess who?) yep... G Stewart, who made 103 and who shared a last wicket stand of 100 with Ivan Thomas, who made 1*! Cartwright 3-33, Murtagh 3-54, Fuller 0-88 in 17, G Scott 0-23 in 12, Harris bowled only 4 overs (1-13), which sounds bad.
Middlesex were shot out for 124 to lose by a humiliating 342! Here is the roll of shame: Holden 0, Robson 11, Eskinazi 5, Patel 13, Malan 0, Cartwright 4, Scott 13, Simpson 12, Harris 7*, Fuller 8 and the only hero was T Murts (no 11) with 40 off 21 balls with 8 fours... and guess who shot us out? Yes, Harry Podmore with 6-36! How come he could never get in our team? Sack the manager! Looking at the Middlesex batting averages, one or two are doing well (Gubbins averages 71 and Eskinazi 48.5), but most of the others are very ordinary... or downright rubbish. What has happened to this team? It is less than two years since they won the Championship... and even last season they were very unlucky to be relegated... now they look like a minor county!
Molloy Matters
Ken Molloy tells me that he hadn’t been to an international match for over fifty years and chose the Trent Bridge ODI for his comeback, which makes him one smart chappy. The Professor was there for the last big run fest and Ken saw an even more amazing display with England almost getting up to 500 in their 50 overs.
Morgan Matters
The Great man shares some diary entries
I have no more limited overs cricket to watch this season and my next first class game will be on 22/7 (Warwickshire at Lord's), which will prevent me from making my annual trip to Finchampstead to see Berkshire... after that, my next first class game is on 29/8 (Sussex at Lord's).
Blimey! That was an interesting game in Edinburgh, wasn't it? I did not know the result when I watched the highlights, so I was fascinated by developments. C MacLeod (140* off 94) and J Bairstow (105 off 59) were particularly impressive and a veil needs to be drawn over the bowling figures. Hearty congratulations to the Scots, but how come a team that is not good enough to qualify for the WC is good enough to thump the no 1 ODI team in the world? It is at times like this that I remember to boast of our family's strong Scottish connections on my mother's side (on my father's side we have strong Welsh and Irish connections so we are pretty well covered for British victories), the name Murray, for example, features as both a surname and a first name among my mother's family. MacLeod has now signed for Dy.
Blimey: it is mid-June, but the paper is full of football, not only the wretched WC (on which today's G has 13 pages), but the G now also has a big spread on next season's Premier fixtures!
RLODC SF: at the Rose Bowl, Yorkshire look to be going out as they are currently 181-6 after 35, chasing H's 348-9 (J Vince 171 off 126)... and out they went by 107 runs, despite 89 from Jonny Tattersall, who is Yorkshire's current keeper (and, apparently, the cause of A Hodd's imminent retirement), despite being described in both Playfair and the Who's Who as a batsman and leg-spinner! No other Yorkie got more than 26.
19/6: the G has 14 pages of football and less than a page of cricket.
I was shocked to hear that O Rayner is being loaned out to Hampshire and wondered if it was just for limited overs games (as he does not get in the Middlesex side for those), but it is not, he will miss at least two CC matches for Middlesex. He is having a poor season so far, averaging 12 with the bat and 64.5 with the ball in fc matches, though his 7 catches at second slip are easily the most for a Middlesex non-keeper.
England had a good first day in Leeds, bowling Pak out for 174 (Broad, Anderson and Woakes 3 wkts each) and ending the day on 106-2 (Jennings out for 29, Cook 46). I was not too convinced by team selection: C Woakes was not that big a surprise, but how did S Curran suddenly get ahead of Wood? Is it because he can bat a bit? And how did S Curran also get ahead of T Curran? Is it because he can bat a bit? Probably, but he is an inferior bowler to both Wood and TC, causing concern in some quarters. I have nothing against Sam and have seen him bat well on several occasions... perhaps I have just been absent when he has looked like a Test match bowler?
Astonishing Test: Buttler and the bowlers did very well... but how did Eng manage to turn around that dismal Lord's form, especially with a weaker team (S Curran and Woakes replacing Stokes and Wood)? And how did Pak go in completely the opposite direction: very good at Lord's to completely hopeless at Headingley?
Cricket collapse
George drew my attention to the following
Bottom of Form
Surreal. Incredible. Embarrassing. Some of the descriptions for a remarkable cricket turnaround. Needing just three runs to win off the final two overs, at 186-3, High Wycombe were easing to victory and the last 16 of the National Club Championship. But a spectacular collapse ensued - all out for 187, losing seven wickets in 11 balls to opponents Peterborough Town. A four-wicket maiden was followed by three more dismissals in the final over, courtesy of the sixth-choice bowler, an off-spinner aged 16.
Seamer Kieran Jones, brought in from the second XI because several first-team players were unavailable, claimed four scalps in four balls from the start of the penultimate over before teenager Danyaal Malik took the final three wickets for the home side. Beaten skipper Nathan Hawkes, who ran a single in the final over, was left bemused, unbeaten on 59 as seven of his side were out for ducks. "Needing three runs off 12 balls with seven wickets in hand, you ought to be able to get that. It was bizarre. There was some uneven bounce and a bit of turn, but from my point of view, it was a little bit embarrassing."
In the true spirit of cricket, High Wycombe's defeated players stayed behind afterwards as Peterborough celebrated. "They hosted us well and brought drinks into the changing room," said Hawkes, whose side had reached the competition's quarter-finals in the previous two years.
Three Days in Leicester Mostly for Cricket, 20 to 22 June 2018
Ian Harris(Ged) reports on a recent trip
I had arranged a fair smattering of away county championship cricket for late June – this visit to Leicester was the start of that sojourn.
Wednesday 20 June
I went to the gym first thing and dropped off a test match ticket at DJ’s place on my way out of town, getting to Grace Road just after the match had started. I saw the first wicket fall as I walked around the ground to find the Committee Room. The hospitality was warm and friendly at Grace Road. The food was very good too – roast belly of pork being the main dish of choice.
The weather, on arrival, was a bit cloudy and mizzley – indeed play was even interrupted for a few minutes in that first session – but Middlesex did not make as much progress with the ball as the conditions suggested they might. This was to be the story of my visit – the Middlesex under-performance bit – not the weather bit – the weather improved massively in the afternoon and stayed glorious for the rest of all time.
Bob Baxter from the Middlesex Committee was with us that day; it was a good opportunity to chat with him as well as our Leicestershire hosts.
This trip included my first ever use of Airbnb. I drove into town after stumps to my loft apartment in Newarke Street, where Jitesh and Rita met me (the owner, their son, Hersh, works in London during the week).
I simply got my bearings that evening, together with some light bite food for that evening and biscuits for the mornings. I played my baroq-ulele a little and went to bed early.
Thursday 21 June
A relaxing morning with a bit more music before walking to Grace Road today. A similar crowd in the Committee Room again today. Again I spent quite a lot of time talking to Paul Haywood (the Leicestershire President) today…and being quizzed by John Lee, who seemed pleasantly surprised by my cricket trivia knowledge but a little put out that I have no such knowledge of football. Mike & Mrs Soper joined us for the day, somewhat unexpectedly, which added to the interesting mix.
Another very good lunch – this was the one and only time I had a little wine with my food; an excellent soft beef dish was the centrepiece today. Richard Goatley was up for the day today; we had a wander around the ground and a chat during the third session of play, while the Middlesex first innings imploded. We chatted with the other Richards (Scott and Johnson) for a while. I thought about making a Richard III joke at that point, but that felt off colour while we were in such close proximity to that monarch’s Leicestershire Car Park.
After stumps, I walked back to my apartment, not realising how very close I was to the bodies of all those characters from the Shakespeare history plays. A quick shower and change, then on to The Cosy Club to meet Mike Wardle and his charming girlfriend Zoe. That was a very pleasant evening indeed. The Cosy Club is basically a rather chic bar restaurant which enabled us all to eat as much or as little as we wished – an ideal set up for three people, two of whom had lunched and “tead”.
I had promised to report back to the Leicestershire grandees on this place, which I think they imagined (due to its name) to be a seedy Leicester establishment which had somehow managed to escape their attention all of these years. But in fact they didn’t need my help on the topic of the Cosy Club; Neil Dexter wandered in while we were there, so he can tell the locals all about it in his and their own time.
Friday 22 June
I went for a stroll around central Leicester – not least to find birthday cards early morning – which were not so hard to find thanks to Mr Google – then I checked out of my Airbnb apartment – both Jitesh and Rita came to get the keys – and presumably get the place ready for the next guest. They might not be the “Bank of Mum & Dad” but for sure they are the “Housekeeping Team of Mum & Dad” when son Hersh is away.
I found a nice shady spot to park Dumbo for the day at Grace Road, I spent much of Friday chatting with Jack Birkenshaw, who was very interesting and enjoyable company. The lunch was once again excellent. We were joined by Glenys Odams, who was the first ever woman to serve on the board of a first class county cricket club and has continued to represent Leicestershire at county level (albeit as a veteran table tennis player) into her 80’s – respect – what an extraordinary person. She was also very jolly company. Middlesex started to play a little better on the Friday, although it felt like a pretty hopeless cause at the time.
I was advised that the best way to avoid the Friday traffic was to stick around until stumps, which I did…and indeed got a surprisingly quick run back into London, driving straight to Noddyland from Grace Road after saying goodbye to my kind and charming hosts.
Postscript - So sure was I the next day that this match was a hopeless cause for Middlesex, I got on with things without really following the game, until right towards the end, when I switched on the internet radio and was utterly transfixed listening to the last few minutes of the match.
How about a nine-ball over?
Alex Bowden reflects on the proposed new rules for T100 cricket
The prospects of there being a fresh tactical dimension in The Hundred have been all but dashed after Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) chairman Daryl Mitchell said that no-one was really up for the 10-ball over because it seems kind of tiring.
Speaking to The Mail, he said: “People who are going to bowl at the death are concerned about that because of the physical demands and mental well-being. I don’t think it would be possible to ask, say, Tymal Mills to bowl a 10-ball over at 92-93 miles per hour, especially if you throw in the odd wide or no ball.”
So, to be clear: a whole extra limited overs competition is fine, but one guy bowling an extra four balls in one of his overs is far too great a workload.
Mitchell then raised an interesting question about the PCA’s workload thresholds by suggesting: “Maybe we could have eight-ball overs at the start and end of an innings to make up the hundred.”
Or maybe you could have nine-ball overs? How does that grab you? An innovative solution or would it not be possible to ask, say, Tymal Mills to bowl a nine-ball over at 92-93 miles per hour, especially if you throw in the odd wide or no ball?
Cutting to the very heart of the issue, Mitchell then said: “There’s not really an easy way to get to a hundred balls and the fact it’s not divisible by six does cause a problem.”
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 an updated 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
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