G&C 198
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 198
June 2019
Caption Competition
1. Jonathan Agnew: How’s it going in the Championship?
Stuart Law: Great we’ve moved up to seventh place.
Jonathan Agnew: But only three teams are getting promoted.
Stuart Law: That’s OK we have got some really easy games coming up against Derbyshire, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire.
Jonathan Agnew: How can they be easy - they are all ahead of you in the table…
2. James Vince: Bad Luck David on the Archer situation
David Willey: Don’t be too smug. I gather Pooran and Hetmyer are thinking of qualifying too.
3. Charles Colville: Don’t you have any ambition at this club?
Angus Fraser: No, we quite like it in Division Two.
Charles Colville: Good job there’s no relegation to the Minor Counties, then.
Out & About with the Professor
It would not, I think, be an exaggeration to say that the contribution of Iceland to world cricket has been modest – indeed, on the non-existent side of modest.
Before travelling here, I read that Iceland did indeed have a team and that they “had played some games”. There were, apparently, “hopes for further developments”. They may prove rather empty hopes, I fear, given that the place is freezing cold and almost entirely covered with pumice. Cricket needs a little more than that, I think, although the fact that you could play all through the night in June might be a plus. In any event, I have not met any locals who know anything about the game nor even, in some cases, what it is. Then again, the only Icelanders to meet in Reykjavik are working in shops or cafes or as hotel receptionists and it is not that easy, even for the most importunate correspondent, to check-in, hand over your passport and ask the receptionist if s/he is interested in cricket.
So I was pleased, and I can’t tell you how challenging it is to write this sentence, I was pleased to make the acquaintance of an Australian. “Bruce” (honestly) proved to be – unlike so many of his compatriots – a man of forceful opinions and he was generous enough to share them with me and, indeed, anyone else within ear-shot.
For example, he thought the MCC was: “fucking shit”, Stuart Broad was: “a fucking shit” and Eoin Morgan: “a fucking Irish shit”. It might be thought that after this somewhat unpromising start we did not get on too well, but not so…or not quite so.
Bruce, unlike some Googlies readers, I think, was a fan of limited over cricket and especially the World Cup: “because we always fucking win it”. He approved of the format this time round and I guess many others would. Everyone playing everyone should ensure that the best four get through to the play-offs. Also, I think, it rather favours England, in that their shit-or-bust approach (sorry, this expletive business is catching) means that they can be permitted a complete failure (or two) and still make it through. We shall see. The down-side, of course, is the restriction to 10 teams and the whole thing would have looked a little silly had the Windies not (just) made it. Judging from the first game, it should be a splendid competition and Bruce thinks so too.
I did happen to raise, with my Antipodean companion, the ball tampering question and the return of the Three Cheats and he took the view that their treatment had been inappropriately harsh (not his exact words) and went on to the now familiar arguments about ball-polishing being a time-honoured form of “tampering” and, of course, the Michael Atherton case. I can’t see ball-polishing ever being banned (although the regulations have changed now and again) although the distinction between maintaining the state of the ball as against degrading it has always seemed a little thin – we all know cases of “work” on the ball getting it to swing more that when it was brand new. What should be banned, in my view, is the designated ball-polisher. My issue is not about the state of the ball and the use of sun-cream or jelly baby saliva; rather it is about the speed of the game. It is not at all unusual to see the ball fielded at mid-off or mid-on and then hurled back to the keeper for onward transmission to the DB-P, who invariably lurks in the slips, when it would be simpler (and quicker) to just hand it to the bowler. Bowlers have long since given up polishing duties and even when they field off their own bowling, hurl it back and then wait at the end or their runs (of course) for it to be returned.
As for “Athers”, Bruce concedes that there might be an operational distinction between picking up and pocketing some dirt from the pitch and stopping off at B&Q for a couple of sheets of heavy-duty extra abrasive, but not a moral one. And I think he might have a point there. I recall, at the time of the ban, the suggestion that the offence of the Three Cheats was, in cricketing terms, considerably worse than that of the Pakistani no-ballers. But the latter involved money and so was a crime and therefore treated more harshly, bourgeois values trumping cricketing ones – or indeed any other come to think of it.
So, six weeks of cricket to look forward to - when I leave pumice-land - and Bruce is looking forward. Who will be lifting the Cup in July? “Aaron Finch, mate, I’m tellin’ ya, Aaron fucking Finch”. He may well be right and I’m not sure I would bet against it happening. We shall see. Exciting isn’t it…unless you live in Iceland of course.
This and That
During the IPL this year Andre Russell hit the highest number of sixes, 52. This is a large number by any reckoning but the extraordinary thing about is that he only faced 249 balls. His strike rate throughout the competition was an amazing 204 per hundred balls. The World Cup matches will be interesting if he can translate this T20 form to the ODI format. In the warmup match against New Zealand he scored 54 from 25 balls. Few batsmen get close to 200 plus strike rates over any length of time. The bar keeps getting set higher.
Maybe one player who could get close is Jos Buttler. I was fortunate enough to see his ODI innings against the West Indies earlier this year live on Sky when he scored 150 from 77 balls. This sort of thing used to be a once in a lifetime effort. Not so anymore. Less than three months later he did it again scoring 110 not out from 55 balls against Pakistan at the Rose Bowl. He went to fifty in a leisurely 33 balls and then took just 17 balls over his second 50.
Middlesex alumni continue to excel for other counties. Josh Davey, James Fuller and Gareth Berg all featured prominently in the Royal London final at Lord’s. Ryan Higgins scored a hundred batting at number 7 for Gloucestershire. Billy Godleman, the Derbyshire skipper, has scored heavily this season. Adam Rossington plays in all three formats for Northants. And Denly of course…
Ross Taylor seems to have made a big difference to the Middlesex batting during his spell with the side. Indeed, he was batting with Max Holden when he compiled 166, the club’s highest List A score. It remains a puzzle why the club doesn’t try to sort its batting out by getting a major influence on the Championship side. Or is our Irishman, Tim Murtagh, supposed to fulfill that role?
There have been plenty of big scores in the List A competition and some creditable chases none more so than Worcestershire knocking off 352 with two overs to spare against Derbyshire. This effort was largely down to Ricky Wessels who made 130 from 62 deliveries. Big innings scoring rates of over 200 are match winning ones.
Ireland have had a difficult time of it playing against the better sides including Afghanistan. Their miseries were compounded in their ODI against the West Indies when John Campbell (179) and Shai Hope (170) added 365 for the first wicket in 47 overs.
In the Championship Sussex had slumped to 68 for 6 against Northamptonshire when Chris Jordan joined his captain Ben Brown at the crease. They added 309 with Jordan making 166 batting at number 8.
In both of the WC games at the Oval the commentators and, I guess, the captains have said that the fielders need to be ten or twenty yards in on the long side. I reckon that this rubbish - they are there to protect the boundary not to stop the two. Anyway, I was delighted to see Rabada, fielding twenty yards in, miss a simple catch because he had to run back and try to take it over his shoulder. The ball still bounced five yards in from the boundary.
One of the big disadvantages of watching on TV is that you rarely get to see the whole field and where the fielders are off the square. It is a great innovation, therefore, that Sky have incorporated a field plan as a pop up which appears from time to time.
There seems no end to the innovations that the modern batsmen employ. New this season I have seen both Buttler and Roy hit balls for six over cover using a sort of upward spooning action. I also saw Buttler back away to leg and when the bowler followed him with a short delivery he wafted this at shoulder height also for six over cover.
I saw some of the football playoff action in the lower leagues and was most impressed by the quality of football played. I guess it’s another benefit of flat grassy pitches and tougher refereeing.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan continues his residency at Lord’s and also takes a miserable outing to Uxbridge
The Middlesex team for the One Day Cup tie versus Glamorgan at Lord's on Sunday May 5th was the same as the one that had beaten Somerset at Radlett. Skipper Stevie Eskinazi won the toss for the home team and chose to bowl first. The visitors soon lost David Lloyd (who had made 92 against Middlesex in this competition last season), but Jeremy Lawlor (38 off 44 balls) and South African skipper and keeper Chris Cooke (46 off 54 balls) compiled a useful stand of 71 for the second wicket. Soon, however, 4 wickets were down for 116, but then Billy Root, brother of the famous Joe, was joined by the impressive Charley Hemphrey (born in Doncaster, educated in Folkestone, played briefly at Derbyshire, then he turned up to play regularly for Queensland and now he has arrived at Glamorgan). These two shared a fine stand of 80 before Root departed for 37 off 38 balls, but after that Hemphrey fought a fairly lonely battle as a succession of partners were dismissed for modest scores. Eventually, Hemphrey himself was out for an excellent 87 off 81 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes and the innings closed soon after on 285 off 49.4 overs. Leg-spinner Nathan Sowter took 4 for 58 and Toby Roland-Jones 3 for 46.
Middlesex soon lost Max Holden for a duck, but Sam Robson and Nick Gubbins turned the game decisively in favour of the home team with an outstanding partnership of 147 for the second wicket. Robson was the first to go for a determined yet fluent 79 off 91 balls with 8 fours and a six. Kiwi Test star Ross Taylor disappointed again (three of his four dismissals have been for 6 or less), but Eskinazi joined Gubbins in a stand of 64 for the fourth wicket which more or less confirmed that Middlesex would win the match. However, it was a surprise when Gubbins departed for 92 off 91 balls with 12 fours when it looked certain that he would go on to well-deserved century.
The win for the home team was eventually confirmed by an unbroken stand of 53 between Eskinazi, who contributed a captain's knock of 71 not out off 58 balls with 9 fours and young allrounder George Scott (17 not out). Middlesex finished on 289 for five with two and a half overs to spare. Ollie Rayner was spotted for the first time this season (by this observer) when he briefly fielded as a substitute and was later seen practising in the Nursery.
I still believe/ hope (do I really?) that today's game v La at Lord's is a semi-final, but I have also seen it described as a quarter final and today's G tells me that it is a "play-off"! My doubts about it being a semi are that six teams were shown as "qualifiers" from the group stage, but how could that be? you would need eight team for quarter finals, but how many do you need for play-offs? I have now checked on the Beeb's website and, unfortunately, they are play-offs because the winner of the Mx/ La game will be away to H in a semi-final on Sunday.
Middlesex kept the same team for the play-off, they won the toss and chose to field. Lancashire made 304-4 (K Jennings 96, D Vilas 70*, S Croft 68) and the best bowler was T Helm 2-51. G Scott is a decent allrounder, but I think batting is going to be his stronger suit; nevertheless, he has plugged a gap in the bowling line up in this competition, but today was his first cup wicket and, unfortunately, that gives him an average of 188! The Middlesex innings got off to a grim start with Holden and Gubbins back in the hutch with only 13 on the board... and continued in the same vein to 24 for 5. However, Harris (promoted to no 6) did brilliantly and was well supported by Simpson in a stand of 197. Jimmy was stumped for 117 (comfortably beating his previous highest limited overs score of 32) including 11 fours and 2 sixes, with the score on 221 and Simmo was run out for 74 (with 7 fours and a six) at the same total. Scott and TSRJ both made 26, but Middlesex were a/o for 284 in the 49th. S Mahmood took 4-38.
Middlesex brought in George Scott, Tom Lace (called back from his loan at Derbyshire), Ollie Rayner, Tom Helm and Ethan Bamber for Dawid Malan (injured), Eoin Morgan (with England), Toby Roland-Jones (injured), Tim Murtagh (with Ireland) and Steve Finn (injured) for the Championship match versus Leicestershire which began at Lord's on May 14th, while Stevie Eskinazi took over the captaincy from Malan. The toss was uncontested as Leicestershire wanted to bowl first on the usual Lord's greentop. Sam Robson fell to the first ball of the match, but then a fine stand of 113 took place between Max Holden (41 off 99 balls with 6 fours) and Nick Gubbins, whose 75 off 120 balls with 15 fours was the best of the Middlesex innings and probably of the whole match. Lace contributed a very useful 51 off 94 balls with 8 fours, but the home team had slumped to 229 for 6 when George Scott began to take control. Jimmy Harris helped him add 55 for the seventh wicket, but then Scott and Tom Helm (37 not out with 7 fours) put on 62 for the ninth wicket before Scott fell for an excellent 55 off 89 balls with 5 fours and a six. Middlesex were all out for 349, with opening bowler Mohammad Abbas (from the Punjab) taking 4 for 72.
When the visitors batted, skipper and opener Paul Horton from Sydney made a handy 43, but Leics had fallen to 113 for 4 when Colin Ackermann from Port Elizabeth joined forces with Harry Dearden from Bury and an excellent stand of 110 developed with Dearden, surprisingly (he averaged 22 last season) the dominant partner. Dearden fell for 61 off 106 balls with 12 fours, and Ackermann followed for 63 off 132 balls with 8 fours. Both batsmen fell to off-spinner Rayner and soon Leics had slumped from 223-4 to 268 all out. Rayner was the most successful bowler with 4 for 58, with Helm helping out with 3 for 62.
The Middlesex second innings started disappointingly with only Gubbins (36 with 6 fours) of the top order making more than 22 and they had slumped to 114 for 8 when keeper John Simpson finally found a reliable partner in no 10 Helm. 85 were added for the ninth wicket before Helm fell for an excellent 46 off 77 balls with 7 fours, giving him 83 runs for once out in the match. Simpson finished with an exemplary 59 not out, the top score of the innings and Middlesex's second best in the match. The innings closed on 223 setting Leics a target of 305 to win in over a day.
The fine weather disappeared overnight, however, and dark skies ensured that the floodlights were on from the start, yet the umpires insisted on regular breaks in the play for bad light then returning to the pitch when there appeared to have been no change at all in the quality of the light. This resulted in a cold and tedious day's play and many spectators had gone home well before the actual close of play. Horton made 36 off 94 balls, Hasan Azad made 33 off 113 balls, while the only entertainment came from Ackermann whose 70* from 80 balls with 10 fours stood out like a beacon. The match ended in a draw with Leics on 226-5 off 74 overs. Middlesex 11 points, Leicestershire 10. Only Glamorgan and Durham are below Middx in the Second Division table, while Leics are third, having played a game more than the top two of Worcestershire and Lancashire. Tanya Aldred’s Round Up in the Guardian made me laugh with her comment that “there was a thriller at Lord’s”: I did not notice any thrills myself and, even though Tanya was actually located at Old Trafford, a simple glance at the scorecard would surely have revealed that this was not, in fact, a thriller.
I went to Uxbridge for the Second XI three-dayer v Sussex, but I was very disappointed to find that there was absolutely no information available about the teams. We used to get a nicely printed scoresheet not so long ago, but then it became a team list on a noticeboard, now there is absolutely no news available at all. Middlesex batted first and I did not recognise either of the home openers and neither had a squad number either, so I have no idea who they were. I thought I spotted Ollie Rayner in the distance and it probably was him as he is not in the team at Worcester. Six of the Sussex fielders had numbers and they were Michael Burgess (wk), Delray Rawlins, Abidine Sakande, Will Beer, Tom Haines and Ollie Robinson. Rain came after about 55 mins and I took the opportunity to bunk off home, totally fed up with the lack of information available and determined never to attend any more Second XI matches.
England’s Best ODI XI
Readers of the BBC Cricket website voted this XI:
1. Jonny Bairstow
ODIs: 63; Runs: 2,329; Average: 47.53; Best: 141*
Jonny Bairstow has averaged 52.6 in ODIs across his 35 knocks as opener; the fourth-highest rate as a number one or two (10+ innings) and the highest for England.
2. Marcus Trescothick
ODIs: 123; Runs: 4,335; Average: 37.37; Best: 137
Marcus Trescothick has scored more ODI runs than any other England opening batsman (4,335).
3.Joe Root
ODIs: 132; Runs: 5,300; Average: 50.47; Best: 133*
Joe Root has scored more ODI centuries than any other batsman for England (14) and is one of only two men (five-plus innings) to average more than 50 for England (50.5, also Jonathan Trott).
4. Kevin Pietersen
(ODIs: 136; Runs: 4,440; Average: 40.73; Best: 130)
No England batsman has posted more ODI centuries on the road than Kevin Pietersen (eight); he is the only man to register multiple World Cup hundreds for England.
5. Eoin Morgan
(ODIs: 199; Runs: 6,233; Average: 40.21; Best: 124 - England record only)
Eoin Morgan has been England ODI skipper most often (100), has the most ODI caps for England (199) and is their leading run-scorer (6,233).
6. Jos Buttler (wk)
ODIs: 131; Runs: 3,531; Average: 41.54; Best: 150; 159 catches & 29 stumpings
Of players to score 1,000+ ODI runs, Jos Buttler has the second-highest batting strike-rate ever (119.6, Glenn Maxwell 122); the two fastest England ODI centuries have been scored by Buttler.
7. Andrew Flintoff
ODIs: 141; Runs: 3,394; Average: 32.01; Best: 123; Wickets: 169; Average: 24.38
Andrew Flintoff took 168 wickets at an average of just 23.6, the best rate ever of any bowler to claim 50+ dismissals in ODI cricket for England.
8. Ian Botham
ODIs: 116; Runs: 2,113; Average: 23.21; Best: 79; Wickets: 145; Average: 28.54
Ian Botham is England's leading wicket-taker (30) in World Cup history and is one of just four England players to score 1,000 runs and take 50 wickets (Stokes, Collingwood, Flintoff).
9. Graeme Swann
ODIs: 79; Wickets: 104; Average: 27.76; Best: 5-28
Graeme Swann was the first England spinner to take 100 ODI wickets and has the best average (22.9) on home soil of any England spinner to record 20+ dismissals there.
10. Darren Gough
ODIs: 159; Wickets: 235; Average: 26.42; Best: 5-44
Darren Gough ranks second in the list of all-time leading ODI wicket-takers for England (234, Anderson 269) and was the second man to take multiple five-wicket hauls for England (after Vic Marks).
11. James Anderson
ODIs: 194; Wickets: 269; Average: 29.22; Best: 5-23
James Anderson is one of only two bowlers (Gough being the other one) to take more than 100 ODI wickets in England.
I doubt whether Googlies readers would agree with this bunch. Where are Hales, Roy, Stokes….
Matthews Matters
Jon Matthews sent me the following
I watched Hampshire v Middlesex 2nd XIs in action yesterday here on the Isle of Wight. A Joshua de Caires scored a hundred for Middlesex – and one of the Middlesex entourage (I know not who he was and I chose not to ask “who are you?”) came over to our little party and said “just so you know his father is Michael Atherton”.
A trawl of the Internet today would seem to give some credence to this comment:
David de Caires (31 December 1937 – 1 November 2008) was a Guyanese solicitor. He was also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News. De Caires' father Francis was a director of the family company, De Caires Bros Ltd, and a Test cricketer for the West Indies in the 1930s. David attended Stonyhurst College in England. Trained as a solicitor, de Caires founded Stabroek News in 1986 with the help of his wife and Ken Gordon of the Trinidad and Tobago Express. He wanted a paper that promoted an open society based on the rule of law, a free market economy and the holding of free and fair elections. Stabroek News is known for the readers' letters section in which readers can ask questions and voice their opinions. These sections often reached three pages a day.
De Caires suffered a heart attack on 14 August 2008.[2] He spent time in hospital in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. He was later transported to a hospital in Barbados, where he died on the morning of 1 November 2008.[3] He is survived by his widow Doreen, son Brendan, and daughter Isabelle, who is married to the former England cricket captain-turned-journalist Mike Atherton.[4]
If Athers is his father, one wonders as to why he did not adopt his surname.
For the first time since 1962 the Isle of Wight hosted a Hampshire 1st XI match at its magnificent purpose-built ground just outside the capital, Newport. Opened in 2009 by Mike Gatting its outfield is reputedly bigger than Lords and, on 20th to 23rd May, Nottinghamshire were the debut 1st Class visitors.
Having retired to my native island in 2005 I went along on the second day which was blessed with glorious sunshine. Stuart Broad was making a rare appearance for Nottinghamshire but the star of the day was unquestionably Steven Mullaney, their captain, and also the England Lions captain. With his score still in the 30s when Broad was out at 159-8, and the follow-on not yet averted, he added 65 of the 80 runs of a 9th wicket partnership with a very competent no: 10, Matthew Carter, to reach a well-deserved century. Hampshire led on first innings by a useful 71 runs.
Day 3 was dominated by Sam Northeast and Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian Test batsman making his Hampshire debut, who both made centuries. Set 438 to win Nottinghamshire were never in the hunt and succumbed to a 244 run defeat. Hampshire’s return to the Isle of Wight started as its last match here had finished – with a win. There seems little doubt that this venue will see an annual fixture for Hampshire in the coming years.
My only other appearance at the ground was as one of the umpires of the final of the Isle of Wight Senior cup final in 2011; whilst umpiring maybe a couple of hundred games in my ‘career’ (many in the Thames Valley League in 2000-2005) it was the only time I was called to make a tight LBW call on the very first ball of the game. I veered on the safe option of “Not Out” – but it could have gone either way!
Ged Matters
Ged (Ian Harris) makes an early season visit to Lord’s
Unusually this year, the first Lord's County Championship match of the season didn't work out for me and Charles "Charley the Gent Malloy" Bartlett to have our traditional early season meet, but this second match did, so we arranged to spend Day Two of the match together. Actually I was able to attend for the latter part of the first day. My cunning plan was to get my work out of the way, drive over to St John's Wood Road around 15:00 - it is almost always possible to find a Ringo parking place at that hour, drop off my tennis kit ahead of tomorrow, get some reading done and watch some cricket in the sunshine.
I briefly popped in to the pavilion and chatted for a brief while with Colin, before going in search of some warmth in the spring sunshine of the Mound Stand. Barmy Kev joined me briefly in the Mound Stand that afternoon before going off to speak with more important folk than me. As I left Lord's that evening, I ran into John Lee from the Leicestershire committee, who was on his way to try to find his hotel on Sussex Gardens, so I was able to give him a lift there and have a chat along the way.
I rose early the next day to prepare the picnic and set off for Lord's soon after 8:00 in order to play tennis at 9:00. I used the rucksack that DJ kindly gave me last year, as that is an ample size for a picnic for two....except that I didn't think about relative softness and hardness of items in the various compartments and planted a bag containing Chas's pears (Green Williams) towards the bottom of the rucksack. Charley's fussiness about his pears is a matter of some legend and a yet unpublished piece that should appear on King Cricket at some point in the next few years.
Infuriatingly, I had procured and ripened the bag of pears to perfection for this visit, but they got badly bruised in the rucksack. Message to self: put pears in a protective fruit box next time. Chas threatened to go public about my pear preparation going pear-shaped, but I decided that the best way to prevent the risk of blackmail was to come clean myself. Now Chas will have to decide how to deal with the other side of the "mutually assured destruction" information unholy bargain we had with each other. It could get as messy as that bag of bruised pears.
Anyway, I played quite a good game of tennis (won) and spotted, as soon as I got off court, that Chas had messaged me to say that he was in the vicinity ridiculously early. I suggested that he make haste to the gate where I could get him into the ground with his voucher before I showered and changed. This ploy worked well.
In the morning, we braved the traditional back/backside ache of the pavilion benches. John Freer from the visiting Leicestershire group spotted us on those benches and came out for a pleasant chat. Peter Moore also chatted with us for a while. Chas and I didn't get around to the picnic (apart from nibbling some cashews) until we got around to the Mound Stand in the afternoon.
Apart from the pear debacle, the picnic was a great success. Poppy-seed bagels with Alaskan smoked salmon, Prosciutto and Parmesan cheese sandwiches on sourdough, a fruity Riesling and several sweet treats - the latter arranged by Chas. As always, the day just flew by and it seemed like a blink of an eye after meeting that Chas and I were parting company again.
I watched tennis for a few minutes to let the crowd and traffic die down before Ubering home.
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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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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 198
June 2019
Caption Competition
1. Jonathan Agnew: How’s it going in the Championship?
Stuart Law: Great we’ve moved up to seventh place.
Jonathan Agnew: But only three teams are getting promoted.
Stuart Law: That’s OK we have got some really easy games coming up against Derbyshire, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire.
Jonathan Agnew: How can they be easy - they are all ahead of you in the table…
2. James Vince: Bad Luck David on the Archer situation
David Willey: Don’t be too smug. I gather Pooran and Hetmyer are thinking of qualifying too.
3. Charles Colville: Don’t you have any ambition at this club?
Angus Fraser: No, we quite like it in Division Two.
Charles Colville: Good job there’s no relegation to the Minor Counties, then.
Out & About with the Professor
It would not, I think, be an exaggeration to say that the contribution of Iceland to world cricket has been modest – indeed, on the non-existent side of modest.
Before travelling here, I read that Iceland did indeed have a team and that they “had played some games”. There were, apparently, “hopes for further developments”. They may prove rather empty hopes, I fear, given that the place is freezing cold and almost entirely covered with pumice. Cricket needs a little more than that, I think, although the fact that you could play all through the night in June might be a plus. In any event, I have not met any locals who know anything about the game nor even, in some cases, what it is. Then again, the only Icelanders to meet in Reykjavik are working in shops or cafes or as hotel receptionists and it is not that easy, even for the most importunate correspondent, to check-in, hand over your passport and ask the receptionist if s/he is interested in cricket.
So I was pleased, and I can’t tell you how challenging it is to write this sentence, I was pleased to make the acquaintance of an Australian. “Bruce” (honestly) proved to be – unlike so many of his compatriots – a man of forceful opinions and he was generous enough to share them with me and, indeed, anyone else within ear-shot.
For example, he thought the MCC was: “fucking shit”, Stuart Broad was: “a fucking shit” and Eoin Morgan: “a fucking Irish shit”. It might be thought that after this somewhat unpromising start we did not get on too well, but not so…or not quite so.
Bruce, unlike some Googlies readers, I think, was a fan of limited over cricket and especially the World Cup: “because we always fucking win it”. He approved of the format this time round and I guess many others would. Everyone playing everyone should ensure that the best four get through to the play-offs. Also, I think, it rather favours England, in that their shit-or-bust approach (sorry, this expletive business is catching) means that they can be permitted a complete failure (or two) and still make it through. We shall see. The down-side, of course, is the restriction to 10 teams and the whole thing would have looked a little silly had the Windies not (just) made it. Judging from the first game, it should be a splendid competition and Bruce thinks so too.
I did happen to raise, with my Antipodean companion, the ball tampering question and the return of the Three Cheats and he took the view that their treatment had been inappropriately harsh (not his exact words) and went on to the now familiar arguments about ball-polishing being a time-honoured form of “tampering” and, of course, the Michael Atherton case. I can’t see ball-polishing ever being banned (although the regulations have changed now and again) although the distinction between maintaining the state of the ball as against degrading it has always seemed a little thin – we all know cases of “work” on the ball getting it to swing more that when it was brand new. What should be banned, in my view, is the designated ball-polisher. My issue is not about the state of the ball and the use of sun-cream or jelly baby saliva; rather it is about the speed of the game. It is not at all unusual to see the ball fielded at mid-off or mid-on and then hurled back to the keeper for onward transmission to the DB-P, who invariably lurks in the slips, when it would be simpler (and quicker) to just hand it to the bowler. Bowlers have long since given up polishing duties and even when they field off their own bowling, hurl it back and then wait at the end or their runs (of course) for it to be returned.
As for “Athers”, Bruce concedes that there might be an operational distinction between picking up and pocketing some dirt from the pitch and stopping off at B&Q for a couple of sheets of heavy-duty extra abrasive, but not a moral one. And I think he might have a point there. I recall, at the time of the ban, the suggestion that the offence of the Three Cheats was, in cricketing terms, considerably worse than that of the Pakistani no-ballers. But the latter involved money and so was a crime and therefore treated more harshly, bourgeois values trumping cricketing ones – or indeed any other come to think of it.
So, six weeks of cricket to look forward to - when I leave pumice-land - and Bruce is looking forward. Who will be lifting the Cup in July? “Aaron Finch, mate, I’m tellin’ ya, Aaron fucking Finch”. He may well be right and I’m not sure I would bet against it happening. We shall see. Exciting isn’t it…unless you live in Iceland of course.
This and That
During the IPL this year Andre Russell hit the highest number of sixes, 52. This is a large number by any reckoning but the extraordinary thing about is that he only faced 249 balls. His strike rate throughout the competition was an amazing 204 per hundred balls. The World Cup matches will be interesting if he can translate this T20 form to the ODI format. In the warmup match against New Zealand he scored 54 from 25 balls. Few batsmen get close to 200 plus strike rates over any length of time. The bar keeps getting set higher.
Maybe one player who could get close is Jos Buttler. I was fortunate enough to see his ODI innings against the West Indies earlier this year live on Sky when he scored 150 from 77 balls. This sort of thing used to be a once in a lifetime effort. Not so anymore. Less than three months later he did it again scoring 110 not out from 55 balls against Pakistan at the Rose Bowl. He went to fifty in a leisurely 33 balls and then took just 17 balls over his second 50.
Middlesex alumni continue to excel for other counties. Josh Davey, James Fuller and Gareth Berg all featured prominently in the Royal London final at Lord’s. Ryan Higgins scored a hundred batting at number 7 for Gloucestershire. Billy Godleman, the Derbyshire skipper, has scored heavily this season. Adam Rossington plays in all three formats for Northants. And Denly of course…
Ross Taylor seems to have made a big difference to the Middlesex batting during his spell with the side. Indeed, he was batting with Max Holden when he compiled 166, the club’s highest List A score. It remains a puzzle why the club doesn’t try to sort its batting out by getting a major influence on the Championship side. Or is our Irishman, Tim Murtagh, supposed to fulfill that role?
There have been plenty of big scores in the List A competition and some creditable chases none more so than Worcestershire knocking off 352 with two overs to spare against Derbyshire. This effort was largely down to Ricky Wessels who made 130 from 62 deliveries. Big innings scoring rates of over 200 are match winning ones.
Ireland have had a difficult time of it playing against the better sides including Afghanistan. Their miseries were compounded in their ODI against the West Indies when John Campbell (179) and Shai Hope (170) added 365 for the first wicket in 47 overs.
In the Championship Sussex had slumped to 68 for 6 against Northamptonshire when Chris Jordan joined his captain Ben Brown at the crease. They added 309 with Jordan making 166 batting at number 8.
In both of the WC games at the Oval the commentators and, I guess, the captains have said that the fielders need to be ten or twenty yards in on the long side. I reckon that this rubbish - they are there to protect the boundary not to stop the two. Anyway, I was delighted to see Rabada, fielding twenty yards in, miss a simple catch because he had to run back and try to take it over his shoulder. The ball still bounced five yards in from the boundary.
One of the big disadvantages of watching on TV is that you rarely get to see the whole field and where the fielders are off the square. It is a great innovation, therefore, that Sky have incorporated a field plan as a pop up which appears from time to time.
There seems no end to the innovations that the modern batsmen employ. New this season I have seen both Buttler and Roy hit balls for six over cover using a sort of upward spooning action. I also saw Buttler back away to leg and when the bowler followed him with a short delivery he wafted this at shoulder height also for six over cover.
I saw some of the football playoff action in the lower leagues and was most impressed by the quality of football played. I guess it’s another benefit of flat grassy pitches and tougher refereeing.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan continues his residency at Lord’s and also takes a miserable outing to Uxbridge
The Middlesex team for the One Day Cup tie versus Glamorgan at Lord's on Sunday May 5th was the same as the one that had beaten Somerset at Radlett. Skipper Stevie Eskinazi won the toss for the home team and chose to bowl first. The visitors soon lost David Lloyd (who had made 92 against Middlesex in this competition last season), but Jeremy Lawlor (38 off 44 balls) and South African skipper and keeper Chris Cooke (46 off 54 balls) compiled a useful stand of 71 for the second wicket. Soon, however, 4 wickets were down for 116, but then Billy Root, brother of the famous Joe, was joined by the impressive Charley Hemphrey (born in Doncaster, educated in Folkestone, played briefly at Derbyshire, then he turned up to play regularly for Queensland and now he has arrived at Glamorgan). These two shared a fine stand of 80 before Root departed for 37 off 38 balls, but after that Hemphrey fought a fairly lonely battle as a succession of partners were dismissed for modest scores. Eventually, Hemphrey himself was out for an excellent 87 off 81 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes and the innings closed soon after on 285 off 49.4 overs. Leg-spinner Nathan Sowter took 4 for 58 and Toby Roland-Jones 3 for 46.
Middlesex soon lost Max Holden for a duck, but Sam Robson and Nick Gubbins turned the game decisively in favour of the home team with an outstanding partnership of 147 for the second wicket. Robson was the first to go for a determined yet fluent 79 off 91 balls with 8 fours and a six. Kiwi Test star Ross Taylor disappointed again (three of his four dismissals have been for 6 or less), but Eskinazi joined Gubbins in a stand of 64 for the fourth wicket which more or less confirmed that Middlesex would win the match. However, it was a surprise when Gubbins departed for 92 off 91 balls with 12 fours when it looked certain that he would go on to well-deserved century.
The win for the home team was eventually confirmed by an unbroken stand of 53 between Eskinazi, who contributed a captain's knock of 71 not out off 58 balls with 9 fours and young allrounder George Scott (17 not out). Middlesex finished on 289 for five with two and a half overs to spare. Ollie Rayner was spotted for the first time this season (by this observer) when he briefly fielded as a substitute and was later seen practising in the Nursery.
I still believe/ hope (do I really?) that today's game v La at Lord's is a semi-final, but I have also seen it described as a quarter final and today's G tells me that it is a "play-off"! My doubts about it being a semi are that six teams were shown as "qualifiers" from the group stage, but how could that be? you would need eight team for quarter finals, but how many do you need for play-offs? I have now checked on the Beeb's website and, unfortunately, they are play-offs because the winner of the Mx/ La game will be away to H in a semi-final on Sunday.
Middlesex kept the same team for the play-off, they won the toss and chose to field. Lancashire made 304-4 (K Jennings 96, D Vilas 70*, S Croft 68) and the best bowler was T Helm 2-51. G Scott is a decent allrounder, but I think batting is going to be his stronger suit; nevertheless, he has plugged a gap in the bowling line up in this competition, but today was his first cup wicket and, unfortunately, that gives him an average of 188! The Middlesex innings got off to a grim start with Holden and Gubbins back in the hutch with only 13 on the board... and continued in the same vein to 24 for 5. However, Harris (promoted to no 6) did brilliantly and was well supported by Simpson in a stand of 197. Jimmy was stumped for 117 (comfortably beating his previous highest limited overs score of 32) including 11 fours and 2 sixes, with the score on 221 and Simmo was run out for 74 (with 7 fours and a six) at the same total. Scott and TSRJ both made 26, but Middlesex were a/o for 284 in the 49th. S Mahmood took 4-38.
Middlesex brought in George Scott, Tom Lace (called back from his loan at Derbyshire), Ollie Rayner, Tom Helm and Ethan Bamber for Dawid Malan (injured), Eoin Morgan (with England), Toby Roland-Jones (injured), Tim Murtagh (with Ireland) and Steve Finn (injured) for the Championship match versus Leicestershire which began at Lord's on May 14th, while Stevie Eskinazi took over the captaincy from Malan. The toss was uncontested as Leicestershire wanted to bowl first on the usual Lord's greentop. Sam Robson fell to the first ball of the match, but then a fine stand of 113 took place between Max Holden (41 off 99 balls with 6 fours) and Nick Gubbins, whose 75 off 120 balls with 15 fours was the best of the Middlesex innings and probably of the whole match. Lace contributed a very useful 51 off 94 balls with 8 fours, but the home team had slumped to 229 for 6 when George Scott began to take control. Jimmy Harris helped him add 55 for the seventh wicket, but then Scott and Tom Helm (37 not out with 7 fours) put on 62 for the ninth wicket before Scott fell for an excellent 55 off 89 balls with 5 fours and a six. Middlesex were all out for 349, with opening bowler Mohammad Abbas (from the Punjab) taking 4 for 72.
When the visitors batted, skipper and opener Paul Horton from Sydney made a handy 43, but Leics had fallen to 113 for 4 when Colin Ackermann from Port Elizabeth joined forces with Harry Dearden from Bury and an excellent stand of 110 developed with Dearden, surprisingly (he averaged 22 last season) the dominant partner. Dearden fell for 61 off 106 balls with 12 fours, and Ackermann followed for 63 off 132 balls with 8 fours. Both batsmen fell to off-spinner Rayner and soon Leics had slumped from 223-4 to 268 all out. Rayner was the most successful bowler with 4 for 58, with Helm helping out with 3 for 62.
The Middlesex second innings started disappointingly with only Gubbins (36 with 6 fours) of the top order making more than 22 and they had slumped to 114 for 8 when keeper John Simpson finally found a reliable partner in no 10 Helm. 85 were added for the ninth wicket before Helm fell for an excellent 46 off 77 balls with 7 fours, giving him 83 runs for once out in the match. Simpson finished with an exemplary 59 not out, the top score of the innings and Middlesex's second best in the match. The innings closed on 223 setting Leics a target of 305 to win in over a day.
The fine weather disappeared overnight, however, and dark skies ensured that the floodlights were on from the start, yet the umpires insisted on regular breaks in the play for bad light then returning to the pitch when there appeared to have been no change at all in the quality of the light. This resulted in a cold and tedious day's play and many spectators had gone home well before the actual close of play. Horton made 36 off 94 balls, Hasan Azad made 33 off 113 balls, while the only entertainment came from Ackermann whose 70* from 80 balls with 10 fours stood out like a beacon. The match ended in a draw with Leics on 226-5 off 74 overs. Middlesex 11 points, Leicestershire 10. Only Glamorgan and Durham are below Middx in the Second Division table, while Leics are third, having played a game more than the top two of Worcestershire and Lancashire. Tanya Aldred’s Round Up in the Guardian made me laugh with her comment that “there was a thriller at Lord’s”: I did not notice any thrills myself and, even though Tanya was actually located at Old Trafford, a simple glance at the scorecard would surely have revealed that this was not, in fact, a thriller.
I went to Uxbridge for the Second XI three-dayer v Sussex, but I was very disappointed to find that there was absolutely no information available about the teams. We used to get a nicely printed scoresheet not so long ago, but then it became a team list on a noticeboard, now there is absolutely no news available at all. Middlesex batted first and I did not recognise either of the home openers and neither had a squad number either, so I have no idea who they were. I thought I spotted Ollie Rayner in the distance and it probably was him as he is not in the team at Worcester. Six of the Sussex fielders had numbers and they were Michael Burgess (wk), Delray Rawlins, Abidine Sakande, Will Beer, Tom Haines and Ollie Robinson. Rain came after about 55 mins and I took the opportunity to bunk off home, totally fed up with the lack of information available and determined never to attend any more Second XI matches.
England’s Best ODI XI
Readers of the BBC Cricket website voted this XI:
1. Jonny Bairstow
ODIs: 63; Runs: 2,329; Average: 47.53; Best: 141*
Jonny Bairstow has averaged 52.6 in ODIs across his 35 knocks as opener; the fourth-highest rate as a number one or two (10+ innings) and the highest for England.
2. Marcus Trescothick
ODIs: 123; Runs: 4,335; Average: 37.37; Best: 137
Marcus Trescothick has scored more ODI runs than any other England opening batsman (4,335).
3.Joe Root
ODIs: 132; Runs: 5,300; Average: 50.47; Best: 133*
Joe Root has scored more ODI centuries than any other batsman for England (14) and is one of only two men (five-plus innings) to average more than 50 for England (50.5, also Jonathan Trott).
4. Kevin Pietersen
(ODIs: 136; Runs: 4,440; Average: 40.73; Best: 130)
No England batsman has posted more ODI centuries on the road than Kevin Pietersen (eight); he is the only man to register multiple World Cup hundreds for England.
5. Eoin Morgan
(ODIs: 199; Runs: 6,233; Average: 40.21; Best: 124 - England record only)
Eoin Morgan has been England ODI skipper most often (100), has the most ODI caps for England (199) and is their leading run-scorer (6,233).
6. Jos Buttler (wk)
ODIs: 131; Runs: 3,531; Average: 41.54; Best: 150; 159 catches & 29 stumpings
Of players to score 1,000+ ODI runs, Jos Buttler has the second-highest batting strike-rate ever (119.6, Glenn Maxwell 122); the two fastest England ODI centuries have been scored by Buttler.
7. Andrew Flintoff
ODIs: 141; Runs: 3,394; Average: 32.01; Best: 123; Wickets: 169; Average: 24.38
Andrew Flintoff took 168 wickets at an average of just 23.6, the best rate ever of any bowler to claim 50+ dismissals in ODI cricket for England.
8. Ian Botham
ODIs: 116; Runs: 2,113; Average: 23.21; Best: 79; Wickets: 145; Average: 28.54
Ian Botham is England's leading wicket-taker (30) in World Cup history and is one of just four England players to score 1,000 runs and take 50 wickets (Stokes, Collingwood, Flintoff).
9. Graeme Swann
ODIs: 79; Wickets: 104; Average: 27.76; Best: 5-28
Graeme Swann was the first England spinner to take 100 ODI wickets and has the best average (22.9) on home soil of any England spinner to record 20+ dismissals there.
10. Darren Gough
ODIs: 159; Wickets: 235; Average: 26.42; Best: 5-44
Darren Gough ranks second in the list of all-time leading ODI wicket-takers for England (234, Anderson 269) and was the second man to take multiple five-wicket hauls for England (after Vic Marks).
11. James Anderson
ODIs: 194; Wickets: 269; Average: 29.22; Best: 5-23
James Anderson is one of only two bowlers (Gough being the other one) to take more than 100 ODI wickets in England.
I doubt whether Googlies readers would agree with this bunch. Where are Hales, Roy, Stokes….
Matthews Matters
Jon Matthews sent me the following
I watched Hampshire v Middlesex 2nd XIs in action yesterday here on the Isle of Wight. A Joshua de Caires scored a hundred for Middlesex – and one of the Middlesex entourage (I know not who he was and I chose not to ask “who are you?”) came over to our little party and said “just so you know his father is Michael Atherton”.
A trawl of the Internet today would seem to give some credence to this comment:
David de Caires (31 December 1937 – 1 November 2008) was a Guyanese solicitor. He was also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News. De Caires' father Francis was a director of the family company, De Caires Bros Ltd, and a Test cricketer for the West Indies in the 1930s. David attended Stonyhurst College in England. Trained as a solicitor, de Caires founded Stabroek News in 1986 with the help of his wife and Ken Gordon of the Trinidad and Tobago Express. He wanted a paper that promoted an open society based on the rule of law, a free market economy and the holding of free and fair elections. Stabroek News is known for the readers' letters section in which readers can ask questions and voice their opinions. These sections often reached three pages a day.
De Caires suffered a heart attack on 14 August 2008.[2] He spent time in hospital in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. He was later transported to a hospital in Barbados, where he died on the morning of 1 November 2008.[3] He is survived by his widow Doreen, son Brendan, and daughter Isabelle, who is married to the former England cricket captain-turned-journalist Mike Atherton.[4]
If Athers is his father, one wonders as to why he did not adopt his surname.
For the first time since 1962 the Isle of Wight hosted a Hampshire 1st XI match at its magnificent purpose-built ground just outside the capital, Newport. Opened in 2009 by Mike Gatting its outfield is reputedly bigger than Lords and, on 20th to 23rd May, Nottinghamshire were the debut 1st Class visitors.
Having retired to my native island in 2005 I went along on the second day which was blessed with glorious sunshine. Stuart Broad was making a rare appearance for Nottinghamshire but the star of the day was unquestionably Steven Mullaney, their captain, and also the England Lions captain. With his score still in the 30s when Broad was out at 159-8, and the follow-on not yet averted, he added 65 of the 80 runs of a 9th wicket partnership with a very competent no: 10, Matthew Carter, to reach a well-deserved century. Hampshire led on first innings by a useful 71 runs.
Day 3 was dominated by Sam Northeast and Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian Test batsman making his Hampshire debut, who both made centuries. Set 438 to win Nottinghamshire were never in the hunt and succumbed to a 244 run defeat. Hampshire’s return to the Isle of Wight started as its last match here had finished – with a win. There seems little doubt that this venue will see an annual fixture for Hampshire in the coming years.
My only other appearance at the ground was as one of the umpires of the final of the Isle of Wight Senior cup final in 2011; whilst umpiring maybe a couple of hundred games in my ‘career’ (many in the Thames Valley League in 2000-2005) it was the only time I was called to make a tight LBW call on the very first ball of the game. I veered on the safe option of “Not Out” – but it could have gone either way!
Ged Matters
Ged (Ian Harris) makes an early season visit to Lord’s
Unusually this year, the first Lord's County Championship match of the season didn't work out for me and Charles "Charley the Gent Malloy" Bartlett to have our traditional early season meet, but this second match did, so we arranged to spend Day Two of the match together. Actually I was able to attend for the latter part of the first day. My cunning plan was to get my work out of the way, drive over to St John's Wood Road around 15:00 - it is almost always possible to find a Ringo parking place at that hour, drop off my tennis kit ahead of tomorrow, get some reading done and watch some cricket in the sunshine.
I briefly popped in to the pavilion and chatted for a brief while with Colin, before going in search of some warmth in the spring sunshine of the Mound Stand. Barmy Kev joined me briefly in the Mound Stand that afternoon before going off to speak with more important folk than me. As I left Lord's that evening, I ran into John Lee from the Leicestershire committee, who was on his way to try to find his hotel on Sussex Gardens, so I was able to give him a lift there and have a chat along the way.
I rose early the next day to prepare the picnic and set off for Lord's soon after 8:00 in order to play tennis at 9:00. I used the rucksack that DJ kindly gave me last year, as that is an ample size for a picnic for two....except that I didn't think about relative softness and hardness of items in the various compartments and planted a bag containing Chas's pears (Green Williams) towards the bottom of the rucksack. Charley's fussiness about his pears is a matter of some legend and a yet unpublished piece that should appear on King Cricket at some point in the next few years.
Infuriatingly, I had procured and ripened the bag of pears to perfection for this visit, but they got badly bruised in the rucksack. Message to self: put pears in a protective fruit box next time. Chas threatened to go public about my pear preparation going pear-shaped, but I decided that the best way to prevent the risk of blackmail was to come clean myself. Now Chas will have to decide how to deal with the other side of the "mutually assured destruction" information unholy bargain we had with each other. It could get as messy as that bag of bruised pears.
Anyway, I played quite a good game of tennis (won) and spotted, as soon as I got off court, that Chas had messaged me to say that he was in the vicinity ridiculously early. I suggested that he make haste to the gate where I could get him into the ground with his voucher before I showered and changed. This ploy worked well.
In the morning, we braved the traditional back/backside ache of the pavilion benches. John Freer from the visiting Leicestershire group spotted us on those benches and came out for a pleasant chat. Peter Moore also chatted with us for a while. Chas and I didn't get around to the picnic (apart from nibbling some cashews) until we got around to the Mound Stand in the afternoon.
Apart from the pear debacle, the picnic was a great success. Poppy-seed bagels with Alaskan smoked salmon, Prosciutto and Parmesan cheese sandwiches on sourdough, a fruity Riesling and several sweet treats - the latter arranged by Chas. As always, the day just flew by and it seemed like a blink of an eye after meeting that Chas and I were parting company again.
I watched tennis for a few minutes to let the crowd and traffic die down before Ubering home.
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