GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 83
November 2009
Middlesex Matters
Bob Baxter tried to stick up for Angus’ performance in 2009: “Well you have to remember that Angus didn’t take over until early this year and contracts and players are sorted out by around now for next season so he was not involved in that process. His role is more of a general one but he had to spend more time with the first team than he had planned because of our poor form.”
This seemed a very generous analysis. Let’s see how Gus is doing for next year. He has the following departures: Billy Godleman (Essex), David Nash (retired), Alan Richardson (Worcestershire), Chris Silverwood (released), Murali Kartik and Nick Compton (Somerset) but, so far he has only signed Tom Smith from Sussex and Scott Newman from Surrey. This seems like a significant weakening of last season’s feeble bunch. He has failed to sign Matthew Hoggard and as far as I know has expressed no interest in Craig Spearman, often a scourge of Middlesex in the past, Billy Taylor another pain in Middlesex’s past has been released by Hampshire and Hilton Ackerman has been released by Leicestershire. Perhaps he will make a belated dash for one or more of these geriatrics. None of this would suggest that the 2010 squad will be any better than last year’s. At the end of season Forum for Middlesex Cricket Angus Fraser said that his priorities were to sign an opening batsman, two fast bowlers and a spinner to replace Kartik. He admitted the batting had been poor and a powerful coaching figure would be brought in as well as a bowling coach. He has plenty of work to do. Most counties are starting their pre seasons for 2010 in November.
But surprisingly the Great Jack Morgan is happy
Brilliant! Leicestershire took the spoon away from us! Some Middlesex supporters claim not to care whether we are last or next to last, but I reckon it is terribly ignominious to be the worst team in the country and I felt quite elated that we were not the worst in the country for the first time in our history. England avoiding a whitewash, Middlesex avoiding the spoon... does it get any better?
Out and About with the Professor’s Wife
As you know, my wife is an enthusiastic golfer. (When you take up golf late in life, “enthusiastic” is the only reasonably acceptable adjective.) Last week she was playing with an older woman who, in the general chit-chat that accompanies women’s golf, revealed that she had played cricket for England. And so she had. A quick search of Cricinfo showed a modest record of four matches in the early 1970s: 6 wickets at 12 each.
The next week, Judith told her new-found chum that I had looked her up and seen her record. “Ah yes”, she said, “I didn’t get too many games, but I wouldn’t have played at all if I hadn’t moved to Kent”. She was quite clear on this. Living as she did in the Midlands she had no chance of being picked for England and so had to move to a more “fashionable” home county.
Now this set me pondering. I think we all have heard this type of complaint about the men’s game from time to time. Do you think there is any truth in it? Or…was there any truth in it?
In essence this is very easily researched. Take all the counties of England players since (say) the War and see what the distribution looks like. I don’t have the enthusiasm or the energy to do this but I can think of a couple of Googlies readers who might. Indeed, deep in the caverns of the Assn. of Cricket Statisticians there is perhaps a readily accessible bar-chart showing, possibly Middlesex, Surrey and Yorkshire at one end and Glamorgan and Derbyshire at the other. It may even be in Wisden somewhere.
However, James, you will know from your studies of quantitative methods that a correlation is not a causation. A may correlate with B, but we cannot infer that it caused B. B may have caused A, or both be the result of some third influence, C. So if we can conclude that “County” is an explanatory variable in England selection does that mean that there is (or was) selectoral bias (surely not), or that England selection correlates with the strength of the County (more research), or that the best players gravitate to specific counties because of some other factor (say finance) which in turn is unevenly distributed, or what?
Can Googlies readers think of past players who they could volunteer for shorter (or longer) England careers had they changed County? Might the names Downton or Pringle appear? I invite contributions.
Jaffer Matters
Steve Thompson sent me this report of an infamous occasion
The term “Jaffer” was originally thought to have described an exceptionally well-bowled, practically unplayable delivery, usually but not always from a fast bowler. After the events of 18th August, 1975 the glossary of cricketing terms could well have been qualified with an addendum.
This was a clash of reigning county league champions; a fitting semi-final. We traveled by train to the oft described ‘fair’ City of York for what was to prove to be the last National Club Knockout Semi-final to be officiated by one’s own club umpire. Clive Coleman officiated for South Hampstead, a certain Mr. Sidney Orange stood for the home team. Those unfamiliar with this sorry tale may already begin to see where it is going.
In what was the club’s Centenary Year the route to the semi-final began somewhat controversially. I seem to remember with a sweet-tasting, toss-of-a-coin victory over Hampstead at Milverton Road. The match was abandoned with our long-lost visitors (it was our first encounter after a 40-year feud) having been rolled over for just 107. Someone may need to correct my memory but was this not the infamous, ‘Jim Franklin the umpire/Laws of Cricket/no you can’t mop the pitch’ match which resulted in the clubs agreeing not to play each other for another 40 years?
Brentham, Shepherd’s Bush, Gore Court and Southgate (captained by Jim Conroy) were all beaten before our appointment with Mr. Orange was set. It is worth noting that Bob Peach had five rounds worth of figures which read 40 overs, 12 for 92 by this stage. He and the rest of the attack which had variously included Burton, Jerman, Howe, Hayles, Doughty and most significantly, Hardie and Dickerson were the strength of the side and were also to perform well at Clifton Park, York.
Bolstered by confirmation of the late inclusion of Nigel Ross who had spent the previous day playing for Middlesex against Lancashire at Old Trafford in a John Player League match, much would depend on our ability to score enough runs.
York won the toss and elected to bat. Our bowling again proved effective, ironically only Bob Peach went for more than four an over, and with Ossie Burton taking 5 for 19 from his 8 overs only a belligerent 81 not out from opener Des Wyrill allowed the home side to set a target of any real substance. A score of 165 was no better than par on a large ground with plenty of opportunities for two and threes but with boundaries at a relative premium. We were optimistic at tea. Were they really marmalade sandwiches?
Ross and Cordaroy had reached 33 before Terry became the first of four leg before decisions given by the ‘home’ umpire. Those who have been at the other end when Terry has been in receipt of a dodgy one will not require a description of his face; it is etched on one’s cricketing memory much like the Wallis ‘long barrier’ at mid on, the Burton under arm whip from the boundary or Alan Cox’s wafer thin pads.
There was a good, inevitably partisan crowd in, perhaps three or four hundred. I was next in and played forward to and missed my first ball which hit me well above the pad. Sadly, Orange was on a roll, so to speak. I left as swiftly as I had entered. Twenty yards from the pavilion gate I was greeted warmly with, ‘Fook off back downt’ South yer useless bastard!’ Not the time for eye contact.
Keith Hardie avoided the hat-trick but along with Ross, Len Stubbs and Steve Doughty couldn’t go on beyond the twenties to relieve the pressure. Indeed every time it felt as though were in a position to launch, Mr. Orange intervened. Doughty’s was arguably the worst but Chris Hayles also fell foul and well before Ossie joined me in affirming his Primary Club membership we were resigned to our 27-run defeat. The last six wickets fell for just 27; doubling that would have seen us through to a final against Blackpool. As it was York went on to win the trophy……. presumably without Mr. Orange.
Ashes Batting Matters
George sent me the following interesting observations
For all the talk about Broad as the new Flintoff etc. I thought the whole of the English lower order played an unusually big part in the Ashes series. In the past we have so often seen a quick and ugly collapse after 6 or 7. This is wholly depressing for the batting team, whilst a fiercely wagging tail can be equally frustrating and depressing for the fielding team. I decided to do a bit of analysis comparing the average runs per wicket England scored for the first five wickets per innings and the average for the last five wickets.
2009 Ashes
TEST
FALL OF 5TH WICKET
FALL OF 10TH WICKET
RUNS WICKETS 5 TO 10
1st Test
1ST innings
241
435
194
2nd innings
70
252
(for 9)
182
(4 wickets)
2nd Test
1ST innings
317
425
108
2nd innings
260
311
51
(1 wicket)
3rd Test
1ST innings
168
376
208
2nd innings
n/a
n/a
n/a
4th test
1ST innings
63
102
39
2nd innings
78
263
185
5th Test
1ST innings
229
332
103
2nd innings
168
373
205
(4 wickets)
TOTAL
1594 for 45 wickets
TOTAL
1275 for 39 wickets
35 Runs per wicket
33 Runs per wicket
The results show that on average through the series England’s lower half averaged 33 runs per wicket taken compared with the upper half’s 35: only 2 different. It wasn’t all Broad either. Swann’s courageous 249 runs at an average of nearly 36 was a great effort. (Not great enough though to have him regarded as a batsman on those channel 5 TV team lists). He was England’s 4th highest run scorer after Strauss, Collingwood and Prior. I’m not sure whether it is credit only to the individuals concerned or whether the management has instilled a much tougher attitude to lower order batting. Let’s hope that it survives into the winter and that our South African batsmen can give their South African bowlers some stick too.
One of my money saving wheezes is only to buy Wisden when England win the Ashes, so in order to find some comparison for the above analysis I had a look at the Ashes win in 2005. The results are shown below.
2005 Ashes
TEST
FALL OF 5TH WICKET
FALL OF 10TH (or last) WICKET
RUNS for WICKETS 5 TO 10
1st Test
1ST innings
21
155
134
2nd innings
119
180
61
2nd Test
1ST innings
290
407
117
2nd innings
72
182
110
3rd Test
1ST innings
341
444
103
2nd innings
248
280
32 (1 wicket)
4th test
1ST innings
241
477
236
2nd innings
103
129
26 (2 wickets)
5th Test
1ST innings
274
373
99
2nd innings
126
335
209
TOTAL
1835 for 50 wickets
TOTAL
1127 for 43 wickets
37 Runs per wicket
26 Runs per wicket
We may be a little surprised to learn that a team with Trescothick, Vaughan and Peterson (as well as Strauss) up the order only managed two runs per wicket more than this summer’s effort. However, the lower order, even bolstered by an on-song Freddie and good runs from Geraint Jones, performed overall a lot poorer. Now if we could get that upper order per wicket over 40, where it should be and the tail still wagged, that would be progress.
Dream Teams
Paddy Carlin sent me the following
I saw six sides from Division Two of the County Championship this summer from, I admit, only seven games and had no sightings of Kent, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. My eclectic best side from what I saw is as follows:
Cosgrove, Glamorgan
Rees, Glamorgan
White, Northants
Afzaal, Surrey
Malan, Middlesex
Foster, Essex
Hall, Northants
Boje, Northants, captain
Van der Wath, Northants
Kaneria, Essex
Lucas, Northants
Honourable mention is given to Schofield and ten Doeschate comes into the limited over side. I didn’t see any runs from Cook, Bopara and Shah. I didn’t see a good off spinner but one would be needed with all the left handers around. My side will not be brilliant in the field but not too bad. Only four of my side, though, are English born. I look forward next season to seeing the restructured Middlesex and surrey sides but have only just realised that it is a long seven months before I can do this.
Oval Matters
Once he got a sniff of the high life Paddy Carlin couldn’t keep away and he sent me this from his armchair in the Montpellier Club whilst watching Surrey’s Championship match with Glamorgan
My views on Surrey’s finances may not beentirely correct because although the cricket club is a disaster the finances are after all extremely healthy. Why? The de Menezes enquiry was held at the Oval and it yielded income of c£1m and as long as Surrey can persuade the Met to gun down an innocent man in South London every couple of years things will be OK.
Glamorgan have the fattest man playing county cricketin Mark Cosgrove. He even makes Crofty and Dalrymple look slim. But he can bat, astonishingly fields rather well in the covers and even bowls a little medium pace.
Glamorgan have the obligatory South African paceman in the giant Kruger who eventually took six wickets after returning from a stay in the pavilion to demolish the tail. Like van der Wath he wears a large shiny watch.
Afzal scored a marvellous 170. Are Bopara and Shah really that much better than him? Apparently, according to my pal Barry, he is not a very nice man, but that didn’t hamper Bradman, Hammond, Boycott and the PPS from succeeding at test level. Perhaps the Great Jack Morgan should compose a Strange Eleven of “not very nice men” to compete against their antitheses “the nice guys”.
Discussion in the box with Barry, Martin Bicknell and Tony Murphy centred on Adams being no good, Batty to be replaced by Davies, Luke Wright to come from Sussex and Robert Key to be next year’s captain. Apparently everyone suddenly wants top play at Surrey, but they may cool down when they discover that the players report for 2010 on November 3 this year. We also discussed who would be bowling next year since only Schofield ever looks like taking a wicket.
There was some wonderful batting from Cosgrove who surely must get into any Australian representative side. He smashes the ball and I would love to be his bat supplier. No corridor of uncertainty here. If it is in the corridior it is going to go a long way. The place to avoid in the field is fro gully to extra cover. He can’t really play off his legs, but in county cricket there is a limit to how many times you can bowl down the leg side.
Glamorgan scored their all time record total against Surrey. Cosgrove was run out. He isn’t very good at running but doesn’t have to do it too often. Rees, Wallace and Allenby all scored hundreds as well. Surrey are in disarray, perhaps even more than Middlesex, with only Schofield and Afzal looking up to it.. Amazingly, Jordan, who bowled crap, is going on a Lions tour this winter.
The Great Jack Morgan was also there
I went to the Oval for the Championship match against Glamorgan, who were still clinging to the hope of promotion. Surrey chose to bat first and although they did not get off to a good start, they managed to amass a total of 430 through the efforts of Arun Harinath (57), Usman Afzaal (170) and Matt Spriegel (100), with Garnett Kruger doing exceptionally well to wring some life out of the placid Oval track to take 6 for 93. The Surrey score, however, was soon put into perspective by a record opening stand of 315 by left-handers Gareth Rees (154) and Mark Cosgrove (175), before the heavyweight Aussie failed to gather enough momentum to beat Schofield's throw from square leg. This started a collapse that saw the Welshmen descend to the depths of 405 for 5 before the situation was rescued by an excellent stand of 240 (also a record) by keeper Mark Wallace and Aussie allrounder Jim Allenby, both of whom hit their highest scores in first class cricket. Wallace enjoys his trips to London as he had equalled his highest score of 128 at Lord's in April and on this occasion, he went further by recording 139 (these were the only two occasions that he passed 50 all season), while Allenby registered 137 before Glamorgan declared on 702 for 8.
In this match, Harinath, Spriegel, Rees, Allenby and Wallace all batted much better than I had ever seen them bat before (even in the 2s) and I think this is an indication that the wicket was just too good for an interesting match to develop. The Surrey attack looked fairly toothless and I believe an exceptionally bland track was prepared for this match so that Surrey could gather a few batting points plus four for the draw and so comfortably avoid the wooden spoon, but a pitch more like the "sporting" wicket mysteriously offered for the Test match would have been more likely to entertain a fairly good crowd who will probably not see any more cricket until next April. I was particularly interested in the performance of Richard Logan, whom I had last seen at Finchampstead in July when he took 4 for 89 and 2 for 73 for Berkshire versus Shropshire; but on that occasion, it was his batting that had most impressed me as he hit a spectacular 87* off 72 balls. In this match, he did nothing with the bat, but his figures of 30-6-101-2 were easily the tidiest of all the home bowlers, he found the edge more often than anyone else and should have had Cosgrove out in the slips early on. Surrey had to bat for 100 overs to save the game and they achieved this fairly comfortably with keeper Jon Batty making 120 and skipper Stewart Walters 82, but huge credit has to go to Kruger whose match figures of 38-7-121-9 put all the other pace bowlers in the shade as the pitch was offering them little assistance; but neither did it offer anything to the spinners, six of whom were used in the match and whose combined figures were 192-25-733-7. Come on Surrey, there was a decent crowd in for this match in very good weather for late September, but there never looked likely to be a result: is this good for the game? One of the Oval foxes entertained us with a trot around the boundary on day two.
Hart Matters
Bill Hart clears up a few matters
Thanks for Googlies 82. as usual very interesting and thought-provoking. I was particularly intrigued by the section in which "The Professor" considered the relationship and relative strengths of Minor Counties cricket and top-class club cricket. I found myself agreeing with most of his comments and conclusions. What was your view?
My main reason for writing is to comment on the Mike Selvey remarks. As you know, I knew Mike quite well and well remember that game in August 1965. By chance it was the day after a match at Ealing that I have brought to your attention before, where Terry played a magnificent innings on a bad wicket to see us home by 3 wickets. Selvey took just the one wicket (for 67 runs), and scored only 2 when his turn came to bat. Modesty forbids me mentioning anything else.
I also heard from Robin Ager
It is true that Mike Selvey bowled me for a duck in 1965, but it was all Bill Hart's fault. He gave the lad from his old school such a build-up that I was not surprised to bow to his genius. I was the only one to do so and, as Selvey observes, we hammered them.
I can recall the ball even now, swinging both ways at approaching 90mph, deflecting unluckily from my bat and/or boot and just dislodging one bail. Or it could have been a straight medium pace trundle that I missed. Cricketarchive records that I was in a rich vein of form at the time, amassing 6 against Ealing in the previous game, and 4 versus Tunbridge Wells in the following one.
It has never been my ambition to see my name in the Guardian and, now that it has appeared, it is a pity Selvey couldn't get the spelling right. After all, cricketarchive does. I hope he does his research more thoroughly on more important issues.
I am all in favour of blaming and would welcome further anecdotes which blame others, particularly those involving Bill Hart
Surrey twos Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me these reports
I went to Charterhouse for the Second XI Championship match between Surrey and Kent. School was out, of course, so I expected the place to be a haven of tranquillity, but the whole place was buzzing with activity as maintenance, decorating, repair work and preparations for the new term were conducted at full volume. I have never heard so many motor mowing machines and hedge trimmers in action at once, while staff whizzed around on noisy motorised carts and they even had their own road sweeping vehicle whining around collecting grass cuttings, hedge clippings etc; even when there was a slight lull, there would always be the distinctive cry of the greater spotted angle-grinder in the background. Surrey won the toss and skipper Arun Harinath and impressive newcomer (to me) Josh Lawrence put on 66 for the first wicket before Harinath went for 29. Lawrence found little support from his next three partners and had made 106 out of 156 (68% of the total) when he became the fifth batsman out and the first of three victims for ex-Gloucestershire pace bowler Will Rudge. This was a disappointing position for Surrey, but fortunately, Tom Smith (on loan from Sussex) with 60 and keeper “Rabbie” Burns (49) put on 92 for the seventh wicket, which allowed Surrey to reach the respectability of 290 all out. When Kent batted, they made Surrey's total look like a very good score: captain James Goodman made 83*, but no 9 Will Rudge (56) was the only other batsman to exceed 22 as Kent were bowled out for 199, with Alex Tudor taking 4 for 30 and Simon King 3 for 47. Second time around, Surrey declared on 167-7 (skipper Harinath 69*, keeper Burns 55), but could not clinch the victory as Kent held out on 132 -8 (off-spinner King 4 for 61).
I went to the attractive Reigate Priory ground for the Surrey 2s Championship match versus Hampshire; it is the eleventh home ground on which I have seen Surrey play. Surrey won the toss and batted first and though Tom Lancefield (46) and Laurie Evans (48) played soundly, it was Irish wicket-keeper Gary Wilson (ex-MCCYCs) who brought the first day to life. Gary played very entertainingly and quickly reached the mid-eighties, but then he crawled through the late eighties and nineties. When he reached his century a declaration was expected, but skipper Evans decided to bat on and not only did Wilson go on to 155, but further runs came from the tail as Tom Jewell made 36, Simon King 24 and an incredible last wicket stand between Warwickshire loanee Jim Anyon (67) and Middlesex man Toby Roland-Jones (69*) took the total up to 512, not bad from 196 for 6. James Tomlinson, who took 67 first class wickets in 2008, was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 63. The energetic wagging of the Surrey tail seemed to demoralise Hants and they batted poorly to be dismissed for 201, with Adam Rouse top scoring with 42* and off-spinner King taking the bowling honours with 5 for 109. Following on, they did slightly better with opening bat (and useful off-spinner) Matthew Kleinveldt starring with an impressive 126, which allowed Hants to hold on for the draw at 270 for 8; left arm spinner Tom Smith (on loan from Sussex) was the best of the Surrey bowlers in the second innings with 3 for 45.
Minor Counties Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me this
I went to Upton Court Park, Slough for the four day Minor Counties Championship Final between Buckinghamshire and Cheshire. Bucks won the toss and took advantage of a good track, some ordinary bowling and terrible fielding (though keeper Matt Dawson is excluded from criticism). Fahim Qureshi (ex-Middlesex 2s) and Ricky Hopwood (35) put on 77 for the first wicket, but then Qureshi and captain Jason Harrison embarked on a superb second wicket stand of 231 before Harrison departed for 101. Qureshi carried on to 162 and with support from Paul Sawyer (39) took the total up to 369 for 5 at the compulsory closure after 90 overs. Cheshire also got off to a good start to their reply as openers Warren Goodwin (44) and Ricky Moore (62) put on 89 for the first wicket, but the innings failed to take off from there as only Ben Spendlove (ex-Derbyshire) with 41 and skipper Andy Hall (56*) made more than 16 and the innings declined to 305 all out with veteran medium pacer Simon Stanway doing damage with 4 for 74 and off-spinner Sam Cherry taking 3 for 85. The lead of 64 was improved by Hopwood's 73, Sawyer's 50 and Cherry's 52*, despite Danny Berry's 4 for 56 and the Bucks second innings total of 336 set Cheshire 401 to win in about a day and a third. Goodwin with 40, Spendlove with 91 and Berry with 50* all contrived to give Cheshire a sniff of the title, but Cherry (5 for 83) and Sawyer (3 for 85) ensured that Bucks took the Championship trophy as Cheshire fell 117 runs short of the target. Cherry and Berry had fruitful games in this match... if only Bob Peach had been playing!
Cricketarchive Matters
Allan Cox resolved the mystery as to the source of match details
On matters relating to cricketarchive and specifically details of Mike Selvey's debut for Old Grammarians ( C & G 82-2 ), there's no mystery as to how they got the details. I have forwarded to cricketarchive all the transcriptions (1960-1972 incl.) that Bill Hart and I have done thus far and I've also years '73, '74, '75, '76, '77, & '80 ready for submission when I've checked for errors etc. Have you ever checked out cricketarchive website? It has such a wealth of cricket information, it's like having an entire Wisden collection at your fingertips.
And Bill Hart tells me
The SHCC Stats CDs have now been distributed, and further copies can be obtained from me.
Oval Matters
I wrote to the Great Jack Morgan last month and noted the following
There was a time during the school holidays when I spent almost as much time at the Oval as I did at Lords. I don’t remember it being a particularly high scoring ground in those days. I was more likely to see Bernard Constable grind out a tedious fifty than see 400 plus in a day, although I was there when Cowdrey (182) and Dexter(172) both made big hundreds on the first day of a test against Pakistan who had drafted in a policeman, Fazal Mahmood to open the bowling because of injuries to other bowlers earlier in the tour.
On one particularly tedious occasion against Middlesex Mike Willett, an occasional and unspectacular off spinner, bowled ten consecutive maidens before Alan Moss came to the crease and, in the modern parlance, slog swept him for three sixes.
He replied
My memory of Mike Willett is that he was mainly a batsman who spent years in the 2s before finally getting a regular place (and his cap) in the early sixties, but then promptly had to retire through injury. He also bowled a bit of unsuccessful medium pace, but I would not have thought that he was good enough to bowl ten consecutive maidens, even against Middlesex! I certainly never saw A Moss slog-sweep 3 sixes in one innings; in fact, I can't remember him ever getting to double figures in my presence. That innings must have been his career best 40 in '62, which I definitely did not see. However, Wisden gives some credence to this unlikely tale: "Middlesex fared so badly against Sydenham that eight wickets fell for 110. Then Moss (3 sixes, 3 fours), punishing Willett for 22 in one over, bore the major part in a stand of 52 in just over half an hour with Drybrough." And Willett's first innings figures were 17-8-40-2, but I have been unable to confirm that he was experimenting with off-spinners. He might have been, but Ron Tindall played all 32 matches that season and took 66 wickets with his off-breaks, so it would seem unlikely that Mike would have got on before Ron if off-spinning was required. In the second innings, P Loader was unable to bowl and Mike had to bowl a long spell, as did Ron, who took 4-53 (when the back up spinner was K Barrington). The Middlesex side looks dreadfully weak, but four spinners got a bowl: Bick, Drybrough, Smith and Bedford (all dead except Drybrough, I believe).
I responded
Your dispute over my Willett anecdote sent me back to my scorebooks. My first visit to the oval was in 1960 to see the first day of the South Africa test. England’s side included Doug Padgett at seven and Tommy Greenhough at eleven. I only went on the first day but must have completed the England innings in my scorebook from the radio on day two.
In the Willett match Surrey batted first and Ken Barrington top scored in a total of 287 in which there were three run outs. The innings lasted 89 overs of which Don Bick bowled forty taking 4 for 136. Middlesex lost Gale overnight and were reduced to 110 for 8 by lunch on day two. Willett started with seven consecutive maidens and after sixteen overs his figures were 2 for 18. In his seventeenth over Alan Moss struck him for 600466. Sydenham dismissed him for 40. Ron Tindall was playing but did not bowl. Peter May then scored 123 not out but I am ashamed to admit that I can remember nothing of it. On the final day Middlesex were bowled out for 209 and so lost by 150 runs. Willett took 2 for 71 and Tindall 4 for 53. Moss hit another six in his second innings of 15. Mike Sturt and Roger Pearman were playing for Middlesex presumably covering for Parfitt and Murray on test duty. Bick must have been covering for Titmus for the same reason.
Ted Jackson
I noticed the following on the Middlesex website
Middlesex CCC are sad to report that Ted Jackson CBE, one of the legendary figures in Middlesex youth cricket died on Tuesday aged 86. He had been in poor health for some time.
Homeland Matters
Carole Perham sent me this
Question: Where does the England Cricket Team stay when on tour in South Africa ?
Answer: With their families of course!
Football Matters
Andrew Baker rang me recently to have a chuckle over Liverpool’s exploits with their own beech ball. He told me that his Ladies Team are always practising with beach balls and are adept at bending them either way. He had better be careful or Rafa will be signing them up in the transfer window.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 83
November 2009
Middlesex Matters
Bob Baxter tried to stick up for Angus’ performance in 2009: “Well you have to remember that Angus didn’t take over until early this year and contracts and players are sorted out by around now for next season so he was not involved in that process. His role is more of a general one but he had to spend more time with the first team than he had planned because of our poor form.”
This seemed a very generous analysis. Let’s see how Gus is doing for next year. He has the following departures: Billy Godleman (Essex), David Nash (retired), Alan Richardson (Worcestershire), Chris Silverwood (released), Murali Kartik and Nick Compton (Somerset) but, so far he has only signed Tom Smith from Sussex and Scott Newman from Surrey. This seems like a significant weakening of last season’s feeble bunch. He has failed to sign Matthew Hoggard and as far as I know has expressed no interest in Craig Spearman, often a scourge of Middlesex in the past, Billy Taylor another pain in Middlesex’s past has been released by Hampshire and Hilton Ackerman has been released by Leicestershire. Perhaps he will make a belated dash for one or more of these geriatrics. None of this would suggest that the 2010 squad will be any better than last year’s. At the end of season Forum for Middlesex Cricket Angus Fraser said that his priorities were to sign an opening batsman, two fast bowlers and a spinner to replace Kartik. He admitted the batting had been poor and a powerful coaching figure would be brought in as well as a bowling coach. He has plenty of work to do. Most counties are starting their pre seasons for 2010 in November.
But surprisingly the Great Jack Morgan is happy
Brilliant! Leicestershire took the spoon away from us! Some Middlesex supporters claim not to care whether we are last or next to last, but I reckon it is terribly ignominious to be the worst team in the country and I felt quite elated that we were not the worst in the country for the first time in our history. England avoiding a whitewash, Middlesex avoiding the spoon... does it get any better?
Out and About with the Professor’s Wife
As you know, my wife is an enthusiastic golfer. (When you take up golf late in life, “enthusiastic” is the only reasonably acceptable adjective.) Last week she was playing with an older woman who, in the general chit-chat that accompanies women’s golf, revealed that she had played cricket for England. And so she had. A quick search of Cricinfo showed a modest record of four matches in the early 1970s: 6 wickets at 12 each.
The next week, Judith told her new-found chum that I had looked her up and seen her record. “Ah yes”, she said, “I didn’t get too many games, but I wouldn’t have played at all if I hadn’t moved to Kent”. She was quite clear on this. Living as she did in the Midlands she had no chance of being picked for England and so had to move to a more “fashionable” home county.
Now this set me pondering. I think we all have heard this type of complaint about the men’s game from time to time. Do you think there is any truth in it? Or…was there any truth in it?
In essence this is very easily researched. Take all the counties of England players since (say) the War and see what the distribution looks like. I don’t have the enthusiasm or the energy to do this but I can think of a couple of Googlies readers who might. Indeed, deep in the caverns of the Assn. of Cricket Statisticians there is perhaps a readily accessible bar-chart showing, possibly Middlesex, Surrey and Yorkshire at one end and Glamorgan and Derbyshire at the other. It may even be in Wisden somewhere.
However, James, you will know from your studies of quantitative methods that a correlation is not a causation. A may correlate with B, but we cannot infer that it caused B. B may have caused A, or both be the result of some third influence, C. So if we can conclude that “County” is an explanatory variable in England selection does that mean that there is (or was) selectoral bias (surely not), or that England selection correlates with the strength of the County (more research), or that the best players gravitate to specific counties because of some other factor (say finance) which in turn is unevenly distributed, or what?
Can Googlies readers think of past players who they could volunteer for shorter (or longer) England careers had they changed County? Might the names Downton or Pringle appear? I invite contributions.
Jaffer Matters
Steve Thompson sent me this report of an infamous occasion
The term “Jaffer” was originally thought to have described an exceptionally well-bowled, practically unplayable delivery, usually but not always from a fast bowler. After the events of 18th August, 1975 the glossary of cricketing terms could well have been qualified with an addendum.
This was a clash of reigning county league champions; a fitting semi-final. We traveled by train to the oft described ‘fair’ City of York for what was to prove to be the last National Club Knockout Semi-final to be officiated by one’s own club umpire. Clive Coleman officiated for South Hampstead, a certain Mr. Sidney Orange stood for the home team. Those unfamiliar with this sorry tale may already begin to see where it is going.
In what was the club’s Centenary Year the route to the semi-final began somewhat controversially. I seem to remember with a sweet-tasting, toss-of-a-coin victory over Hampstead at Milverton Road. The match was abandoned with our long-lost visitors (it was our first encounter after a 40-year feud) having been rolled over for just 107. Someone may need to correct my memory but was this not the infamous, ‘Jim Franklin the umpire/Laws of Cricket/no you can’t mop the pitch’ match which resulted in the clubs agreeing not to play each other for another 40 years?
Brentham, Shepherd’s Bush, Gore Court and Southgate (captained by Jim Conroy) were all beaten before our appointment with Mr. Orange was set. It is worth noting that Bob Peach had five rounds worth of figures which read 40 overs, 12 for 92 by this stage. He and the rest of the attack which had variously included Burton, Jerman, Howe, Hayles, Doughty and most significantly, Hardie and Dickerson were the strength of the side and were also to perform well at Clifton Park, York.
Bolstered by confirmation of the late inclusion of Nigel Ross who had spent the previous day playing for Middlesex against Lancashire at Old Trafford in a John Player League match, much would depend on our ability to score enough runs.
York won the toss and elected to bat. Our bowling again proved effective, ironically only Bob Peach went for more than four an over, and with Ossie Burton taking 5 for 19 from his 8 overs only a belligerent 81 not out from opener Des Wyrill allowed the home side to set a target of any real substance. A score of 165 was no better than par on a large ground with plenty of opportunities for two and threes but with boundaries at a relative premium. We were optimistic at tea. Were they really marmalade sandwiches?
Ross and Cordaroy had reached 33 before Terry became the first of four leg before decisions given by the ‘home’ umpire. Those who have been at the other end when Terry has been in receipt of a dodgy one will not require a description of his face; it is etched on one’s cricketing memory much like the Wallis ‘long barrier’ at mid on, the Burton under arm whip from the boundary or Alan Cox’s wafer thin pads.
There was a good, inevitably partisan crowd in, perhaps three or four hundred. I was next in and played forward to and missed my first ball which hit me well above the pad. Sadly, Orange was on a roll, so to speak. I left as swiftly as I had entered. Twenty yards from the pavilion gate I was greeted warmly with, ‘Fook off back downt’ South yer useless bastard!’ Not the time for eye contact.
Keith Hardie avoided the hat-trick but along with Ross, Len Stubbs and Steve Doughty couldn’t go on beyond the twenties to relieve the pressure. Indeed every time it felt as though were in a position to launch, Mr. Orange intervened. Doughty’s was arguably the worst but Chris Hayles also fell foul and well before Ossie joined me in affirming his Primary Club membership we were resigned to our 27-run defeat. The last six wickets fell for just 27; doubling that would have seen us through to a final against Blackpool. As it was York went on to win the trophy……. presumably without Mr. Orange.
Ashes Batting Matters
George sent me the following interesting observations
For all the talk about Broad as the new Flintoff etc. I thought the whole of the English lower order played an unusually big part in the Ashes series. In the past we have so often seen a quick and ugly collapse after 6 or 7. This is wholly depressing for the batting team, whilst a fiercely wagging tail can be equally frustrating and depressing for the fielding team. I decided to do a bit of analysis comparing the average runs per wicket England scored for the first five wickets per innings and the average for the last five wickets.
2009 Ashes
TEST
FALL OF 5TH WICKET
FALL OF 10TH WICKET
RUNS WICKETS 5 TO 10
1st Test
1ST innings
241
435
194
2nd innings
70
252
(for 9)
182
(4 wickets)
2nd Test
1ST innings
317
425
108
2nd innings
260
311
51
(1 wicket)
3rd Test
1ST innings
168
376
208
2nd innings
n/a
n/a
n/a
4th test
1ST innings
63
102
39
2nd innings
78
263
185
5th Test
1ST innings
229
332
103
2nd innings
168
373
205
(4 wickets)
TOTAL
1594 for 45 wickets
TOTAL
1275 for 39 wickets
35 Runs per wicket
33 Runs per wicket
The results show that on average through the series England’s lower half averaged 33 runs per wicket taken compared with the upper half’s 35: only 2 different. It wasn’t all Broad either. Swann’s courageous 249 runs at an average of nearly 36 was a great effort. (Not great enough though to have him regarded as a batsman on those channel 5 TV team lists). He was England’s 4th highest run scorer after Strauss, Collingwood and Prior. I’m not sure whether it is credit only to the individuals concerned or whether the management has instilled a much tougher attitude to lower order batting. Let’s hope that it survives into the winter and that our South African batsmen can give their South African bowlers some stick too.
One of my money saving wheezes is only to buy Wisden when England win the Ashes, so in order to find some comparison for the above analysis I had a look at the Ashes win in 2005. The results are shown below.
2005 Ashes
TEST
FALL OF 5TH WICKET
FALL OF 10TH (or last) WICKET
RUNS for WICKETS 5 TO 10
1st Test
1ST innings
21
155
134
2nd innings
119
180
61
2nd Test
1ST innings
290
407
117
2nd innings
72
182
110
3rd Test
1ST innings
341
444
103
2nd innings
248
280
32 (1 wicket)
4th test
1ST innings
241
477
236
2nd innings
103
129
26 (2 wickets)
5th Test
1ST innings
274
373
99
2nd innings
126
335
209
TOTAL
1835 for 50 wickets
TOTAL
1127 for 43 wickets
37 Runs per wicket
26 Runs per wicket
We may be a little surprised to learn that a team with Trescothick, Vaughan and Peterson (as well as Strauss) up the order only managed two runs per wicket more than this summer’s effort. However, the lower order, even bolstered by an on-song Freddie and good runs from Geraint Jones, performed overall a lot poorer. Now if we could get that upper order per wicket over 40, where it should be and the tail still wagged, that would be progress.
Dream Teams
Paddy Carlin sent me the following
I saw six sides from Division Two of the County Championship this summer from, I admit, only seven games and had no sightings of Kent, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. My eclectic best side from what I saw is as follows:
Cosgrove, Glamorgan
Rees, Glamorgan
White, Northants
Afzaal, Surrey
Malan, Middlesex
Foster, Essex
Hall, Northants
Boje, Northants, captain
Van der Wath, Northants
Kaneria, Essex
Lucas, Northants
Honourable mention is given to Schofield and ten Doeschate comes into the limited over side. I didn’t see any runs from Cook, Bopara and Shah. I didn’t see a good off spinner but one would be needed with all the left handers around. My side will not be brilliant in the field but not too bad. Only four of my side, though, are English born. I look forward next season to seeing the restructured Middlesex and surrey sides but have only just realised that it is a long seven months before I can do this.
Oval Matters
Once he got a sniff of the high life Paddy Carlin couldn’t keep away and he sent me this from his armchair in the Montpellier Club whilst watching Surrey’s Championship match with Glamorgan
My views on Surrey’s finances may not beentirely correct because although the cricket club is a disaster the finances are after all extremely healthy. Why? The de Menezes enquiry was held at the Oval and it yielded income of c£1m and as long as Surrey can persuade the Met to gun down an innocent man in South London every couple of years things will be OK.
Glamorgan have the fattest man playing county cricketin Mark Cosgrove. He even makes Crofty and Dalrymple look slim. But he can bat, astonishingly fields rather well in the covers and even bowls a little medium pace.
Glamorgan have the obligatory South African paceman in the giant Kruger who eventually took six wickets after returning from a stay in the pavilion to demolish the tail. Like van der Wath he wears a large shiny watch.
Afzal scored a marvellous 170. Are Bopara and Shah really that much better than him? Apparently, according to my pal Barry, he is not a very nice man, but that didn’t hamper Bradman, Hammond, Boycott and the PPS from succeeding at test level. Perhaps the Great Jack Morgan should compose a Strange Eleven of “not very nice men” to compete against their antitheses “the nice guys”.
Discussion in the box with Barry, Martin Bicknell and Tony Murphy centred on Adams being no good, Batty to be replaced by Davies, Luke Wright to come from Sussex and Robert Key to be next year’s captain. Apparently everyone suddenly wants top play at Surrey, but they may cool down when they discover that the players report for 2010 on November 3 this year. We also discussed who would be bowling next year since only Schofield ever looks like taking a wicket.
There was some wonderful batting from Cosgrove who surely must get into any Australian representative side. He smashes the ball and I would love to be his bat supplier. No corridor of uncertainty here. If it is in the corridior it is going to go a long way. The place to avoid in the field is fro gully to extra cover. He can’t really play off his legs, but in county cricket there is a limit to how many times you can bowl down the leg side.
Glamorgan scored their all time record total against Surrey. Cosgrove was run out. He isn’t very good at running but doesn’t have to do it too often. Rees, Wallace and Allenby all scored hundreds as well. Surrey are in disarray, perhaps even more than Middlesex, with only Schofield and Afzal looking up to it.. Amazingly, Jordan, who bowled crap, is going on a Lions tour this winter.
The Great Jack Morgan was also there
I went to the Oval for the Championship match against Glamorgan, who were still clinging to the hope of promotion. Surrey chose to bat first and although they did not get off to a good start, they managed to amass a total of 430 through the efforts of Arun Harinath (57), Usman Afzaal (170) and Matt Spriegel (100), with Garnett Kruger doing exceptionally well to wring some life out of the placid Oval track to take 6 for 93. The Surrey score, however, was soon put into perspective by a record opening stand of 315 by left-handers Gareth Rees (154) and Mark Cosgrove (175), before the heavyweight Aussie failed to gather enough momentum to beat Schofield's throw from square leg. This started a collapse that saw the Welshmen descend to the depths of 405 for 5 before the situation was rescued by an excellent stand of 240 (also a record) by keeper Mark Wallace and Aussie allrounder Jim Allenby, both of whom hit their highest scores in first class cricket. Wallace enjoys his trips to London as he had equalled his highest score of 128 at Lord's in April and on this occasion, he went further by recording 139 (these were the only two occasions that he passed 50 all season), while Allenby registered 137 before Glamorgan declared on 702 for 8.
In this match, Harinath, Spriegel, Rees, Allenby and Wallace all batted much better than I had ever seen them bat before (even in the 2s) and I think this is an indication that the wicket was just too good for an interesting match to develop. The Surrey attack looked fairly toothless and I believe an exceptionally bland track was prepared for this match so that Surrey could gather a few batting points plus four for the draw and so comfortably avoid the wooden spoon, but a pitch more like the "sporting" wicket mysteriously offered for the Test match would have been more likely to entertain a fairly good crowd who will probably not see any more cricket until next April. I was particularly interested in the performance of Richard Logan, whom I had last seen at Finchampstead in July when he took 4 for 89 and 2 for 73 for Berkshire versus Shropshire; but on that occasion, it was his batting that had most impressed me as he hit a spectacular 87* off 72 balls. In this match, he did nothing with the bat, but his figures of 30-6-101-2 were easily the tidiest of all the home bowlers, he found the edge more often than anyone else and should have had Cosgrove out in the slips early on. Surrey had to bat for 100 overs to save the game and they achieved this fairly comfortably with keeper Jon Batty making 120 and skipper Stewart Walters 82, but huge credit has to go to Kruger whose match figures of 38-7-121-9 put all the other pace bowlers in the shade as the pitch was offering them little assistance; but neither did it offer anything to the spinners, six of whom were used in the match and whose combined figures were 192-25-733-7. Come on Surrey, there was a decent crowd in for this match in very good weather for late September, but there never looked likely to be a result: is this good for the game? One of the Oval foxes entertained us with a trot around the boundary on day two.
Hart Matters
Bill Hart clears up a few matters
Thanks for Googlies 82. as usual very interesting and thought-provoking. I was particularly intrigued by the section in which "The Professor" considered the relationship and relative strengths of Minor Counties cricket and top-class club cricket. I found myself agreeing with most of his comments and conclusions. What was your view?
My main reason for writing is to comment on the Mike Selvey remarks. As you know, I knew Mike quite well and well remember that game in August 1965. By chance it was the day after a match at Ealing that I have brought to your attention before, where Terry played a magnificent innings on a bad wicket to see us home by 3 wickets. Selvey took just the one wicket (for 67 runs), and scored only 2 when his turn came to bat. Modesty forbids me mentioning anything else.
I also heard from Robin Ager
It is true that Mike Selvey bowled me for a duck in 1965, but it was all Bill Hart's fault. He gave the lad from his old school such a build-up that I was not surprised to bow to his genius. I was the only one to do so and, as Selvey observes, we hammered them.
I can recall the ball even now, swinging both ways at approaching 90mph, deflecting unluckily from my bat and/or boot and just dislodging one bail. Or it could have been a straight medium pace trundle that I missed. Cricketarchive records that I was in a rich vein of form at the time, amassing 6 against Ealing in the previous game, and 4 versus Tunbridge Wells in the following one.
It has never been my ambition to see my name in the Guardian and, now that it has appeared, it is a pity Selvey couldn't get the spelling right. After all, cricketarchive does. I hope he does his research more thoroughly on more important issues.
I am all in favour of blaming and would welcome further anecdotes which blame others, particularly those involving Bill Hart
Surrey twos Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me these reports
I went to Charterhouse for the Second XI Championship match between Surrey and Kent. School was out, of course, so I expected the place to be a haven of tranquillity, but the whole place was buzzing with activity as maintenance, decorating, repair work and preparations for the new term were conducted at full volume. I have never heard so many motor mowing machines and hedge trimmers in action at once, while staff whizzed around on noisy motorised carts and they even had their own road sweeping vehicle whining around collecting grass cuttings, hedge clippings etc; even when there was a slight lull, there would always be the distinctive cry of the greater spotted angle-grinder in the background. Surrey won the toss and skipper Arun Harinath and impressive newcomer (to me) Josh Lawrence put on 66 for the first wicket before Harinath went for 29. Lawrence found little support from his next three partners and had made 106 out of 156 (68% of the total) when he became the fifth batsman out and the first of three victims for ex-Gloucestershire pace bowler Will Rudge. This was a disappointing position for Surrey, but fortunately, Tom Smith (on loan from Sussex) with 60 and keeper “Rabbie” Burns (49) put on 92 for the seventh wicket, which allowed Surrey to reach the respectability of 290 all out. When Kent batted, they made Surrey's total look like a very good score: captain James Goodman made 83*, but no 9 Will Rudge (56) was the only other batsman to exceed 22 as Kent were bowled out for 199, with Alex Tudor taking 4 for 30 and Simon King 3 for 47. Second time around, Surrey declared on 167-7 (skipper Harinath 69*, keeper Burns 55), but could not clinch the victory as Kent held out on 132 -8 (off-spinner King 4 for 61).
I went to the attractive Reigate Priory ground for the Surrey 2s Championship match versus Hampshire; it is the eleventh home ground on which I have seen Surrey play. Surrey won the toss and batted first and though Tom Lancefield (46) and Laurie Evans (48) played soundly, it was Irish wicket-keeper Gary Wilson (ex-MCCYCs) who brought the first day to life. Gary played very entertainingly and quickly reached the mid-eighties, but then he crawled through the late eighties and nineties. When he reached his century a declaration was expected, but skipper Evans decided to bat on and not only did Wilson go on to 155, but further runs came from the tail as Tom Jewell made 36, Simon King 24 and an incredible last wicket stand between Warwickshire loanee Jim Anyon (67) and Middlesex man Toby Roland-Jones (69*) took the total up to 512, not bad from 196 for 6. James Tomlinson, who took 67 first class wickets in 2008, was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 63. The energetic wagging of the Surrey tail seemed to demoralise Hants and they batted poorly to be dismissed for 201, with Adam Rouse top scoring with 42* and off-spinner King taking the bowling honours with 5 for 109. Following on, they did slightly better with opening bat (and useful off-spinner) Matthew Kleinveldt starring with an impressive 126, which allowed Hants to hold on for the draw at 270 for 8; left arm spinner Tom Smith (on loan from Sussex) was the best of the Surrey bowlers in the second innings with 3 for 45.
Minor Counties Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me this
I went to Upton Court Park, Slough for the four day Minor Counties Championship Final between Buckinghamshire and Cheshire. Bucks won the toss and took advantage of a good track, some ordinary bowling and terrible fielding (though keeper Matt Dawson is excluded from criticism). Fahim Qureshi (ex-Middlesex 2s) and Ricky Hopwood (35) put on 77 for the first wicket, but then Qureshi and captain Jason Harrison embarked on a superb second wicket stand of 231 before Harrison departed for 101. Qureshi carried on to 162 and with support from Paul Sawyer (39) took the total up to 369 for 5 at the compulsory closure after 90 overs. Cheshire also got off to a good start to their reply as openers Warren Goodwin (44) and Ricky Moore (62) put on 89 for the first wicket, but the innings failed to take off from there as only Ben Spendlove (ex-Derbyshire) with 41 and skipper Andy Hall (56*) made more than 16 and the innings declined to 305 all out with veteran medium pacer Simon Stanway doing damage with 4 for 74 and off-spinner Sam Cherry taking 3 for 85. The lead of 64 was improved by Hopwood's 73, Sawyer's 50 and Cherry's 52*, despite Danny Berry's 4 for 56 and the Bucks second innings total of 336 set Cheshire 401 to win in about a day and a third. Goodwin with 40, Spendlove with 91 and Berry with 50* all contrived to give Cheshire a sniff of the title, but Cherry (5 for 83) and Sawyer (3 for 85) ensured that Bucks took the Championship trophy as Cheshire fell 117 runs short of the target. Cherry and Berry had fruitful games in this match... if only Bob Peach had been playing!
Cricketarchive Matters
Allan Cox resolved the mystery as to the source of match details
On matters relating to cricketarchive and specifically details of Mike Selvey's debut for Old Grammarians ( C & G 82-2 ), there's no mystery as to how they got the details. I have forwarded to cricketarchive all the transcriptions (1960-1972 incl.) that Bill Hart and I have done thus far and I've also years '73, '74, '75, '76, '77, & '80 ready for submission when I've checked for errors etc. Have you ever checked out cricketarchive website? It has such a wealth of cricket information, it's like having an entire Wisden collection at your fingertips.
And Bill Hart tells me
The SHCC Stats CDs have now been distributed, and further copies can be obtained from me.
Oval Matters
I wrote to the Great Jack Morgan last month and noted the following
There was a time during the school holidays when I spent almost as much time at the Oval as I did at Lords. I don’t remember it being a particularly high scoring ground in those days. I was more likely to see Bernard Constable grind out a tedious fifty than see 400 plus in a day, although I was there when Cowdrey (182) and Dexter(172) both made big hundreds on the first day of a test against Pakistan who had drafted in a policeman, Fazal Mahmood to open the bowling because of injuries to other bowlers earlier in the tour.
On one particularly tedious occasion against Middlesex Mike Willett, an occasional and unspectacular off spinner, bowled ten consecutive maidens before Alan Moss came to the crease and, in the modern parlance, slog swept him for three sixes.
He replied
My memory of Mike Willett is that he was mainly a batsman who spent years in the 2s before finally getting a regular place (and his cap) in the early sixties, but then promptly had to retire through injury. He also bowled a bit of unsuccessful medium pace, but I would not have thought that he was good enough to bowl ten consecutive maidens, even against Middlesex! I certainly never saw A Moss slog-sweep 3 sixes in one innings; in fact, I can't remember him ever getting to double figures in my presence. That innings must have been his career best 40 in '62, which I definitely did not see. However, Wisden gives some credence to this unlikely tale: "Middlesex fared so badly against Sydenham that eight wickets fell for 110. Then Moss (3 sixes, 3 fours), punishing Willett for 22 in one over, bore the major part in a stand of 52 in just over half an hour with Drybrough." And Willett's first innings figures were 17-8-40-2, but I have been unable to confirm that he was experimenting with off-spinners. He might have been, but Ron Tindall played all 32 matches that season and took 66 wickets with his off-breaks, so it would seem unlikely that Mike would have got on before Ron if off-spinning was required. In the second innings, P Loader was unable to bowl and Mike had to bowl a long spell, as did Ron, who took 4-53 (when the back up spinner was K Barrington). The Middlesex side looks dreadfully weak, but four spinners got a bowl: Bick, Drybrough, Smith and Bedford (all dead except Drybrough, I believe).
I responded
Your dispute over my Willett anecdote sent me back to my scorebooks. My first visit to the oval was in 1960 to see the first day of the South Africa test. England’s side included Doug Padgett at seven and Tommy Greenhough at eleven. I only went on the first day but must have completed the England innings in my scorebook from the radio on day two.
In the Willett match Surrey batted first and Ken Barrington top scored in a total of 287 in which there were three run outs. The innings lasted 89 overs of which Don Bick bowled forty taking 4 for 136. Middlesex lost Gale overnight and were reduced to 110 for 8 by lunch on day two. Willett started with seven consecutive maidens and after sixteen overs his figures were 2 for 18. In his seventeenth over Alan Moss struck him for 600466. Sydenham dismissed him for 40. Ron Tindall was playing but did not bowl. Peter May then scored 123 not out but I am ashamed to admit that I can remember nothing of it. On the final day Middlesex were bowled out for 209 and so lost by 150 runs. Willett took 2 for 71 and Tindall 4 for 53. Moss hit another six in his second innings of 15. Mike Sturt and Roger Pearman were playing for Middlesex presumably covering for Parfitt and Murray on test duty. Bick must have been covering for Titmus for the same reason.
Ted Jackson
I noticed the following on the Middlesex website
Middlesex CCC are sad to report that Ted Jackson CBE, one of the legendary figures in Middlesex youth cricket died on Tuesday aged 86. He had been in poor health for some time.
Homeland Matters
Carole Perham sent me this
Question: Where does the England Cricket Team stay when on tour in South Africa ?
Answer: With their families of course!
Football Matters
Andrew Baker rang me recently to have a chuckle over Liverpool’s exploits with their own beech ball. He told me that his Ladies Team are always practising with beach balls and are adept at bending them either way. He had better be careful or Rafa will be signing them up in the transfer window.
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