Arrived at the latest addition to our outground portfolio, The Brit Oval at 5pm. TFL providing a good service this time.
 
Weather: well it is the Wimbledon fortnight, so you cannot expect it to be good and it was'nt. Despite continual forecasts of fine weather, murk for the most part dominated the proceedings: getting particularly dark during our knock plus very breezy.
 
Teams:
Surrey: Newman:Jason Roy (more of this guy later):Ramprakash*:Afzaal: Chris Murtagh:Razzaq:Batty+:Schofield:Spriegel:Ormond:Dernbach: 12th man Brown
 
The Middle: Godleman:Housego:Henderson:Joyce*:Morgan:Malan:Udal:Tim Murtagh:Scott:Burton:Finn: 12 man Danny Evans.
 
Changes: Surrey made one: promoting Jason Roy in for Ali Brown.         Middlesex as per card: unchanged from Hove. Burton (Burts) who I saw at Vine Lane a few weeks ago, retained his place from the Hove XI. Pretty nippy ( Scotty did stand up to him:  not as quick as Dirk Nannes: who, in Barry Leadbeater's opinion, is the quickest on the circuit) and Burts also looked a keen fielder. 
 
Toss: Surrey: who elected to bat.
 
Surrey Innings:
 
Highlights: Dernbach opened proceedings from the OCS Stand end and Jimmy O from the Pav end. Hendo made a great stop in the 1st over at short mid on, denying Newman a four. An air shot from the same batter from a wild swing, fell into no man's land. In the 3rd over a similar shot selection by Newman, saw his departure, bowled Dial M. Score 12 for 1. A Rampo air shot fell short of the deep midwicket fielder, but Afzaal cleared the cover field for 4 in the 5th over. 6th over: a misfield by Skipper Joyce saw Rampo scamper back for a second run. This however led to a skier next ball, by the Surrey skipper, off Finn, and he was taken by Dial M in the mid on area. Score 30 for 2. Next ball, the new Surrey batter Chris Murtagh, advanced missed and was stranded: as Housego with one and a quarter stumps to aim at, made a direct hit. Jonty Rhodes at last. Score 31 for 3. That was the Surrey score at the end of the powerplay. Things got even better as Burts came on in the 7th over and took a smart caught and bowled to remove the dangerous Razz. Score 38 for 4. At this point Batty joined Afzaal and they embarked upon a 48 run stand, the best of the Surrey innings. The 13th over produced 13 runs with some blacksmith shots from Afzaal, the first of which off Shaggy, went for 6. Finn then conceded only 2 from the next. So with 6 overs to go, Surrey were on 84 for 4. Malan was then introduced, and bowled Afzaal on the charge for 37. Score 86 for 5. Malan's second over went for 27: the sequence being 6,4,3,4,6,4. The tormentors being Schofield and Batty. The score from the oppo's point of view had moved from 92 to a healthier 119. Next over Hendo bowled Schofield 1st ball (119 for 6) and removed Roy c and b (123 for 7). Good over: 5 runs and 2 wickets restored order for The Middle. Penultimate over ( Surrey 130 for 7) bowled by Murts, led to one difficult chance ( catch over the shoulder ) which despite frantic efforts by the fielder, went to ground. Last ball of the last over bowled by Hendo, dismissed Spriegel bowled. Surrey score 139 for 8. Looked gettable.
 
Interval: the Surrey PR guy interviewed Ed Smith to pump up support for the 20/20 QF with Lanky on July 8th. The general drift was that the Oval should be turned pink ( should go down well in The Vauxhall Tavern), with the Surrey PR man exhorting Surrey to turn up and get their fellow London side through. Tickets available at the Surrey Ticket Office. There is free entry for Middlesex members.  I must say however: that the travelling Middlesex support as at The Rose Bowl and Beckenham: looked an endangered species. Apart from Darren and I: none were to be seen in our vicinity: though a few were spotted on the way to Vauxhall LUL. 
 
Middlesex Innings: 
Dernbach from the OCS opened to Godleman. After 5 dot balls the 6th was slashed for 4. Jimmy O opened from the Pav to Housego. Though righthanded, it was noticeable that he has a similar stance to Eoin. Things then proceeded fairly sedately throughout the powerplay where The Middle totalled 33 against Surrey's 31 at the 6 over mark.The light was by now very poor and after 3 dot balls from Razz in the 6th, Billy G got frustrated and was caught at mid off. Score 29 for 1. Housego then hit the next ball for 4..  The previous Razz over the 4th, went for 9 runs and featured a pleasant off drive for 3 by Housego. The Blacksmith sent in to up the runrate obliged when Surrey introduced Schofield who went for 18 in the 7th over. Hendo hammering 4,6,6. The next over the 8th saw Hendo dropped by Batty off Razz. With the introduction of Afzaal and his twirlers, Housego was next to go attempting to play to leg and was lbw for 18. Score 60 for 2. Ben Scott was promoted to 4, presumably to nudge the ones to give Hendo the strike. It was a Scotty type situation. Steady progress rather than a full broadside was required. Schofield was recalled and The Blacksmith's eyes lit up: he was gonna live dangerously: he went for a massive hit and was caught spectacularly at long on in front of the Pav by CP Murtagh for a rapid 26. Score 70 for 3. With a further 70 required from 10 overs, things quietened down after that. In the next over from Afzaal after 5 dot balls, Eoin nonchalantly despatched the last for 6. From thereon, Scotty nudged the ones and twos with occasional violence to the Surrey bowlers by Morgan to see us over the line in the 19th over. On 134, Eoin nonchalantly smashed Dernbach over the midwicket boundary for 6 to reach the 140 target with 9 balls to spare. Scott 31no and Eoin 36no. Stand 70.

Once again the bowlers did the hard yards. Hendo with 4-0-22-3 being the most successful. Eoin celebrating yet another MOM award to go with his signing for The Middle for a further 3 years. Good on yer mate. Some entertainment to come there methinks.
 
Stats: Our 20/20 record from 2003 to 2007 shows P 33 W 10 L 20 NR 3: this gave us a success rate of 33.3% and a ranking of 17th. Only Durham during that period had a worse record. So it is extremely satisfying that this year's record shows P 10 W 8 L 2. This increases our success rate to a more respectable success rate of 18 wins out of 40. Success percentage 45%. Highlight up to now, is a QF in 2005 at Leicester.

The crucial match is of course next: QF v Lanky. Ace will be available for that match. Get along and cheer the boys on at the Gasworks and turn the joint pink. Should we make it: The Rose Bowl Final will be a great day out for those who don't mind a bit of hype. We should: as all other counties do: have a mascot: there is a willing volunteer I believe. The Middle have been allocated 1600 tickets.
 
The campaign so far: IMHO the bowling backed up by improved fielding, has been our strength keeping the oppos' scores in gettable range for the batters. Stand in Captain Ed Joyce: I thought handled field placement and bowling changes throughout the group matches with aplomb. I saw 8 of the 10 matches. All of the bowlers have done the hard yards in a batters game. Dirk gave us the early momentum with his 13 wickets, supported by the spinners, TSO with 11w, Shaggy 10w. The pace with Murts (14w) supported by Finn/Burts kept the pot boiling for the Middle.  Hendo for me has earnt his allrounder's corn with 18 wickets (at 12.89 eco  6.63) and 158r (at 26.33 ) usually in quick time, with the highlight 64no at Chelmers, one of the games I regret to say I missed. This confirmed his status, as a decent 20/20 player. The find of the tournament so far for me: is the batting of Dawid Malan: an able deputy for Ace and an excellent fielder to boot: plus occasional offbreaks.  The batters have all chipped in at different times, with Eoin providing some entertaining fare, especially the flick past the wicketkeeper when standing up, which mostly hits the ropes at what used to be called backstop. Trust I have not missed anyone out. Well done The Middle. A great team effort. SM
 
Footnote: Jason Roy: a bit like Peter Trego I guess. The Surrey aficianados ( in frustration no doubt ) elected this guy to be their hero, after making a number of boundary stops in front of the OCS stand: where several blocks started giving him the Matthew le Tissier 'god style salute'.
 
 
 

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