I arrived home from work on Wednesday evening to find that Warwickshire had miraculously tied their game with Kent, thus meaning that Middlesex had qualified for the quarter finals of the FP. I was even more ecstatic to find that Middlesex had drawn Hampshire in the quarter finals, as living in the New Forest; the Rose Bowl is (by far) my nearest county ground. After pulling in some favours at work I managed to secure Saturday off to attend the game, only to be contacted by MTWD’s chief whip to write the match report! (Only kidding Ged!)

Having bought my advance ticket on Friday (which was £15 compared to the on the gate price of £20) upon reaching the ground I made my way to the ticket office to collect my ticket. However after reaching the ticket office, I was met with a completely farcical situation. The queue for collecting pre-purchased advanced tickets was longer (and took longer to process) than the queue of people waiting to purchase tickets on the day. So in the fifteen minutes it took to collect my "advance" ticket, numerous other people bought their tickets on the gate and preceded into the ground, whilst yours truly was still stuck in the queue and beginning to suffer form heat exhaustion! What a farce! Hampshire CCC expect yet another letter of grievance from me and the other members of that queue who were equally disgruntled.

Moving on Shaggy saw his long sequence of toss winning brought to an end as Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat. Perhaps to appeal to his former doting faithful at the Rose Bowl Shaggy opened the bowling! Finn opened at the other end with a probing over (which was to prove his only of the day,) which was only spoilt by a top edged four by Adams attempting a pull. Shaggy’s one over was to prove a cameo as things returned to normality when Silverwood replaced him at the pavilion end.

Finn’s second over signalled the beginning of the Hampshire onslaught as Adams crunched two consecutive boundaries down the ground. Both Hampshire openers cashed in on Middlesex bowling too full and wide as both drove boundaries at will through the off side. The introduction of the Ice Man in the eighth over (replacing the hapless Finn who’s previous over had gone for eleven) did not stem the flow of runs as Berg bowled down the leg side and Lumb (in good touch) willing accepted the gifts on offer and took eleven of the over.

As a result of the numerous driven boundaries (particular by Lumb) and excellent running between the wickets, Lumb and Adams raised the Hants 50 in the 7th over. Continued poor bowling by Berg saw fifteen come off his second over in which Lumb scored three consecutive boundaries and reached his 50 off 34 balls with 9 fours.

With Hants having romped to 78 of the first 10 overs, Shaggy unsurprisingly didn’t take the bowling power play. Shaggy introduced himself at the Northern End to try and stem the flow of runs. However the situation grew worse as first Scooby missed a leg side delivery which went for three wides and Compo missed a run out chance. Confusion in the calling left Adams stranded half way down the wicket, but a late release and a poor throw by Compo ensured Adams got home.

The introduction of first Dexter and then Malan reduced the scoring rate as both bowled tidily but Hampshire still powered on posting their 100 in the fourteenth over and Adams went to his 50 (off 55 balls with 5 fours ) with a reverse sweep for four off Malan.

The reintroduction of Finn in the 25 over saw the end of the excellent 156 first wicket partnership as Adams was bowled off an inside edge for 76. With Ervine the new batsman at the crease Shaggy took the fielding power play in the next over and tight bowling by Dexter and Udal restricted Hants to only 30 runs off the power play as they registered their 200 in the 32nd over.

Godleman shelled the first chance that Lumb gave when on 94. Attempting an on drive off Malan, Billy dived forward at mid wicket for a simple catch only to drop it. Undeterred Lumb soon went to a superb 100 made off 97 balls including 10 fours. With Hants on 213-1 in the 34th over (and with the batting power play still to take) it seemed that they were destined to make a huge score.

Thinking Big 

However two balls later Lumb shimmied down the wicket, missed the ball and was easily stumped by Scott off Malan‘s bowling for exactly 100. The first ball off the next over Ervine was caught by Malan for 34 of Udal’s bowling, as Malan dived forward and took an excellent one handed catch at short extra cover. Ervine questioned the decision (which had looked fine to me) and was clearly annoyed with it as he shook his head and showed clear dissent with the decision as he walked off towards the pavilion.

Chris Benham (new to the crease) was extremely troubled by the rest of Shaggy’s over and in the proceeding Malan over took a desperate and near suicidal single to get off strike. Therefore it was no surprise when he was dismissed in the next over by Udal for 3, as attempting a sweep he top edged it straight to Nash at leg gully. Middlesex had now reduced Hampshire to 220-4 after 38 overs after being 214-1 before Lumb’s dismissal.

Udal and Malan were now bowled out (Udal 10-0-45-2 and Malan 10-0-49-1) having superbly restricted Hampshire as in the twelve overs since the end of the fielding powerplay Hants had only managed to score 48 runs. Hoping that Compton’s off spin would also contain the Hawks, Compton was introduced in the 43rd over, only to see a combination of long hops go for 8 runs. The batting powerplay was taken in the 44th over and much to my amazement Finn was introduced despite bowling poorly all day and proving to be very expensive.

The Hawks took full advantage of the powerplay with Liam Dawson playing what can only be described as a copy cat Eoin Morgan innings as he repeatedly reversed sweeped and scooped Silverwood and Finn over fine leg for four. With Dawson’s impetus the Hawks managed 46 off the batting powerplay moving from 242-4 to 288-4. Dawson hit an impressive 50 off 26 balls with 6 fours. It seems that Dawson has taken a liking to playing against us in one day games as last year at Lords he scored 45 and took 4-45 in the Pro 40 fixture.

Hampshire went past 300 in the 49th over and eventually posted 310-4 with Dawson 51 not out and Carberry a more sedate 42 not out.

Middlesex bowled poorly up front in particular Finn (10-0-73-1) and Berg (4-0-43-0) proving very expensive. However in the middle period we managed to slow down the run rate and restrict Hampshire to a 300 plus score rather than the 400 plus score which looked possible at one stage. I would question why Finn was introduced at the death and why Dexter was not bowled out, as he was our most economical bowler with figures of 7-0-35-0. But with Middlesex already having posted 302, 322, 280, 341 and 278 in this year’s competition (albeit with our international players) I though we had a fair chance of getting the 311 required.

With Middlesex needing a rapid start to the innings Godleman and Compton soon got into their strides, firstly Godleman cutting and driving the ball to the boundary and Compton getting off the mark with a pull for four.

Billy looked in fluent form and raced to 17 off eleven balls and hitting four boundaries. However he was out for a soft dismissal, as attempting a lofted drive off Cork’s bowling he hit it straight to Ervine at mid off, with the score on 29.

Robson was a surprise entry at three (seeing as this was only his second first team appearance). This being the first time I have seen him bat he looked very nimble on his feet and very quick between the wickets, which he had demonstrated in the field. He batted with confidence but was left off by Pothas (who would have a nightmare in the field) who dropped a Robson edge off the bowling of Riazuddin.

Nick Compton brought up the Middlesex fifty in the 8th over by dancing down the wicket and lofting a cover drive for four. The pair took the score to 63 until Compton (in a repeat of the Godleman dismissal) holed out to Cork at mid off for 23, off the bowling of Riazuddin from the final ball of the 10th over.

Hampshire opted to take the bowling powerplay and with Dexter and Robson getting tied down by accurate bowling, Middlesex only managed a paltry 24 runs off it. However the situation could have been a lot worse as Pothas again failed to take chances of both Dexter and Robson.

Dexter and Robson now quietly accumulated runs at a decent rate as the Middlesex hundred came up in the eighteenth over and Dexter brought up his fifty of fifty seven balls including five fours and an excellent six of Middlesex alum Imran Tahir.

The pair continued their partnership adding 89 in 16 overs and by the 26th over brought the score to 150-2. Dexter and Robson now needed to increase the run rate in order to keep Middlesex in contention after a long period of consolidation, and both batsmen looked set and ready to accelerate the innings.

Some consolation 

Alas, this was not to be as Robson (who had taken three fours of Riazuddin previous over) was bowled by Dawson for 48 in the 26th over trying to work the ball down to third man, leaving Middlesex 152-3. Robson played well given the match situation and looks like a good prospect for the future.

Middlesex now needed to rapidly accelerate in order to leave themselves a manageable amount to get in the final ten overs, with the batting powerplay still to take. Realistically Malan (who was the new batsman) and Dexter would have to get us very close in order for us to win this match. Dexter (who had now taken the anchor role) but particularly Malan (who scratched around and was desperately searching for some fluency) really struggled to up the tempo and got tied down by the combination of the spinners Imran Tahir and Dawson. Pothas did try to aid us in this task by letting a no ball go through his legs for four wides.

From the time Robson got dismissed in 26th over with the score on 152-3 it took Middlesex until the 37th over to register their 200. Dexter and Malan failed to gain any impetus during the middle overs and the run rate began to soar and from my perspective I thought Middlesex had left themselves with too much to do.

With the total on 207-3 off 29 overs, Middlesex called their batting powerplay which was desperately needed, and which would either win or lose us the match. In the second ball of the powerplay Malan, who had uncharacteristically struggled and scored 18 singles out of a score of 19 in 38 balls, tried to hit out but was caught at extra cover by Lumb off Taylor.

Neil Dexter departed in the following over when he was caught by Riazuddin at square leg off Imran Tahir for 79 attempting the reverse sweep, trying to see Middlesex to victory. With Dexter being dismissed it ended any chances of us winning the game as at the end of the 41st over we needed 100 to win, with Berg and Udal at the crease and only Scooby and Knocker to come.

Middlesex left themselves with too much to do and the lower order were all soon dismissed trying to club the runs we needed for victory. Shaun Udal was bowled for a single, heaving across the line to a Taylor delivery to reduce Middlesex to 210-6 in the 42nd over. Gareth Berg was also bowled by Billy Taylor for a single. This left the two wicketkeepers Nash and Scott at the wicket with the score on 215-7. The batting powerplay was now over and with the flurry of wickets Middlesex had only managed to score 23 runs off it.

Nash made an enterprising 20 off 15 deliveries including several clever improvised boundaries and together put on a quick fire 27 with Scott, before he was caught by Carberry at deep mid-wicket off Ervine. Silverwood was then caught at mid-off from Cork’s bowling for a first ball duck. The final wicket pair of Scott and Finn added 22 runs and slightly reduced the margin of defeat, but Finn was eventually caught by Carberry off Billy Taylor for 13. Scotty was left stranded on 18 not out and played well considering the circumstances he was faced with.

So in conclusion the team acquitted themselves well considering that we were missing our key international players, and at mid way through our innings it looked like we had a chance of winning the game. In the end we just conceded thirty to forty runs too many, and if we hadn’t, I think it would have been a close game. Congratulations to Hampshire as they played well throughout (except for Pothas’ keeping) and ultimately deserved to win the game.