Due to an impassioned plea from Barmy Kev to do a truncated report on last evenings events at Canters, I am up at 8am doing same.

The weather was bright and sunny and the result of the day, was in discovering that the train fare down from Victoria was less than the car park fee.

There was as far as I could judge: precisely three Middle fans at the ground: they being Barmy Paul, Jim and myself. Anyway we won the toss ( victory at last)  and decided to bat first. Shaggy on being questioned on this by the local impressario: said it was because we were ' rubbish ' chasing. By way of pre match entertainment, we had a crooner called Shane Hampshire: who I must admit was not known to me: but he did'nt have a bad voice: unusual to say the least.

So to the match itself: by the end of the powerplay (over 6), we had progressed to 24 for 3: so not a good start. Compo went in over 4, ct in slip/gully area: Ace went in next over: slogging to wide mid on: and then Dex got out lbw to Cook leaving us at 19 for 3. The second boundary did not occur until over 9, at which point Eoin holed out to deep mid wicket for 7. 38 for 4. He middled it very well but picked out the fielder perfectly. A bit of a revival then took place until over 14, when Malan departed stumped after charging Tredwell. 57 for 5. So in came Shaggy to join Hendo. These two if not exactly timing the ball well, at least applied bat to ball with vigour. So we progressed until the 19th over when Shaggy was comprehensiveley bowled heaving at Mahmoud for a decent 22. Can't help feeling that the Shagster should come in earlier, giving our batting woes. 98 for 6. Hendo who managed our solitary 6, high over midwicket, soldiered on to the end with Scotty, for 31no. Not one of Hendo's best, but at least he stayed there.

The Kent bowling and fielding, was once again sharp. As Robert Key said pre-match. The groundsman has restored a bit of life and bounce to the Canterbury wicket, especially from the Nackington Road end when the ball was new. He was later to find out how much bounce, though contrarily, in his case, it was fron the pavilion end. So we finished up on 104,about 70 short of par, though later events suggested 120 to 130 might have done us.

Key and Denly opened for Kent chasing what one supposed, was a doddle of target of 104. However, Richo, my ' man-of-the-match from a Middle perspective, changed that a trifle by removing Key and Denly in his first, our second over, so Kent 6 for 2 and seemingly game on. Both were undone by unexpected bounce, edging high in the air for Scott and Dex to take the catches. From the Kent perspective there then occurred in a low scoring match, the match winning stand, as we were not able to take the third wicket until they reached 45. The important wicket of Van Jaarsveld for 28. Ct by Shah in front of us, near the pav. Next to go was Geraint Jones in over 12, ct behind off 'golden arm' Dex with his first ball. 63 for 4, so not quite dead yet. There then followed an irritating stand between Maclaren/Stevens which got the hosts up to 87 in over 16 when Maclaren was run out by a brilliant pick up and throw by Malan, going for a chancey second. At this point, Kent required 17 off 18 balls, so the ball was firmly in their court. Though super Richo removed Kemp lbw at 98 for 6, which mirrored our wicket fall at the same score, Mahmoud then crunched a four to end proceedings in the 19th over. Kent 105 for 6.

Summation: the wicket gave a bit of assistance to good bowling: on the plus side for The Middle: the bowling unit looked in much better shape and the fielding looked more interested and sharper, than in the two previous games. All the main batsmen, seem to lack confidence at present. None are in touch. Shaggy's 22 if it had happened earlier in the innings may have given us a little more momentum. As it turned out, a 120/130 would probably been a winning score. We now have an uphill task to qualify, probably needing to win 6 of the last 7. Possibly we have the bonus of having played the strongest side twice: though there ain't easy games in the massively powerful South Group.

We had a pint with Don Shelley in the 'Bat and Ball' afterwards to wish him a happy birthday. We slightly misjudged our departure, and just missed the 9.20 train. So into the city centre for a Big Mac and thx to SE Trains plus LUL arrived back at 00.45 am Saturday. Don't 4get lads/lasses. A win on Monday at Hove, followed by another at the Western Fortress, gets us back on track in a highly competitive group. The bowling unit on last night's performance gives hope

And for those of you that cannot access any electronic or journal scorecards.  Here's Midd-x card

Compo 6                                                                                                Dex 9                                                                                                     Ace 1                                                                                                     Eoin 7                                                                                                   Mala 16                                                                                              Hendo 31no                                                                                       Shaggy 22                                                                                             Scott 3no                                                                                              xtras 9 total 104

Richo  4-0-29-3 - a great spell of bowling ( for us mom)                               Silvers 4-1-12-0 - bowled well without luck- beat the bat a number of times Hendo 3.2-0-27-1 -                                                                             steady eddy Kartik 4-0-18-0 -                                                                       ditto Dex 1-0-5-1 - golden arm                                                             Shaggy 2-0- 10-0 - still struggling with finger injury.

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Middlesex CCC Poll