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Keeping Fit With The Middle

Success Again!!
By Big Harvey
September 8 2010
Big Harvey treks all the way from Bristol through the strikes to see the game and report to us. It was a miracle he made it to Lord's. It was a miracle that we got 96 overs in. And the report is superb too. Many thanks, Big Harvey.


This Summer has seen me gain a few pounds in weight, and when my wife bought me several pairs of walking socks for my birthday, the message that it's time for me to do more walking in order to get fit was unmistakeable. Perhaps then it was a blessing in disguise that my car was at the mechanics this morning (receiving either its last rites or a temporary repair that might allow it to limp into the New Year), thus forcing me to walk from my home to Bristol Temple Meads Station for the 0800 train to London. If this was indeed a blessing in disguise, then that disguise was a very convincing one, far more so than the standard false beard and glasses. On arriving at Paddington, another “blessing in disguise” was awaiting me in the form of a tube strike which meant walking to Lord's instead of getting the Underground!


I arrived at just after 1030, having committed the schoolboy error of  expecting the usual 11 o'clock start, only to see Dial M bowling the last two balls of the first over from the Nursery End. Worcestershire I learned had won the toss and elected to bat.


Mitchell and Wheeldon were opening the batting, and Super Ped was Dial M's bowling parter from the Pavilion End. Super Ped didn't get off to the best of starts, as his first ball, a leg-side loosener was despatched to the boundary by Mitchell, but thereafter he settled, and both he and Dial M produced quality bowling that had the solid but uncharismatic Mitchell tied down, and Wheeldon in all sorts of trouble. Super Ped in particular was getting plenty of swing in the partially cloudy conditions. 


Dial M had Wheeldon dropped  twice, firstly by Shorty at mid off, and secondly by Dex in the  slips. Both were the kind of chances you would normally expect to see taken, the latter being a regulation slip catch. 


Shorty came on at the Pavilion End and further intensified the pressure, the only runs coming from his first four overs being four byes from a rare wild leg-side delivery, which bizarrely resulted in a lost ball.


At the Nursery End, Roly was Dial M's replacement, and he quickly put the hapless  Wheeldon out of his misery, inducing an edge through to Simmo. He had batted like a number 11 throughout, and the fact he managed to last into the 23rd over was little short of a miracle! His departure brought Solanki to the crease.


The pressure exerted by the bowlers intensified even further, with even the previously unflappable Mitchell starting to look shaky, almost chopping a Roly delivery onto his own stumps. Even when a rare long-hop was pulled to the square leg boundary by Mitchell to provide some relief for Worcestershire, Super Ped's last ball before lunch gave the batsmen something to think about over their cucumber sandwiches. It was  a real snorter which kept slightly low, and missed taking Solanki's outside edge by a whisker.


Lunch: 62-1


Play resumed in blazing sunshine. With Dial M and Super Ped. The bowling remained tight, but Solanki in particular was able to keep the scoreboard ticking over in steady but sedate fashion, mainly nurdling ones and twos. The batsmen were starting to look comfortable, and the ball only seemed to be swinging during periods of cloud cover.


Roly replaced Dial M from the Nursery End, and out of the blue fooled Mitchell with a slower ball only to see Super Ped grass yet another sitter at mid on. This was getting beyond a joke. What's more, things were looking ominous, when suddenly Mitchell was bowled by Shorty for 47, shouldering arms to a ball that clipped the top of his off-stump. The ball didn't appear to deviate much, so he must have been leaving it on length, which he must have misjudged because it didn't appear to keep low, either! A sad end in many ways to a gutsy and disciplined innings that in the context of the game was worth immeasurably more than the 47 runs next to his name. 101-2.


This brought Ali to the crease, and both he and Solanki looked in excellent nick, steadily accumulating until at 2.30 Dex brought himself on at the Pavilion End. This proved to be an inspired move, as in his first over saw Solanki steer a widish outswinger straight to AC at second slip, and depart for 39.


Solanki's replacement Kervezee  (5) didn't last long, as the excellent Roly extracted some extra bounce and induced a gloved dolly to Dex at slip.  126-4 and Middlesex in the box seat.


There was a fly in the ointment however in the form of the over rate, which at one stage was showing -6 on the scoreboard. The introduction of Ace into the attack from the Nursery End began to claw that back somewhat, and a difficult chance was presented by the dangerous Shakib off his bowling in his first over, only for Iceman to be unable to cling onto it. Unfortunately the part-time bowling allowed the run rate to mushroom as well as the over rate, with Ali smashing Dex over mid-wicket for 6, followed by a late-cut 4.  By tea there was part time spin at both ends, with AC on at the Pavilion End. Another late cut Ali 4 off the latter's bowling brought up the 50 partnership.


Tea: 188-4


Ace resumed from the Nursery End, and Super Ped bowled two overs from the Pavilion End, during the second of which Ali brought up his 50 with a delicate leg glance for 4. The decision to keep Ace on turned out to be an inspired one as AC clung onto a Shakib pull shot to to mid-wicket to give him a wicket in his last County Championship game for Middlesex. It was a huge wicket at that! 204-5.


Super Ped was not persisted with. Perhaps the over rate was still a concern, as Dex brought himself on and was promptly pulled over square leg for 6 by Cameron in his first over. Ali too was continuing in an attacking vein, and the Middlesex fans were getting twitchy, especially as Middlesex were now ahead of the over rate, Dex had Ali (66) caught by Ace diving to his left at slip. Perhaps Dex's decision to keep himself on was unrelated to the over rate after all! 236-6.


Cox (4) came to the crease only to fall quickly to a brilliant diving catch by Housego at point, also off the bowling of Dex. 248-7.


This brought Andrew into the fray and there followed an absolutely farcical piece of cricket, with he and Cameron so badly stranded near the bowler's end they were effectively arguing over who was going to sacrifice their wicket. Unfortunately AC's throw at the stumps was a lame one, giving the batsmen a second chance, and Iceman, who was backing up saw his shy at the stumps at the other end beat Super Ped and go for overthrows resulting in (I think) a total of 3 runs. AC's throw may have been weak, but the keeper should have been there to remove the bails. It was very poor teamwork.


The new ball saw Dial M and Super Ped restored to the attack, and the latter struck quickly trapping Cameron (28) LBW. 261-8.


Shantry came to the crease to keep Andrew company as the latter took the fight to Middlesex. Andrew's cut 4 followed next ball by a beautiful on-driven boundary led to Super Ped trying a bouncer next ball, which ballooned over batsman and keeper to the boundary, and was signalled “no-ball” by the umpire. Boundaries off Dial M at the other end resulted in the return of Shorty in place of Super Ped, and Roly in place of Dial M.


This worked, as Andrew (36) holed out with an agricultural slog to present AC with the easiest of catches at mid on, and Middlesex fans breathed a sigh of relief. 293-9.


Richardson came to the crease, and the last wicket pair stuck around for a while. Rather too long in fact, and some of the fielders appeared rather too relaxed about this for my liking. Eventually Richardson (11) succumbed, top edging a short one from Roly through to Simmo behind the stumps to leave Shantry stranded on 10. 313 all out.


Middlesex had one over left to face, and Shorty opened the batting as nightwatchman with Gary. Richardson bowled it, and his captain must have been furious, as Shorty didn't need to offer a stroke.


Stumps 0-0.


An fascinating day with some really excellent quality cricket from both sides, marred only from the Middlesex point of view by some rather shoddy fielding (mainly in the form of dropped catches) and a slow over rate which resulted in more use of part time bowling than was ideal. Pick of the Middlesex bowlers was Roly, who bowled absolutely magnificently.


From a personal point of view it was a day which involved getting on for three hours of walking to in order to get between my house and Temple Meads, and between Paddington and Lord's. Who says watching cricket is for couch potatoes?




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Keeping Fit With The Middle
Posted by: Middlesex till we die (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2010 06:29

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:09:12:18:36:03 by Ged.

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Re: Keeping Fit With The Middle
Posted by: kimmy (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2010 07:48

Well done BH... In your keeping fit and for the report! Bet you ache a bit today though....


Nothing stops the Middle fans from watching their cricket!

Kimmy


Edited coz I can't spell this early!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:09:08:07:48:49 by kimmy.

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Re: Keeping Fit With The Middle
Posted by: Jonathan Winsky (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2010 09:32

With regards to Middlesex supporters getting to Lord's during an Underground strike, where there's a will, there's a way.

I was also worried about our overrate and feared that we may be deducted points, as happened to Surrey during their innings defeat at Lord's when they had two points deducted.

Most of the final paragraph of the 'personal life' section of Gary Numan's Wikipedia page is applicable to me. I don't think I have ever had a tendency to "smash things up, scream and shout, get in people's faces and break stuff" and I don't think I have ever been prescribed with antidepressants and anxiolytics, but the rest of the paragraph is very true of me and may explain why I act they way I do on MTWD.

Numan was born in Hammersmith like Stuart Poynter, and had Poynter been playing then I am sure that he would have nipped that "absolutely farcical piece of cricket" in the bud. OK, I have never seen Poynter keep wicket, but I have a soft spot for him due to the fact he looks like a schoolboy even though he is 19 and therefore above school age.

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