Middlesex CCC

Yep timing perfect as ever.

Mind you I did think we'd get a 1st innings lead as well which seems rather unlikely now.

This squad of players never ceases to amaze me

It kind of follows if Durham found the conditions difficult for batting we would too.

Our innings played under floodlights throughout, so I wouldn't be over critical of our batsmen.

No mate, no need to be over critical, I’d buy them all a cream cake to congratulate them on another great day

It seemed like a good day for Middlesex when we bowled Durham out for 147, at which point I was hopeful we were well-set to achieve a first innings lead and also to record some batting points and put ourselves in a strong position in the match. However, the match situation at the end of day one puts those hopes virtually out of the window, as we will end up incurring a first innings deficit unless our tailenders can score 60 more runs. Knowing our tail, I wouldn’t usually rule out the possibility of them adding some runs tomorrow, although the way today went makes me pessimistic about the chances of our tail finding batting enjoyable, especially as Durham slipped from 147-7 to 147 all out.

Durham clearly wanted to bat first, and we clearly wanted to bowl first. Our decision to bowl after winning the toss means that we have to accept that we will be set to bat last. Hopefully we won’t find it difficult to chase whatever Durham set us. We will have to perform well tomorrow to keep our target down. The way the match is going, our run chase could start at some point tomorrow. In fact, if it doesn’t start tomorrow, then I fear that Durham would have given themselves lots of runs to defend.

I was surprised to see our line-up bereft of Toby Roland-Jones and of any specialist spinner. However, a look at the scorecard of Durham's first innings suggests that our team selection was justified. As we did not bowl any spin today, as it great to read that our over rate is not - unlike the title of this thread - in the red. As I wrote on the thread about our signing of Miguel Cummins, I think that part of the reason why we signed Cummins was to enable us to rotate our fast bowlers across our final three matches of the season, so I am fairly sure that TRJ will see further action in our final two matches, while it would be a surprise if Tom Helm doesn’t do so too, otherwise Helm would have to wait until next season to wear his cap in a match. Nathan Sowter’s participation in our final two matches will probably depend on how we expect the pitches to play.

Steven Finn has spoken to our YouTube page about today. He says that TRJ was due to play ahead of him, but had to pull out about five minutes before the toss due to a tight calf. Finn sounds hopeful that our tail can get us close to or past Durham’s score, and he cites the fact our batting took place under floodlights.

Quote:

Jonathan Winsky
I think that part of the reason why we signed Cummins was to enable us to rotate our fast bowlers across our final three matches of the season, so I am fairly sure that TRJ will see further action in our final two matches, while it would be a surprise if Tom Helm doesn’t do so too

Middlesex earlier today confirmed that that is the intention, as the club wrote on Twitter “With three important games remaining there will be rotation and rest in the squad”.

The same Tweet explains the absence of Toby Roland-Jones, saying “Toby felt some slight soreness in his calf this morning so is rested for this week’s game”.

Hopefully TRJ will be fit for at least one of our two final matches.

I suspect Toby didn't realise he had a slight soreness in his calf until he was told he did.

After al, if you are going in to a match with no front line spinner, you need to keep the over rate in the green.



If yesterday was all down to bad batting by our top order then that must mean all our seamers, including Finn and Harris, who over all haven't had a productive season must have bowled extremely well, so maybe some applause for their effort yesterday?

Ho ho we're not even losing now..well not by very many

See-

We did sign an overseas batsman after all.

Quote:

chunkyinargyll
See-
We did sign an overseas batsman after all.

Faced more balls than anyone else. Not quite top scorer though.

Good effort from the tail.


Adelaide

A 25 ball 3 from top 4 batsman Handscomb. Morganesque. I maintain we are not the only ones to have batting difficulties up the order.

Over rate minus one.

Hopefully Don can sort that out.

196 to win.

Maximum possible points for us now would take us to a total of 136?

So we would leapfrog Durham.

That would put us level with Glam0rg0ne, assuming they lose to Worcestershire, who look as if they will set them a challenging total.

But, Sussex are doing well against The Shire, so they would go above us, and their beating Glaaaaarrrs would not help us, nor would the results of the other matches. Lancs, The Shoire, and Glammy would remain above us at the end of this round.

I am starting to feel - to employ Beefy's great phrase of last season - that "our survival in Division 2" will soon be secured.

I can’t be too unhappy about how today went, as we struck a psychological blow (and more importantly helped our match position) by denying Durham the 30+ first innings lead they were hopeful of, and it would usually be very respectable to bowl an opponent out for 191. And we then struck another psychological blow by knocking 21 off our target before the close without losing a wicket. However, in a low-scoring match such as this, 191 feels like a large total, and the fact we incurred a first innings deficit means that we will have to go past it (although the work of our tail this morning means that the amount by which we will have to go past it is just 5).

I switched on the BBC commentary when I got home, and it felt bittersweet to hear that Durham’s wicket tally was 8 and our over rate was -1. From the point of view of keeping our target down, I was keen for Durham to be all out as soon as possible, and was glad that their final two wickets indeed fell while I was listening. However, the fact our over rate was in the red meant that I was hopeful that we could sort it out before the innings ended, meaning I am disappointed that it didn't sound like we showed any desire to do so considering we continued bowling Steven Finn rather than turn to part-time spin or even George Scott, who I doubt has a long run-up and had earlier proven to be capable of taking wickets when he dismissed Ben Raine. Hopefully Don Shelley will indeed sort it out.

As play went on until about 6:30pm, I could have attended after work.

We could enter next week’s match v Lancashire at Old Trafford with our fast bowling department in a decent state of health. We signed Miguel Cummins to lighten our fast bowlers’ workload, which meant that we didn’t have to select Toby Roland-Jones (who we might have felt forced to select had we not been so well-staffed) or Tom Helm for this match. Of our three domestic fast bowlers who played in this match, they were all amongst the wickets - so can all take confidence from this match - and the fact we took just 123.4 overs to take 20 wickets meant that their workload wasn’t particularly heavy. Plus, our bowlers will not need to do any bowling on the final two days of this match. We should know by this time tomorrow whether we will arrive at Old Trafford with our promotion hopes still alive.

James Harris has spoken to Middlesex’s YouTube page about today.

Pathetic!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Martin Andersson will get a chance against Lanky.

He hasn't bowled this season because of an injury (back?), but he did make 174 against Essex 2's this week. It would be a wake up call that there are always alternatives.

Got there just after lunch. Not happy. We need batsmen and fast.

Junk standard cricket anyone ?

Yes , that's easy . Just head down to Lords and watch Middlesex.

Sadly , this level of performance has now become obligatory. Cant bat . We need confident batsmen . Robbo was magnificent today and if he can do it where are the rest ? A strong finish to the season is looking very unlikely.

All I am saying, is give youth a chance.

Time to see what anyone who's shown a bit of nous in the Seconds can do.

If they're good enough, they're old enough.

We know the limitations of Gubbins and Eskinazi now.

Time for change from within our resources, to give those in the Seconds a bit of hope, and to see what other options we have other than reshuffling the current failures.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2019 18:01 by Primrose Hillbilly.