Good day in the sun

By Fozzie
June 30 2015

Fozzie provides us with today's report foillowing Kev's example of a shopping expedition before play. Along with the tension of bonus points and over rates (inevitably), we get to hear about fluctuatiing victory hopes, Hanpshire stubborness and some decent batting and bowling by our lower order.  And of course the weather. A good day tp hear about thank you.

It was not the usual routine for preparing a visit to Lord’s today.  Items which often seem like optional extras or even wishful thinking, such as shades and factor-50 sun screen, were essentials, whereas waterproofs and extra layers were discarded.  I decide to use the extra space in my bag for stocking up on liquids, and make a detour to the local Waitrose en route to the station.  This nearly proves disastrous, as the fast-track queue proves anything but: a customer who has managed to cram her entire weekly shop into a basket, someone buying a newspaper with a £20 note, barcodes that don’t register….I’m not the only cricket fan shuffling uneasily in the queue, but finally we get through and head for Chesham station, which is packed with a large group of foreign exchange students off to see the sights in London, though presumably not including Lord’s.  Then a pleasantly uneventful journey to St Johns Wood, and I arrive at a brightly sunlit Lord’s in good time.  I take a seat in a shady part of the Grandstand which is filling up nicely, through the Pavilion and the Warner look fairly sparsely attended at his stage.  “Why not visit the Lord’s Museum,” suggests Mr Perambulator, “which has the added benefit of being fully air-conditioned!”

We have the unusual scenario of the opening over of the day being the 110^th of Middlesex’s innings and with both sides in with a shout of getting an extra bonus point. It’s a surprisingly tense mini-shootout as Briggs bowls to Toby with a silly mid-off and mid-on breathing down his neck.  Toby blocks the first two, is rapped on the pads as he swings at the third, then pulls the fourth for 3 to bring up the 300 and a third batting bonus point. The applause is loud and prolonged.

So first target achieved, but Toby and Ollie don’t change their gameplan, playing sensibly and accumulating carefully.  They look determined not to give it away, and who can blame them – in this weather they probably feel that batting is more enjoyable than bowling.  Eventually Bird pitches short and Toby pulls him for 4. Bird then pitches full and beats him. He does it again, finding an extra yard of pace, and Toby is comprehensively bowled.  There’s time for Ollie to reach his 50 before he too is bowled, playing possibly his first careless shot of the morning.  Not a typically Ollie knock, but a valuable one that sees the Middle to 330 and a good lead of 154.

At this point I venture out from the shade and enjoy the sunshine. Hmm, lovely! Ten minutes later I start to wilt and hastily clamber back to my previous position. Glad I’m not fielding in this!

The optimistic bright green of Hampshire’s +2 over-rate is replaced on the scoreboard by the angry red of Middlesex’s -2.  Murts and Toby open; Adams narrowly avoids getting out for a pair, while Terry looks uncomfortable and survives a couple of loud LBW shouts by Toby.  The over-rate declines to -3, but nothing much else is happening.  Harry and Ollie come on and look good, though concede a couple of streaky boundaries. Harry bowls the last over before lunch, 5 dot-balls keeping Adams in check before a bouncer last ball. Inexplicably, Adams tries to hook, but it’s higher and faster than he thought and he edges head-high to Simmo.  Adams hangs his head, aghast at his lack of judgement, whereas the fielders are cockahoop. It’s a great morale boost as they go into lunch.

After lunch Ollie ties up the Pavilion End while Harry hits his stride at the other end. First he induces an edge from Carberry that would have bounced just short of first slip, only for Simmo to acrobatically hurl himself across, scoop the ball up just in time, roll over twice and spring to his feet in delight. It’s a great moment. Then in Harry’s next over he bowls Vince with a inswinger - he looks so good when he finds his rhythm and everything falls into place. At 56-3 there looks to be a real chance that the match will finish today.

But now the game enters a quieter phase. Terry, who has seen his more illustrious and experienced team-mates come and go, stops playing second-fiddle and takes responsibility. Smith is shot-shy but obdurate.  Middlesex’s ground fielding is positive, with Harry excelling early on and then (improbably?) Sterlo twice saving seemingly certain boundaries with committed chasing and sprawling dives. However, again, nothing much is happening. Terry brings up his half-century and the 100, and then in the last over before tea Moggie appears to drop a chance off Ollie that goes straight to him. He holds his head. The game is drifting.

But after tea Murts comes on and immediately dismisses Terry for 52: 104-4. Adam Wheater replaces him and is the first batsman to seek to impose himself.  Ollie comes back on with the impressive figures of 0-19 in 15 overs. Two overs later he has 0-40, with Wheater scoring all the additional runs and overtaking Smith in the process.  Wheater has changed the dynamic of the game: suddenly Middlesex’s lead has been overhauled, only 4 wickets are down, and for the first time the uneasy though occurs that a Hampshire victory is not out of the question.

But Smith has been inspired by Wheater to come out of his shell, and this proves to be his undoing. A top-edge goes frustratingly into no man’s land, and I take a toilet trip.  Success! When I re-emerge Smith is on his way, having holed out off Ollie. Wheater reaches a fine 50 off just 44 balls, but then he tries to hit Ollie across the line and is LBW. Ollie is overjoyed, and there are two new batsmen at the crease.  Gareth Berg, who receives another warm reception, looks at ease, but Joe Gatting is cautious and virtually scoreless until Ollie deceives and bowls him. After his two-over blip against Wheater Ollie has taken 3-4 in 8 overs.

The Iceman and Briggs see out the day, but at 195-7 Hampshire’s lead is only 53.  Middlesex have worked hard and stuck to their task.  A win today would have ensured that our June was not winless after all, but July should get off to a good start.

POSITIVES

James Harris – removed the top order and again really looked the part.

Ollie – a valuable contribution with bat and ball.

The weather.  Just a pleasure to watch cricket on a lovely summer’s day, particularly with Middlesex doing well.

 NEGATIVES

I guess there are some readers who are getting rather weary of report after report complaining about the over-rate, but believe me, it is so frustrating. The rate fluctuated throughout the innings, but basically it seemed that whenever Toby came on the rate quickly got worse (this happened 3 times), and when Ollie bowled in tandem with Harry they would gradually pull things back. At close it was -1.Get it sorted!

 The scoreboards didn’t have the greatest of days.  There seemed a disinclination to bother with identifying fielders, while there was a prolonged confusion between the batsmen even though the great majority of the crowd surely had no difficulty in telling Carberry and Terry apart. Then with the score on 158-4, one scoreboard suddenly reverted to 110-4, wiping 40 runs off Wheater’s score in the process and staying stuck in that position for some time.  I guess it all added to the day’s entertainment.