The news in brief

Friday the 14^th of July 2006 will go down as a great day in cricket.

It saw the return of Middlesex to the proper game, the County Championship. Brilliant sunshine and some fine cricket in Birmingham put behind us the horror show that is the 20/20, if not the shocker that was the first half of the county season.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

There is something really sweet about getting on the A40 and heading out of London. Going away from town at 07.30hrs you get to see the three lanes heading towards London stacked with traffic past RAF Northolt at that time.  And it gets worse as the rush hour begins.

By the time some of those people would have reached Hanger Lane I was in Oxfordshire meeting my brother who had said he would drive the second leg to Birmingham as he had been to Edgbaston for the Test Match earlier in the summer, (go on rub it in again!).  It transpired that even without his “local knowledge” the ground was easy to find and the fact it was well signed helped a lot. (TFL take note, Lord’s is a pig to find if you are not local!).

Parked near the ground only to find a very large car park attached to the same which we could have used. Then came the first big shock of the day, Middlesex had won the toss, the second followed almost immediately, two adults and two children, admission price £30 in total, I almost needed First Aid but settled for a beer instead.  [Editor’s note: before I get a gazillion e-mails from Middlesex and from the MCC, you enjoy the same price at Lord’s during the “Kids For Free” period.  Editor’s second note: county cricket is such amazing value for kids – try football or Legoland for example by way of comparison.]

Glorious  Edgbaston

We pitched our spot in the Members area for the start of play and found the view to be excellent from a weird sort of height, neither ground or up with the Gods, just that nice level where you feel really involved with what is going on in the field. The ground had a fair few people in including a couple of school trips who added to the vocal support throughout the day. The members bar and restaurant area is enormous, the beer well priced and the food at lunchtime superb and priced at £5.50 per meal (fish and chips, cottage pie etc) very good value as well as quality.

Oh to own our own ground and be able to provide members with these type of facilities and still turn a profit. A pipe dream of mine, but one day just maybe.

Opening Time

It was really nice to win the toss for a change with a strong batting line-up and be able to choose to bat first. Normally we seem to get inserted on dodgy pitches having lost the toss this season.  Hopefully this new way of winning tosses will continue until the end of the season.

A good looking dry wicket, bright sunshine and a good breeze across the ground meant it looked like a good one to win. Ed Smith and Nick Compton opened and another change in our luck occurred in Heath Streak’s first over, both batsmen scored thus easing Ed’s plight with the duck fraternity. Dooggie Brown from the other end was proving a handful and bowled a series of top notch overs mostly to Compo which in some way explains his poor strike rate.

A flurry of fours saw off Streak after his fifth over.  That and the fact he looked knackered! Compo finally found the fence after 45 mins, soon after Ed S fell to Brown LBW for 30 with the score at 40–1. Whatever possessed Ace to have a very big heave at Carter when he was only on 10 only to be well caught in the deep by Anyon needs leaving in Birmingham if his season is to flourish.  Not a good shot at all Ace and you know it.

Return of the Hero.  (Joycey is Diamond’s Hero it seems.)

When last seen on a cricket field, Ed Joyce was being stretchered-off at Sophia Gardens in an England shirt whilst fielding in a Twenty20 International there. Enter our hero to another of the International theatres of our game.  Welcome back Ed, boy did we miss you. With not too long before lunch both he and Compo are playing for the break and trying not to do anything daft. The 100 comes up with Compo on 37 and Ed on 24  before 1pm, good strike rate and picking up all the time. Compos first 100 balls for that 37 saw him hit 5x 4’s , his next was his 101^st ball which he crunched to the boards. He reached his 50 off 114 balls with 7x4’s just before lunch which was taken with Middlesex 124-2 off 36 overs. Ed on 32 at lunch.

Afternoon fun in the sun

Have you ever felt you knew something was going to happen ? At lunch I had a feeling Compo would get out to that sweep shot he loves so much but plays so poorly. Well blow me down with the score on 127, he tried the “wand shot” on Carter and merely helped the ball into Ambrose’s gloves! Five mins after lunch this occurred and all his good work of the morning session was as if for nowt, what a Muppet shot! A term I used a lot in the first half of the season and hope not to use too often again. 127-3.

Jamie Dalrymple then helped Ed to reassert Middlesex on the game. The 150 was up by 14.30hrs and Ed reached his 50 off 73 balls with 6x4’s.

We sent the kids off on an Ice Cream hunt and my phone (on silent) began to vibrate in my pocket (nice!!). Big Andy , wanting to check if the Internet scores were up to date , I do not think he could believe how many we had on the board, as it was the Internet was about 8 runs behind.  With Andy dealt with and the ice creams eaten, the 200 (and therefore a bonus point) came up at 15.20hrs.

JD so close to a personal 50 fell for 43, caught Brown , bowled Harris and was not happy about it, nor, I would think, was Scott Styris having to face 25 mins before the tea break. 219-4.  Ed who had been making steady progress all afternoon reached his 100 off of 158 balls with12x4’s 10min’s before tea. Tea score 245-4.ed 102, Scott 0.

Post Tea – No Baby Hundreds for our Hero

247-5!!! Scott having made a dogged 0 from 23 balls played all round one from Harris and could only watch as his timbers were destroyed.

Cometh the hour cometh a small bald man, yes David “Knocker” Nash is back on the big stage. Ed finding himself on Nelson cures the problem with a one bounce four and Middlesex had reached 267-5 when Ambrose makes a Jones style howler behind the stumps dropping Knocker big time when he was in single figures.

Having bowled their overs very fast Warwickshire slow up the over rate by taking the new ball at 91 overs. The Middlesex 300 is soon on the board and another bonus point!

Now all this Nelson stuff , we had no problem at 333-5 as Streak decided it was time to bowl a no ball , magic way to get off a bogie number, thanks Heath. [Editor’s note: I was listening on the IR at my desk at that juncture.  Have you any idea how difficult it is to sit on a saddle chair with one leg off the ground?]

There were to be no breakthroughs tonight with the new cherry.  Ed completed an excellent 150 off 242 balls with 17x 4’s . At the close he was on 158 and Nash on 35. Long may this partnership prosper tomorrow (Friday) morning.

In summary

Keep this up for the rest of the game and people will soon begin to forget the first half of the season . Today we showed the promise I know is there.  Let’s do it for the next three days at least and come away with a positive result from Birmingham.

Congratulations Ed Joyce on your return to first team cricket though I do not recommend damaging ankles as the best way to practice getting big tons, it seems to have worked for you. [Editor’s note: Joycey seemed pretty good at getting big tons without crumpling his ankle before he had the injury].    Well played Sir.

Knocker stick to it, you too are a fine batsman and the three slips Streak put in for you showed you too little respect , now go out there and give them hell tomorrow .