Middlesex CCC
The Day of the Helmet
Welcome Back
By Seaxe Man
May 21 2012
Seaxe Man provides his usual great detail to for an easy win for Middlesex. He ends up providing a surprise late order scorer from Leicestershire and confusion with their no.3. Read on
Leics v Middlesex CB40 20th May 2012 Grace Road.
Weather: cloudy in Pinner and remained so up to Grace Road, where the stygian gloom persisted persisted throughout the game and the rest of the day.Becoming extremely dark towards the end of the Foxes innings.
Travel: arose at 5.30 to ensure with Sunday travel, that I made the 9.00pm from St Pancras. Due to trackwork at Market Harborough, the train was routed via the reopened route via Corby. Made a change of scenery. This route goes through Jonathan Agnew territory, Melton Mowbray of pie fame, and actually approachs Leicester from the north. But heyho, had plenty of time. After retrieving the return tickets from a reluctant ticket machine, I yomped the two and half miles to the ground. This took 50 minutes.
As I came up Grace Road, I encountered, Beefy, Diamond, Ken and Phil ' The Power' Taylor coming the opposite way after parking the car. After a short stop in The Cricketer, we entered the ground, making the re-acquaintence of Leicester officials who remembered us from the last match of last year.
Neil Dexter came by and shook us all warmly by the hand. Nice gesture. Food was in good supply at v.cheap prices. We tucked into dog rolls and burgers from the two pleasant young ladies serving from the burger van.
So to the match.
Teams:
Leics: JJ Cobb, J du Toit, RR Sarwan*, GP Smith, MAG Boyce, WA White, EJ Eckersley+, RML Taylor, CW Henderson, NM Malik, MJ Hoggard.
Buck and Sykes being left out.
Middlesex: JL Denly, DJ Malan, PR Stirling, EJG Morgan, NJ Dexter*, GK Berg, JA Simpson+, OP Rayner, SP Crook, ST Finn, CD Collymore.
Chris Rogers and Tom Smith were left out. Buck ( not their Buck) with a shoulder injury. Eoin Morgan and Steve Finn ( not required at Lords ) were included.
Middlesex lost the toss and were inserted by Sarwan.
Middlesex innings
Middlesex: over scores . 10 overs 53 for 0, 20 overs 101 for 2, 30 overs 145 for 4, 40 overs 241 for 5.
Denly opened and faced Hoggard, 1 scored, a wide. Malan faced Wayne White. White troubled the Middlesex batsmen with his fairly rapid RMF bowling. After 3 off the first two overs, Hoggard was taken to task in over 3 conceding 3 fours and 14 overall. Joe Denly was dropped off a skier by Wayne White at cover. A bad miss. A single brought up the 50 in over 10. Joe D was then taken at the wicket off a widish ball for 29. Some eye catching shots in the 29. Gave us a decent start. Catch well taken by Eckersley. This was off the rapid bowling LFM of Rob Taylor.
Spin entered the fray in the shape of the veteran Saffer Claude Henderson. He trapped Paul Stirling lbw in over 19, for 20. Score 93 for 2. EJG Morgan then entered. His first Middlesex game since Sussex at Uxbridge in 2011. Though I gather he played at Richmond for the 2nd's on Friday and scored 42 in an 8 wicket win over the boys from South of the River.( down Mexico Way)
Morgs got off the mark with a four. 100 was raised in over 20. Malan became an lbw victim to Taylor in over 22 for 43. A well made knock with some flourishing strokes.
Henderson and Taylor were forming an effective partnership for the hosts and were putting a brake on matters. Our runrate had slowed. Scoring 44 off overs 20 to 30. Morgs reverse swept Hendo for 2 and Taylor finished his spell with 8-0-32-2. Dex came in and off drove and then swept 4. Morgs who had been playing steadily was then caught at cover by Wayne White off a full blooded shot, intended to clear cover. White's leap and mid air twist replicated the shot. As alluded to by JW, Telegraph Sport sent along P.Bolton to the match. He described White's catch as ' drove to cover'. Damned with faint praise. A fantastic catch. The hosts, by and large had fielded well. So 144 for 4.
150 raised in 31st.The last 10 overs produced 96 runs, thanks to an excellent stand between Dex and Bergie. of 70. Speckled with many fine shots by both players. Including a DLF maximum in Hendo's last over by Berg. 200 up in over 37. A carve by Gareth over point, followed by a rocket cover drive, acclerated the runrate. Trying to nudge to 3rd man, Berg was taken at the wicket off a flying edge for 43.. A further 27 runs were added by De xnd Simmo. Dex finished on a fine 54no (39b, 7 4's), Simpson 12no. All the Middle batters made double figures. Extras numbered 15 of which 12 were wides.
Interval
You only know one song
An olde worlde brass band provided the entertainment. This complemented the trendy, drum band at the start. Plenty of food and drink were available, at v.reasonable prices, and Leicestershire are to be congratulated on making it a pleasant trip despite the gloomy weather.
2nd session Leicestershire innings.
Leicester over scores. 10 overs 33 for 4, 20 overs 75 for for 5, 30 overs 135 for 7, 40 210ao.
The opening over was a maiden, Finn to Cobb, followed by Collymore to Sarwan which produced 3. Cobb crashed Finn for 4 through the covers, square cut for 4, then almost produced a catch at 3rd man. Was'nt to last though, and he was taken by Berg off Collymore for 10, 20 for 1 over 6. There followed in over 9, bowled by Finn, mayhem for the hosts. Losing two wickets. The first Sarwan bowled for 19, then next man Boyce, chopped on, beaten by sheer pace.
Smith soon followed, lbw to Finn for 1. Score 33 for 4. This spell effectively won the game for The Middle, as the hosts were then always behind the runrate req as demonstrated by the D/L par score, shown on an increasingly bright scorebox in the gloom.
Crook then replaced Finn at Pav End and was cut for 4. Colly at the opposite end was hit for 4 over his head by du Toit. Brilliant catch by Simmo off Crook saw off du Toit for 13. 49 for 5. Dex bowled Collymore through and he finished with 8-0-31-1. Berg replaced Colly. Ollie replaced Crook at PE.
A good stand of 66 then developed between White and Eckersley. This had a bonus by some bad umpiring, when a direct hit could not be adjudicated on, as the umpire was running away and therefore not looking. Dex brought himself on and had White taken for 34, after a rumbustious knock of 34 caught by Denly. 115 for 6.
Hendo was taken for 13, ct Ollie bowled Berg. 134 for 7. The 150 came up as the 8th wicket fell at 150. over 32. Taylor ct sub (Robson on for Stirlo) b Crook. Finn finished 8-2-30-3. A fine 46 by Eckersley was finally brought to an end ct Simpson b Berg. Good catch. Berg finished with 8-0-33-2, a commendable spell. 186 for 9.
There followed a gay last wicket partnership of 24 by Malik and Hoggard. An amusing incident here, was an ball from Crook which slipped out of this hand and hit the helmet plus a no ball meant 7 runs. A local wag remarked that Malik then on 6 was being outscored by the helmet.
The last wicket romp then ended when Hoggy was bowled by Dex for 14. 210 ao. Middlesex winners by 33 runs placing us third in Group A. Next up The Royals at New Road next Sunday.
It has to be said that Leicester on 33 for 4 did well to take the game into over 39.
Postscript.
I was mystified on referring to the Leicester scorecard in the Torygraph that a bloke called S. Mundhe batting at 3 was allegedly ct Simpson b Crook for 13. By a process of elimination, it must have meant J du Toit, as the bloke Mundhe did'nt appear on their score card.
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Discussion started by Middlesex till we die , 21/05/2012 18:36
Middlesex till we die
21/05/2012 18:36
21/05/2012 18:36
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:05:23:09:04:37 by chunkyinargyll.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:05:23:09:04:37 by chunkyinargyll.
Excellent effort SM. We seem to be quite a good side at the moment.
One glance at the league table, early as it is, reminds you what a daft competition this is. they really ought to be able to have quarter finals.
One glance at the league table, early as it is, reminds you what a daft competition this is. they really ought to be able to have quarter finals.
du Toit it was Seaxe Man,I passed him in the car park putting his stuff in his car ready for an early out the gate job,the rest of the side kept him hanging around though.
As ever excellent report.
As ever excellent report.
A couple of errors.
Moggies last Middle innings at Uxbridge v Sussex.
This should have read 2010, not 2011, and the win was by 31 runs, not 33.
An interesting day.
Moggies last Middle innings at Uxbridge v Sussex.
This should have read 2010, not 2011, and the win was by 31 runs, not 33.
An interesting day.
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