Nothing to declare


R I P

By Diamond Ruled OK
November 30 2014

Diamond describes day 4 of Glamorgan game from 2009.  Not a thriller , but we hear of further glimpses of Yozzer's potential    

Saturday morning dawned a bit drizzly and windy , typical I thought , the first day of the season for me at Lord’s and it’s going to rain . By the time I had made my way up to the ground the rains had stopped and the sun had put in a brief appearance. I met my good friend David (he’s Welsh but I don’t hold that against him) and we proceeded to that Mecca that is the Middlesex Room, one to warm up a bit and two for that all important check on what the cellar had in it for the season. Pedigree in hand we started to watch the cricket. Glamorgan’s 94-4 at the start of play wound on and on to 278-8 when JD having reached the personal landmark of 112 decided that they had enough in the tank to make sure we could have no chance of winning as we required 370 in very short time.

Batting “sensation” Yozzer continued with the good work he had put in the first innings. This lad looks one heck of a prospect, next to no back lift on some of his shots in the afternoon but the ball thudded into the fence on each occasion, an absolute pleasure to watch him work. With Middlesex on 94-3 the game was declared drawn ,as many of us had been expecting it would before play even started on day four.

On the social side of things it was nice to meet up with folk I hadn’t seen for ages, David from Cardiff , my brother from Oxfordshire, Jez from MTWD and Barmy Kev from he only knows where. Various other “faces”, stewards I have known for years now, bar staff who seem to remain constant in the Middlesex Room, nice to see you all back. It is meeting these people that reminds me the summer has started again. It was also good in the afternoon to catch up with Skippers mum and dad who were charming as ever. With the game over it was a wander down into Marylebone for a small glass of ale and a watch of the evenings football , not the kind of result I wanted at either event today, mind you I thought to go 2-0 up at Old Trafford was really asking for trouble but to get beat 5-2 really put a damper on the day, cheered up again however by the kebab shop at Ealing Broadway Station, you know summers here when your wandering home at 9pm with a warm soggy kebab in a bag for your dinner thinking just how many pints did I have today ?

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Discussion started by Middlesex till we die , 30/11/2014 14:22
Middlesex till we die
30/11/2014 14:22
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:12:20:09:20:33 by The Diamond ruled ok.

adelaide
30/11/2014 15:42
Ah yes, the two-nil, five-two down match, with Howard Webb playing in red!

I had the somewhat bizarre experience of watching the news on one of the +1 channels and hearing that Spurs were winning, when I already knew the game was lost.


Adelaide

The Diamond ruled ok
30/11/2014 16:11
Think I've still got a bit of that kebab in the fridge somewhere !!

BarmierKev
30/11/2014 16:13
This game was my first glimpse of "Yozzer" and was most impressed.

As a side matter my other memory of that day was Crosgrove fielding by boundary near me and at about noon a kid called him over with a large piece of paper with pen in hand. I shouted this is not your lunch menu. He was not impressed.

I have a few more reports from Phil Hughes brief stay with us and his achievements will be recognised further. I do not feel it is disrepectful focussing on other issues, in retrospect perhaps futile of that time.

Barmy Kev
I'm only here for the tele

Jonathan Winsky
30/11/2014 22:03
On the subject of coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2, I remember attending the first half-an-hour or so of this day's play before heading to Euston to travel to Coventry to see Watford win in the aforementioned circumstances.

On the subject of watching football on time delay, a few weeks ago while we were watching Manchester United v Chelsea, Lower Mound received a phone call during the second half, so he paused the live coverage on our Tivo box and resumed watching a few minutes later. With the score at 1-0 to Chelsea, I saw on Twitter that Branislav Ivanovic had received a late red card and that United had equalised a few minutes later. Therefore, when it got late into our viewing of the match, it appeared likely to Lower Mound that Chelsea would win, but I knew what was about to come.

I think I saw a few of Phillip Hughes's innings for Middlesex despite having college commitments around the time. Unfortunately, the downside of the volume of runs he scored is that many of his innings seemed to merge into one, and it is difficult to remember any of them in particular! His best County Championship match was surely v Surrey at The Oval when he scored 195 in the first innings and top scored with 57 off 46 in our chase of 186 in 25 overs. We finished on 184-9 to achieve the closest possible draw without the result being considered a tie or draw with the scores level. I imagine a report of this will be re-posted soon.

adelaide
01/12/2014 00:57
That match, Jonathan, was the one where my understanding of what was going on from afar was hindered by the complete absence of information on the BBC website as to the number of overs left. I had not discovered the joys of online commentary (if it themn existed) at that stage.

The only fragment of a Phillip Hughes innings that I saw in the flesh was the second day against Leicestershire at Southgate. He certainly hit the ball hard but that morning did not seem to have the air of permanence that some of his other innings must have had.

Largely thanks to a maiden ton from Tiny Jim, the match was eventually drawn.


Adelaide

Fozzie
01/12/2014 16:47
This is a nice idea, Kev. I don't think it's disrespectful to Phillip in any way. I would imagine that his family would be most touched to think that people's contemporary reflections of cricket days in which he featured 5 years ago were being reposted. Cricket is timeless even if, sadly, the participants are not, and I think it's evocative to find knitting and kebabs and Spurs intermingled along with Phil Hughes' innings as part of the memories of the day. It puts Phil in the context of doing what he loved to do, not someone who was somehow more important than the game.

The Diamond ruled ok
01/12/2014 19:30
Hear hear to that Fozzie and I hadn't taken my knitting that day smiling smiley

Seaxe_Man
02/12/2014 10:52
I seem to remember Kev that Cosgrove replied to your banter something along the lines of naff off.

He has slimmed down somewhat since then, so that the captain of the aircraft does'nt have to alter the trim so often.

Jonathan Winsky
02/12/2014 23:15
Nick Compton has tonight (or actually today considering he is in Australia) Tweeted a link to an article he wrote for the Independent in 2009 about Phillip Hughes in which Hughes's performance on the final day v Glamorgan at Lord's is mentioned.

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