Partnership in vain

By Rogers and Out
August 10 2016

Rogers and Out gives us ab entertaining report of the mismatch at Northants with diversions by way of road works, goings on in pubs and what ight have been Kev's excuse for missing the match - the dog ate my ticket.  But we end on a positive note with much still to play for this summer.

Our first white ball knockout game for eight years ended in disappointment as Northamptonshire comfortably defeated us by seven wickets in the second T20 Blast quarter final at Wantage Road on Tuesday evening.  Our inadequate score of 132 was never going to be enough and our hosts sailed to victory with eleven balls to spare. Whilst Paul Stirling and George Bailey notched decent scores of 35 and 46 respectively, it was our former player Adam Rossington whose unbeaten 67 took the Midland team to victory.
The journey to my hotel near Collingtree Park was hampered by road closures and it was only due to a kindly workman allowing me access to the closed road that I managed to get to my place of rest.
A licensed bandit in a taxi took me from the hotel to the Road to Morocco public house. I spent an amused hour or so here waiting for Barmy Kev as the locals got themselves in a lather about the ethnicity of certain members of the Japanese Olympic  rugby team, whose victory over New Zealand delighted us all.
Kev turned up but when passing the match ticket to him, it blew away and he was involved in an unseemly melee with a local pooch to gain possession of the said ticket. In retrospect, it may have been preferable if Bonzo had destroyed the ticket to spare the viewing of our later ignominy.
We took our seats along side the few Middlesex fans who made the trip and we watched as as we batted first having won the toss.
You had the feeling it wasn't going to be our day as AC chopped a Kleinfeldt delivery on to his stumps in the first over. Gubbo lofted an early maximum but was  bowled by Gleeson soon after and we were tottering at 10/2.  Stirlo and Gorgeous held us together and notched a stand of 68 runs, but we never looked convincing at any stage. Once Stirlo fell in the twelfth over, we struggled and 132/7 was about as good as it was going to get after 20 overs.

Bailey holes out

It was at this stage that the facilities needed to be used and as much as I like the homely County Ground, the wait was unduly excessive.
Northants looked to kill the game early on, but Levi miscued TR-J to the General in the deep in the third over. Cobb slapped Higgo to George at mid on in the sixth over, but Rosso and Duckett were taking Northampton comfortably to their lowly target.  Duckett eventually perished via a good catch by Geoge from the bowling of Franco, but it was the effective, controlled batting by Eastcote's finest that saw Northants to Edgbaston with ease.

Rossington sees Northants home

We were well and truly beaten but it was good to see us performing decently in both white ball competitions this season, and we can but hope that our fine form in the County Championship leads us to greater things come September.