Middlesex CCC
A Tale Of Two Leicester Cities
Who said he's no good?
By Limerick Leprichaun
August 12 2010
Our Leprichaun reports from three locations of a mixed day 3 for our reporter and the fortunes of our beloved team. This report confirms it's not easy following a Middlesex day, especially while working and then travelling to game in the meantime. And as for being there?
Good moaning, worse moaning, morning of hope/despair at the office?
It wasn't the best of mornings; it was in a way the worst of mornings.
After yesterday's weather traumas, the weather has returned to the warmth of this sunny summer and Lords is looking its usual best. Well I assume it is looking its best because the worst of this morning is being stuck in an office for the morning. However it is also the best of mornings, because the upside of not being there is the excellent Kevin Hand/Iain O'Brien double act on the internet radio. Which may not make up for his absence on the field (for him or us) but it doesn't half make for good listening.
It was the morning of foolishness in me. It was the morning of wisdom in Captain Dexter and bowler Dawid Malan. After a quiet start when it sounds as if we are treading water until the new ball, my ears prick up when Malan comes on to bowl. What is going on, I think in my foolishness, until Kevin describes a neat move, involving a change of field placings, a change of pace and a wicket of the last ball of the over. Very wise.
So it became the morning of hope in that we could restrict Leicester to only a little lead. But that soon became the morning of despair (in the cricketing sense of course) as Henderson seemed to live a charmed life in why do other people's nicks and lofted shots always just miss the fielders and ours don't? All the while Taylor is quietly chugging along on and eventually reaches his third consecutive century against Middlesex (stats courtesy of BBC London). You would think we could have worked out how to get rid him of by now! And all the while the lead is building.
The worst of being in the office is having to go off and do proper work things so I then missed the best of the morning in the eventual ending of Henderson's adventure and a swift demolition of the tail by Toby Roland Jones in that's a hopeful sign for the future.
Afternoon- Bad Journey, Good Journey. Journey of despair lead to hope
It was the worst of bus journeys. Road works everywhere but it was the best of bus journeys as we did not lose a wicket and it became a journey of belief that we might actually knock of the deficit before I got there. And indeed it was an arrival of incredulity that we were virtually in the lead and with no wickets down, this must be a spring of hope. Or is this a sign of a dying Lords pitch. So did we have everything before us in this match or did we have nothing before us? I don't think Scott Newman in particular had time for any of this rambling as he spent the hour before tea crunching some powerful shots to the short boundary, and with John Simpson playing an elegant support we definitely had the best of the last hour before tea. A century opening stand at Lords definitely a spring of hope.
Good evening all. but bad Middx evening but amongst despair still hope
It wasn't the best of evenings. Three quick wickets after tea, the ball is starting to turn and bounce, the pitch is definitely not dying. If we can get to 200/250 ahead tomorrow could definitely be a day of hope. But we only have one main line spinner and we may need more of the wisdom of Mr Malan's bowling tomorrow.
But it was also a good evening session of interesting cricket as Dexter and Shah showed really good concentration and dug in well against a huddle of Leicester close fielders. Shame about losing the skipper to a dodgy decision against a bowler probably brought on because the spinners were bowling the overs too quickly. But all is poised for tomorrow: It could be the best of days; it could be the worst of days especially if Taylor gets his fourth century in succession; we must have worked him out by now!
Now time for a dance to unwind after a mixed day. Where's Hippity when I need him?
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:14:07:59:38 by Ged.
I was rather hoping your report would comprise of Limericks again, with names like Nixon, Taylor, Naik and (especially) Buck offering lots of potential.
Anyway excellent report and I can relate to days like this.
Barmy Kev
I'm only here for the tele
I am not sure what has happened to Dawid Malan's bowling, as in previous seasons he has been an effective part-time spinner, often taking wickets and bowling cheap overs. However, going for 22 runs in one over in a Twenty20 match v Essex at Lord's seemed to damage his confidence. I'm not sure if it so much damaged his confidence in himself, but it seemed to damage the confidence Adam Gilchrist and then Neil Dexter had in him as after that over I think Gilchrist said that it is unlikely he would give AC the ball again.
After that match, he didn't bowl again in the Twenty20 Cup, but he bowled 6.1 overs for 14 runs in a County Championship match v Gloucestershire, taking the wicket of Alex Gidman - and one over v Sussex at Uxbridge.
Hopefully, AC's bowling can be restored to its past glories.
Click here to read why I sensationally sacrificed the big bucks of Chelsea for the adventure of Watford
(image on left not representative of how relative my support of Watford is to my support of Middlesex)
