Middlesex CCC
Our Donkey Derby
Bowled well
By Limerick Leprichaun
August 25 2010
Limerick Leprichaun reports on very poor game for us with promising start from the office and downhill ride from the sofa. Being positive there's a valid excuse for bad result but a message of hope for next game.
During the day.
So many questions. Will it rain. How will Sky big this match up maybe talk about the ex captains on both sides. Why did they choose this match in the first place? So many questions so few answers.
4.40 in the office with Kevin on softly. Can't hear everything clearly, but he is either in or next door to the groundsman hut and is busy describing the smell of tea, toast and (edible) crumpet. And in between that telling us about Pedro taking three quick wickets, discussing a damp patch on the pitch with Ian O'Brien, diplomatically not talking about the goings on at Leicester, and than nattering through a short rain break. At which point all seemed well.
Had to go home then. It was 59/4. By the time I got to the tube it was 100/5. Madsen and Redfern are rebuilding. This could go pear shaped? Pear shaped in the tube - that could be messy. By the time I get home, Madsen, Redfern and Clare have repaired things. Sounds like a firm of estate agents. And they obviously rebuilt, renovated and put some foundation on the Derby innings. And eventually got them home to 198 as I got home.
Home Now. Oh dear
See a bit of the interval chat, and they are going on about Toby RJ including an interview with Gus praising him big time. Please don't go on about him to much. Not with England selectors watching! Can't tell from the chat if we let the estate agents get going or the renovations were all their own work.
But it's not a huge target, and we just need a steady start and good foundations. Yes well. I just get settled to see Scott Newman out second ball, followed in close order by Shah, Malan and Simpson mostly to not great shots after playing a couple of good shots each. It was probably not a good sign that we had a rubbish free hit off a no ball. We couldn't get the ball through the field and we could only get it TO the field. Though the bowling is tight and Wagg is looking good and the Derby fielding is keen. Time to consolidate. And Captain Dex and Gareth Berg do just that. It is quiet, calm and without alarms for a while: the rate is still manageable and so with mainly sensible batting, the odd overthrow, an occasional wide and a few inside edges we wander up to 65, before a seriously fast Footit traps Berg, is way to good for Tom Scollay (though it's a fab catch at slip) and than Shaun Udal is out to the extra ball from a wide!
It's down to the skipper. But Murts bats really sensibly for a bit, gets to a decent 18 and then gets out to a silly, silly run out. It's not just pear shaped itís King William pear shaped.
So Toby - you started as a batsman. . . . . . ..but - one aerial four is good. Another attempt is just a good boundary catch. Now Pedro only has to help the captain for 10 overs and 82 runs. But it doesnít look as if the skipper thinks he can do that and is last out to a hopeless slog.
I blame the rain and those estate agents. Let's hope Derby have used us all their good play today.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:26:16:59:54 by Ged.
I can understand there being a lot of people sad about some of the captains resigning their role over the last few months, but in the case of Shaun Udal's resignation I see nothing sad or surprising about it. He is 41-years-old and I think in the last year of his contract, so if anyone had built it in their mind that Shaggy would still be captain in 2015 then they were sadly mistaken. I knew that Middlesex would be looking for a new captain by April 2011 at the very latest, so for it to happen in June 2010 was in my opinion quite wise. However, it is quite sad about Will Smith (Durham), Nicky Boje (Northamptonshire), Chris Rogers (Derbyshire), Mark Pettini (Essex) and Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire) standing down and in most of those cases I can understand people believing that they would still be captaining their side in 2015.
Why did Sky choose to televise this match in the first place?
It was known roughly at the same time that the fixturelist was announced in November 2009 that this match would be televised, although I am certain that Sky are disappointed that it turned out to be academic. However, as soon as I saw that the structure of this competition was to be three groups of seven teams with only the winners of each group plus the runners-up with the most points progressing to the next stage, I knew it was an inevitability that long before the end of the group stage there would be many teams whose chances of progression had long died and as a consequence many matches being played between two such teams, and indeed that was the case last night.
Even if Middlesex were doing as well as Yorkshire (who have played nine, won eight, lost one and will surely win our group) I would still disagree with the conception structure as not only does it make it harder for teams to qualify once they have lost a few matches, it also means that teams who do well have to keep on winning before they can safely say they are in the next stage.
Sky's commentators talking about Toby Roland-Jones
On both the Falcons V Panthers CB40 Floodlit @ Derby 24/8/10 thread and Facebook I wrote "It is of no surprise that Roly's exploits have captured the attention of Sky. I know that some Middlesex supporters would prefer it if he didn't capture the attention of the ECB, but it is an inevitability that if he continues at his current rate then he will be named in Performance Squads in the winter, and that would surely help his development".
