By London Leprecahaun
August 2 2013

London Leprechaun reports on an action packed day at Lord's with wickets for all our bowlers, lots of wicket keeping practice for John Simpson, some good bowlng all round and a few silly shots. Who says championship cricket is dull?

It seemed a little odd to be getting ready to go to a cricket match with thunder rumbling round and torrential showers every few minutes. Had I been going to virtually any ground but Lord's I may not have bothered. But optimistically I set off amidst the thunder and very grey clouds. By the time I get out of the tube, central London has brightened up considerably and the nice people on the Lords prospect of play service are happily announcing a prompt start. Thank you Lords for that state of the art drainage.

Next thought is what to do if you win the toss, and it is no great surprise to learn that we have put Durham in. Hopefully this will have been a good toss to win and some of our returning bowlers will make an impact. The toss certainly looks good, when I get into the ground to see we took a wicket in the first over. Welcome back Murts and Simmo. We are making good use of the early morning conditions and it does not come as any surprise when Collymore, and Murts again reduce Durham to 13-3 with nice regulation edges to Simmo. No other fielders needed yet. There is a bit of a revival as Stokes and Smith try to get the Durham score moving. They look as if they know a wicket could fall at any moment and try and get momentum going with some quick running between the wickets.

Welcome Home Finny

It is not long before Steve Finn is in the attack – he gets an encouraging welcome from a decent crowd. And he bowls with speed and intent; there are a lot of edged shots, which with attacking fields generally go for four. Including one six by Smith which Collymore makes a valiant attempt to catch. But sooner or later the edges will go to hand and a smart low catch from Sam Robson puts paid to Stokes.  Four wickets down for less than 50, justifies the decision to field while one more before lunch would be good. Gareth Berg had spent most of the morning vigorously warming up and finally gets a bowl not long before lunch. And Smith duly obliges with the fifth wicket - chasing a wide one from the Iceman and Ollie Rayner took another decent low catch at fourth slip/gulley. Very satisfactory morning, including some sharp fielding and Eoin Morgan being very obliging with autograph hunters in the Mound Stand.

The sun starts coming out properly after lunch so we need to polish things of quickly. Durham sense the need to get the score moving and Mustard and Collingwood try and get on with things.  But at the end of one Berg over Simmo has an long chart with the bowler, and first ball of his next over Mustard edges helpfully behind. I bet Berg(er) relished that . [Sorry couldn’t resist that one]

Collingwood was next to go trying to hit Finn back over his head – which is difficult with Finny’s height, and following a bit of resistance from Thorp, he cleaned up the tail.  All done and dusted by 3.20 – Durham no batting points; the sun shining.  All set up for no more wickets today. But . . . . .

 Our innings starts watchfully. Onions and Rushworth bowl steadily and Robbo and Jo Denly, with plenty of time look determined to see them off. Unfortunately watchful became stuck and when we lose Denly and Robbo in quick succession in the fourth and fifth overs we only have one run. Good chance for Morgan to bat deep though. 

In spite of their good start Durham are not happy with the ball and manage to get it changed after Morgan and Voges each hit a boundary. Immediately it is changed, it gets thumped for four again, but then Voges who had looked very settled cuts Onions straight to point, and walks off kicking himself – almost literally.

Eoin looks solid in defence, waiting for the bad balls and thumping them to the boundary. Dexy is a bit more skittish to start with though gradually getting his timing with some sumptuous drives.

It is a bit of a surprise when Stokes traps Morgan lbw. So far the wickets have fallen at remarkably similar stages to the Durham innings. 

It is turning into a very late finish – with all the wickets falling and no spinners in sight it is past normal closing time before a spinner comes on.  Why is it that as soon as slow bowlers come on fielding sides seem to think that every ball is a potential wicket taker? Durham are quite noisy anyway and seem to think that every ball vaguely in the air ought to be caught. So they make the most of Borthwick’s first over, although it is the second over which takes the wicket as Simmo is caught at mid off.  Though he appeared to be not sure about something – a bump ball; not carrying? Not sure but he needed to be given out before he went. So again our fifth wicket fell at a similar stage to Durham’s. But Berg came in with positive intent and Dexter, though a bit skittish still, was playing some decent shots. As the evening closed in, a few edges over and through the slips, some decent running and a few thumping boundaries has brought us within touching distance of Durham. A decent start tomorrow, and any form of lead will be precious.