Middlesex CCC
NOTTS SUCH A FUN DAY
By Lower Pav
September 12 2013
I was asked to do the report by one of our moderators and was happy to oblige. When arriving at the ground, my first duty of the day, was to safely deliver to Fletch care of The Middlesex Shop The August Player Of The Month Trophy and small bottle of champagne. This achieved, my second duty of the day, was to have breakfast. Unfortunately The Long Room Bar had no food as there had apparently been a lack of communication re the early start. I came back a bit later only to find they had virtually run out of saugages. Unfortunately the day got progressively worse.
Myself and The Power joined friends in The Front Row of The Lower Tier Of The Pavilion just by the gates We won the toss and elected to field under grey clouds. Murtagh opened the bowling from The Nursery End and Harris from The Pavilion End. Right at the start there was very nearly a run out, from the shouting it looked very close indeed. Not Out was the verdict, but unfortunately the ball cannoned of the stumps and went for four. This is a rule that must be changed. There was then a very loud appeal for a catch behind off the excellent Murtagh and Wessels was given not out.
After 9 overs Sandhu came on at the Pavilion End. This was my first really good look at the young man. My initial feeling is that he has a pleasant action but perhaps needs to do more with the ball. I also feel that Harris is not at his best and had a rather disappointing day by his standards.
The best bowler up to lunch was of course Murtagh. At 31 for 0 there was a very loud appeal for LBW off the bowling of Murtagh and Wessels was once again given Not Out. Mullaney played and missed twice off the bowling of Murtagh and already it began to feel that this may not be our day.
Notts staggered to 42 for 0 off 15 overs. Then a wicket. Dexter had come on from The Pavilion End and as he often does and with his third delivery he broke a partnership. He had Wessels caught in the slips by Robson for 14 and Notts were 43 for 1 off 19 overs. Lumb came out to bat.
Berg then tried his luck at The Pavilion End. Things got even more tedious and myself and The Power entertained ourselves by watching two wasps attacking the fence posts at the front of The Pavilion. Mercifully lunch arrived. 73 for 1 off 30 overs. Entertaining it was not.
Play resumed on time after lunch. Harris replaced Murtagh at The Nursery End and nothing really happened. Notts arrived at 87 for 1 off 40 overs The great Ollie Rayner came on to bowl at The Pavilion End. He bowled an over and then promptly ran off but came back in time t bowl his second over. Mullaney arrived at his 50 which took 177 minutes. Notts staggered to 111 for 1 off 47 overs. Mullaney not for the first time took a swipe at the ball and missed. Lumb then reached his 50 and Notts arrived at 141 for 1 off 57 overs.
Forgive me, somewhere along the way Tea had thankfully arrived and myself and The Power had an enjoyable cup of tea and a slice of cake in The Seaxe Box which was all very civilised indeed Whether it was before tea or afterwards I can not remember but we got our second wicket. Rayner who was bowling well dismissed Lumb for 54 caught at backward point or thereabouts by Dexter. Notts 158 for 2. Taylor came out to bat.
Then things got rather comical. The Umpires looked at each other had a chat and the players went off for bad light. As everyone wandered off I asked one player from my seat by the gate whether the light was that bad whereupon he replied. ' Who Said That' We all dissolved into laughter. That was the highlight of the day.
About 20 minutes later the players came back at 4.17 pm with the light seeming to be exactly the same as it had been 20 minutes earlier. At 4.24pm after just a further 2 overs and 1 ball the players came off again for bad light and once again there appeared to be no difference in the light at all. At that point Notts were 161 for 2 off 69.1 Overs. Mullaney not out 88 and Taylor not out 0 and that was it for the day. As I looked at the scoreboard the only other thing of note were Ollie Rayner's figures 13 overs 5 maidens 18 for 1.
In Summary. Notts were barely going at 2 runs an over all day. Murtagh and Rayner bowled well with little luck and I was also left wondering why Dexter, who bowled 6 overs 2 maidens 8 for 1 did not bowl more. I found the days cricket to be rather tedious and only the real devotees of 4 day cricket would have got some pleasure from it. However as usual the company was great and a special thanks to The Power who sat next to me all day and helped me when I missed something or when he sensed my mind and concentration was beginning to wander. I shall be back tomorrow but with poor weather forecast for Friday and Saturday unless something remarkable happens tomorrow or the weather forecast is wrong a draw seems even after just one day to be the most likely outcome.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:09:16:12:48:42 by BarmierKev.
Why didn't they turn them on during the stoppages or bad light?
SC
Quote:chunkyinargyll
As every true supporter knows, there is a limit (imposed by the local council) as to how many days a year the floodlights may be used. I forget the exact number of days- but they are all accounted for.
So why are they switched on in the photograph
If there is bad light at the Oval when Surrey play they switch them on
When there is an evening match at my local team Hampton they switch them on
Hampton the Oval and lords are all residential areas so why the difference?
SC
I assume that the reason why different rules apply to Lord's is because it is in a very affluent area.
In Monopoly terms Lords would be Mayfair-
And the gasworks Old Kent Road.
Oh hang on, you said "affluent", not "effluent"....
Adelaide
Thank you LP for sharing the day with us.
Barmy Kev
I'm only here for the tele
Adelaide
It's interesting, though, the different perceptions we pick up. Murtagh was, as you say, excellent before lunch, but for me the stand-out bowler was Gareth Berg. I watched his spell before lunch from the square-leg, where I could see the appreciable speed and bounce was getting. After lunch I sat in Upper Edrich, and it was extraordinary how many times Berg had Lumb playing and missing. There really was no justice in him ending wicketless.
Please allow me to add a slight Notts slant on proceedings.
If Lumb takes a long time to score runs, then the opposition must be bowling well. Mullaney is a young man who is not certain of a starting place in the 1st X1 and is therefore fighting for that place having been selected ahead of Hales. Think of the reverse and had this been Adam London drafted into the Middx side, people would have been very happy for him.
Although not related to this days report, it is interesting to see that Notts still managed to gain 4 batting points from the innings.
I know the viewers rarely approve of attritional batting - Warwks style - but when a side is regularly failing with the bat and near the bottom of the table, sometimes it is good to read of some grit being shown.
If you remeber the first game of the season at Trent Bridge, the floodlights were on for most of the game, one finds it bizarre that Lord's is different.
I wouldn't compare Notts' batting yesterday with Warks this season and last at Uxbridge. On both those occasions batting conditions were excellent, but as well as plodding along Warks showed no inclination to press home their advantage. Judging by today's score, I would guess that Notts took advantage of yesterday's efforts and upped the pace of their innings.
Earlier this season, Derbyshire's 231 in 104.5 overs with Billy Godleman scoring 55 off 265 at Lord's drew complaints, but they recorded a lead of 16, even if we then took control of the match by bowling them out for 60. Two weeks later, there were complaints about Surrey going at around two an over for much of their visit to Lord's, but we were then made to follow-on and sadly not for the last time had to be baled out by Chris Rogers and Sam Robson.
For most of his career, I have always thought of Steven Mullaney as a fast bowler and not as a batsman, although I admit I know little about him. Therefore, it feels a surprise he opens the batting for Nottinghamshire, something he will surely now continue to do. There seems to be a trend for having players high up the order who were originally seen mainly as bowlers, as Scott Borthwick now comes in at 3 for Durham and James Middlebrook usually opens the batting for Northamptonshire.
SC
Fozzie.
I stand corrected. I of course should have mentioned the excellent bowling of Berg, apologies to him and to you. My only excuse was that it was a little late when I typed up my notes that evening and somewhere along the way I lost a page which I think had reference to Berg's good work in them but that is no excuse.
Vic.
I do stand corrected. One of my many faults is that I tend to look at everything through a Middlesex perspective and sometimes do not give the opposition enough credit. At the end of the innings the fact is Notts managed 4 batting points to our one bowling point. However bearing in mind our good start to our innings a draw is possibly still favourite but this is sport and all things are still possible.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:09:12:22:57:15 by lower pavilion.
I am well aware that Alan Mullally was a genuine number 11!
A couple of other examples of bowlers whose clubs have tried to convert them into openers are Gareth Batty and Chris Jordan, as both were tried by Surrey in that role in 2012, but evidently without success.
JW, Steven, like Riki Wessels, normally bats 5,6,7 but due to a lack of form of the openers this season, has been promoted to open on a few occasions. This he has done well having scored 100's against both London clubs away from Trent Bridge. I think he would be delighted to be thought of as a "fast bowler" as he is very medium paced and with a good slower ball.
Absolutely correct. I think it is a very good thing when someone posts giving the other teams perspective on things.
The bottom line was that even though the first day was rather uninspiring Notts must have got something right as they ended up as I say with four batting points.
Indeed, looking at the Notts team, I wonder why they have not done much better this season and they were indeed one of the sides who I thought would be challenging for top position this year.
