bowling for the over rate

By Leprechaun
July 7 2015

With apologies to anyone who thinks we go on about it too much, the report on Day 3 of the Notts match majors on the common theme of the overrates but told with a twist. Less of a bedtime story then a bit of a horror show. Don't have nightmares about scoreboards folks.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin

Once upon a time there was a cricket team called Middlesex who seems to have great trouble bowling 16 overs in every hour during their matches. They had a wizard called Don to help them and he made many magic spells to persuade the people who were in charge of their matches that they really would have bowled all those balls if it had not been for many other things stopping them. 

But  when the team went to Middle England - Nottinghamshire, the problem got really serious. Don the wizard had helped them in the night before so they started out only minus two. But then their bowlers with long runs up started bowling in the morning and soon it became minus three again. 

And the supporters were getting worried (again) because they had a very helpful weather magician (or phone app) that was telling them that it would rain again very soon. And they knew that if the weather got really bad there might not be enough time in the next two days to bowl again in the 2nd innings to put things right.  

But then the captain put Ollie Rayner on and lo and behold not only did he bowl a little faster but he took a wicket just before it started to rain, so that when two hours later we started playing again Don the magician had managed to get the rate back to minus 2. And while all this was happening Nottinghamshire were batting quite well - especially Chris Read - who always gets run against Middlesex and a young player called Hutton who played some shots worthy of his namesake. So it looked as if Middlesex might not be in a position to win any longer so the bonus points would be really important.

So as the sun came out int the afternoon, the supporters got really worried and some of them started using a stop watch to see how long it really took everyone to bowl their overs. And they realised that all the bowlers with long run ups took about the same time to bowl their six balls which was about 3 minutes. and a bit. So the supporters wondered why there was such a problem with bowling this 16 overs every hour. And they they realised that it sometime took them up to a minute between each over.  And that was causing the problem.  And while they were doing all this the over rate went over to minus four.  And that was in spite of Ollie bowling more overs again. And even David Malan bowled a bit. So at tea time there was much concern and quite a lot of frustration among Middlesex supporters.  Even though by tea time Chris Read had been bowled by TRJ which was good because he had been dropped a little earlier. But not before he had got to a very good century yet again against us. 

It was Uxbridge all over again

There had been no more magic done at teatime so we started out at minus 4. Which did not please a lot of the supporters.  But Mala went on bowling at one end and very soon the over rate went down to minus 3. And he even  got a wicket. And then the supporters looked at how long overs were taking and with a slow bowler on at one end 17 overs were bowled well within an hour.  And all became very good as the over rate went minus 2, then minus 1 then 0.  And we all breathed a big sigh of relief. But unfortunately while all this was going on, Notts had taken the lead and soon went past 400 and then took everyone by surprise by declaring with two overs left just as we got the 9th wicket. But at least there was no chance of the over rate slipping back as TRJ had come back to bowl. 

And at the end of the day we met Don the wizard who confirmed that all was well with the over rate. So all we have to do tomorrow is make sure we don’t need to bowl again. And as the magic weather app is predicting showers on and off all day maybe that will be OK as well. Especailly as batting looks to have got easier then it was Sunday.

So the supporters lived happier at least for that evening and until we bowl again.

Positives

• Bowlers worked hard all day
• Malan bowling and getting a wicket
• Sunshine most of the day
• Don’s magic wand

Negatives

• You know what
• A couple of dropped catches
• Notts getting a lead and us only getting two bowling points.