HR Pic. from Day 3

By Seax Man ft. HR
September 13 2009

Seaxe Man reports on the morning session of Day 4, Middlesex v Kent. We have yet to ascertain whether he missed the final two sessions (unlikely, he is MTWD) or whether he simply ran out of steam last night while report writing. Meanwhile we also bring you two excellent snaps by Haringey Racer taken the day before. Thanks to both of you. (Editor note whole report now completed)

Prequel - the evening before Day 4 in pictures (thanks to Haringey Racer)

The above picture, in HR's words, "shows Simon cook being congratulated after rearranging Dan Housego's wicket (sadly I had the camera down as he actually bowled)".

The above picture, in HR's words, "shows Cook bowling Compton. I have no idea how I got that one quite as good as I did."  It's a corker, HR!! 

And now, over to Seaxe Man.......

Rolling scene.
 

Blue skies and a lightish breexe. This turned out to be the best day of the 4 weatherwise, truly a late summer's day. There was a reasonable smattering of punters around the ground throughout the day.

Recap: Kent 652 for 7 dec. Midd-x 356 and following on,89 for 3. Malan 16 no, Dexter 39no. Middlesex in the Telegraph described as having 'lurched' to 89 for 3. Gate steward reckoned if we reached 330. Match drawn. We shall see.

1st session ( 96 overs to bat).

Khan opened up to Malan GWE. 1st ball off driven to scorebox for 4. 4th ball kept low and deceived Geraint who fumbled. Mahmood to Dex PE. Off driven to Pav. Lost under Pav in bushes. Ferley conducted search and recovered. Single put Malan on strike. An Off drive for 4 to the Park Road boundary, raised the 100, second over.

Dex lofted Mahmood to same area for two. Swished at balls 4/6 and missed. Over 4, spin introduced in the shape of Tredwell at PE. Malan stroked an off drive for 4 to Park Road boundary. Gerry turned up with Fulham Steve. Good man. Dex pulled a 4 to the beer tent to bring up his 50. A brilliant off drive to the Park Road boundary brought another 4.

A legside dab by Malan for 3, fumbled on the boundary at GWE, took us to 121 for 3 at end of 6th over. Malan pulled Mahmood for another 4 next over. No ball signalled. At this point runs were flowing freely. Simon Cook replaced Tredwell at PE. Dex immediately took a legside 4. Tredwell now switched to GWE. Malan nudged a 2 past the close field to bring up the 100 partnership. 133 for 3. Cook head in hands at a Dex leave. On drive saved by Key. Saved 4.Dex then off drove Cook to the scorebox. 48 off 10 overs.

Tredwell turned one slowly at Malan who survived. Cook around the wicket to Malan.Single and retained strike. A quiet spell was broken as Dex put Cook through 3rd man for 4. Maiden Tredwell to Dawid. A couple of balls kept low. Ferley replaced Cook at PE. Spin both ends. Key was constantly ringing the changes. 1 hour gone. On strike Dex. Tredwell to bowl. Dex struck balls 3/4 for 4, number 5 went for 6 into the car park. Lost ball. When retrieved, Ball 6 went for 4. 18 off the over. Dex on 88. 164 for 3. 132 adrift.Poor sweep by Dex at Tredwell, repeated and gained 2, but not well struck.

Malan sweeps Ferley for 1. Next Ferley over a maiden. A single by Malan broke the scoreless spell. 4 byes got the scorebox moving. Dex stepped down the wicket to on drive Ferley to the main scorebox. The all spin attack had slowed the scoring. 35 in the last 16 overs which included 18 off one of those. Change at GWE, Azhar Mahmood. Field 3rd man,fine leg, inner ring, short leg, one slip. Single. Malan on strike. Cover/mid field change over. Malan edged, did'nt carry, single taken. Dex pulls Mahmood to Pav for 4 to reach his second 100 of the match, emulating Paul Weekes in 1996. However, the announcer said it was last done by a Middlesex batter in 2004 by Ben Hutton.186 for 3. 110 adrift. Time 12.10.

Tredwell opened from the Pavilion End to Silvers. He was greeted by a driven 4. There will now be a 4th innings as this took the score to 297. Kent have to bat again. For how many was the question?

Silvers lobbed one into no-mansland. Safe. GWE. Rob Ferley to Murts. 1st ball on middle peg. Blocked. Then Tim straight drives for 4. Brings up 300. Tickle to leg by Murts and despite a frantic dash by old boy Simon Cook, he arrived too late.4. A bonus 4 byes jollied the score along. Cheers. Silvers nicked a cheeky single to a sleeping short 3rd man. Leg bye stolen. Silvers then adjudged LBW for 14. Bowler Tredwell. Score 313 for 9.

The end is nigh. Last man Finn joins the fray. Another bye. Murts a snick for 4 off Tredders. Nicks a single. Some stoic defence by Finny reduced the overs left to 16. Though time wise there was still plenty left. 321 for 9. Time 4.20. After some steady blocking by Murts, a lofted 4. Overs left 15. A maiden to Finn. 14 overs left.Key brought Van Jaarsveld at GWE, Murts an almighty heave at 1st ball, misses. Then gets a single. Finn facing. It was now a hot sunny late summer afternoon. Once again the innings closed in a crazy fashion, with a runout. Finn pushed to shortish mid on, sent back does'nt make it. 326 ao. Kent 31 to win with bags of time. Murts 35no. Finn 0. 

Suffice to say, not a lot to say on the Kent run chase which was achieved in 5.1 overs. It was notable for Adam London to get the penultimate over, with Dan Housego given the privilege of bowling what proved to be the last.His first ball being smote for 6 over the Gatting Way End. Game over. Kent won by 10 wickets. Time 4.32.

 Epilogue. 

Statistics: Kent's 652 for 7 dec was their second highest in First Class cricket. It is also the highest at Uxbridge, beating Worcester's score made 627 for 6 dec in 1998. Neil Dexter's twin tons of 146 and 118 against his former county was the first instance at Park Road since Paul Weekes scored 171 and 160 against Somerset in 1996. Not the most recent however, as it was done by Ben Hutton in 2004. The Kent 5th wicket record of 169* in 1971 between B.W.Luckhurst And Asif Iqbal was replaced by Stevens and Kemp's 228. 

The Midd-x 4th wicket record v Kent between Clive Radley and Mike Gatting of 184 at Tunbridge Wells in 1982, also went to the Dexter/Malan partnership of 202.

 Overall The wicket as requested provided some turn on the fourth day. Unfortunately, we were batting. Robert Key handled his bowling resources well, switching the spinners in particular, from one end to the other. Eventually despite forecasts to the contrary, they achieved 20 wickets to win the match. 

Day four played in the best weather of the four, provided a good day's cricket for the aficionados present. Until Van Jaarsveld's spectacular catch, it was not certain that we would'nt hang on. Great work by Dex and Malan to keep Kent wicketless in the pre lunch session. But the loss of 5 wickets in the post lunch session, proved too much. Nevertheless, the boys made Kent work hard for a well won victory.