Compo give us a wave

By Constance
September 18 2009

Constance braves the wind and the ever dependable Central Line (you can depend on the fact that you have a long wait for a West Ruislip) to report on Day 3 at Uxbridge. As ever, she remains up beat about Middlesex and informative throughout the report. Many thanks to Constance for this excellent MTWD report.

There is a London Transport bye law that says if you are on a line with more than one destination the first train is always to the destination you do not want.  So thanks to the Central Line knowing that I wanted West Ruislip and sending trains to Ealing Broadway, I missed the start and had to wait until White City to check the score and establish that we had not lost any very quick wickets.  So far so good on Plan A which is simply to get to 252.

At West Ruislip comes it is absolutely freezing by the bus stop. Enough to make you think – it is September, it is cold, we are at the wrong end of the table, we are playing Derby – what on earth am I doing here?  But fortunately the famous U1 arrives before these thoughts go any further. Another quick check on the score and drat – Dexter is out. That U1 has a lot to answer for.  Arrival at the ground with no more wickets down.  Adam London is having a practice – hopefully he will be fit to bat. Maybe sooner rather than later as Simpson is out not before long – not a repeat of the Kent game please.  Suddenly the follow on target looks rather daunting and Adam is padded up. But he needn’t worry: Gareth Berg looks good from the start and Nick Compton is clearly determined to make up for the Malan run out as long as possible.

Soon a bright and breezy partnership is under way. Berg plays some crisp cover drives, Compo some delicate glances and in spite of the odd interesting call when it comes to the singles, the pair look solid and secure and the score starts to gather momentum. 

Just before lunch Compo reaches a really well crafted century, Berg’s fifty is almost a run a ball as he continues his late bid for player of the year. The follow on comes and goes with no fuss. What was the worry? But just after that landmark a loose shot from Berg puts the ball straight down mid wicket’s throat.  Udal, Kartik and Murtagh all come and go in quick succession going for quick runs, while Compo looks more and more imperious at the other end, with shots all round the wicket, including one huge six that almost went into the bowling green – I hope the cat was paying attention. It is really good to see him in such a confident and classy mood.  Bodes well for next year.  Meanwhile there is also time to digest the breaking news from Trent Bridge that Andrew Strauss has actually lost a toss. Time for a public inquiry I think.

Just before tea, tension mounts as 350 approaches. Murtagh is out at 341, 8 wickets down is effectively 9 we think. Can Burton last? Somehow he manages to scramble a couple of runs and more importantly give Compo the strike so we manage to get to 349. But oh no Compo is out swishing a ball to try and get to 350. As he comes off to a standing ovation, Derbyshire follow him.

 Compo, give us a wave!!

But wait – down the steps strides Adam London to make sure we get the 350. He smears the ball for four, Udal calls them in, and off  goes Adam to a hero’s welcome, a strike rate of 400 and a very sore finger. Was it worth it for one point? Probably not in the grand scheme of things and it may not  affect our position relative to Leicester but it was good to see that these things still mattered even at this stage of the season.

After tea Derby started just fifty ahead and we needed early wickets if we were going to boss the rest of the match. But it didn’t happen, and it became clear that al we could do was wait for a Derby declaration – assuming they still want to win the match they need to set us something challenging and interesting. Their scoring rate increases as we don’t bowl with any great aggression and general consenus near me is something over 300 sometime after lunch is the likely agreement.  Derby scored fast but it was all with a sense that the real interest in the match will come tomorrow.

Perhaps Rogers and Shaggy should just have agreed the target, the overs and the time to come back tomorrow to spare everyone not exactly going through the motions, more like killing time before it all kicks off tomorrow.  Even the two wickets that went seemed a bit irrelevant though it was good to see Kartik take a good catch of a ball skied so high it must have gone into the Northolt flight path before it came down.

So as attention wandered a bit in that last session there was plenty of time for lots of conversation about the management board election with those of us still to get our mailings keen to see the lists from those fortunate ones whose post has arrived.  Just shows that this election is generating a lot of interest and expectation.  Which must be good and healthy and shows how much people care about things. Which is why we will be back tomorrow to see a draw, a win or something. And maybe London Transport will remember that it is West Ruislip trains I want tomorrow please.