only one to get any runs

By Dingy Bags
May 3 2011

Dingy bats reports from a freezing day at Lord's where the Kent Spitfires outplayed Middlesex to inflict the home teams first defeat of the season.

It had to end sometime and it ended today. It was sunny but freezing at Lords – I
watched most of the game with Beefy, Ken and Diamond in the Middlesex Room and I’ve
never seen it so full.

On the same wicket for the Surrey CC and Netherlands games, Kent won the toss and
put us in. We never really turned up. Kent had a side half-full of younger players but
they looked a lot better on the day than us and their older players, Mahmood, Tredwell,
Stevens, Van Jaarsveld, all contributed.

We had 22 on the board when Diamond said, “Good shot!”, only to see Malan walking
off having middled one to gulley/point. It didn’t get any better: Stirling, after some brief
violence, hit one up in the air, Dex dragged on, Berg seemed to be out in the same way as
yesterday and Scollay had a bit of a smear and missed.

Scott Newman tried his best, without ever seeming to time it regularly and there was a
typically useful, but all too brief, contribution from Rayner. Amusing moment of the day
was when Ollie had a sweep and should have been caught coming in from the midwicket
boundary; only Northeast went southwest and slipped, not only missing the catch but
letting through a four.

However, both Newman and Rayner hit tame catches and it left the lower order with the
tricky problem of whether to hit out or see us through the overs. Sensible batting meant
the latter, although Ireland hit the last ball of the innings for a straight six.

Murts did offer us some hope when getting an edge from Key (athletic catch from
Ben Scott) but he dropped short three time in his next over and Van Jaaarsveld was
away. Collymore bowled a steady, accurate spell but, in truth, Kent never looked like
mucking it up and Northeast gave the free-scoring Van Jaaaarsveld sensible support.
Only with the game coming rapidly to its end, with Stirling and Malan bowling, did Van
Jaaaaarsveld hit one up in the air with a hundred for the taking. Strangely, with the
game well beyond saving, Collymore was asked to come back and bowl a seventh over.

This was obviously our worse performance of this still very young season and the
test will come next game to see if we can get it out of our system. Certainly there was
nothing to get at all excited about today.