This DIDN'T happen...

By Fozzie
June 22 2012

Fozzie reports on the game against Essex at Lords, the final one before the olympic break......

Hurrying to the ground shortly before the start, I scoured the skyline but surprisingly could see no rainclouds. Nor, less surprisingly, were there any pigs flying high above SJW, so clearly we hadn’t won the toss for a change. 

In the Upper Tav I met a small group of ultras who had been busy celebrating Coops’ birthday, among them Kimmy looking resplendent in Gareth Berg’s Italian world cup shirt (though surely not a patriot’s attire of choice, given England’s next game in the Euros?) Editors note, for people who knew it was just for the cricket.... and a pink MTWD hard hat, in anticipation of a storm of sixes. I guess you had to be there to get the full effect.

And so to the match, with Essex having indeed won the toss and chosen to bat, and Adam Rossington replacing the absent Paul Sterling. I always feel a bit redundant as a match reporter for a televised game, as I’m sure you’ve all seen every detail much more closely than me and replayed several times in slow motion.  But anyway, here goes.

We stick to the now familiar bowling plan, with Ollie and Crooky opening, and Toby replacing Ollie after one over.  Pettini and Franklin lay the foundations for a decent start with a mixture of good and streaky shots, Toby in particular suffering with 23 taken off his first two overs.

At the end of the powerplay, after 6 overs, the score is 44-0, so no breakthrough but not a disaster either. The scoreboard states that the 2nd powerplay is now in operation, causing a lengthy debate as to how many there are in T20. Fortunately the fielders ignore the scoreboard and disperse to more useful run-saving positions.

Dex now switched to an all-spin attack, and Pattini immediately played on to Ollie.  This brought in the dangerous Ryan ten Doeschate, but Ollie and Smudge were keeping the run rate down. Then in the 10th over Franklin, who had become becalmed after a bright start, lofted Smudge straight into Joe Denly’s midriff on the boundary – and out again, a straightforward chance that didn’t look any better when replayed five times on the big screen. Even so, the score was still only 63-1 at the halfway stage, and next over it was 64-2 as Simmo smartly stumped Franklin to give Ollie a second wicket and excellent final figures of 2-16.

At this point Dingy Bags wistfully commented that he hadn’t seen anyone hit a straight six so far in the T20 games, and (totally predictably) RTD immediately responded by coming down the pitch to Smudge and driving him for consecutive straight sixes, with 18 coming off the over. In Smudge’s next over RTD again drove high, and the unfortunate Joe Denly leapt high right on the boundary rope to take a catch above his head, only for the momentum to carry him over the boundary for another six.  However, next over Dex dismissed RTD for 38, bringing in Napier. A confident Kev pronounced that Napier wouldn’t be able to cope with the big boundaries at Lords, as he can only score on small grounds like Chelmsford.  Again predictably, Dex’s over which had started so promisingly with a dot ball and a wicket ended with 18 going off it, as Napier responded with a quickfire 28 off 12 balls.  Perhaps it was just my imagination that with every boundary he looked smugly up at the Upper Tav.  Even so, Gareth and Toby bowled well at the death (though not helped by more dropped catches and unnecessary overthrows), and Essex finished on 155-6 – a useful score, though maybe not as big as had seemed possible at one stage.

In the break between innings Toby was presented with the award as player of the month for June. Well done, Toby – but hang on, isn’t there still more than a week left of June? Perhaps this was just an example of positive forward-thinking by the club and its sponsors. Come on, you moderators – where’s our poll? Try to keep up! Joe and Buck opened our innings to the left-arm spinner Tim Phillips (last year’s leading T20 wicket-taker, apparently) and the experienced Masters. By the 9th over we’re 36-5, and it’s more or less all up.  Joe, Buck and AC all fell to straightforward catches, attempting to play forcing shots. 

The only bright spot in the top order was Adam Rossington, coming in first wicket down in the opening over.  Adam cover-drove and hooked Masters for fours, and straight drove Phillips hard and true for 6 – all excellent shots with no hint of slogging. We were cheering his every shot, but having scored 22 from 16 balls he was adjudged LBW (unluckily, apparently, as according to TV viewers he clearly edged it) to Masters. Dex followed soon after, falling to an excellent catch by Foster, standing up to the wicket to Topley.

At the halfway stage, with the Iceman and Simmo at the crease, we were 46-5, needing to score at 11 an over to win the match.  Gradually they rebuilt the innings, with Gareth hitting a string of boundaries, before Simmo departed at 79 in the 14th over. In the next over, off Phillips, Gareth pulled a big 6 into the grandstand, but next ball attempted a reverse sweep, only to gently spoon the ball up for Foster to catch. It was a tame end to a good innings of 39. So at 88-7, still needing 68 with less than 5 overs to go and Ollie and Crooky new

Crooky, however, dramatically changed the tone. Possibly miffed at only being given two overs to bowl, he pulled two mighty sixes off Napier and Franklin, followed by a drive for 4.  Ollie got in on the act with some fine boundaries, and in three overs they had put on 37. Two overs left, 31 needed for an improbable win. The 19th over saw Ollie hit a big 6 and then a lovely dink off his legs for 4, leaving 19 needed from the last over off Greg Smith.  However, off the first ball Crooky was caught on the cover boundary for an explosive 22 from only 8 balls, contributing to a stand of 49. Ollie had got strike, and a 2 was followed by another great drive for 6. 

Eleven needed from 3 balls, and the joint was jumping; but the attempted boundaries were blocked and the game ended with Toby run out off the final ball at 148-9 as heavy rain started to fall.  Ollie was 39 not out off 21 balls, an excellent all-round contribution by him with both bat and ball. So there was a lot of exciting incident in the match, and Ollie and Crooky gave us plenty to cheer and even an exciting finish that had never seemed on the cards.  We left in reasonably good cheer – but in truth the match overall was rather dispiriting. Our bowling looked reasonable, but the fielding was below par and of the frontline batsmen only Adam looked comfortable. It was left to our all-rounders to rebuild the innings, gather momentum and bring respectability to the scorecard. And the end result was that we completed a clean sweep of T20 defeats at Lords for the second year running.

Still, to end on a more cheerier note, there was a better crowd than I had expected, given the weather earlier and that the match was televised, along with the Euro QF.  And there will be many counties most envious that Middlesex managed to complete three home matches in a week when so many have been badly rain-affected. Rounding off the evening, my final memory of the night was the rather surreal and incongruous one of seeing Kev running to the station, a pink hard-hat perched on his head to keep out the rain.