By Haringey Racer
July 12 2015

Haringey Racer gives a detailed report covering today's play he witnessed in great detail and an explanation for the change in our fortunes after lunch.  If reading about cricket is not your scene we also have a report on red kites  

Over the past few days the weather forecast for today has been variable to say the least. The version online at 7.30 am looked quite promising so I decided to take the chance and also to answer in the affirmative Kev’s last minute request to do a report. His PM was sent at about 11.15 pm on Saturday so I’m under no illusion that I was his first choice.

The journey to Moor Park was singularly uneventful and I arrived in plenty of time to see Murtagh open the bowling (five minutes early as the pavilion clock was fast) to Marcus Trescothick from the Lake End – not a reference to the square on which last year’s game was washed out, but to the lake behind it – under cloud cover that must have made James Harris wish even more that he hadn’t been rotated out of the side.  Finn opened from the newly renamed Benham End – changed from ‘Railway End’, presumably when someone pointed out that the railway runs along the side of the ground – and with his fifth ball hit Tom Abell on the glove. It’s worth noting that Nick Compton was fielding after his injury yesterday.

The two openers progressed slowly as the pitch continued to offer help to the bowlers, who I thought bowled a bit too short in the early stages with very few balls threatening the stumps and several going past the edge rather than onto it. After 10 overs they had reached 26 without loss and in the next over Trescothick edged low, just short and wide of Ollie Rayner at second slip. Around this time a red kite glided gracefully over the ground and there were oohs and aahs which meant that either others were as interested as I was in the kite’s progress or something happened on the field while my attention was diverted.

The bowlers continued to bowl a bit too short and the ball continued to pass the bat at regular intervals. After an hour the score was 32-0 off 14 overs but a delay while Trescothick had his right forearm strapped and donned an armguard – I didn’t see him get hit but that may have been the cause of the oohs and aahs when the kite passed overhead – meant that our over rate was probably only -1 rather than -2. After 14 overs Roland-Jones replaced Murtagh at the Lake End and in his first over moved one sharply away from Abell which Simpson fumbled in front of first slip. Franklin then replaced Finn and his first delivery slipped out of his hand and went near enough vertical and cleared the batsman by about 15 feet. After a brief discussion the umpires deemed that it had been released early enough in the bowler’s action to be called dead ball rather than no-ball or wide.

The ball continued to move about: as well as several plays and misses Abell squirted an attempted drive off Franklin to third man and an attempted shot to midwicket by Trescothick off Roland-Jones caught the leading edge and went wide of the slips. Another shot by Abell to square leg was misfielded by Burns and hit umpire Mallender. By now Roland-Jones in particular had worked out that pitching the ball a little fuller might be a good idea and he bowled a maiden to Trescothick in which every ball was right on the spot.

Finn replaced Franklin, again without reward, and Rayner bowled the last over before lunch which was taken at 69-0, with Trescothick on 35 and Abell on 21. 29 overs were bowled, 3 short, but there were a few delays so the true rate was probably only -2. Sure enough, after lunch the board was adjusted to -1.

Finn and Murtagh resumed after lunch and it was notable that both were bowling a fuller length. In his second over Finn had Abell caught behind for 26. Johann Myburgh followed almost immediately caught behind from an extravagant drive against Murtagh with very limited foot movement. 77-2 and suddenly the board looked a lot healthier from a Middlesex perspective. The pitch continued to offer occasional unpredictable bounce. In particular Murtagh sent one past Trescothick’s nose from the Lake End. In the 36^th over James Hildreth got off the mark with a leg glance off Finn for four but three balls later he appeared to be beaten for pace and lost his off stump without addition. 86-3.Two overs later the variable bounce almost struck again as James Allenby had to jab down on a ball from Finn that kept low. The following over there was a big appeal as the ball flicked off Allenby’s pad into Simpson’s gloves. I’m not sure whether the appeal was for a catch or for lbw but it wasn’t given.

Somerset’s 100 came up in the 40^th over and in the 41^st Trescothick drove Murtagh for four to reach a hard-fought 50. Around this time another red kite made a fly past causing a flock of pigeons to make a rapid exit from the trees behind me. Toby Roland-Jones replaced Finn at the Benham End and Rayner returned from the Lake End. Roland-Jones soon removed Trescothick lbw for 52 (117-4) and Rayner had a confident lbw appeal against Peter Trego turned down. Rayner  then got one to bounce prodigiously past Simpson for a couple of byes. James Allenby turned and ducked into a short ball from Roland-Jones which hit him on the right shoulder and then the helmet. Unlike Nick Compton, though, he was able to resume after a brief hold up. During this period the over rate figure oscillated between -1 and -2.

In the 56^th over Trego brought up the 150 with a lofted drive for four but later in the over missed a slog-sweep against Rayner and was given lbw for 15 to his obvious displeasure.  152-5. At this point the few spots of rain started to get a bit heavier and there was just time for Allenby to play and miss against Franklin before the players were forced off the field just before 3.40 causing an early tea to be taken. During the interval the rain increased from annoying to torrential, causing the three junior games on adjoining fields to be suspended. At around 4.30 a friend offered me a lift home and, with the prospects of a resumption looking distinctly slim I accepted with thanks.

I got home to find that my Virgin Media broadband service had gone down again. That makes 14 days in the last four weeks that I’ve had some disruption. Although to be fair this is only the second breakdown in ten days. That meant that rather than a Kevin Hand description I could only get a teletext view of the subsequent play in which Middlesex took three more wickets, including the previously annoying Allenby, to leave Somerset on 185-8.

Positives:

Middlesex bowlers realising that they needed to pitch the ball up.

Prospect of a useful first innings lead.

Beautiful views of red kites

Negatives:

If the bowlers had realised their error the prospective lead could have been even greater

PA inaudible if sitting next to the Benham End sightscreen

I misjudged the rain and missed three wickets.