Easy Easy

By Lower Mound
August 17 2015

Lower Mound reports on a sedate Glamorgan and pure carnage led by Malan

I arrived at Lord’s on a nice warm day to find that Glamorgan had won the toss and decided to bat.Middlesex’s line-up had six changes from their previous Royal London Cup match, while Glamorgan were without Graham Wagg, Michael Hogan, Dean Cosker and Mark Wallace.

With all these team changes and a fine opening spell of bowling by Tim Murtagh from the Nursery end, there were only 42 runs on the board after 10 overs, with Jacques Rudolph and James Kettleborough on 21 apiece. The 50 came up in the 13th over, with neither batsman giving away many chances and both scoring singles and the odd boundary. However, the first ball of the next over, James Harris, replacing Junaid Khan from the Pavilion end, had Kettleborough lbw for 25 with the score on 53. Next in was Will Bragg, but with only 1 run added, Murts had Bragg caught by John Simpson. Next in at number 4 was the dangerous Colin Ingram. James Franklin replaced Harris from the Pavilion end, while Murts bowled unchanged and finished with figures of 10-0-34-1.

Ollie Rayner replaced Murts and promptly concedes the first six of the match which Ingram hits into the Mound stand. In the 24th over, Rudolph reaches his 50 off 73 balls having scored 6 fours. At the halfway stage of the innings, Glamorgan were 99-2, Ingram on 19 and Rudolph on 55. With only six more runs added, Rayner has Rudolph lbw for 58. Next in is Chris Cooke. Neil Dexter came on from the Nursery end, and in his third over, he has Cooke caught brilliantly by Rayner for 24, to make it 155-4. Next in is Bumble: David Lloyd.

In the 40th over, Ingram brings up his 50 off 64 balls, with surprisingly only 1 four and 2 sixes. Another wicket for the Middle came when Dexter has Bumble lbw for 10. Next in is Craig Meschede, who didn’t last long when Rayner bowled him for 7 to make it 207-6. Next in was Andrew Salter, who didn’t last long either, being bowled by Harris for 4 with the score on 222. Next is Ruaidhri Smith. As Rayner had bowled the 45th and 47th overs and took one wicket and conceded just five runs in that time, he also bowled the penultimate over of the innings, but was not as economical as Ingram hit the final five balls for a total of 18 to bring up his century off 91 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, of which one six nearly landed on my lap in the Mound stand. However with only two more runs added, Ingram is finally out, caught by Rayner off former Glamorgan bowler Harris. Next in was Dewi Penrhyn Jones. The last wicket to fall was Smith, who has bowled off the last ball of the innings to give Harris his best List A figures of 10-1-38-4. In my opinion, Glamorgan’s total of 251-9 was 50 below-par.

Paul Stirling and the in-form Dawid Malan opened in Middlesex’s reply, and Malan’s first five scoring shots were all fours. With both batsmen scoring at will, Glamorgan captain Rudolph kept on changing the bowling as runs were being scored at an alarming rate, and after the 10-over Powerplay, we were set for an early finish if the batting continues in this vein, as the Middle were 72-0.

In the 14th over, Malan brings up his 50 off 44 balls with 10 juicy fours to all parts of the ground. When Penrhyn Jones conceded a free hit, Malan straight drove him for a six that bounced off the middle tier of the Pavilion. This was the start of the carnage by Malan, as the 100 is brought up in only the 15th over. Stirlo gets his first six off Bull, hitting it straight into the Tavern stand. After 20 overs, Middlesex were 135-0 with Malan on 72 and Stirling on 57, whereas Glamorgan were 71-2 at this stage.

With only four runs added to the score, Middlesex lose their first wicket when Stirlo is caught by Salter off the bowling of Bull for 58. Sam Robson comes in wearing a cap as the slow bowlers are on. Malan’s 100 was brought up in the 33rd over with 13 fours and 1 six off 103 balls to a standing ovation from the Middlesex faithful. The 200 came up in the 36th over, with Robson on 20 having scored most of his runs in singles, and Malan on 117. What was to follow was pure carnage, as a second huge six by Malan off Smith goes straight into one of the hospitality boxes in the Mound stand. Shortly afterwards, Robbo is lbw off the bowling of Penrhyn Jones for 22 with the score to make it 215-2. Surprisingly, Dexter comes in next, and promptly Malan is at it again with another six in the direction of the Warner stand, followed by another six into the Mound stand.

Another standing ovation from the Middlesex faithful came when Malan reached his 150 off 125 balls with 17 fours and 4 sixes. Finally, Middlesex reached their target in the 40th over, with the winning hit coming when Dex dispatched a free hit off Penrhyn Jones into the Tavern stand. Malan finished on a List A best 156 not out off 128 balls, with his final 58 runs coming off just 26 balls.

All in all, it was a great performance with bat and ball by the Middle, and great entertainment for the crowd, especially the batting of Malan, who has now scored 369 runs in his last three innings at Lord’s and has been out just once in that time.