Top scorer at 27

By Harvey
September 23 2015

Thanks for the courage to write a report on a poor day for Middlesex. If you want to avert your eyes from the cricket, we get a travelogue, old friends reunion and a bit of historical interest to divert you. Read on if you dare.

It rained so hard in Bristol last night that I was woken up by it at 3.30am, and although it had eased off, it was still pitch dark when I left Temple Meads on the 7am departure. Worcester is not that far from Bristol but can be a pig to get to by train. To get there in time for the scheduled start I had to change at Cheltenham and Bromsgrove, the latter not really a place I would recommend having to change trains. Luckily, instead of a scheduled half hour wait, I managed to board a late runner straight away. It was packed to the rafters, but better than having to wait in the rain.

The rain had stopped by the time we reached Worcester Foregate St., and when I arrived at the ground the ground-staff were hard at work. I'd just ordered breakfast in the Graham Hick Pavilion when who should walk in but my friend Janet, in whose company I used to spend many an hour on the terraces at Western Road and countless away grounds watching Southall FC. It was Janet's first Middlesex away game of the season, apparently. We were briefly joined by The Diamond, meaning that almost a 10th of the early 90s regular Southall FC away crew were reunited and present at the same table!

An announcement came that there would be a pitch inspection at 1030, the scheduled start time. It went OK and an 1130 start was announced. Unfortunately just after the toss, which Worcestershire won and inserted us on a green looking pitch, the heavens opened again.  

After an early Lunch, with an inspection at 1310, we were finally under way at 1340  in conditions that were - to put it mildly - favourable for bowling. 64 overs were left in the day.

Robson and Stirling opened the batting for Middlesex, with Leach and Gabriel bowling. When Gabriel came on, Beefy noticed that two players in the sizeable slip cordon were wearing number 32 shirts. The scorecard said that No.32 was Kohler-Cadmore, but which one was, we had no clue.

Stirling (4) fell in Leach's 2nd over, caught at gully off a rather sloppy looking shot by D'Oleveira. 11/1.

Robson (17) was just starting to look set when he joined Stirling back in the pavilion, edging one from the impressive Gabriel to Fell at 3rd slip. 31/2.

Malan (0) was beaten for pace off his first ball, middle stump uprooted by a Gabriel thunderbolt. His third successive duck according to Seaxe Man. From what had been a decent start considering the conditions, we were now 31/3. The Malan dismissal was off the last ball of Gabriel's over, and when he began his next one it was to an umbrella field. Not an expression I'd heard before so maybe Seaxe Man has the copyright on it. It's certainly an accurate description though. The hat-trick ball was negotiated, although not convincingly as it flew past Dexter's outside edge.

Barnard replaced Leach, and surprisingly to most of us, Gabriel was also replaced, having bowled only 5 overs, by Shantry. Although the field remained an attacking one, the slips were considerably closer than for Gabriel, who had generated some quite fearsome pace. The change proved to be an inspired one however, as Dexter (0) edged Shantry's 3rd ball to Mitchell at 2nd slip. 41/4.

At that point the sun came out for the first time, but any hopes that this would slow the carnage proved unfounded as Franklin (0) nicked one from Shantry through to the keeper, Cox. 45/5. There then followed a big appeal for a strangle through to the keeper down the leg side against Simpson off Shantry, but the umpire's finger stayed down.

Compton brought up the 50 for Middlesex with a cut to the boundary off Barnard. However he was to join the procession off the last ball of the same over, caught behind  for 19.

At 51/6 we were still short of our lowest ever total v Worcestershire, i.e. the 54 we were bundled out for at Lord's in 1964.

Thankfully when Leach replaced Barnard, and Rayner flicked a loosener to the fine leg boundary, we passed that particular milestone. At Tea we had progressed to 64/6.

At Tea I headed for the Ladies' Pavilion for tea and lemon drizzle cake. Also to pay homage to the photograph of a legendary and criminally overlooked historical hero of mine, an eccentric genius named George Hayward Thomas Simpson-Hayward. Somewhere there is a parallel universe in which he was picked to play for England in the 1909 Ashes series, bowled them to victory, and in doing so inspired a generation of youngsters to take up the lost and even then much derided art of underarm lob bowling. Instead he played for and captained an unfashionable county. His 5 Tests (in which he averaged 18 with the ball) were played on that winter's tour of South Africa, so most of the English cricket watching public knew little or nothing about him and the history books have all but forgotten him.

As I headed out of the Ladies' Pavilion to catch the resumption, I heard a big appeal and saw the umpire's finger go up. Rayner (11) had been given out LBW off Gabriel. First ball after Tea and 64/7.

Simpson scored the first boundary after Tea with a delightful cover drive off Barnard, but Harris (0) soon fell, brilliantly taken by Cox, the Worcestershire keeper who was having a cracking game. 78/8.

Simpson briefly lifted the gloom, swatting a short ball from Barnard to the square leg boundary. Only briefly though, because TRJ (0), presumably trying to outdo his partner, gifted Gabriel his 5th wicket, hooking him straight to the man (Leach) who had been placed on the boundary for that very purpose. 88/9.

A cut by Simpson off Gabriel to the boundary was greeted by prolific applause from the Middlesex faithful as he moved onto 21, thus overtaking Extras as top scorer. He was to be let stranded on 27* though, as Murtagh (0) was caught behind, slashing at a widish one from Barnard. 6 ducks for Middlesex and 98 all out.

The Worcestershire innings got under way with 27 overs still to be bowled today. They got off the mark with an edged boundary through the slips by D'Oleveira off TRJ. When Mitchell (0) became the 7th duck of the day, edging TRJ to Rayner at 2nd slip, Worcestershire were 13/1. We were hopeful that we could rattle them out for another low score, but that was to be as good as it got. TRJ looked dangerous but fortune didn't smile on him, Murtagh lacked penetration, Harris lost his radar, and although Dexter was very economical, he seldom looked like taking a wicket. The batsmen looked ever more comfortable as the evening wore on.

Worcestershire finished on 79/1 with D'Oleveira on 38 and Fell on 37. They look set for a huge lead.

This was my last day of cricket this year. Let's hope my first one of next year is better for us than this one was! For a while it looked as if ECB plans to devalue the County Championship might see me giving up my membership, but a late change of heart by the ECB means cricket will get my money for another season at least.