Not Brum but same outcome

By Rogers and Out
September 4 2016

Rogers and Out gives us an extra treat: of a report from the fourth day at Edgbaston. Actually more a lesson in how to be optinistic, resourceful and active on a badly rain affected day. Well done for making it to the ground(s).

Having attended the first day at Edgbaston, I'd initially pencilled in a possible return on the last day should the game still be in the balance. Unfortunately, I then unwittingly agreed to take my infirm mum shopping on the same day, so it looked like I'd be spared a tough decision come Saturday morning.
However, on Friday evening, one of my sisters relieved me of shopping duties and so I was free to head to the second city on Saturday morning. The weather forecast was pretty dire but the chance of seeing a potentially famous victory proved irresistible.
Consequently, I purchased one of these new fangled m-tickets on Chiltern Railways with an 8.10 departure from Marylebone.
I met up with QPR Chris at Moor Street and we took the lengthy stroll to the ground in increasingly heavy rain. On arrival, the prospects of play looked decidedly grim. We wandered up to the members' area in the pavilion and met up with a few hardy Middlesex stalwarts including Seaxe Man who had managed to secure one of his legendary cheap rail fares, this time £3 from London to Brum.
As midday approached, visible puddles were forming on the outfield and Chris's rainfall radar app on his 'phone was a mass of blue, suggesting the rain was in for the day. The friendly stewards suggested that in the unlikely event of the rain ceasing, it would take around two hours of mopping up before any play could take place. So we headed to the nearest pub from the Good Beer Guide, namely the Old Moseley Arms, and took a thorough drenching whilst walking there; which was not helped by my misreading of the map.
It seemed pretty certain that there would be no cricket played today, so we decided to attend a local FA Cup first qualifying round game. We opted for what was dubbed the 'tie of the round' which happened to be Romulus v Hereford. Romulus play at Sutton Coldfield Town FC, so we swallowed our drinks, took a bus from Moseley to New Street then a train to Sutton Coldfield and arrived in good time for kick off at the Central Ground in Coles Lane.
Admission fee was £10 and as you might expect, there was a large contingent from Hereford. The ground was quite tidy with a 4G pitch and refreshments were good value and tasty. I managed to just avoid getting hit on the head by an errant practice goal kick before kick off, when to our complete surprise, we discovered that the rain had stopped at Edgbaston and that there was to be a pitch inspection at 3.10 !
Seaxe Man was keeping us updated with events at Edgbaston and we agreed that if play were to resume, we'd make our way back to the cricket ground. By this time the football had started and Hereford were in the ascendancy, getting plenty of joy down both flanks.
Then came the news that play was to resume at 3.45 so we rang for a cab to take us to Edgbaston, leaving just before Hereford opened the scoring (the game was to end up as a 1-1 draw).
We took up our position in the now famous yellow seats just a few overs after resumption of play. It was apparent that spin bowling was the only option for us due to the poor light, with Ollie operating from the not so imaginatively named Birmingham end and Ravi from the equally so Pavilion end.
Ollie managed to trap night watchman Chris Wright leg before for 22 in the 39th over, but despite very attacking field positions, both Ian Bell and the incoming Sam Hain looked in control. Bell was possibly fortunate not to be caught had there been a leg gully in situ from a Ravi delivery that leapt up, but the umpires were now conferring regularly about the light and it was no surprise when the players came off after just 18.4 overs of play on the day. In fairness to the umpires, they stayed out in the middle for quite a while measuring the light, but it was to no avail and we heard that the game was drawn on our walk back to the city centre.
Throughout the day, we'd been following the progress of the Hampshire v Yorkshire match, and more importantly the rainfall radar as the wet stuff headed inexorably towards the Solent area.
So, a draw for both us and Yorkshire, and although they have two homes games coming up, I believe our momentum gives us a great chance of winning at both Trent Bridge and Old Trafford, thus setting up a grand finale at Lord's later this month.