By Seaxe Man
May 26 2006

Seaxe Man summarises a rain-shortened day during which time the Middlesex attack toiled and a few wickets fell. Either stalemate or a strange twist looms, but meanwhile there was this square pie............. Weather Report From Coastal Stations
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Awoke at 5am to the sound of rain. This did not seem to be a promising start. Checked London weather which said - rain in morning - bright in afternoon. So buoyed by this I set off for Lord's. I arrived for a 12pm inspection which led eventually to an early lunch and play began at 1.45 with the low cloud now largely absent.

Summary of the Day
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Summarising the 2 sessions overall - Middx took 4 wickets which took a lot of grunt and grind and Warwks advanced their score to 362 for 7. Middx had the satisfaction of leaving Warks still requiring 9 further runs overnight to save the follow on.

With Middx requiring a further 2 wickets from 30 odd overs to gain maximum bonus points.

Batting strength
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For more detail - Keegan opened the bowling from the Nursery End and Silvers from the Pavilion end.

Middlesex and Warwickashire are thought to be the 2 strongest batting sides in the division when batting to potential. This has certainly looked to be the case as both sides have struggled for wickets on a true Lord's strip. Today was no exception. Only the new ball gave the bowlers much assistance and led to a fair bit of playing and missing.

Trotts Runs
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Trott reahed 50 off 53 balls as Louw who bowled a long spell, replaced Silvers.
Runs flowed freely until at 232 - Silvers with a superhuman effort bowled Loudon after a stand with Trott of 181. This proved to be the only wicket of the pre tea session.

Wickets at Last
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After tea, the next wicket to fall was that of Dr Who Jnr(Troughton) at 262 caught on the cover boundary by Smith who literally did not have to move an inch to take the catch.

Square Pie Interlude
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There followed some hilarity at this point, when Barmy Kev came back with a square pie which had cost him the princely sum of £4.70 complete with a square cardboard box on which the website www.squarepie.com was illustrated.


Square Leg - OK Short Midwicket
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Getting back to the cricket - Trott was then out to an outstanding catch by Ben Hutton off the bowling of Dalrymple, at short mid wicket for an excellent 129. 281 for 6. A further bonus came when one of the group went to see a man about a dog and in his absence. With the first ball with the new ball, brought a wicket for Silvers with Vettori caught by Smith at short midoff. An edge then flew through the slips to the boudary leaving Brown and Streak not out overnight.

In Summery Weather - no, In Summary, Whether......
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The bowlers worked hard - JD I thought bowled steadily throughout - Johan worked hard but like the Walrus will have better days. Silvers with 2 wickets had a satisfying day and both he and Chad forced a number of air shots but without the reward. In addition there were some good stops in the field by Nick Compton and Ed Smith. Not as interesting as the first two days but a good day's cricket nevertheless. With the amount of time lost and on a true pitch with strong batting sides - it is difficult to see that either side will give much away. Tomorrow will tell.