By Seaxe Man
June 23 2006

Seaxe Man sums up a pretty awful day for Middlesex at Lord's. With not so much as a square pie to relieve the monotony of these trouncings, Seaxe Man closes on a more hopeful note than many would muster on such a day. 2nd day Middx - Lancs Thurs 22nd June

Weather and Travel

Still blowing a gale so sat in Tavern Stand. LUL - Brit Transport Police
investigation at Hillingdon caused delays on Met. Arrived at 11.20 after
detour to Tesco's to get a pork pie. [Editor's note: what's wrong with the Lord's square ones - no better not start that subject up again] The overnight score had moved on from 359-5 to 375-5 on arrival.


1st session

Lancs 400 came up at 11.57 with a straight drive by Hogg off Spoons to the
Pavilion boundary. A good spell then followed from Ali at the Nursery End
including an eventful over to Sutton who played and missed but the fatal
edge did not come. The second bowling point by now was starting to look
elusive as the overs ticked towards the 130 mark. Hogg reached 50 with a
single off Styris which also brought up the Lanky 450. Completion of the
130th over left the score at 464 for 5 . So only one bowling point.

1st ball of the 131st over bowled by Styris went in the air but Louw was unable to
reach it.3rd ball went in the air but dropped into no man's land. Finally
the 4th ball brought a wicket when Sutton lofted to short mid on for 72. A
good over but one too late. Next Styris over Cork was lbw for 5, Weekes then
removed Smith in the next over, claiming his 300th first class wicket in the
process. Hogg then holed out for 70 ( career best ) to Styris - which gave
the stand-in captain a fivefer, his first at Lord's. Lunch - Lancs 485 for
9.


2nd Session

4th ball after lunch Styris was edged by Keedy to Smith who could'nt quite
hold on. The 500 came up at 2.12pm. Finally, Newby played on to Styris to
end the innings at 505 and gave the Walrus figures of 27.3 - 6 - 71 - 6. 356
were then required to save the follow on. Smith was lbw to Cork 2nd ball - 0
for 1. Compton then went to Cork who was bowling at a lively pace from the
Nursery End. 29 for 2. Morgan got off the mark with an off drive for 4 off
Cork, who then followed this up with a bouncer, then a rising ball which
Morgan fended into the slips, 33 for 3. Shah offered no shot to Smith,
bowled for 19. 35 for 4. There followed a stand of 37 before Styris fell lbw
to Hogg. 72 for 5. Weekes swept and was caught at the wicket for 22. 80 for
6. No further wickets fell before tea which was taken at 92 for 6. Nash 11
Louw 4. This marked Nash's first runs at Lord's for around 15 months.


3rd Session

On passing 100, a straight drive by Louw - a cry of 'easy easy' was heard
from the afficianados. An entertaining stand of 46 between Nash and Louw was
broken at 126 when Louw was dismissed for 20 fending off a short ball. 126
for 7. Peploe 0. 135 for 8. Nash reached a well earned 50 (with no chances)
amidst cries of ' are you watching on the bridge'. Spoons went at 161 for 11
caught at mid on off Newby and Ali followed next ball. So the innings closed
at 161. 344 runs adrift and unsurprisingly Midd-x were asked to follow on.
There were 16 overs left during which Compton was taken behind for 9. We
finally closed out at 47 for 1 with some crisp drives from Smith who had
been joined by nightwatchman Peploe. Overnight Smith 31 Peploe 4.


Summary

The late order runs provided by Nash emphasised what has been missing from
the season's start. However a total of 161 has meant that the batting as a
whole, has failed to deliver again on a good batting surface. Still 297 runs
adrift and with 2 days left - we have a pretty steep mountain to climb from
here. With only one point sofar from this match and Notts picking up batting
points at Canterbury. A couple of back to back wins are now pretty darn
urgent.