Explosive batting from Owais Shah and some tight bowling at the death secured a 9-run victory for Middlesex at Lords today, ensuring that we finished the C&G competition on a high despite our failure to qualify for the final.

Arriving a couple of overs late for my first game of the season after returning from university, I was dismayed to find that we had already lost the Duck, caught behind. The first few balls I watched found Compton playing and missing rather dangerously, but as his confidence grew, he looked ever more secure at the crease and I sat back to enjoy an exciting day's cricket. Paul Weekes smashed two consecutive fours off Simon Cook (Middx Til he Dies!) only to depart in the next over, offering a simple catch to Darren Stevens in the covers. 49/2 was slightly dodgy ground, but Shah continued the fireworks with three boundaries in one over from Khan, and after 15 overs we were 76/2. This partnership looked strong and Compton began to play some outrageous shots, notably the "Strauss shovel" over the wicket-keeper's head, which worked twice in short succession, then a glorious reverse-sweep for four to welcome Min Patel.

Both batsmen reached half-centuries within 30 overs and the runs continued to flow. I've said it many times before but I'll say it again; I don't know how Matthew Walker is a professional sportsman. His fielding today was particularly poor and firmly-struck shots repeatedly made their way through him in the covers to reach the boundary. Looking back, this could have made all the difference to the Middlesex total. Continuing the trend, Khan dropped Shah on 58, but soon afterwards Denly made no mistake at long-off to dispatch Compton for 58. Styris followed, holing out to deep midwicket off the first ball of a new spell from Stevens to leave Middx 198/4.

Eoin Morgan needed only a couple of balls to get his eye in before playing some confident and sweetly-timed shots. He made his way to 34 as Shah accelerated towards a century, both batsmen punishing Cook and Tredwell in particular, before Morgan was dismissed lbw. Shah and J-Lo finished off the innings in style, Ace ending on a superb 123* from only 120 balls. Now we had a total to defend!

Kent made a strong start to their innings, aided by the Middlesex fielders who obviously hadn't washed the butter from their hands after their teatime sandwiches. Dexter, whose nickname incidentally appears to be "Ted", was dropped on 1 by Shah at first slip while Cassius later spilled a catch from Stevens, who had made a quickfire 30 and was to punish us for this error. At one point Styris directed Shah to move from slip to gully, only for the next ball to scream through the gap off a thick edge.

After fifteen overs Kent were in a strong position at 83/0. Our fielding was inadequate and Chris Wright's first over had been mercilessly dispatched for 16. However, my toilet break seemed to do the trick and I returned to find Dexter gone. Stevens was batting without a helmet at this point, and his score ticked over ominously. At the halfway stage Kent were 125/1, and elsewhere the England football match kicked off, drawing several viewers to the bar at the top of the Warner Stand. Some of them would therefore have missed the next wicket, a vital caught-and-bowled from Weekesy's first ball of the innings to put an end to Stevens. For the first time, Kent were behind the D/L rate; not that this mattered in such bright sunshine, but it was certainly an upturn in Middlesex's fortunes.

Kent reached 199/2 from 40 overs, with half-centurians van Jaarsveld and Denly starting to hit out more but still not putting anything into the air. 86 were needed from 10 overs, and the pressure eventually got to the South African, who was caught trying to reverse sweep Peploe. New batsman Rob Key added 2 but couldn't resist hoicking Peploe's final ball to long-on, where he fell to an absolutely superb tumbling catch by Compton. Tight bowling from Styris and Weekesy left Kent with too much to do, needing 36 from the final 3 overs, and Denly's middle stump was shattered by J-Lo when he mis-timed an agricultural heave. A huge cheer greeted Matthew Walker's arrival at the wicket- no, not irony, but in fact the news that England had gone 1-0 up. The ending was a formality as Kent sought 17 runs from J-Lo's final over but couldn't find the boundary and managed only 7.

The game was exciting and both sides performed well, but the difference today was Owais Shah, and I hope he takes this form into the championship and Twenty20 competition.