Not Quite a BoringTon

Rather than giving short notice for Haringey Racer, I gave retrospective notice to test HR's short term memory. He reports on day that starts off with the crucial wicket of Rogers, a slow partnership that frustrated Middlesex, a fightback, a late recovery and a bizarre ending. All covered well and a worthwhile read that you won't find on teletext, journals or other internet sites. Read on.

Arriving home from day 2, I logged into MTWD to find a begging PM from Barmy Kev asking for a report on day 1. Bear in mind, therefore, that what follows is based on my memory and not on contemporaneous notes. Anyone who knows me can tell you that my memory of 24 years ago is rather better than that of 24 hours ago. 

Fortunately I had been tipped off in advance of the late start so I was able to delay my departure (unlike several people who turned up for the normal 1100 start time). Derbyshire won the toss and chose to bat. Their South African spinner Robin Peterson (bizarrely listed on the scorecard as wicket keeper) was replaced by Chesney Hughes (cue various ‘One and Only’ jokes from the younger members of the crowd and Flanagan & Allen references from the older members.) and Steffan Jones by Middlesex’s rumoured winter target Mark Footitt. Shaggy and Finn returned for Middlesex replacing Smith and Collins. 

The Middle got off to the perfect start with the removal of the in-form Chris Rogers caught by Strauss off Finn for 9. By my reckoning that saved about 150 runs at a stroke. Madsen and Borrington then took the score to 63 for 1 (31 overs) at lunch but quite how they managed that is beyond me. If they played and missed once they did so 30 times – at least one ball per over seemed to curve past the outside edge and there’s no way they were playing inside the line deliberately. 

After lunch, the ball continued to move about and finally the bowlers started to get their rewards: Madsen and Park both lbw to Murtagh and Smith lbw to Finn (my reaction, which Smith seemed to share, was that it was high and missing leg) made it 79 for 4 in the 40^th over.  Sadler and Borrington were then caught behind off Berg and O’Brien respectively to leave Derby in real trouble at 105 for 6 in the 48^th over and Goddard then fell lbw to Dexter shortly before tea which was taken at 136 for 7. 

By now the old ball was moving a bit less and Hughes (on debut) and Lungley steadied the ship slightly – Hughes in particular played very sensibly and didn’t look too troubled until he edged the old ball to Strauss off O’Brien. This opened up one end for the new ball and Finn promptly persuaded Groenewald to edge it to Simpson. Around this time Murtagh left the field with what appeared to be a hamstring tweak. 

The final action came when a ball from O’Brien caught Footitt on the side of the knee, having somehow missed the pad. After several minutes of treatment to him all the players left the field but the umpires didn’t. Those of us who were paying attention realised that this had to be a suspension due to light but others weren’t so perceptive: the PA announcer  declared Footitt retired hurt and the groundstaff came out to sweep the creases only to be sent back by the umpires.  The umpires came out about 35 minutes later at which time the PA told us that the umpires ‘would consult with the captains about a restart’ – err, not if they’re following the ECB regulations. Thankfully sanity ruled and play (which could have continued to about 7:45 if all the overs were bowled) was called off at around 7:10 with Derbyshire on 190 for 9.