Mystic Vic

DINGY BAGS REPORTS ON A MIXED DAY FOR THE MIDDLE AND SOME SPOT ON PROPHECIES FROM OUR GROUNDIE.

A source very close to the Uxbridge groundsman made two early predictions on the first day at Uxbridge. The first, no doubt deeply wounded that anyone would do it, was that to put the opposition in at this ground was “a very dangerous thing to do”; the second was that Dawid Malan would make a hundred. Well he’s already got one of those right and let’s hope for the second, too.

We lost the toss and Buck and Joe D opened, facing Woakes from the Town End and Wright from the Ski Slope End. Both soon clipped fours across – please everyone note – an outfield much slower than usual at the ground, after months of rain. But at 41, Buck chased a wide one and to his own disgust was caught behind off Wright. At a bit after noon, the rain arrived with us 55-1 after 18 overs. It soon went (and stayed away for the rest of the day) and when we came back, the arrival of Rankin, in partnership with Clarke, brought lots of short-pitched bowling and lots of flashes to the boundary, particularly from Dex, asked to bat at 3. In fact Rankin bowled only 3 overs, for 23 runs, before Maddy replaced him. Clarke kept going though and just before lunch won a not especially convincing lbw shout against Dex. Lunch at 97-2 and an even morning.

The afternoon belonged to the Middle, or to Mala and Joe D to be precise. Joe’s 50 came up off 95 balls but he then stayed on 50 for absolutely ages as Maddy, bowling wide of off stump to a 7-2 field showed what first division cricket is about in an impressively long, tight spell. Mala went to his 50 before Joe broke the shackles by hitting a six over the wicket-keeper. About this time Clarke had a prolonged, agonised appeal for lbw  against Joe and was very disappointed with Garrett’s “Not out”. Just to rub it in, Joe smacked the next ball for four and, in Clarke’s next over, pulled him for a massive six over square leg. Tea, 227-2 (64 overs), Joe 90, Mala 70 and happy days.

Joe hit the first ball after tea, from Patel, for 4 but that’s as good as things got. Soon, he seemed to lose patience against Maddy, tried to nudge across the line and was lbw. Soon after, I checked Maddy’s figures, at that point 20 overs 1-36. It was a bit boring to watch but it kept Warwicks in the game. It’s easy to see where the score could have been without his effort – Div 1 cricket, indeed. When the new ball was taken, as soon as 80 overs had been bowled, it was 275-3, Mala 96 and Morgan 15. The latter had played a sweep off Patel early on for 4 but had batted in an orthodox way since.

Mala brought up his hundred with a square drive for four off Wright, at which point people were calculating where precisely between 350 and 400 we would end the day. But, it’s not often that straightforward following Middlesex! First Mala inexplicably left Wright alone and was bowled, 285-4. Then Simmo hooked at Woakes and, where others had edged boundaries, he was brilliantly caught by Ambrose. 286-5. Next ball climbed quite a bit on Bergie who was caught high above his head by Clarke in the slips. 286-6. Four runs later, Morgan played a cut at Wright and was also caught behind. Five runs and four wickets.

Total disaster was averted by those two level-headed cricketers, Toby and Ollie who put on 34 by the close, which was at 6.14, the rain break of 14 minutes accounting for the overtime and Warwicks, credit to them, had bowled an extra over in the day.

There is a bit in this wicket and the outfield is quite lush, so 324-7 must be about even. I suppose we would have taken that at the start of the day but not when we were 232-2 or 285-3. Still, a few more in the morning and let’s see what we can do with the ball. Crook, appearing instead of Colly, has his chance at last and we know that the others are all more than useful. As one Middlesex sage always says, “Never judge a pitch until both sides have batted on it.”