The Warickshire Bores

Fozzie  reports on a snooze fest

I didn’t sleep too well following the second day’s play against Warwickshire, though not due to nightmares, which I will leave to those who went to Durham. Instead I put it down to many hours gently snoozing in the sunshine at Uxbridge. Although the cricket was not without merit, entertainment was not a prominent feature.

In overcast conditions Chris Woakes quickly hit his stride, extracting steep bounce to have both Ollie and Toby caught behind with only a handful of runs added to the overnight score and the innings at risk of petering out in anti-climax.  So Steven Crook was joined at the crease by Murts – one presumably relieved at the news that Finny had been selected for the Test and thus wouldn’t be charging back down the M1 to yank him out of his first Championship game of the season, the other perhaps rather miffed to be relegated to last in the batting order despite an average in the 20s.  A cautious approach had not worked for the preceding batsmen, and after a couple of maidens the new pair clearly decided to follow their instincts and take whatever runs they could.  A wild delivery from Woakes for 4 byes got things underway, and Crooky followed with consecutive boundaries. Murts quickly followed suit, and a welcome and unexpected fourth batting bonus point was quickly achieved.

 The Lambeth Lara

They had added 37 in even time when rain started and the players left the field, resuming half-an-hour later in bright sunshine.  The batsmen continued where they had left off, and when Rankin came into the attack Murts treated his Irish compatriot with little respect. He carved over cover for four to bring up the 50 partnership, and when Rankin pitched the following ball short Murts leaned back and flat-batted the ball back over the bowler’s head for another boundary. It was the most exhilarating moment of the day.

Crooky was mixing some good strokes with his favourite shot, a swivelling pull off his hips which he employed whenever possible.  It was effective when he middled the ball, risky when he didn’t and looked slightly agricultural when he failed to make connection, which happened quite often. A top-edge skied what seemed to be a comfortable catch for mid-on, only for the unfortunate Rankin (not having the best of days) to spill it. The same shot brought up the 400 with another boundary, and was immediately followed by another top-edged skier which this time was proficiently caught by Maddy. But a final score of 402 looked a good total, and far better than had once seemed likely. The last wicket partnership had added 72 at better than a run a ball.

The Warwickshire innings opened quietly after lunch, with Murts from the Pavilion end and Toby from the Gatting Road end bowling to Chopra and Westwood.  First blood went to Murts in the fifth over, trapping Chopra LBW with the score at 6 and bringing Porterfield to the wicket.  Gareth Berg replaced Toby, and the bowlers probed away to a tight field.  Porterfield appeared to break the shackles by driving Murts for four, but next ball Murts again put one over an Irish teammate as Porterfield pushed rather stiffly at the ball and Dex dived forward for the catch. 26-2, and it nearly got even better in Murts’ next over when the new batsman, Jim Troughton, edged a straightforward chance to Ollie at second slip, only for it to be spilt. Ollie lay prone on his back in despair, and it proved to be an expensive miss.

Frustration

Buck switched his bowlers around and set attacking fields. Occasional boundaries off Toby provided the only relief for the batsmen, but Westwood and Troughton got through to tea at 90-2 with few alarms.  Murts and Toby resumed after tea, with edged boundaries being the only scoring shots in the opening overs. One of these took the score past 100, followed soon after by Westwood reaching his 50 off 130 balls.  At 113 Westwood was hit on the head by a bouncer from Toby and needed attention for five minutes, before having a torrid time on resumption including getting four leg-byes off his helmet. He then gave what appeared to be a difficult chance to Ollie at square-leg, though the ball probably bounced before reaching the fielder.

More Frustration

After that there was in truth nothing much else of note to report, as Warwickshire saw the day out at 178-2 against tight bowling and attacking fields.  But Middlesex spirits didn’t flag, typified by the weary Murts, on the boundary having just completed another over, shouting out encouragement to the bowler at the other end of the ground.

It was a gritty and attritional display by Westwood and Troughton, seeing their side through to a reasonable position after a poor start despite having a difficult time in which they never appeared really comfortable (though I felt that the Middlesex bowlers maybe overdid the short-pitched bowling). I suppose that providing entertainment was not a factor that came into their consideration, but with the run rate remaining steady at just over 2 they seemed to give no thought to taking advantage of tiring bowlers. I recalled that not too long ago Warwickshire won the Championship not by being the team that had the most victories but by avoiding defeat all season.

 So, all in all not the most exciting of days, though pleasant to sit in the sunshine at Uxbridge. Still, the new ball will be due early on, so here’s hoping for greater success for our bowlers on the third day.