Billy Whizz

Fozzie brings a slow day at Lord's to life with a grand report. We hear about comedy runouts, Buck's identity crisis, that slow innings, Gus' view on the wicket and what might have been a nightmare last night. A great start to the Lord's season

MIDDLESEX v DERBYSHIRE: DAY ONE, 17 APRIL 2013

A grey April morning with a few hundred spectators to watch Derbyshire may not rank with the big set-piece occasions, but the opening day of the Lord’s season is always pretty special in my book. That was my thought at the start of play, anyway….and even if much of the play did its best to disabuse me of that fond notion, by the end of the day at least we’d had a full day’s play and finally seen Middlesex reach a commanding position. Not to mention seeing an innings we won’t forget on a hurry – however hard we try!

 First sight when I arrived and took my place in the upper Warner Stand was Steve Finn measuring out his new shortened run-up, with the news that Buck had won the toss (again!) and put Derbyshire in. The weather was grey and overcast with a hint of dampness in the air, so we expectantly settled back to watch the champions elect put the Division One new kids to the sword. Madsen and our old boy Billy Goldleman opened, facing Murts from the Nursery End and Hi-Fi from the Pavilion End. The scoreboard seemed sluggish and slow to operate as if just arousing itself from its winter hibernation, though maybe this was just a harbinger of the action that was to unfold in the day ahead.

 Finn’s first over also looked rusty, with four deliveries straying down the leg side, including a wide. But he found his direction in his second over, with a booming yorker nearly knocking Madsen off his feet. Madsen then jabbed down just in time to keep out another yorker, with the force of the connection taking the ball out towards Buck (who confusingly wore Gurjit Sandhu’s no.92 sweater all day) at mid-off. Madsen, off-balance, started to advance down the wicket, then tried to retreat as he saw that Buck had gathered the ball cleanly. But he was too late: Buck’s accurate throw hit the stumps to run out his former opening partner, and he charged up the pitch to lead the celebrations. 3-1, a great start.

 Wes Durston joined Godleman, and both concentrated on survival. The first shot in anger did not come until the seventh over, Godleman driving Murts for what turned out to be his sole boundary of the day. He had already edged a couple of balls through the slips, and then in the same over he edged another. It was fast but at catchable height, and appeared to go through Ollie’s hands.

Finn to Durston

 The first runs off the bat off Hi-Fi did not come until his seventh over, and he and Murts bowled unchanged for the first hour, Toby then coming on with score at 22-1. Dex and Gareth Berg were also brought on in the hour before lunch, but there were no further breakthroughs and Durston was starting to look to be more aggressive. Lunch came at 59-1, with Derbyshire doubtless well pleased to have weathered the early storm.

Have a rest why don't you.

 Over lunch spectators were invited by Mr Perambulator to go on the playing area, and like many others I was interested to look at the wicket. To my inexpert eye it looked fairly benign, and with the sun now out and the cloud cover dispersing batting conditions seemed pretty good. Gus also came out to stare at the wicket and give it a poke and a prod, perhaps hoping to stir up some demons. I don’t think anyone dared ask whether with the benefit of hindsight putting Derby in to bat still seemed a good idea, but he did say that the wicket was slower than expected and wasn’t doing very much.

Pitch Inspector??

 Murts and Hi-Fi again opened after lunch, but Durston was now playing his shots and looking very comfortable. Then after half-an-hour Hi-Fi produced another short ball down the leg-side, and Durston’s rather careless swipe brought a good diving catch by Toby to dismiss him for 48. 86-2, though this brought the ominous sight of Chanderpaul to the wicket in what was now bright sunshine. Chanderpaul had his skittish moments, including a risky hook for 6 off Toby to bring up 100. By 3 p.m. the situation was looking ominous on all fronts, with the batsmen looking at little risk and an over rate of -3. But at 118 a ball from Iceman seemed to hold up on Chanderpaul, who steered a simple catch to Joe at midwicket. Tea came with the score 132-3, and the feeling that Middlesex had rather been let off the hook. Billy Godleman had scored just 17 runs in the session in taking his score to 38, with his scoring rate thus being even slower than in the morning.

 The feeling was that the brunt of theDerbybatting had been removed, andLower Pav’s injunction that a couple of quick wickets would leave them in trouble was soon proved to be correct as Hi-Fi imposed himself. Shortly after tea Redfern wafted and was caught behind, and then Chesney Hughes had a similar flash to meet the same fate. The 150 was eventually reached from a painstaking 440 balls, but at the same score Hi-Fi took his fourth wicket, trapping Clare LBW.

 By this time Godleman had added a further 4 runs in 45 minutes since tea. By now every single produced an outburst of hilarity, while the occasional two was a cause for wonderment. It had seemed unlikely that his half-century would be reached before stumps, but in a rush of blood to the head he went from 47 to 50 with two scoring strokes in a single over, to accompanying cheers and a standing ovation from the now slightly hysterical crowd.

 Poynton had helped add 30 before Toby dismissed him, and then the wheels really came off. On the first ball of the next over a simple single for Godleman was transformed into a comedy chaos in which he and Palladino found themselves at the same end, and the non-striker was comfortably run out without having faced a ball. Palladino trudged off looking pointedly at his partner, who kept his distance and his back turned. Perhaps that unsettled Godleman, for in the same over Murts finally trapped him LBW, holding his arms high in triumph and relief. Godleman’s 55 had taken 354 minutes and 244 balls, but actually it seemed far, far longer.

Well someone is impressed

 I suppose Godleman’s role would conventionally be described as the anchorman, but in this case the anchor completely becalmed the innings, with every new batsman having to provide the momentum that was absent from the other end. It seems surprising me thatDerbyrecruited him presumably to take on this role when they have the perfect anchorman in Chanderpaul, but that’s their problem.

 So, 181-9 with numbers 10 and 11 at the crease, and 6 overs till close. Ollie was recalled, and as the over rate was by now back to par perhaps this was to take up a few overs to ensure that the Middlesex innings didn’t have to start that evening. Groenewald looked rather affronted at this, and immediately struck him for 4 and 6 in consecutive balls, bringing a quick recall for Finn. But Groenewald and Turner produced the most relaxed batting of the day, looking in no trouble and taking 8 off Finn’s final over to reach 205-9 at stumps.

 So, in the end a good day for Middlesex, who didn’t bowl at their best but stuck at it, helped by a number of self-inflicted wounds by Derbyshire. A day that would probably cause anyone new to cricket to vow never to return; but a full day’s play in April, in pleasant sunshine and with good company – well, it could be worse!  Even so, I didn’t sleep too well that night, presumably because I’d dozed too much during the day. Or perhaps I dreamed that I was still watching Godleman batting….