A Happy Ollie Day
One of Four
By Primrose Hillbilly with Darren Gosling Pictures
August 13 2016
Primrose Hillbilly describes in great detail a fantastic Ollie day for the Middle. This is backed up with some excellent pictures from Darren Gosling
My walk to St John’s Wood took me past the site of the old Star pub, where Trevor Bailey and Willie Watson were said to have repaired for a serious drink after their batting saved a Test against Australia. It is now Champion Estates, with pictures of des. res’s adorning the windows. – Just what the world needs. I bet there isn’t a Blue Plaque erected there either.
Sic transit Gloria Hunniford.
We sat in a scantily attended top deck of the Pavillion. Overall, a disappointing crowd, but I guess it’s August, and their loss. There was a lot to admire, and plenty to cheer the Middle, despite one continuing concern for me at least.
Durham got going quickly. There was less in the pitch than that on which we played the Mexicans. Toby appeared slightly out of sorts, and despite beating the bat a few times, Tim got nothing out of the Nursery End either. There was a sharp chance off his third over, Stoneman the beneficiary, but we were leaking runs at 4 an over after 9.
Podders on after 11 overs, and terminated after the 16th. The score had reached 60, including an all ran four to the Allen Stand corner. – Ho – Hummmm ....Could be long old day.
However, come the hour, cometh The General, who, in tandem with Ollie, restored control, and then brought us a little bit of magic. Apparently irritated by his stinginess, Stoneman hooked the highest top edge I have ever seen, and Simmo patiently accepted its return to earth.
Worth the wait
Frankie followed with Jennings stone cold plumb dead LBW, and the old maxim of taking a look at the scoreboard, and thinking how it would look with two more wickets on it had happened right in front of my eyes. 74 – 0 was now 74 – 2. Game on.
Plum LBW the Darren RS confirms
There then followed that little bit of Middle magic. I won’t forget it. Ollie had been definitely (as later confirmed by him) bowling just that little bit slower, getting a bit of loop on the ball. It seemed too short, yet the batsman reaches for it.Then he bowled a pearl, a peach, a JAFFA, the perfect delivery. That Ball. It pitched on a length to bring the left handed Borthwick playing – nay reaching, - nay, groping – forward, spun across the face of his forward defensive and took the top of off stump. The bails leaped together.
Dangerman out
Pandemonium. Ollie laconically admitted later “Yeah, you’d take that as a ball, wouldn’t you? I might have celebrated a bit more than I normally do”. He became a fist punching maniac for a few seconds, and why not. A stranglehold being applied.
The next ball was hit straight to cover point; both batsmen advanced, the non striker got too far out to get back safely. Tim’s good, flat accurate throw came in, and Ollie removed the bails. We were on fire.
Running out of ideas
Would you believe that Ollie had a catch to first slip dropped off him that same over, seeming easier to catch than drop?
In and out.
Frankie took himself off, and threw everything at getting Paul Collngwood out with pace. That nuggetty, understated, amazingly stubborn shoveller of everything to the leg side got a good hand, and it was great to see him, with his open, two eyed stance looking to either nudge it square or where he’s pointing.
Just after lunch, Tim got Richardson to pull to square leg, and Frankie brought Poddy back. Ok, mate, you know best, you’re the General, Cool Hand Luke, and you have 2 for 3 or 4 runs. .... Poddy does not.
No sooner did I wonder if Poddy was struggling with the slope, than he got one to climb, catch Colly’s thick outside edge; pouched by Compo in the gulley. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. 105 – 6.
When Frankie went for his second boundary, he had figures of 6.3 – 5 – 9 – 2. He then got Hickey to edge to Simmo – 8 – 5 – 10 – 3. His dream teamer at the other end then floated one up to get Coughlin heaving across the line for 39.
Mark Wood looks a much better bat than his position suggests. Without his counterattack, Durham really would have been in trouble. Rushworth put a ball straight down Toby’s throat at wide mid on, and it was 198 - 9.
Stirlo had been patrolling the boundary brilliantly. Even when a ball was hit a good way to either side of him, he usually kept it down to one, and has developed a bullet of an arm. He has become a great fielder. With him and Gubbo in the deep, the outfielding future looks bright.
Then Wood swept Ollie to deep midwicket, hard and high, and Stirlo took off to his right, to nail it with both hands. It was a truly brilliant catch. Of such things ....... Ollie did his midriff punching thing, and later said that that one was much more Stirlo’s wicket than his as part of a bag of 4 for 17 – what a bloke!!!!!! 204 all out after winning the toss and batting. As Ollie might have said, “You’d take that, wouldn’t you?”.
Eski and Gubbo set off well in tandem, Gubbo busier, but Eski scoring faster, accumulating off his legs. I love his compact, unfussy organisation, and adherence to the basics. Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Strauss and Trescothick, Gubbins and Eskinazi ?
Go Gubbo
They have a great understanding on running between the wickets, except when Gubbo came off second best with a collision with Onions from which he almost might have got run out, and well done Durham – they were too sporting to break the wicket. Top Marks For Sportsmanship !!! 50 up with Gubbo on 21, Eski 23.
Eski Mowed down
Borthwick’s leggies were on after 26 overs, and it was a surprise when Onions beat Eski’, to make us 77 – 1.
If Compo’s aim was to see us through without further loss, he achieved this. But.... contrast and compare - Frankie moves with the slow deliberation of a man calculating the odds, and you know he has a plan. He knows the angles, the pitch, and a whole lot more. Compo still seems like a man incapable of finding a higher gear. If you asked me what a man coming to the crease intent on domination, mayhem, and slaughter looks like, pretty much everything about Compo rules him out. Everything about him seems to be in slo – mo, like a ponderous oak. ....................... He does this tiny shuffle further across his stumps as the bowler runs in, seems to stand so erect that for tall man, it’s a long way down to the wicket, and just seems to be too tensed up. - Gubbo stands erect, but crouches down at the point of delivery.
Compo had three LBW appeals from Onions turned down, was dropped at first slip by Borthwick, and seems to have no rapport with Gubbo about running. How many times were they both out of their ground, each seeming to have picked up something that wasn’t really there from the other?
His only shot played with conviction was a pull for 4 that got us to 101 – 1. In the same over that Onions had two LBW shouts against Compo, Gubbo creamed him through the covers.
Still, that’s just me wishing for an even more perfect Middlesex day than I had, topped up by a chat with Ollie, and I know which side I’d sooner be.
Bat All Day, Both Nicks.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:21:10:33:44 by BarmierKev.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:08:14:11:35:53 by Fozzie.
Stay cool,stay calm and let's see what the game brings...I really hate shift work when I can't be there
Eski - Mowed........................ classic! Well done, Kev.
Excellent report and pictures.