End of year review part 2

By Jeremy Horne
November 26 2002

In the second part of our review, we look at June and July, which provided more mixed fortunes for the ‘sex. One day cricket continued to be a problem, but there were signs of improvement, whilst the fortunes in the county championship were slightly different.

June couldn’t have begun more disastrously. Durham’s 645-6 declared on the first day of the month was their highest ever first class score and it also saw the first of Martin Love’s double centuries against English opposition. A valiant first innings performance, including Owais Shah’s first century of the season was not enough to avoid being asked to follow on early on the final day. At Lunch, a score of 27-3 did not look ideal, but a spirited fight back led by Ed Joyce ensured a vital draw that kept our unbeaten record.

We may have been running riot in the championship, but our one-day form was still shaky. The loss to Hampshire by two runs in the NUL did nothing to improve our already low confidence. We were also not helped by the June rain which resulted in us drawing our championship match with Glamorgan and the Sussex NUL match being abandoned after just 5 overs.

The one-day woes were now continuing to mount and the performance in Gloucester really proved that work was needed. At 117-3, things were looking good for a late order onslaught. Strauss was also well set on 65. However his dismissal sparked a freak collapse and the last 7 wickets fell for just 25 runs. Although Barnett went to the first ball of the chase the result was never in doubt and Ian Harvey ensured that the win wasn’t long in coming as he scored a breezy 61.

A trip to Cardiff was next and it was a memorable one for Abdur Razzaq and Ed Joyce as they posted a near record 5th wicket stand of 320. Razzaq also scored his maiden career double hundred. An 8-wicket win was a superb end to a dry month.

It wasn’t over there though. There was still one more game to play in June. A trip to Arundel for another NUL match. It was a must win for the crusaders, who hadn’t won in the NUL all season. The players responded to the call and bowled as a unit, with Ian Jones taking 2 wickets on debut. The batting also proved up to scratch for a change and we secured a superb 8 wicket win.

These wins allowed us to enter July on a high. It was all short lived though. If you wanted to sum up July in one word it would be boring. Three of the four county games ended in bore draws and we got two thrashings in one-day cricket during the Southgate festival. First though we had a championship match against Worcestershire at Lord’s. This game was vital as Worcestershire were beginning to get their season going and challenge the top teams. Worcestershire’s first innings virtually killed off all hopes of a home win. They racked up 502-4 before declaring and we were forced to play out a bore draw.

It was time for the Southgate festival and the first game this year was that of Surrey. Owais Shah’s 74 helped us to a competitive total of 194-8, having been 34-3.The bowling was a different story. The attack lacked penetration and Surrey cruised to an 8-wicket win. To rub salt into the wound, Judas top scored with an unbeaten 87.

Things did get interesting in the first Championship match of the festival. It was against Gloucestershire and all was set for a last day bore draw. Then Mark Alleyne decided to make a match of it and set us a target of 240 to win in around 50 overs. Strauss and Koenig gave us the perfect start by taking the score to 66, but as they were dismissed, hopes of a win began to fade. Then Aaron Laraman, promoted to keep the scoreboard ticking smashed a superb career best 82 not out. He was also supported by a half century from Owais Shah and we cruised to a comfortable five-wicket win. Alleyne was left ruing his declaration for the second year running.

The one-day game was a different story. Gloucestershire ran riot after a bad start whilst we never got going. It was Alleyne who made amends scoring a superb 93.

If the Gloucestershire match was controversial, then the Essex match was even more so. Another century from Sven Koenig, plus half centuries from Shah, Nash and Hutton together with an entertaining 45 from Phil Tufnell put us in control as we made 538 in our 1st innings. At 7-3 Essex were really in trouble. Enter Whippy. His hard hitting allowed him to score an unbeaten 182 not out after his return from injury. Essex avoided the follow on and once again found it hard to take Middlesex wickets the second time around. Strauss was never going to set Essex a target and this led to banter between the players as well as Whippy taking an Ice cream break. The draw satisfied the ‘sex, but Irani was far from happy. This set the tone for our trip to Chelmsford the following day to play a floodlit match. After another mid-innings collapse, we managed to reach 209 and then restricted Essex superbly to win by 41 runs. Jamie Dalrymple took the man of the match award for his rescue act with the bat and his two wickets.

The final game of the month saw a trip to Chelmsford, but this time Mark Alleyne learnt from his mistakes and there was no freak declaration, just a bore draw. Things were hotting up in the title race, banter was becoming more heated. Who would make the promotion places?

Next week: Part three of the End of season review (August).