What a Lot of Balls - Middx v Hants Day 3

Early Thoughts from Pistol Pete

For the first two days, we have played as well as one of the better teams in the championship. This leads to two questions: why can’t we do this more regularly, and, perhaps more importantly, can we keep it up for the next two days.

At the start of play, a draw seems the most likely result. The Lord’s wicket is slow and it is not easy to take wickets or score runs quickly. If there is to be a definite result, Hampshire seem to have a better chance of winning, because they’ve got Shane Warne, but if Lancashire can win the game at Old Trafford, a draw with 11 or 12 points may not be a bad result for us.

Morning Session – Those Pesky Last 5 Wickets……

It was overcast at the start with fine rain in the air, and a strong breeze. The Edrich stand had about 100 die-hards. With the new ball 16 overs away, Scott Styris opened the bowling with Johann Louw. Scott started with a maiden, getting a bit of away swing to the left-handed Carberry, but Johann’s first ball disappeared to the leg-side boundary, and the second was a very wide wide. This provoked cries of ‘rubbish’ from a few of our less tolerant fans, but Scott soon removed Carberry, a straight-forward catch at first slip by Ace. 223-5. Ervine joined Pothas and neither looked in trouble. Ervine took two fours off successive balls from Scott, who then beat him outside the off stump, and Jamie D and Weekesy bowled a couple each before the new ball was taken by Silvers and Chad. 54 had come of the first 15 overs.

Silvers bowled one fine over where he beat the bat three times, but Pothas brought up the 50 partnership with a boundary, and Ervine also hit a four which went through Weekesy at mid-off, to the dismay of his many supporters. Chad came off after three overs, maybe to give Johann a go with the new ball. But it was Silvers who removed Ervine just before lunch, moving the ball away and finding the edge. Scott Styris took the catch. 299-6. Pothas reached 50 and the scoring rate accelerated, 21 coming in the final 15 minutes of the session. 339-6 at lunch. At some stage during the morning Jamie D went off; I didn’t see him get an injury, but he didn’t re-appear while we were in the field.

Afternoon Session – a Session of Two Halves

Hampshire started the afternoon session aggressively, Pothas hitting two leg-side fours off Silvers to bring up the 350. Silvers then found the edge of Mascarenhas’ bat, but the ball looked to fall just short of Ace at first slip. They added 32 in 7 overs, runs coming rather too quickly against our two best bowlers, then Mascarenhas played a lofted cover drive off Chad and was well caught above his head by Ed Joyce at extra cover. 376-7. Warne got off the mark with an edge just over the slips off Chad, and next ball aimed a shot through the leg side which fell just short of Nick Compton at point. At this stage it was quite dark and the umpires conferred, but didn’t appear to offer the light to the batsman. Pothas reached his hundred (from 161 balls) with a pull for four off Silvers, and Warne declared as soon as they had reached 400.

Middlesex started their second innings as if it were a 2020 game, Nick Compton cover driving Ervine for four and then playing an ugly slash outside the off stump which failed to connect. At 3.15, with the score 15-0 from 3 overs, the umpires offered the light and the players went off. There followed a brief shower (about 2 minutes) and the umpires were soon out again. Play resumed at 3.30 so 4 overs were lost. Bruce’s two overs having cost 15 runs, he was replaced by Thornely and the scoring rate slowed. Thornely than had Nick caught at slip, probably off the glove. 42-1 (12 overs).

Ace got off the mark with a pull for four and Ed Smith brought up the fifty with an edge through the slips for four. Ed then seemed to lose sight of a bouncer from Thornely and was hit on the helmet without trying to duck (although there are contributors to this site who think that ducking is his speciality) After some attention from the physio and a drink he was fit to resume.

Mascarenhas was given one over before tea and promptly removed Ace, caught behind for 6 playing defensively. There was still time before tea for two elegant boundaries from Joycey, a leg glance and a clip through mid-wicket. At tea 67-2, Ed Smith 32, Ed Joyce 9. The game looked evenly poised, but the pessimists among us were still fearing a Warne-inspired collapse after tea.

Evening Session – What a Load of Balls

But we needn’t have worried. The two Eds carried on serenely, Ed J hit a couple of lovely fours through the covers off Mascarenhas, and Ed S weighing in with some boundaries of his own, perhaps less elegant than Joycey but hitting the ball through the off side just as powerfully. Another Joyce four caused the ball to need changing, and Udal joined Warne in the attack. Ed S reached his fifty with a single to mid-on, and although progress against the spin attach was slow, the batsmen were not looking in any trouble. Despite the fact that we were now scoring mostly in singles, the ball sustained further damage and required changing on two more occasions, which baffled the now dwindling band of spectators. Ed S finally broke the shackles, hitting Warne for four off the back foot through cover (135-2 from 43), then Ed J came down the wicket to hit Udal for four and reached his fifty with a single to deep cover.

And then things started to get a bit silly. First John Crawley came on and then Benham, whom I haven’t seen before but I didn’t think was a bowler. In any event, they used seven bowlers in our first innings, without using these two. Is this the start of the dreaded declaration bowling, or is Shane having a laugh? No doubt we will find out tomorrow.

So we closed on 181-2 from 52; a decent enough day’s cricket. At the end the draw still looks favourite, but there is probably more chance of a definite result (either way) than seemed the case this morning. As Ged would no doubt say, all five results are still possible.