Dexy's Midday Runs For Us. I'm In Heaven

Big Harv reports on day that started with moans and groans from Sorry fans and could have been followed by similar reaction from Middlesex fans after a Sorry start.  But Dexy just after Midday changed matters with a "Geno" us innings aswell as a Simmo class.  I have no idea what Sorry opener "Gary Wilson said" but "Common" Kevin let them read the report. "There There My Dear" Sorry.

Middlesex v Sorry Day 1 Lord's 27/4/11

As I took my seat in the Compton Upper, the ambient sound was a familiar one. It went along the lines of “moan, moan, moan, moan.”

The announcer gave the team news. For Middlesex, Crook was in for the Iceman, who sadly picked up a side strain at New Road in the CB40. Hopefully nothing too serious after his brilliant start to the season. Toby Roland-Jones came in for Murts, presumably for reasons of squad rotation, and maybe because TRJ's sheer class makes him impossible to leave out of the side for long. Otherwise The Middle were unchanged from the side that overcame Derbyshire in the CC last week.

1.     Rogers

2.     Newman

3.     Housego

4.     Malan

5.     Dexter (Capt)

6.     Crook

7.     Simpson (WK)

8.     Rayner

9.     Roland-Jones

10.  Finn

11.  Collymore

For Sorry:

1.     Wilson

2.     Brown

3.     de Bruyn

4.     Davies (WK)

5.     Hamilton-Brown (Capt)

6.     Maynard

7.     Batty

8.     Jordan

9.     Arafat

10.  Linley

11.  Dernbach

My attention returned to the moaning behind me. Why did it sound so familiar? Ah yes, that's right, we were playing Sorry, and a bunch of their fans were sitting behind me. “Moan, moan, moan, what's Yasir Arafat doing in the side? He was embarrassing against Northants, moan, moan, moan, etc., etc., etc.”

Sorry won the toss and elected to field. An odd decision I thought, given that the forecast was for clear skies today, but with cloud around tomorrow. The pitch had tinges of green certainly, but no more so than is normal for the time of year. Probably less so in fact! I could only conclude that RHB was frightened of our bowlers.

Dernbach opened the bowling from the Pavilion End, a good 2-3 minutes early by my watch, and indeed by the Lord's clock. Perhaps it was a dastardly plan to gain advantage by exploiting any morning moisture in the pitch. I can only conclude though that Dernbach thought the deadly morning moisture was located on two lines, one way outside of off-stump,  the other way outside leg stump.

On the other hand, Yasir Arafat at the Nursery End was a different proposition altogether. He bowled a probing line, with pretty much every ball asking a question of the batsman. In his first over, Newman answered one question with a fierce square cut for 4, but in his next over, Arafat was rewarded with Newman's wicket, LBW for 4 to a ball which even the Sorry fans behind me admitted looked a little high. 4/1.  ( Editors note. Our reporter was out of earshot to hear departing batsman's reaction as he walked up the pavillion steps)

Dernbach at the other end continued to be wild and wayward. Having said that, he wasn't giving away many runs, since the width he was bowling made shots risky due to the batsmen having to stretch if they wanted to reach them.

Arafat continued to be dangerous and Housego (0) was the next to fall, pouched comfortably by Maynard at second slip. 9/2.

Middlesex were going nowhere, but Rogers broke out of his shell with an on drive off Arafat for 4. He gave Dernbach similar treatment the following over as the latter strayed from his usual outside off and down the leg-side lines.

In fact Rogers (15) was just starting to look good when he was bowled by a beauty from Arafat, which nipped back at him and squeezed through the gate hitting the top of middle and off. 28/3 and  we were in big trouble.

Arafat was getting tired though, and Dex's first ball was a nice gentle half-volley, dispatched to the cover boundary with aplomb. Dex found the boundary at the other end too, as the wayward Dernbach was replaced by the innocuous Linley.

The last ball of Yasir Arafat's final over produced the shot of the day from Dex, who produced a leg glance with a sweetness of which Prince Ranjitsinji himself would surely have been proud. Was Yasir Arafat singing the theme tune to Scrubs to himself, I wonder? “I cant do this all by myself, I'm no Superman!” He certainly couldn't have been criticised for doing so, such was the garbage being served up at the other end. He'd done enough to silence the moaning from behind me though!

He was replaced at the Nursery End by Jordan, who promptly fed  AC with two half-trackers, which got exactly what they deserved. His next ball however beat AC outside the off-stump, prompting the bowler to go down the pitch for a few words.

The rest of his spell however was as ordinary as what was coming from the other end. Batty replaced Lindley and was smashed through mid-wicket by AC, who was looking in no danger whatsoever. Then, just before lunch, what should have been a match-saving salvage operation was wastefully brought to an end as AC swished wildly across the line of a slower ball from Batty and pinned LBW. 88/4 and although the partnership between him and Dex had been a useful one, we were deep in the mire.

Middlesex went into lunch at 93/4, a score which flattered the Sorry bowlers aside from Arafat, but which will have vindicated in some peoples' eyes RHB's decision to field.

I went and perambulated on the playing area during the luncheon interval. Amazingly it was the first time I'd ever done so at Lord's, and a wonderful experience it was, too. Strangely I felt very much at home. Maybe somewhere there is a parallel universe where I had a playing career beyond dodgy comprehensive school, and pub team 2^nd XI cricket. We can all dream...

Perambulate . La La La!

Resuming after lunch, Sorry opened with Batty and Arafat. The latter was a shadow of the bowler that had put us in so much trouble before lunch, and Batty bowled pretty much as you would expect Batty to bowl. Slowly and without much spin.

Dex completed a magnificent 50 in style, with a 6 over long-on off Batty.

Dernbach replaced Arafat from the Nursery end and at last found a semblance of a decent line. He found the edge of Simmo's bat only for it to fly between 2^nd slip and gully to the boundary. It was commented that with Sorry in such a commanding position, surely there ought to be another slip in place, at least for Simmo. Maybe RHB was setting his field for bad bowling, and to be fair there had been plenty of that! To add to Dernbach's frustration, the very next ball saw a top-edged pull shot that Simmo appeared to know little about also sail aerially to the boundary.

Simmo settled after that, and he brought up the 50 partnership with a powerful cut to the boundary off the hapless Linley.  In fact Sorry rarely even looked like taking a wicket.

Both batsmen were playing sensible, measured cricket, progressing steadily if unspectacularly. Simmo, the more free scoring of the two, brought up the 100 partnership, pulling a rank half-tracker from Jordan to the mid-wicket boundary. 189-4.

His own 50 came with another boundary, this one through cover point off Arafat, and the 200 came up a couple of balls later with a rather streaky shot through the long vacant 3^rd slip/gully area.

The over rate had fallen to -2, and RHB brought himself on, perhaps to increase it. He succeeded only in increasing the run rate, with Dex hoisting him over mid wicket for 6, and Simmo also getting in on the act with a boundary. He didn't stay in the attack for long!

At tea the scorecard made much more healthy reading, with Middlesex on 226/4, with Dex on 89 and Simmo 65.

Surprisingly RHB opened with himself after tea. Was it to bring down the run rate? If so, why was Dernbach on at the other end?  He soon replaced himself with Batty, and Simmo continued his record of bringing up landmarks with boundaries, this time the 150 partnership with a pull through mid wicket off the aforementioned bowler.

Dex's hundred was brought up in style soon afterwards with a beautiful straight drive off Dernbach.

It had been a chanceless knock, the only really nervous moments were a couple of ill-advised slashes at wide filth served up by Batty mid-way through the afternoon session.

 The very next ball added to RHB's misery, the Sorry captain shelling a chance at slip, which went straight through him to the boundary for four more.

The 200 partnership was the next landmark passed by Simmo with a boundary, this time a cover drive off Linley to take him onto 98.

The new ball was presented to Linley in the middle of his spell, but there was no sign of nerves from Simmo, who brought up his hundred effortlessly with a gentle nudge around the corner for a single from yet another lame delivery.

Simmo made amends for not having brought up his hundred with a boundary by a not-quite-timed pull to the mid wicket boundary off Jordan to bring up the 250 partnership and his own highest first class score of 117.

With both batsmen looking tired and occasional mistakes creeping in, Dex finally departed for 145 after getting in a tangle to a short ball from Jordan, which was skied and taken by Arafat at mid-on. 342/5, and the end of a magnificent innings and partnership which had turned the game completely on its head.

Very often when a big partnership is broken, the other partner falls soon after, and with the pitch looking benign and full of runs, we couldn't afford this to happen. Thankfully Ollie Rayner took a large share of the strike, put the tired Simmo under his wing, and helped him through to the close with no further alarms. He finished on 15, Simmo on 126, and Middlesex 368/5. Sorry's over rate finished on -4!

Aside from Yasir Arafat's excellent opening spell, Sorry's bowling had been absolutely pitiful from start to finish. As I stood at stumps and applauded Middlesex's fine comeback, there was for once no moaning to be heard from the seats behind me. They'd been vacated a long time ago!