CROOKED RULES ARE NUTS

This was a good day for Middlesex well described by Dingy Bags.  We also hear about some nutty goings on courtesy of ECB and one of our loyal fans too.

It’s been a few seasons since the ECB/Andy Flower decided our selection policy for us; today they determined our tactics as well. We all thought we knew the situation surrounding the ‘playing substitute’: if a player is released by England, someone can play a full part in the game as the named substitute until the England man gets on the field. Some counties have gained significant advantages out of this in the past.

Apparently not.

Under some rule that no doubt has a number, a letter and a small Roman numeral, it seems that if a player is released from an England game before a county game starts, the sub is just like any other fielding sub: cannot bat or bowl. Perhaps he’s not even allowed to stop the ball in the field, either.

So it was that, at the drinks interval, after an hour, Dex was seen consulting with Gus and rather than Crook come on, in the knowledge that he could have one good burst in this game, the change bowlers were the captain himself and Rymps. We had selected only three front-line seamers but, apparently, had to play with only two until nearly lunchtime. I am sure that the management of the club took this philosophically.

It is hard to believe that Dex was not distracted from his job of captaining the side with all this going on. This is the sort of thing that happens in lower level club cricket! I once played in a side when, one day, our only recognised seamer had to leave sometime after tea to pick up his auntie from the station. So we won the toss, on a lovely sunny day and put the opposition in. This confused and worried them. We could hear them muttering: “They must know something.” “The pitch must be doing a lot.” “Bat carefully”. None of us told them it was because Dave had to pick his auntie up. They batted like men distracted and got less than 100. We knocked off the runs in no time could all have met the train.

It is therefore to the immense credit of the side, and its maturing captain, that we ended the day well on top. Obviously, we would have liked to have won the toss and batted, which would have left no tactical input from the ECB relevant. But Derby won the toss. However, for one, Murts wasn’t distracted. He got a wicket with the first ball of the match, beautifully caught high at second slip by Dalrymple, and a wicket in each of his next two overs as well. Mala caught a smart, low catch at first slip to get rid of Madsen and Hughes carved one to the skipper at gulley. At 14-3, it looked like Finn wouldn’t be needed or that the pitch inspectors would arrive at the ground before him. Lower Pav was so excited that he dropped his nuts. But, whereas the ball had found the edge three times so early on, it now missed it regularly for over an hour as Durston and Smith rode their luck a little against the persevering Murtagh and Collymore, and found things a little, but only a little, easier against the change bowling.

Then Finn arrived. He took the field with about 18 minutes to lunch and, perhaps surprisingly (because we all expected another ECB directive that he couldn’t bowl until ten past eight) was on next over. And a wicket third ball. He was, beyond all reasonable doubt, the quickest fourth change bowler I have ever seen. One can always say “If” in cricket but I honestly think we could have had them six or more down by lunch if we hadn’t had been mucked about like this.

Anyway, after lunch, with things on an even keel now, Smith was quickly lbw to the superb Murts but the pitch seemed to be behaving itself rather better. It was the same one used for the Pro40 game and was reported dry at the start of that, hence we played our spinner in Smudger, although Derbys were content with those that played in the one day game, Smith (another one) and Hughes. Twice-nightly Whiteley started as if he’d never get a run and looked positively scared of our fourth-change bowler but, having survived, he started to bat very well, once hoisting Dalrymple onto the roof of the Bowlers’ Bar. Sutton started well enough but Finn, now bowling like a man with a  point to prove, was clearly too quick for him, even getting one or two to kick a little. Lower Pav, having recovered his nuts, said he’d be bowled any ball soon and so it proved, right away.

I am not sure if it the nature of the Tiflex ball, the pitches or lack of depth in county bowling but a lot of sides in the second division have lost early wickets this year, while numbers 7, 8, 9 and even 10 have scored big runs at times. Clare is a case in point. He now joined Twice-Nightly and was soon confidently stroking boundaries. At this juncture, Smudger took a decisive hand. He varied his pace and got into a great rhythm, clearly turning the ball past the outside edge. Soon Clare edged to slip. Then an appeal went up for a caught behind off Gronewald. The umpire was unmoved but the batsman, to his immense credit, walked, so the umpire, not to his credit, decided to give him out anyway. Soon Palladino was taken at short leg, bat-pad, and no 11 walked to the wicket. And batted really well, even when Finn was recalled. In fact, he scored 20 out of the tenth wicket stand of 28 with the now fluent Whiteley, not by slogging or edging but with nice shots either side of the wicket. However, we were not to be denied and soon Twice-Nightly slogged one to the safe hands of Murts at deep mid on and that was it. We were already an hour behind, which confused everyone, and tea had been delayed for the tenth wicket, so it was about 5.20 when people got their cakes.

It’s always hard to be certain what is a good score but 252 was surely below par. However, our batting remains rather fragile, so it was a crucial phase of the game when Robbo and Newns walked out with 28 overs of the day left. A few balls passed the bat – but fewer than in the morning – otherwise our openers played with huge good sense, pushing the ball around and hitting bad deliveries to the rope. It was about this time last year that Newman hit form and he scored his first 50 of the season by the close, once again answering those who thought he should have been dropped in the best possible way. Robson is now established at the top of the order, an opener with a proper opener’s temperament. Great to see.

In some ways, this day was like the first day of the away fixture at Derby when we bowled them out for even less and had a good score on the board by the close. Lower Pav was half-joking when he said 100-0 by the close tonight; in fact, he was being pessimistic, it seems. At Derby, we failed to keep control of the game on days 2 and 3 and had to score lots to win (which we did, of course). This track might get hard to bat on by the last innings of this game. Let’s make that a Derby innings. We’ve looked a really good side yesterday and today (unrecognisable from the T20 outfit), so I hope we don’t let it slip. We’ve got some R&R to look forward to after this game.

Dingy Bags