A New Day a Newman

Barmy Kev reports on a good day for Middlesex. we learn how he got lost as he arrives in ground , misses a wicket, but most importantly describes some disciplined bowling and brutal hitting from the Middle.

Recap overnight score Northants 145-3

On waking up it was dark and grim out. I do not have a spring in my step to rush. I catch train that gets me into Northampton Station at 11:41. As I step off train it’s blazing sunshine. I meet Spillage and we get cab to the ground. Due to sorting out unfortunate MTWD business I didn't get round to checking the score, but was advised by Spillage in cab we gained an early wicket. We enter the ground at pavilion end saw still only 4 down. We circulate, me following Spillage to the Indoor School End the other side. We are talking and as we are behind the end a steward asked whether we are leaving?   We discover we are going down gangway that was leading us out of the ground. We then missed the entrance to the Upper Tier and as were about to take our seats Hall was out, we completely missed it but according to Ceefax was excellent catch by AC of TRJ, not a no ball.184-5

I did see and had an excellent view of next Middle wicket Middlebrook plum LBW on middle stump. Truly a Middle wicket 193-6. Spillage says going to bar, want a drink? Yeah a lager. He says "I'm getting a coke". Then suddenly I realised wanted an orange and lemonade. Kev does drink soft drinks. Newton defies more gravity as moves with little resistance for a ton, Spillage applauds, don't tell Kimmy. They are few scares until Crook's over before lunch. 4th ball a strong LBW shout, looked plum not given, must have been edge, but by look on faces was pad first. Punished next ball a straight drive for 4. Next ball inside edge that trickled and must have missed his stump by a millimetre. At lunch 226-6 would say honours even.

Can't take much more of this. At lunch Spillage and me get some proper refreshment from Tesco Express. Works well as we get back to seats in time and Newton is out at last caught behind and force is relativitely with Middx. Vaas and Murphy meandering on. Later, there was a gentle push to square leg no run, so it seemed but Newman at square and Collymore running in from fine leg both dived over ball to give an embarrassing 4. With the new ball taken wicket starts to look likely and indeed it was. Vaas bowled by Corey I said to Spillage beaten by late swing, he thought played on. As we worried about these irritating late wicket partnerships The London Leprechaun who's spent best of the part of day with us said will go for a walk a take a wicket or maybe 3 and ended returning to her position with 276 all out, Nice walk LL. Seeing Collymore knock out Dagnett's stumps shattered with him nowhere near was a pleasure to watch. Early tea was taken with satisfaction of early collapse.

42 overs left in final session. Certainly a lot of pressure on Scott Newman. To our relief there were no early wickets. At 20-0, top score was extras 8. With score on 38 there were 2 very strong LBW shouts against Scott, phew not given. We all wanted to him do well. There was another squeaky bum moment when Scott on 48, there was a less convincing LBW shout, ball went to fine leg fielder, Scott scampered back for 2nd, throw in just missed stumps, had it hit definitely out. It seemed relief that he bought up half century, but of course leg byes signalled- maybe he thought he got an edge?  50 was bought up soon after. After that it was the Scott Newman show. There was some brutal hitting with good shot selection and defence when required. The score was over 4 an over throughout. I don't think I've seen a better demonstration of sensible 4-day cricket attacking batting in a long time. Knowing how I tempt fate I said nothing when Scott in the 90's. On 95 Middlebrook tempted him and Scott would try to get to a 100 in one shot, he missed the ball or apparently didn't as was given out caught behind. Scott put his hands out, shook his head and was reluctant to walk back, he turned his head on a few occasions as was walking back to the pavilion. This may be perceived as dissent. We were all gutted. I'm not sure about decision but if anyone deserved a ton, this was the one.

With 7 overs to go TRJ was sent out as night watchman. I have never liked this tactic especially with so much time left in play. What do we do if he is out send another night watchman? As it was the very solid looking Robbo was out well caught in the gully and Bucko replacing him. We lost 2 wickets at 143 but scoreboard still looked healthy.  TRJ had many scares, the scoring rate dropped,  but we survived to close. 180-2 puts us in a strong position. Sadly weather may have final say here, but a draw will go a long way to achieve shhhh....

If you can read the font of this my name is Barmy Kev, if you can't my name is Kimmy