Ch..ch...ch elmsford not very warm up match

Way out West travels way out East and reports on a warm up or in this case a cold up match where hear about some interesting pointers as well as how the match panned out.

GROUND

Parked up literally next door to the ground for £4.50 for the day and then walked in for free to the ground as advertised, can`t be bad. My first visit to the ground and it looked tidy enough but I have to say that as the day wore on it became clear that the proposed ground redevelopment is much needed. The dimensions of the ground were even smaller as usual because of the marquee erected over the outdoor nets opposite The Pavilion. The Pavilion itself was a welcome respite from the cold outside and I would estimate that there were a good 200 present for the game, a total which grew as the day progressed.

Middlesex Innings

As we had thought on the 80+ mile drive up the teams had decided on a 45 over game with tomorrows forecast looking awful. We missed the toss but I assume Middlesex were put in on a green track. London played a poor shot, out for 0, then Robson (5) wafted at a wide one and we were quickly 9-2 with Mills looking sharp.

Rossington (8) mixed up some okay looking shots with some poor ones and Napier cleaned him up with his third or fourth ball, 26-3. Dexter and Davey then hung around for a while without looking convincing, Until Davey (8) nicked one to Mickleburgh at slip, 50-4.

Simpson joined Dexter but Dexy`s luck eventually ran out after a couple of decent shots, out for 25, then a very cold looking Berg soon went and the score was 64 for 6. Simmo (17) was very watchful but played a couple of decent strokes before he, Rayner (7) and Harris (4) departed to leave us 92/9 and in real danger of not batting out the 45 overs. Wilkin and Roland-Jones joined for an innings high partnership of 31 to leave us at 123 for 9 at the end of our allotted 45. Congrats to Extras who top scored with 26, great knock.

Essex Innings

It is fair to say that we didn`t think our score of 123 was going to win us the game but on the other hand the fast bowlers could clearly get  a little out of the track.

Toby and Harris opened the bowling and to say TRJ was superb would be an understatement. He bustled in off a long run and was unplayable; the 8 runs that came off his initial spell all being via edges through the slips. Westley (0), Browne (0), Mickleburgh (6) and Foster (0) had no answer to his quality. Very warming stuff in the gloomy cold of March. Harris didn`t look as quick but was very accurate in support and if Rayner had held on to a couple of difficult chances then we would have been right in the game.

 As it was, the impressive Wilkin snared Pettini but then we were treated to a magnificent innings from Greg Smith. To put his innings into context, the second highest score in the game was from his junior partner Arthurton (26). Smith feasted on the sometime wayward bowling of young Tom Helm, Rayner and Wilkin and raced to 50 off 55 balls including eight 4’s and  two 6’s.

Helm clean bowled Arthurton to get some reward for his persistence and looked quit nippy. Another very tall bowler in the mould of TRJ and Finny, wouldn`t we all love it if he turned out half as good?

 Harris and TRJ were reintroduced to the fray late in the day and did well to restrict the scoring rate, Harris removing Napier for 6. The “winning” runs were struck towards the end of the 41^st over and we decided enough was enough and it was time to depart. Smith was 73 not out at this stage but it appeared that the teams would carry on with the aid of the floodlights.d

Great to get in a full days play, but as expected out batting wasn`t as strong as normal with many notable absentees. Only Smith for Essex and Wilkin for us showed any fluency. The bowling effort was very spirited and it was clear that Dexy wanted to give all the bowlers a good workout rather than returning to the senior pace boys to get amongst the Essex middle order.  The right decision in the context of the game.