Rosso Gives Students a Lesson in Carnage

On a day Rogers is in Ashes squad and will be out of our team Rogers and Out reports on a day at Fenners when we slowly built up momentum and ended in pure carnage

Anybody leaving Fenner’s a little early today would have seen some interesting but slightly mundane cricket with good batting by the majority of our upper order and some honest toil with the ball and in the field by the students. However, those of us who stayed until the end were rewarded with fireworks aplenty from the bat of Adam Rossington. His 45 minutes at the crease yielded an unbeaten partnership of 127 with Dawid Malan in just over 13 overs, with Rosso scoring a century from 55 balls, including an amazing 5 consecutive sixes in an over from the hapless Akbar Ansari.

The day had started quietly with me travelling up on a crowded train from King’s  Cross then walking the mile or so to the ground. Fenner’s has quite a nice setting, half surrounded by university halls of residence and mature trees. The pavilion is eerily reminiscent of Uxbridge from a certain angle.

We won the toss and elected to bat, with Adam London and Neil Dexter opening. Cambridge opening bowlers Matt Salisbury and Jim Cowan started with maidens apiece, with the left handed Cowan causing us a few problems in particular. Adam London took 25 minutes to get off the mark, but he quickly caught up with Dexter, and it was a surprise when the first wicket fell at 38, with Dex glancing a Cowan delivery down the leg side to ‘keeper Bell for 21.

Joe Denly came in at number 3. He scratched around for 18 balls before driving uppishly at Cowan and was caught at mid off by Johnson for 2, with the score on 60/2.

Dawid Malan then entered the fray and was having difficulty with Cowan, edging him on a couple of occasions, once just short of slip. In fact, Cowan bowled unchanged for 14 overs, and it was only towards the end of his spell that we managed to get him away.  Paddy Sadler and spinning captain Zafar Ansari then came into the attack for Cambridge, and scoring became easier. London reached his fifty and we reached lunch on 125/2, with London on 55 and Malan on 41.

I had a quick pint at the Cambridge Blue in Gwydir Street, and returned to see AB and AC looking very comfortable with a century partnership coming up quite soon. That partnership had reached 124 when Akbar Ansari took a sharp chance at slip off his brother Zafar’s bowling to dismiss London for 81.

Paul Stirling took the field for his first class Middlesex debut and played conservatively by his standards. Malan continued in good form and a push to square leg from Salisbury brought up his century just before tea. Tea was taken at 245/3 – Malan 102, Stirling 25.

Stirlo increased the tempo after tea with a four followed by a maximum in the 80th over by Poysden. His fifty came when he cut Cowan for four, but he perished soon after, caught behind by Bell off Salisbury for 54.

Adam Rossington came in an played a couple of neat shots for singles and twos, before AC brought up his 150 in the 90th over by pushing Wylie to square leg for a single.

Rosso gave a preview of things to come when he dispatched Salisbury for three fours in an over and repeated the dose to Sadler a few overs later, with a  combination of lusty blows and some delicate late cuts. Malan was happy to watch his partner take centre stage and then came the 100th over.  Akbar Ansari had bowled one previous over for just two, but having bowled a dot then a wide, Rossington then blasted the next five deliveries over mid wicket for six, peppering the halls of residence each time. He plundered another three fours from Wylie’s next over before ending proceedings with another six off the unfortunate Akbar Ansari. 103 not out for Rosso, with Mala unbeaten on 156, and Middlesex closed on 438/4.

I wandered back to Cambridge station via the Live and Let Live in Mawson Road,  pondering what an enjoyable day I’d had for the £3 admission. My previous visits to Cambridge had been to the Abbey Stadium in the early eighties, watching the likes of George Reilly and Alan Mayes in a series of turgid low scoring matches between United and Chelsea, and today was infinitely superior to those.