Bad day at the Office

Fozzie reports from Lord's on day two as Middlesex continued to be outplayed.A full detailed report of the carnage that was the Middle's batting and a few views about the members in the Pavilion.

Although overall it’s been a pretty good season, as it happens the Middle have had the worst of it on the majority of days I’ve seen. Some of those have been pretty bad: Surrey in the T20 most notably, but also in the LVCC days against Yorkshire, Warwickshire and (through gritted teeth) Surrey again.  But, beyond any doubt, today was the pits.

The day didn’t exactly start optimistically after Somerset had wrested the initiative on Day 1, but nevertheless, as Mrs Fozzie and I took our positions on the middle tier of the Pavilion, the feeling was that if the last two wickets could be rolled over quickly we might, with a fair wind, be on level pegging by the close.  As expected, Murts and James Harris opened, and bowled pretty well, keeping a good line and probing well.  Chawla and Thomas seemed nervous at first, and initially there was a fair amount of playing and missing, punctuated with edges through the slips. Murts rattled Chawla with a blow in the box, which left him winded while the fielders studiously avoided offering any sympathy.  During the delay I noticed that the over rate was +4 – so at least something was going right!

However, the winding seemed to have the effect of bringing Chawla to life, and in Murts’ next over he hit a beefy on drive for four, followed by another boundary slashed high over the slips, bringing up 350.  After 35 minutes there was a double change, replacing pace with spin as Ollie and Ravi came on. Then, bizarrely, there was another immediate change as Dex came on for a solitary over, and Ollie and Ravi then switched ends. Five bowling changes in five overs seemed a bit busy even by T20 standards, and there was an uneasy feeling that we might be losing the plot.  Meanwhile the 110^th over came and went without the wicket that would have brought a third bowling point.  A small matter, perhaps, but the feeling was that our championship challenge was running aground.

Chawla was alternating watchfulness with bursts of aggression, and he reached 90 with a pull off Ravi into the Mound Stand for 6 and a lofted boundary off Ollie.  Meanwhile Thomas clumped Ravi for 4 and then cracked the ball against Sam’s ankles at short leg, which I guess goes down technically as a chance.  Ollie was replaced by AC bowling to a widespread field, only for the batsmen to be content to take the easy singles on offer. Chawla then reached his century in dramatic fashion, with another big 6 off Ravi; raising his arms aloft towards his team’s balcony, it was clear that it meant a lot to him.

Berg came on – the seventh bowler to be used in the morning – and had Thomas dropped low at slip (by Sam again, unfortunately).  But both batsmen looked comfortable and keen to take scoring opportunities, and at lunch they were still undefeated at 413-8.  Chawla got a great reception, and it was nice to see the Middlesex team join in acknowledging his fighting innings.

The afternoon session started in brighter fashion, as in the opening over Chawla launched a catch to Ollie.  Thomas then assiduously farmed the bowling to protect Overton, who clearly felt rather miffed and took out his chagrin on the unfortunate bowlers.  Thirty-two runs were added in quick time by the last wicket pair, with Thomas reaching a deserved 50, before Ravi took his fourth wicket to end the innings at 449.  It seemed a long long time since 211-7.

So we were back to the tried and trusted opening combination of Buck and Sam.  An initial impression of the bowlers was that Gregory seemed rather gentle, Overton bristling but raw and with a regular habit of no-balling. The sun was out, the pitch looked excellent, so what could go wrong?  By the tea interval the answer, sadly, was just about everything.  Somerset’s medium-pacers managed to get some movement off the pitch, but this alone couldn’t account for the procession of wickets, let alone the regular needless playing and missing.

First Buck sparred at Overton and was caught at slip, then Denly presented a simple catch to midwicket off Gregory (no longer looking so gentle), who proceeded to beat Malan three times in a over.  Overton had by now bowled three no-balls, making Extras the highest score, and Trescothick turned to Meschede.  And now the situation turned from alarming to near hopeless, as with his first ball Meschede had Sam caught behind, then next ball bowling Dex.  Simmo faced the hat-trick delivery with three slips and two gulleys waiting in anticipation; and although Meschede bowled what would have been a pretty good delivery to a right-hander, unfortunately for him Simmo is left-handed.  It was a short respite though, as Gregory got Simmo with another catch to slip, and it was 39-5 after only 13 overs.  On the Middlesex balcony our batting coach looked very pensive indeed.

AC and Berg hung in, and the score dried up until AC hit Meschede for 6, only next ball to hang his bat out far from his body to a ball that started wide of the off stump and moved even further away.  I have had a lot of pleasure watching Malan bat in recent years, and I find it sad and perplexing how this summer, while seeming to score at will in limited overs cricket, he has clearly struggled (not simply been dismissed for low scores) in the championship. I imagine he too feels perplexed.

Thomas came on to dismiss Berg, and at tea the score was 61-7 with Ollie and James Harris at the crease, and a general air of bemusement. 

Digression

Now, there have been some harsh comments made recently in these pages about the level of discourse among occupants of the Pavilion balconies.  To set the record straight, I feel obliged to say that I did not hear the subject of Pimms availability raised once. Au contraire, by the tea interval I had become well versed on pensions policy around Europe and the views of a certain Australian expert (no, not Warnie) on the subject, travel arrangements to Poland for international conferences on said pensions policy, and the stupendous mobile phone deals to be had while visiting the outer reaches of the continent.  Feeling suitably intellectually enriched, we headed upstairs for a drink, only to find the bar heaving.  Lovely weather and an exciting cricket match outside, yet people pack inside, ostensibly to watch cricket on TV.  I don’t get it.

Anyway, end of digression, for the tea interval was over and “Martin Trescothick” (courtesy Mr Perambulator) was leading his team out.  Ollie and James were understandably cautious, survived a comedy run-out opportunity when they found themselves at the same end, and saw Extras regain the honour of being highest scorer.  But now came the most invigorating batting of the innings, as Ollie unreeled a series of boundaries.  James too was finding his touch, with an excellent square cut for four, but the introduction of Chawla’s wrist spin broke the stand when it was worth 49.  James was LBW and was clearly most upset at the decision; and whereas one might take with a large dose of salt a batsman’s apparent disbelief at a decision against him, there was a clearly audible sound that suggested he had got an edge.

That was 102-8, which quickly became 104 all out as Chawla was too much for Murts and Ravi, adding three cheap wickets to his century.  Ollie top-scored with an excellent 34 not out, adding to his good scores against Derbyshire. Unfortunately, Extras were second with 15.

Not surprisingly, Middle were asked to follow on, a small matter of 345 runs behind and with 14 overs to face before close.  There followed a curious little incident in the opening over when Buck played and missed, and then immediately gesticulated to the balcony for a replacement pair of glasses.  “Should have gone to Specsavers!”, suggested one member.  Sadly, the replacement glasses weren’t much help, for Gregory dismissed him next over for 2.  No disrespect to the Somerset bowlers, but after Buck’s valiant efforts in the Ashes it was sad to see him dismissed twice in a day on his return to Lord’s.

If any proof was needed that this was a day where Somerset could do no wrong, Meschede came on first change and, blow me, again got a wicket with his opening ball!  Denly out, 19-2, and still nine overs to play.  At least in this innings Meschede failed to get a wicket with his second ball as well, so perhaps things were looking up. In fact Sam and AC saw it through to the end, with Sam in particular playing some very pleasant drives to take the score to 52-2, still 291 behind.

It’s difficult to know quite what to make of a day in which Somerset’s tail scored 117-2 and Middlesex managed 156-12, though it would seem our championship hopes are over.  Realistically, there can also be very little hope now of saving this match, but we can at least hope that Sam and AC lead the way on Friday to recover some respect.