Ollie Ollie it's an Ollie Ollie day

Harvey Part 1

My day started at 5 am in Swords, a suburb of Dublin, with a 50 minute walk from my digs to the airport for a flight to Gatwick. I'd spent yesterday watching the ODI between Ireland and England  in Malahide, and I had planned to get to The Gasworks in time for the start of play on Day 2. Unfortunately things did not go entirely smoothly. First a very annoying security check with an overly sensitive metal detector resulted in everything from my watch, my wedding ring,  my internal defibrillator, the foil on the blister packs of my heart medication, and even the metal surgical plates and screws in my arm setting it off.

This didn't cost me any time, but I wasn't left in the best of moods. Then, when my plane reached the end of the runway ready to commence he take-off roll, it was announced  that someone on board was feeling unwell and we had to return to the stand. Once we finally did get going and landed at Gatwick, there was a problem with the air bridge and I was left incarcerated on the tarmac with my fellow passengers until the problem was resolved.

The result of this was that I didn't arrive until 38 minutes after the start of play. Just as I was climbing the steps to the stand, a huge cheer went up, which I assumed was the fall of one of the three Middlesex wickets that remained intact at the start of play. In fact it was the fall of a Slurrey wicket!

I will therefore leave the reporting of the first four wickets of the day to Barmy Kev, who was there to see them fall:

The seamers (Harry, Colly and The Iceman) got some life out of the pitch while the ball was new, but by the time it was a dozen overs old, things were looking easier for the batsmen. The introduction of Olly and then Ravi into the attack asked more questions, but the nearest Middlesex came to a wicket was the near run-out of Hashim Amla. Unfortunately substitute fielder Adam London's throw from fairly close range missed the stumps.

The home side went into Lunch in a fairly strong position on 59/1. Not having eaten since yesterday I desperately needed some grub, and once the crowds had died down I made use of the excellent little self service restaurant on the top floor of the pavilion. Unfortunately that resulted in a late return to my seat and another missed wicket, this time the huge one of Hashim Amla, caught by Ollie at mid-on off Ravi from what the locals reckoned was a full toss. 72/2.

Next over it was 74/3 as Burns (38) was taken by Robbo off Ollie at short leg.

De Bruyn seemed to steady things for a while but when on 16 he mistimed a sweep off Ollie resulting in it ballooning into the air and being taken by Chris Rogers at backward square. 106/4.  Davies (1) quickly followed, taken by Robbo at short leg and it was 108/5!  Ollie was on fire now, assisted by a pitch that was offering a lot of turn and he was getting formidable bounce too. Solanki (24) was soon to join the procession, superbly caught by Dex at mid-wicket. 117/6.

The ball that got the 6th wicket

 Ollie's 5-for was clinched when Meaker (3) tamely tapped to Dex at mid-wicket. 135/7.

 By now the home players were completely mesmerised, and there was no sense that Ollie was likely to finish on 5 wickets. Indeed the Slurrey capitulation accelerated! Linley (2) gloved a lifter to Chris Rogers at leg slip (139/8), and Batty (13) was given LBW padding up! 140/9, and incredibly the follow-on looked a possibility, although it was unlikely Middlesex would choose to enforce it.  

4 byes off an Ollie delivery that may have been a stumping chance, evading both batsman and keeper brought up the follow-on target of 145 to huge cheers from the Slurrey contingent. That was to be as good as it got for them though because Dernbach (1) holed out to Harry at deep square leg to complete an amazing spell for Ollie, who finished with career best figures of 8/46! What's more, he even had a hand in both Ravi and Harry's wickets too!

 Tea was taken and tasted particularly good, especially on the resumption when the first 4 balls of the much loved* Dernbach's first over went for 14 runs! The 5^th ball, being a dot ball elicited a huge cheer from both sets of supporters.

 The first three overs of Slurrey's second innings went for 35 runs, a flying start. Unfortunately for Middlesex, Dernbach wasn't persisted with, so the explosive start couldn't be maintained. Once the spinners Keedy and Batty came on, the scoring rate reverted to something a bit more normal. Facing spinners was very tough indeed, and Robbo (18) succumbed to Keedy, taken at second slip by Solanki. 18 runs may not sound a lot, but the opening partership of 47 had been a very useful one indeed in the context of the game.

 Keedy then accounted for Rogers (32) who patted straight to Harinath at square leg. 60/2.

 It was turning square and survival was difficult. Middlesex somehow managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over though. Dex launched Batty over long-on for a big 6, but soon afterwards became Keedy's next victim, edging one that turned very fiercely to Solanki at 2^nd slip. 76/3. Simpson (12) followed, taken at short leg by Burns, again off Keedy. 90/4.  Keedy's attempt to emulate Ollie's achievement continued apace as The Iceman (15) became Solanki at 2^nd slip's third victim and Keedy's 5^th. 118/5.

Those double figure parterships, although not looking like much on their own had put Middlesex in what looked like an almost unassailable position, and by the close had progressed to 133/5, AC on an impressive 28 and nightwatchman Harry on 6. The lead of 282 already looks beyond any team having to face spinners bowling in tandem on this pitch, and if they can get a score like that (and more likely it will have to be 300+)  they will truly deserve to win. It should be mentioned too that Keedy's 5 wicket haul came from the opposite end to that which produced Ollie's 8 wickets, the wicketless Batty having reserved that end for himself!

* By himself, tattoo artists, and for reasons best known to themselves, England selectors.