Stoneman hard to remove doesn't make a pretty sight

Rogers and Out valiantly reports on a bad day at the office. We hear about injuries off the field, exorbitant taxi fares and airport prices, delayed flights and midnight bus journeys. Oh and there was some not very good cricket from Middlesex. Read on if you dare.

Two big centuries by Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick put Durham in a commanding position after the first day’s play at Chester-le-Street on Sunday. Whilst both batsmen played very well in reaching three figures, questions will invariably be asked as to why we opted to insert our hosts after winning the toss.

As  I was not able to get any extra time off work, I could only attend Sunday’s play. Myself and Mrs RaO flew up to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, and made our way to Chester-le-Street via the Metro, Network Rail and a couple of hostelries in both Newcastle and Chester-le-Street.

After a pleasant dinner and a good night’s rest, we wandered down to the Emirates ground when the first misfortune of the day occurred, with Mrs RaO managing to twist her ankle and she spent the rest of the day being as mobile as Monty Panesar in the field.

The weather at the start of the day was bright, warm and sunny, so when I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Durham would bat first, I assumed that we’d lost the toss. I learned later (thanks, Chunky) that Gus and others had spent a considerable amount of time examining the pitch, so it would appear that a consensus must have been reached to decide to bowl if we won the toss, which, sadly, we did.

Tim Murtagh opened the bowling for us from the Lumley end, with Steven Finn operating from the Finchale end. After a relatively quiet first few overs, with just a Stoneman boundary off Murts and a Finn maiden, a crucial moment of the game occurred in the 5th over. Murts induced an edge from Stoneman but Malan put down what seemed to be a regulation chance at first slip. Stoneman was on six at the time and Durham 9/0.

Both batsmen took advantage of this lapse with each of them (Keaton Jennings being the other batsman) driving Finny to the ropes in the next over. Stoneman was definitely now in the ascendancy, and was punishing anything wide of off stump and cut Murts twice for boundaries in 7th over. However, he did edge a Murtagh delivery to Dex at gully but I think it may have been just short of him.

Durham were now scoring at around five runs per over and Stoneman was really making hay. His fifty came up in the 13th over from just 47 balls with ten fours. Toby Roland-Jones came in from the Finchale end to bowl the 14th over but he could not stem the flow of runs. However, in his next over, Toby managed to get Jennings to play on and he was out for 16, leaving Durham on 82/1.

Scott Borthwick was the next batsman to the crease and he was more fluent than Jennings, being able to match Stoneman’s aggression.  After 20 overs, the men from the North East had reached 100/1, a score we’d struggled to make in some recent T20 matches.

It looked like Stoneman would make his century before lunch, but he ended up a few runs short, but Durham went into the break very well placed on 140/1 after 30 overs. Our bowling figures did not make happy reading and one wondered when the spin options of Ravi Patel and Paul Stirling might be utilised.

Stoneman reached a very well merited century soon after lunch off the bowling of TRJ. He achieved that milestone from 107 balls including seventeen fours. Whilst he had a few streaky boundaries through the slip area, he was pretty proficient, scoring all around the wicket.  Borthwick too was scoring freely and it was odd that we didn’t turn to spin until the 44th over, by which time Durham were 215/1.

Ravi Patel’s first over was a maiden from the Finchale end and Stirlo entered the fray soon after from the Lumley end. Both these bowlers managed to gain a level of control that our pacemen had failed to achieve, and Ravi had a loud appeal for a caught behind against Stoneman turned down.

Buck put down a sharp chance off Stirling at leg slip to reprieve Borthwick, but both batsmen were soon celebrating further landmarks, with Stoneman making 150 and Borthwick his century. Tea was taken with Durham looking in complete control on 291/1 from 66 overs.

Stirlo had further misfortune after tea when Robbo shelled another tough chance at leg slip and again it was Borthwick who was spared. The Durham pair had achieved a county record of 274 for the second wicket, when, with a double century beckoning, Stoneman glanced Stirlo to Robson at leg slip who, this time, snaffled the opportunity and Durham were 356/2. Stoneman had made an excellent contribution of 187.

Michael Richardson was next in but perished soon after a mix up with Borthwick. He was run out by a combination of Rogers and Simpson for 4, leaving our hosts on 365/3.

Rising star Ben Stokes now entered the arena, but the next highlight was Borthwick’s 150, achieved from 201 balls, with 20 fours and one six.

We had taken the new ball by this time but it hadn’t made too much difference, and it was a surprise when Finny managed to flatten Stokes’ off stump for 23 just before close of play. Durham closed on 411/4, and Murtagh’s figures of 0/106 from 21 overs probably tells you all you need to know about our day. Ravi and Stirlo bowled well but we face a long haul to save this game, in spite of the absence of Graham Onions.

Sadly enough, my day did actually get worse. I’d opted to get a taxi from our hotel to Newcastle airport, having been informed that the fare should be around £30. £45 later, we arrived at the airport to find our flight was delayed by over an hour. I tried to ease Mrs RaO’s pain by getting her a glass of wine, only to be charged £15 for two glasses.

Finally, I had a night time tour of the back streets of West Drayton courtesy of the U3 bus and arrived at home after midnight. Roll on my next day of cricket at the Parks on 9 June. It couldn’t be worse – could it ?