Mystery Guest enlivens forum
Nice to see you Sam
By London Leprechaun
June 30 2014
A short report on the forum tonight which had no great controversery but a welcome visitor.
The relatively small number of people who braved the late bad weather to come to the forum were rewarded with a surprise and welcome appearance by our latest England star - Sam Robson - who dropped in after a few days rest, en route to an England training camp. He was very eloquent in answering the inevitable question about why he was not playing in the match today?
Answer: the last two weeks had been an emotional roller coaster on and off the field. Just walking in to bat at Lords through the Long Room had been something he would never forget but was so different to when Middlesex are playing. He had one day off in the two weeks covering the two Tests. England days are much longer then County days. There are five Tests in seven weeks coming up and this break is as much preparing for that as resting from the last two weeks. All of which made sense. Gus noted that Moeen Ali made four for Worcester.
Apart from Sam’s appearance this was not the most dynamic of forums but there were some interesting things said. The main points I can remember in no particular order are:
- Steve Finn in still healing from the winter but is well within England’s radar
- Our T20 season has been rubbish (yes we noticed)– but the emergence of young players is encouraging
- We need to work more on our relationship with MCC especially to get them to recognise Middlesex more at Lords and help us exploit more commercial opportunities
- The Gloucester T20 wicket was so poor because there are only a limited number of pitches you can use when TV cameras are there
- Gates for CC matches are not noticeably up with Sunday starts although the ECB argument is that this needs time to bed in and get people used to when matches are playing
- Adam Voges is playing on Thursday to make sure we still have contact with him next summer on the assumption/hope (for his sake) that Chris Rogers will be in the Aussie squad
- Adam Rossington and Paul Stirling are still injured – Stirlo may play against Somerset but probably not
- Ollie Rayner will come into his own again as wickets get drier. He is partly affected by the balance of the side changing with Gareth Berg’s injury
- Some of the comments about the changes at the ICC and the impact they will have on the finances of cricket are way off the mark, whatever we think about the rightness of what has happened there.
The most interesting observation/question was about the toss. Out of the 7 positive results we have had this season all but one have been won by the side batting second. Is the received wisdom of win the toss and bat changing?
Gus thought that it was – with the improvements in the quality of pitches they are not starting to break up from day one. So putting a side in and hoping to exploit any early greenness is not wrong or defensive, even if the team put in make over 300.
And then it was time to go home.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:07:06:08:15:58 by The Diamond ruled ok.
Although Middlesex feel the club don't play as a big a role as they would like in MCC's plans for Lord's, MCC would surely argue otherwise, as the BBC commentary on day two of the match v Northamptonshire featured the author of a book about Lord's saying Middlesex are the only team to get lockers in the dressing room and that the reason why the club play at Lord's is because MCC invited them to fill blank days in the calendar. However, I agree with Middlesex's argument.
As all positive County Championship results have resulted in either an innings win or a win for the side batting last, I guess it is vital we enforce the follow-on v Northants.
SC
However, one person unhappy with the schedule is my mum, as Middlesex's penchant for playing Twenty20 matches on a Thursday means that Lower Mound requests that she makes us a meal at lunchtime, but she says she finds this stressful due to this being her busiest day of the week due to her paper round. She says she would prefer to make us a cooked lunch on any day other than a Thursday.
Quote:surbitoncrusader
Regarding county championships attendances if it wasn't for the revenue from the blast matches I predict county championship will be a thing of the past within the next twenty years
SC
Some counties may go to the wall, but as long as Test cricket is being played the county championship, or some form of 4-day cricket, will exist to prepare players for it.
surbitoncrusader (IP Logged)
01/07/2014 11:02
Regarding county championships attendances if it wasn't for the revenue from the blast matches I predict county championship will be a thing of the past within the next twenty years
SC
This comment was made at least 20 years ago by the Reform Group. We are however still here with a newbie in Durham.
Many of the counties when visited have improved their grounds out of all recognition during this period.
The smaller counties such as Worcs, Glos, Som, Derbys, Leics, Northants are much more commercially aware and by the fact that they own their grounds, hire them out 24/7 in the off season and remain largely in the black.
Th ones with large debts are the Test Grounds such as Yorks, Warwicks, Lanky, Hants and I suspect Glammy.