4 Days of Despair

Rogers & Out shares his views of 4 successive days of watching Middlesex cricket. This reports carries a MTWD health warning. 

When the season’s fixtures were first issued, I noted with interest the fact that we were due to play four limited overs matches in consecutive days at the end of July. They were our final two T20 games, followed by the first two matches in the new 50 over format. To be able to attend all the games would mean staying in Taunton overnight then making my way to Cardiff for the next morning, so train tickets were purchased and hotel accommodation secured.

Roll forward several months into the season and the proposition did not seem so inviting. Another dismal showing by us in T20 rendered the last two games meaningless and I could only hope our initial efforts in the 50 over games would not mean more misery.

Game One – Surrey at Lord’s – T20

With the Metropolitan line running even slower than usual due to the works taking place between Ruislip and Uxbridge, I made my way up to London to meet a couple of colleagues in a pub in High Holborn who were going to accompany me to the game. I sometimes wonder why I bring anyone to watch us play T20 as I invariably spend the whole game making excuses for our ineptitude. Perhaps a career in politics beckons.

We arrived at St John’s Wood station and I can’t remember seeing such crowds in the vicinity of Lord’s before, not even for Test matches nor England one day internationals. We decided to watch the game from the Warner stand bar and secured a table with a slightly obscured view.

We won the toss and elected to bat, with Joe Denly and Dawid Malan opening. I believe Stirlo was absent due to injury. The openers rattled along at a good pace of around 8 runs per over before Azhar Mahmood bowled Denly. Captain Morgan was next in and continued the assault with a fine array of shots. Tillakaratne Dilshan came into the attack for Surrey to slow down our run rate and he succeeded in bowling Mala. Ryan Higgins joined Morgs at the crease and we reached 76/2 at the halfway point.

Young Ryan dispatched Robin Peterson into the crowd for a couple of sixes in the thirteenth over and with the Captain looking good, we seemed set for a total of around 170. Needless to say, that did not materialise and we managed to lose 6 wickets for 20 runs in 4 overs. Although Stuart Meaker went for 15 runs in his early over, he was the architect of our downfall, taking 4 for 30, and with the canny Mahmood as his foil, our traditional procession was under way.

Dan Christian was left with the tail, and I even ended up applauding Nora Batty, who took a sensational catch on the long on boundary to dismiss Mr Christian from the bowling of Meaker. We stumbled along to reach 137/8 at the close, which looked at least 30-40 runs light.

However, our hopes were raised in the first over when Finny produced a fiery opening spell. He had Jason Roy in bother from the very first ball and the second delivery saw an edge sail into the air over slip. Three players converged on the ball, but it was Ollie who got there first, but the ball went into to his hands, only to pop out again. Finny continued with hostility and induced an edge from Dilshan which was snaffled by Simmo.

Chasing a relatively low target, Surrey were content to take singles and twos, and although they were behind our initial rate, they looked confident of securing a comfortable victory. Harry Podmore’s second over yielded 17 runs including two free hits, one of which went for six. Ryan Higgins also put down Roy on the midwicket boundary, although he did appear to be hindered by the sun in his eyes.

It was left to the slow bowlers to get us back into the match and Ravi Patel had both Roy and Gary Wilson stumped by Simmo. In between, Ollie took the wicket of KP, with Mala taking a good catch at long off.

Mahmood and Rory Burns were seemingly leading Surrey to victory, with Burns taking ten runs from two Dexter deliveries. We were still battling away and Dan Christian saved a certain four with a brilliant piece of fielding in front of the pavilion. They needed just 25 runs from 27 balls when Poddy had Burns caught behind leaving Surrey on 113/5.

Even better was to follow two overs later when the same combination struck again to remove Mahmood, with Simmo taking a marvellous diving catch to his right. With Robin Peterson caught by Moggie off Hi Fi in the penultimate over, our neighbours wanted just five runs from the final over to win.

Batty went for glory off Mr Christian’s first ball and only found Joe Denly on the midwicket boundary. Five runs still to get and just two wickets remaining. Zafar Ansari and Meaker managed to scramble enough runs and byes to tie the scores with just one ball left. Ansari prodded it to Morgs at a shortish mid off but we somehow failed to complete the run out, and the old enemy scraped home.

Overall, a good match with useful performances on both sides, particularly with the ball. Meaker excelled for Surrey, ably assisted by Mahmood and Dilshan and Ravi was the pick for us, with contributions from Hi Fi and Poddy.  Some of the work in the field was pretty good also with some outstanding catches, including good work by Simmo with five dismissals, although there were some lapses too. All round good entertainment for the record crowd of 28,500.

Game Two – Somerset at Taunton – T20

Excess consumption of Marston’s Pedigree at Lord’s the night before made it a bit of a struggle to catch the 12.18 from Paddington to Taunton. To while away the journey, I settled into my book entitled “Travel in Dangerous Places”, although I could find no mention of Chelmsford nor Cold Blow Lane within it.

On arrival, Taunton was even hotter than London and I made my way to the hotel to check in. After several pints at the Racecourse Inn, I wandered over to the ground. The game was a 7,000 sell out and I took my place in the seats under the flats adjacent to square leg. Somerset won the toss and decided to bat.

TR-J opened the bowling for us with Nick Compton facing the first ball. He dispatched the second ball for four, but was dropped by Mala soon after at long on, a difficult chance coming from over his shoulder. Poddy bowled the second over, and after the first delivery went to the boundary, he produced an excellent series of five dot balls. However, just like the previous day’s match, he changed ends and so his next over yielded fifteen runs.

Compton and Marcus Trescothick were building an ominous looking stand, with Compo looking the more fluent of the two. Compton escaped when Ryan Higgins failed to take another tough chance on the midwicket boundary, and after the power play, the slow bowlers came on to try to arrest the scoring rate.

There were some quite knowledgeable Somerset fans around me who seemed to know a lot about our players. However, one chap nearby insisted that the members at Lord’s continually peppered the outfield with champagne corks and that the stewards spent all their time retrieving them. I felt like asking my valet to tell him that the streets around the ground at Lord’s were paved with gold too.

Somerset looked on course for a score in the region of 200 as the openers racked up a stand of 105. They were helped by some ordinary fielding by us. Ravi gave us some hope in the thirteenth over when he managed to dismiss both openers. Firstly, Compo was out attempting a reverse sweep and was taken by Dex at short third man, then Trescothick was stumped off a wide by Simmo three balls later.

This brought the dangerous Peter Trego to the crease along with Colin Ingram. Fortunately for us, Trego was not timing the ball as well as usual, with his South African partner looking more productive. However, Ravi took his third wicket with the last ball of the seventeenth over when Ingram holed out to Joe Denly in the deep leaving Somerset 152/3. Whilst 200 now looked out of the question for our hosts, Trego and Andrew Hildreth still saw them post a formidable looking 182/3, which looked beyond us.

We got off to a flyer in our innings with AC crashing the last three balls of Lewis Gregory’s opening over to the boundary. In fact Mala hit six fours in his first eight balls. Unfortunately, Joe Denly was not looking so good and it was no surprise when he lofted Gregory to Tim Groenewald at long on. We were 30/1 after the first ball of the fourth over, with Eoin Morgan coming in at the demise of Denly.

Old boy Dirk Nannes came into the attack and struck in his second over, inducing an edge from Mala, which was taken by stand-in ‘keeper Trescothick. Dawid had made 34 from 26 deliveries and our score was 55/2. The Nannes/Trescothick combo hit the jackpot again in the ninth over, with a leaping Tresco plucking an injudicious uppercut from Morgs out of the air, then diving to his right to dismiss Ryan Higgins with the next ball. Not bad athleticism from an old ‘un.

The famed Middlesex batting collapse was under way once more and we really needed a good swan song from the departing Dan Christian. More of a whimper, I’m afraid, as he lofted George Dockrell to substitute fielder Craig Overton and our hopes looked forlorn on 71/5 in the eleventh over.

Simmo and Dex actually put on a good show in trying to retrieve a hopeless situation. Dex hit three sixes, one of which ended up in the River Tone. The Somerset fans behind me were actually getting worried, constantly checking Duckworth Lewis, but they could have stopped worrying many overs ago when Morgan got out.

Dex eventually perished, holing out to Hildreth off the bowling of Dockrell for a battling 33. Simmo and Ollie, to their credit, never gave up and continued with a barrage of boundaries, but it was all too late. We needed 32 from the last over and unbelievably, the fans behiand me were still anxious. Ollie hit the first ball for six to add to their worries, but that was as good as it got. Groenewald held on to a catch to dismiss Ollie off Gregory and we finished losing by 23 runs on 160/7. Closer than I thought we’d get, but, in truth, another comprehensive defeat to end a dire T20 campaign.

Game Three – Glamorgan-morgan at Cardiff – 50 overs

After a night of fitful sleep due to the oppresive heat, I rose early to make my way to Cardiff via Bristol Temple Meads. I had a  seat reservation for my train from Temple Meads to Cardiff, but it turned out to be a two coach affair originating from Portsmouth Harbour which was packed solid. I managed to get a seat, needless to say not my designated one.

I got to the ground at around 10 o’clock, well in time for the 10.30 start, and met up with the MTWD faithful soon after. Our Cymru correspondent has already reported on this match, so I won’t say too much more. We lost the toss and were inserted by Glamorgan. It never got any better.

Despite having a strong line up including Buck and Murts, we were quite abysmal, with a couple of exceptions. Nick Gubbins made 38, and Dex and Finny saved us from complete humiliation with a face saving partnership of 84, which was a ‘List A’ ninth wicket record for us. 174/8 was a total that was around eighty runs light and although losing the toss was a blow, some of our shot selection was poor to say the least.

Jim Allenby and Jacques Rudolph got the home side off to a great start and that was pretty much it. My only consolation was winning the sweep for predicting the correct over when defeat was secured. Although our performance was dire, a word of credit to Glamorgan who were excellent all round, especially in the field. Michael Hogan and David Lloyd also bowled well for them.

We retired to the Goat Major for some Brain’s to ease our pain and we were entertained by a couple of young (by our standards) lady shoppers from Swindon on the train home.

Just one game to go.......

Game Four – Warwickshire at Lord’s – 50 overs

You can watch too much cricket, especially when your team is getting trounced every time. I mentioned to Mrs RaO that it felt more like a trial than a pleasure to go to today’s game but surely we couldn’t be any worse than we were at Cardiff.

Kev has produced a report from today, so I won’t go into too much detail. The high spots (not necessarily for us) from the Bears’ innings were the kind reception of the crowd to Jonathan Trott and his fine batting, some good bowling by Finny and Murts early on and a lively display with the bat by Laurie Evans plus his comedy run out. 241 was a target that should have been achievable and the Midlanders managed to post 20 runs more than they should have after some shoddy stuff from us at the end.

Our innings was held together by Chris Rogers and his excellent 96, which really should have been the platform to take us to a comfortable victory. Useful runs were added by both Eoin Morgan and Ryan Higgins, although Morgs will be disappointed by his manner of dismissal.

However, Warkwickshire’s makeshift attack, especially slow bowlers Jeetan Patel and ex-Unicorn Josh Poynsden ultimately did the damage by getting us tied down after the departure of Buck and we fell short by four runs.

So the four matches ended in defeat for us in each. Perhaps not altogether surprising, but each one was more disappointing in its own right than its predecessor. A narrow defeat to Surrey, followed by a comprehensive beating in Taunton then a proper drubbing in the Prinicipality.

However, the most painful, in my view, was today. We seem to have lost the ability to close out a game, which, again, can’t be a surprise when we so rarely put ourselves in a winning position. I can’t think of too many sides who would have contrived to lose that match from such a position, especially when it was essentially a Warwick side decimated by injuries (two of their line up today did not even have shirt numbers).

We’ve now lost 15 of our last 22 competitive games. We really need to stop the rot soon and gain some momentum, otherwise we could end up back in Division Two as well as being limited overs whipping boys. For what it’s worth, I believe we will stay up but we must improve and quickly !

For now, my ordeal is over. No Middlesex match tomorrow and work instead. Hallelujah !