England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Lovely setting
By Barmy Kev
April 4 2016
Kev describes his day in Berkshire with a very bad travel plan. We hear of two thrilling finishes and the fun of a lovely day out
Having thought I researched the journey I catch the 11:03 to Theale not worried about missing just over an hours play of our Dinkies v Berkshire. I later found out they move start time to 12am reduced match to 40 overs to accommodate my well publicised needs.I arrive at Theale and type in Falkland Cricket ground on my Google Maps. A 300 mile journey to Fife in Scotland. I believe this is where the official site advertised venue. I narrow search to Berkshire it is 15 mile. I was previously advised a long walk but 5 hours a bit much. Taxi called painfully expensive. I later see the MTWD travel thread which I overlooked. The only consolation was friendly taxi driver and got some value for money from journey.I arrive at ground and we pick up first wicket by 21st birthday boy Higgins with score 48. Berks are piling on runs and big 2nd wicket stand is devoloping. A huge 6 out of ground shout "where's the ball" somebody responded "Reading".There are spots of rain and becoming cold . First chant of day "18 degrees ur avin a larf" . The rain gets heavier we retire to Pavilion where there is a bar and Sky Sports. They are still playing out in downpour. This enforced visit coincided with build up to 20/20 WC final and this was a place of comfort for a while.England get off to a shocking start. Our Eoin comes out sooner than he wanted . The commentators refer to him as someone who plays for some Night Riders team no mention of Middlesex. Biggest cheer of day he survives first ball. Then Captain Morgan scores to another cheer.That is for Wes Morgan of Leicester City against Southampton. Scratchy 5 and our Morgan is out and best not to repeat subsequent comments made. The bar is becoming crowded as England push on and Berkshire appear to be struggling as their batsman seem intent on leaving pitch and watching final.During break in 20/20 innings found our Berkshire total was 214 much lower than expected. I was able to watch Middlesex getting off to a solid start then watch West Indies implode early on. Middlesx lost both openers but Higgins and Manuweige seemed to put us in control. Ravi Patel was intently watching final I'm sure hoping not to bat. Meanwhile I popped out for the proper cricket and seeing score of 100+ for 2 I was confident. As W Indies wickets falling so were Middlesex's . The pavilion is now packed confidently expecting England to win. 19 needed off last over with tail ender in. WTF 4 successive sixes . Everyone stunned . I needed to recover and was while before I went out to see Middlesex with Ravi out there batting at 9, 4 needed in last over no idea how many balls left. He gets himself run out. It ended up 1 run off last ball 9 wickets down. We did it with scrambled single stumps missed by throw nearby with batsman way out. Nobody celebrated.
Took 2 mile walk back to newbury with Rogers and Out directing me. I had a great day out catching up with some regulars and enjoying Berkshire's hospitality
England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: Middlesex till we die (IP Logged)
Date: 04/04/2016 18:07
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:04:11:19:27:46 by BarmierKev.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:04:11:19:27:46 by BarmierKev.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: chunkyinargyll (IP Logged)
Date: 04/04/2016 19:21
Me thinks Kev misread 15 miles as 1.5 miles.
Anyone thinking of going to watch Essex tomorrow should note the county ground is a short, 9 mile (approx 3 hour walk) from Witham station (nearer stations like Chelmsford may be available)
No pain, no gain.
Oh, and good report by the way.
Anyone thinking of going to watch Essex tomorrow should note the county ground is a short, 9 mile (approx 3 hour walk) from Witham station (nearer stations like Chelmsford may be available)
No pain, no gain.
Oh, and good report by the way.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: Fozzie (IP Logged)
Date: 04/04/2016 19:37
Glad to see you had a good day and got some exercise, Kev. No mention of the 2 penalties Saints should have had, though.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: rod/ed (IP Logged)
Date: 05/04/2016 08:47
Falkland CC in Fife is a pretty ground. I've played there and the teas are good too!
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: BarmierKev (IP Logged)
Date: 05/04/2016 08:51
What was interesting in the Falklands pavilion was comments on Joe Root opening the bowling with someone to the effect Moggy has lost the plot already. 2 wickets and suddenly this was inspired captaincy.
Start of 20th over we were on verge of winning the World Cup. After comments stating how could he even consider bowling Stokes.
We had some excellent hindsight captains out in the Falklands.
Start of 20th over we were on verge of winning the World Cup. After comments stating how could he even consider bowling Stokes.
We had some excellent hindsight captains out in the Falklands.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: BeefyRoberts (IP Logged)
Date: 05/04/2016 10:24
Falklands were a very welcoming club,the bar/pavilion is all as one,at the moment.With plenty of seats out doors,a good few tables and chairs.Noticed by Mr D was the windows with metal fencing across the front,protection,no doubt!
Club has plans to build a new pavilion with all drawings on display.
At the moment,the view from pavilion is side on,new plans are to have pav behind bowlers arm,to right of pic on report.
Smallish car park,but plenty of road side parking available.
Also a small restaurant attached,and a very good trade being done.
3 real ales,the usual other drinks on offer and coffee/tea all day.
An enjoyable day had by all.
Club has plans to build a new pavilion with all drawings on display.
At the moment,the view from pavilion is side on,new plans are to have pav behind bowlers arm,to right of pic on report.
Smallish car park,but plenty of road side parking available.
Also a small restaurant attached,and a very good trade being done.
3 real ales,the usual other drinks on offer and coffee/tea all day.
An enjoyable day had by all.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: freddie tittlemouse (IP Logged)
Date: 05/04/2016 20:04
Pedant alert! 12 a.m. would be midnight.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: Seaxe_Man (IP Logged)
Date: 06/04/2016 15:26
Good report Kev.
Re: England Destroyed as Middlesex Battle in the Falklands
Posted by: Darren Gosling (IP Logged)
Date: 06/04/2016 19:13
Yes a very enjoyable day and a really good match contested by two evenly matched teams.
At the 20 over mark Berkshire were 99-1 and looking likely to post 250+ but the introduction of Ravi had begun to slow the scoring as he only went for two boundaries in his opening 6 over spell. Sowter too came back well from conceding 22 in two overs to take 2-5 (plus a runout off his bowling) as Berkshire began to wobble slipping from 148-3 to 156-6. Jack Bruce came back at the death and took 3 wickets as Berkshire closed on 214-9.
Middx got off to a slow but steady start reaching the 20 over mark on 73-2 having lost openers Eskinazi (18) and Holden (13). Ryan Higgins then upped the scoring rate and made a very fluent 59 before departing with the score on 115-3. Don Manuwelege than batted very sensibly and looked like he would bring us home before he fell for 57 with the score on 207-6 leaving Middx needing just 8 runs to win from 13 balls.
Unfortunately panic ensued as Thomas, R.Patel and K.Patel all departed for the addition of just 5 runs leaving the scores level on 214-9 with just one ball remaining. As Beefy said Jack Bruce managed to club the ball to mid-off, avoid the attempted run out and scramble home to give Middx the narrowest of victories.
Plusses were the innings of Higgins and Manuwelege, while Thomas looked very sharp behind the timbers. The bowling looked very good too, Godsal in particular I thought was very unlucky to go wicketless, while Bruce finished with 4-43 and also looks a good prospect. Both spinners bowled well with Ravi the most economical with 8-1-23-0 while Sowter with 8-0-40-3 bagging the wickets (he can bat a bit too).
Overall a very good work out for a young Middx side which contained 6 pros and 6 Academy players. As JW said another of our Academy players Martin Andersson also excelled for Berkshire top scoring with 41 and was also their second most economical bowler.
At the 20 over mark Berkshire were 99-1 and looking likely to post 250+ but the introduction of Ravi had begun to slow the scoring as he only went for two boundaries in his opening 6 over spell. Sowter too came back well from conceding 22 in two overs to take 2-5 (plus a runout off his bowling) as Berkshire began to wobble slipping from 148-3 to 156-6. Jack Bruce came back at the death and took 3 wickets as Berkshire closed on 214-9.
Middx got off to a slow but steady start reaching the 20 over mark on 73-2 having lost openers Eskinazi (18) and Holden (13). Ryan Higgins then upped the scoring rate and made a very fluent 59 before departing with the score on 115-3. Don Manuwelege than batted very sensibly and looked like he would bring us home before he fell for 57 with the score on 207-6 leaving Middx needing just 8 runs to win from 13 balls.
Unfortunately panic ensued as Thomas, R.Patel and K.Patel all departed for the addition of just 5 runs leaving the scores level on 214-9 with just one ball remaining. As Beefy said Jack Bruce managed to club the ball to mid-off, avoid the attempted run out and scramble home to give Middx the narrowest of victories.
Plusses were the innings of Higgins and Manuwelege, while Thomas looked very sharp behind the timbers. The bowling looked very good too, Godsal in particular I thought was very unlucky to go wicketless, while Bruce finished with 4-43 and also looks a good prospect. Both spinners bowled well with Ravi the most economical with 8-1-23-0 while Sowter with 8-0-40-3 bagging the wickets (he can bat a bit too).
Overall a very good work out for a young Middx side which contained 6 pros and 6 Academy players. As JW said another of our Academy players Martin Andersson also excelled for Berkshire top scoring with 41 and was also their second most economical bowler.
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