Middlesex in Strong Position after initial Carse Spanking
Chester Le Street finest
By Rogers and Out
April 25 2016
Rogers and Out reports from various vantage points around Chester Le Street on an overall good day for Middle
Middlesex ended the day in a strong position at 358/7 but, in hindsight, might have been slightly disappointed, having seen several batsmen get in but not proceed to three figures.
My day had started early and the journey was relatively good, save for the last leg between Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street, thanks to the deplorable Trans Pennine Express. Whilst a ten minute journey shouldn't be too bad, these incompetents made it as bad as a trip to the dentist (or even Stamford Bridge).
En route to the ground, I was delighted to see us make a fine start, having opted for a toss and won it. Robbo and Gubbo were making hay and Carse was spanked for eight runs in his initial over, much to the delight of pun makers the world over.
Myself and my good lady turned up at the ground with the mighty Middle on 101/2, with Nick Gubbins having been adjudged leg before to Bunny Onions for 60 just before our arrival.
Lunch was taken at 111/2 and we adjourned to the facilities in the ground, Alas, having watched the barman take 10 minutes to serve one person, we changed tack and went to the Butchers Arms in the town and via the crincinfo website, we saw Middlesex's score increase rapidly.
Compo departed for 38 just before our return to the ground, but Mala soon notched a good half century and captain Voges was looking in fine fettle.
Under the unusually bright blue sky, both Mala and Voges looked in good form, and the captain in particular took a liking to the bowling of Pringle, pulling and cutting him to the boundary seemingly at will..
Tea was taken at 256/3 but soon after the break, we lost two quick wickets, when it seemed that both batsmen would make high scores. Firstly, AC was caught by Richardson off Rushworth then Voges was taken at slip by Borthwick via the bowling of Stokes.
However, John Simpson and Paul Stirling quickly put us back in the ascendancy with some fine stroke play. Onions eventually snared Simmo leg before for 38, and in the final over, Ben Stokes did the same to James Harris, leaving Stirlo unbeaten on 41.
Simmo hanging in
Overall, it was a fine day for the Middle and it will be interesting to see how our bowlers cope on this surface.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:04:30:08:15:04 by Leprechaun.
So well done mate in the Artic with your good lady. It ain't exactly warm down here in the Middle either.
Ultimately disappointing to not make the 5th batting point on day 2, but pleased that Stirlo contributed with bat and ball. (over rate.)