A Win! A Win At Last!!
Diamond's MOM
By The Diamond Ruled OK
May 7 2006
The Diamond Ruled OK shares his day with us. He shares the ups and downs of a helter-skelter match that went down to the last over but ultimately went the right way. Diamond's on and off the field recollections are a super summary of the day.
I arrived at the ground having parked in an empty Waterfall Close opposite for free, unlike my large friend Andy who got turned over for £3 to park on a field, just as the teams took the field. Hampshire had won the toss and we were to bat first. The ground looked great and the outfield in good condition considering the rain we had in Uxbridge yesterday.
Smithy on a charge
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Ed Smith took a liking to the Hampshire opening attack and smote the ball to all parts in the early overs, no repeat of the Sussex game here. He took charge of most of the first four overs which was good as Weekes fell with the score on 23 to a poor shot for 2, caught Irwine bd Bruce. Chad Keegan went the way of many pinch hitters, out first ball for 0 to Bruce leaving him on a hat trick (not a rare occurrence against Middlesex!). Shah survived this and when Billy “Nemesis” Taylor entered the attack the run rate slowed though Ed was still producing some good shots to reach a deserved 50. Two magnificent square cuts saw him pass 70 and soon after he lost his partner Shah who never seemed to be in touch today. Ace was not a happy camper as he came off, not impressed to be lbw to Mascaranas for 13.
Smithies demise for 88 off the bowling of Udal came just as your correspondent predicted a fine hundred from him today; I really must stop doing that to our batsmen.
Spin Twins
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With Udal and Warne operating together things were tough for the new pairing of Joyce and Dalrymple, JD being done by one from Udal that would have given him hope for later when he bowled rather than any satisfaction with his short innings. 124-5. Enter Ben Hutton to total silence, you could hear the birds in the trees as he came in. An early scoop shot from Ben was missed in style by Kevin Pieterson, where have we seen that before? Ben then settled down and it was great to see him have the assurance with a close fielder on the on and the off smash a ball off Udal for four past one of them, they were soon removed to the fence, damage limitation by Warnie ?
Pick it up lads
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By over 35 both batsmen had 30 plus on the board and I felt it was time to press on to a good defendable score, 300 would have been great. My next fatal mistake was to go and get a beer, to be greeted on my return, Fullers in hand, by the departing Ed Joyce for 43 and derision from Big Andy for getting him out . The effect of the loss of Ed seemed to becalm our skipper and he was bowled by Warne for 43. Johann Louw soon followed, 227-8, that 300 looks a long way off now, how about 250?
Last rites
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Chris Silverwood followed, 235-9 , a great golf shot which really needed the 3 iron rather than the 5 iron he stuffed down Mascaranas’s throat! The idea was right though, go for big runs. Betts with 0 on the board gave Bruce the long handle for a very long 6 and Middlesex were 254 all out in the final over.
Missing One?
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Ah yes, missed a batsman’s performance, Ben Scott, came in when all about were losing their wickets Ben arrived at the crease and became the glue that held it all together towards the end. A good score of 33 not out should see some of his detractors get off his back a bit.
Half Time
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I felt we were maybe 30 runs short of a defendable score, after all Hampshire bat a long way down, Uxbridge is quite a small ground and the Pieterson factor had to be put in the equation. Still the skies were grey with patches of sunshine now and again reflecting our hopes for a Middlesex win.
Second half
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The Louw/Scott combination went to work as early as the third over when Pothas the opener was removed for 2. Enter Warne to play one of his more agricultural innings in cameo form removed by Chad caught Ace for 12.
Silverwood feeling somewhat left out decided to help Erwin on his way to the pavilion with the assistance of Scottie, another good catch.61-3.
KP time
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Enter the maestro, the stage set for a grandiose performance. It would not have lasted as long if skipper had got a full hand to a half chance rather than just his finger tips, a good effort all the same. KP was also dropped by Ace at slip on 10. Was it going to be one of those days?
On 33 Crawley who had played well was caught behind off the bowling of Betts, another victim to Scottie. Standing up this was an instant take and in my view changed the course of the game, 83-4 with KP still in and the lads looked up for it. KP then gave Betts and Silverwood the big 6 treatment in consecutive overs.
The score became 103-5 when Weeksie caught a skier off of Thornley. This was up there for so long I’m sure I saw him get a book out to read!! Good safe catch by the old fellow. JD into the attack and bowling well with a maiden first over. Betts got KP in the end for 43 with the help of, yes you guessed it Scottie again.
Squeaky Bum Time
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At 170-6 Carbury decided that hanging around was no longer an option and climbed into JD launching a huge 6 of KP standards over the sight screen at the Town end. A super catch by Louw out in the deep saw the end of Mascaranas for 20 after JD changed ends. Carbury made it to 50, in fact he made it to 52 before a fine one handed diving catch from Ed Smith saw him heading for the pavilion. Shaun Udal decided he could do it in sixes, one of which nearly clobbered me. The run out of Bruce by skipper was timely as they were getting very close. Chad returned for the 48th over and Udal proceeded to help the first ball of the over on it’s way into the RAF camp, well ok that’s a bit of an exaggeration as that’s half a mile away but it did go a long way. Tension mounted as Chad turned to begin the last over with 14 runs required or one wicket for the result. The ball left his hand at pace and the crowd then witnessed a sight unseen today …….. Stumps flying all over the place !!! What a ball and what a way to finish a game.
Home and recollections
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Home indoors in 20 mins after the death rattle was heard behind Shaun Udal. Drove home through pouring rain, we were lucky to get the game finished before this lot came but having said that we were never behind on the D/L method anyway .
Nice to see a Middlesex win and some good cricket all round. A great overall performance by Ben Scott earns him my man of the match award but generally a great effort by all the lads.
To finish on the opposition, they were well supported in the ground which is nice and are led this year by a guy, love him or hate him that you have to respect for the cricketer he is. Mr Shane Warne, thank you for making the day of all the kids you stood signing autographs for for over half an hour this afternoon, the fact that some people couldn’t get in to see Eric in the shop because the queue was so long is not a problem, he’d run out of programmes anyway.