Life On The Trapdoor

The 3rd day of Middlesex vs Lancashire at Lord's started off looking like an uninteresting day as Lancashire resumed on 236-3, 210 runs behind Middlesex. They batted onwards, but scored slowly as they managed 30 runs in the first 15 overs. The overnight 50+ man Ashwell Prince fell for 71, edging Toby Roland-Jones to Dawid Malan at first slip and Steven Croft went shortly after, Roland-Jones removing his middle and leg stumps, and leaving the off pole at an angle as the ball didn't really bounce, 270-5 and Middlesex on top. Lancashire keeper Gareth Cross then revived his side, attacking Steve Crook, Corey Collymore and Ravi Patel all round the ground as he raced to a 30 ball fifty either side of lunch and went into the final bonus point over (the 110th) needing 9 runs for a fourth point, Gareth Berg's first ball was then murdered into the Tavern stand for six, but he fell next ball, edging to keeper John Simpson for a 35 ball 59. That gave Middlesex a 2nd bowling point and Karl Brown (who'd batted all day) brought up the 350 with 2 balls to spare.
The task was now to get a first innings lead as Warwickshire had now won the title off Lancashire and Surrey were looking strong in their game. This meant that a win was a must and Brown finally went to 50, from 133 balls but Kyle Hogg departed next ball, smashing Patel straight to Malan at mid on for 10. Glenn Chapple then came in and played sensibly with Brown, scoring steadily and passing 400, before speeding up by smashing Neil Dexter for six over long on and it looked like they might still be able to get a 50 run lead. But, when they'd added 51, Chapple charged Patel, missed, and was easily stumped by Simpson for 29, 426-8. Ajmal Shahzad was then LBW to Patel (his fourth) for 10 with 9 needed for the lead, which Brown got with a sweep for four off Patel's next over. The end came soon after, as Berg returned to the attack and removed Brown's off stump first ball for 78, all out for 448 leading by 2, Patel's 4-126 being the pick of the bowlers.
Middlesex's reply then got off to a rocky start as Sam Robson was LBW to Chapple (his sixth of the match) for 3, 5-1. Chris Rogers and Joe Denly then steadily built the lead before Shahzad fired one through Denly on 17, 44-2. But that was to be the last wicket of the day as Malan joined Rogers in batting out the day with some stylish strokeplay, with Rogers going to his 50 from 69 balls as Middlesex ended the day 129-2.
A partnership of 85 with Rogers on 57 and Malan, 37, one day away from possibly relegating the former Champions, leading by 127.

Eagles Plucked, Roasted, and Fried

The final CB40 game of the season for both these sides, since neither could qualify for the knockouts, Essex won the toss and fielded. This looked like a good choice as Joe Denly went for a duck first over, as Tim Phillips got the ball to pop, take the edge and James Foster completed the catch, 0-1. Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling then got about the business of runs, thanks to the filth served up by Maurice Chambers as 10 came off his first over and 21 from his third over, including two no balls and 4 consecutive boundaries by Malan as the 50 was up in 6 overs. Runs were flying all round the ground and it was a surprise when Stirling edged Greg Smith to Foster trying one shot too many for 29, 63-2. Neil Dexter then came and went fairly quickly, pulling to Ten Doeschate at midwicket for 12. 90-3 and Gareth Berg came to the wicket and he and Malan scored the big runs that took the game away from Essex as Malan went to a 45 ball 50. The 50 partnership came with Malan swinging Tim Phillips into the Edrich stand for six.
Poor bowling from Essex fed easy runs as Berg went to a 52 ball 50 before Malan completed his 2nd List A hundred from 89 balls, a fantastic innings that left Middlesex on top. With 8 overs left the score was 216-3. Berg would fall for 61 from 58, giving Ravi Bopara his first success on what was basically match practice ahead of the England ODIs, but next over he was swung into the Tavern stand for Malan's 2nd six. His third six came off Harbhajan next over, a flat blow that cleared Chambers and long-on and went into the Edrich Stand. Owais Shah showed how poor Essex were in the field by dropping Malan at long off next ball and allowing the batsmen to get back for a 2nd. Then came the clatter of wickets as Josh Davey (11) skied to Tom Westley off Ten Doeschate before Malan hit one flat shot too many off Harbhajan where Chambers took the catch at the 2nd attempt to end an innings of 134 off 108 balls, a great score when runs were needed. That left Middlesex 272-6and they would be bowled out in the final 2 overs with batsmen going for quick runs, 288 after Collymore was run out by ten Doeschate from the final ball of the innings. Ravi Bopara took 3 wickets but conceded 55 in his 7 overs.
Essex's reply began quietly as 12 runs came from the opening 5 overs from Collymore and Steve Crook before Pettini started to attack, taking Crook over the short off side boundary for six then four, follwing it up with more fours in Crook's next over. The ninth over saw the debut bowl from Gurjit Sandhu, left arm quick, and 2nd ball, Pettini sliced through the off side, straight to Berg at point, 39-1. Harbhajan was promoted to number 3 but didn't last long as he made 3 before top edging Collymore straight up in the air, where the big man ran in and took the catch himself, 48-2. Bopara didn't hang around as his dodgy day ended after scoring 2 as he tried to steer through the offside, only to edge to keeper Adam Rossington, 53-3 and in a bit of trouble. Tom Westley swung Collymore for six into the Tavern Stand, but that didn't detract from his figures, 1-20 from 7 overs. Westley and Shah rebuilt the innings with some sensible batting against Middlesex's 2nd string attack, the short boundary providing some easy pickings.
Westley went to a 67 ball 50 but the required run rate was mounting and was already 10 an over as Essex needed 163 from the final 16 overs. Even Westley sweeping Dexter for 6 didn't help that much as he then mistimed a pull off Stirling high to square leg where Tom Smith took a good catch. Shah's 50 came from 46 balls, but he became Stirling's 2nd victim next over, slashing a ball to Smith (again) at short third man, 165-5.
Foster and Ten Doeschate tried to go about scoring runs, but 120 from 60 balls was proving too much, and after smashing Berg through point for four, Foster was bowled for 12 as the gloom started to close in on both the game and Essex. Sandhu had time to bag his third, Ten Doeschate hitting to Smith at mid on as bad light stopped play after 35.1 overs with Essex 198-7, Middlesex winners by 54 runs on DL. Pick of the bowling figures, Stirling 2-22 from 4 and the impressive Sandhu, 3-28 from 6.
Middlesex finish runners up in their group for the 2nd consecutive year.

The Closing Darkness

Middlesex resumed on the final day at Edgbaston 351-5, leading by 305, and batted on. Dawid Malan added 2 to his overnight 138 before he edged to Tim Ambrose from Chris Wright's first over of the morning, 357-6 ending a partnership of 105 with Gareth Berg. Berg and Steve Crook then started planting the ball all round the park with Crook planting Keith Barker into the Eric Hollies stand at midwicket. The pair added 42 in 7 overs before Crook feathered a Boyd Rankin bouncer through to Ambrose for 19 for his fourth wicket, 399-7. Berg (78 from 102) then slapped a cut to Darren Maddy at point for Wright's fourth wicket. Tim Murtagh edged Rankin to Rikki Clarke at slip first ball as Rankin finished with 5-78. Toby Roland-Jones was last man out after swinging at every ball in the over (from which 2 fours came) and forcing a long-stop fielder into position, TRJ last heave went to Barker at midwicket, Wright taking 5-119 as Middlesex finished on 412 leaving Warwickshire an unlikely 367 runs to win.
Warwickshire began badly, Ian Westwood (0) edging low where Adam Rossington flew low to his left in front of first slip to cling on to a great catch, 7-1. Next over, things got even worse as Varun Chopra missed a pull and could only limply top edge to Murtagh running round from mid-on for 4 off Roland-Jones, 7-2.and before lunch, they'd be 3 down as Will Porterfield charged past Ravi Patel's first ball to be comfortably stumped by Rossington for 12, 31-3.
Jim Troughton and Maddy hit some boundaries to bring up the 50, as Maddy then pulled a full ball from Berg, missed and was LBW for 10. Warwickshire now went very defensive (even though Clarke smashed Patel back over his head for six) as the gloom and rain began to close in. Roland-Jones then got Clarke LBW with one that swung sharply inwards, 86-5. The rain then delayed any further play until after tea. Troughton edged down the leg side where Rossington juggled the catch at the 2nd attempt, 100-6 and notionally 30 overs left to survive. With the light deteriorating Middlesex needed wickets, and a dropped catch in the deep off Patel didn't help as Dawid Malan came on to bowl from the Pavilion end in tandem with Patel. Blackwell's free strokeplay led to his downfall, slicing a drive back to Patel for 23, 134-7.
That would be it as far as wickets were concerned as Ambrose (having had an x-ray after being hit on the fingers when keeping) and Barker batted out 14 overs until the light caused play to be abandoned with Warwickshire 152-7, taking 9 points (staying top) and Middlesex 8, Patel taking 3-60.

Moving Up

Clearing up the tail of the Warwickshire first innings proved somewhat tricky, as Keith Barker and Chris Wright carefully brought up the 300 before cutting loose, Toby Roland-Jones went for five fours in 8 balls, before Barker edged to Adam Rossington (diving to his right) off Tim Murtagh for 23, 328-9. Wright then tried to slam Murtagh into Birmingham, only to have is off stump removed for 13, 333 all out, a lead of 46.
Middlesex needed a better start than they had in the 1st innings, but Sam Robson was caught behind by Tim Ambrose from Wright's 2nd ball for 1. Joe Denly (15) hit 3 fours before compounding his difficult 2nd half of the season, edging to second slip where Rikki Clarke caught the ball well high above his head, 25-2. Then the runs began to come, thanks to Chris Rogers and Dawid Malan, two of the more consistent run scorers, putting on their first large partnership of the season. Middlesex regained the lead in the 11th over and eased past 50 as they reached 68-2 at lunch.
Rogers brought up the 100 with a top edged six that just carried over third man's desperate leap before Malan's sixth four brought up his 75-ball 50. The 100 partnership was raised and then Rogers went to 50 as well, from 86 balls. The runs continued to flow as the pair batted excellently against one of the best bowling attacks in the country, the high amount of no balls being bowled didn't help the home side as the pair advanced until Rogers reached his hundred from 143 balls in the 50th over, in the process passing 18000 first class runs. He fell soon after, trying to launch Boyd Rankin over point, only to edge to Varun Chopra at first slip for 109, breaking a partnership of 203. Warwickshire then fought back, Dexter (2) caught by Will Porterfield at gully off Rankin, 238-4. Malan went to his hundred next over from 158 balls and he and Rossington brought up the 200 lead before Rossington fell for 2, pulling Rankin to Darren Maddy at square leg, 252-5.
Then came the partnership that took the game away from Warwickshire, as Malan and Gareth Berg smashed the ball all round the ground adding 99 in the final 18 overs of the day, Berg racing to a 62 ball 50 as Middlesex closed 351-5, Berg 53 and Malan 138 not out, a lead of 305.

TRJ Saves The Day

Resuming the 2nd day at Edgbaston 21-0, Warwickshire batted onwards, lessening the deficit easily as the Middlesex attack was a bit uninspiring as Varun Chopra and Ian Westwood saw off Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones as the run rate was good, if not as rapid as Middlesex's, Westwood reaching 50 from 85 balls as the partnership passed 100. Westwood then accelerated after lunch (having not lost a wicket) and Westwood was on 96 before Chopra got to a 113 ball 50 and Westwood getting to 100 in 148 balls, his 2nd hundred against Middlesex in a month. Gareth Berg got the breakthrough, Chopra (56) well caught by Robson with the score at 175, which soon led to a 2nd, Ravi Patel getting his first championship wicket of Will Porterfield (13), caught low down by Dexter's knees at slip, Porterfield thought the ball hadn't carried and hung around for a while before finally trudging off, 194-2.
Jim Troughton smacked Patel for six, and some poor fielding off Crook led to 4 overthrows down to the cover boundary before Westwood was finally out, looping a catch to the sub Tom Scollay at mid-off off Neil Dexter for 120, a great innings, giving his side a good chance of a lead. Darren Maddy fell for 16, slicing to Crook at gully who held on to a great catch, 247-4. The new ball then came and Rikki Clarke went to the 10th ball with it, edging to Adam Rossington for 6 off Roland-Jones. Tim Ambrose went in identical fashion in Roland-Jones's next over for nought, 275-6. As the gloom closed in Roland-Jones bagged a third, Ian Blackwell LBW for 6, and Troughton went to a 106-ball 50 before falling to Murtagh next over, a wild hack to Robson at third slip, 291-8. Play ended to rain and bad light with Warwickshire on 293-8, a lead of six after a great fightback late in the day by Middlesex.

Big Birthday Ton

After defeat at The Oval, Middlesex moved north to Edgbaston for their next Championship game, and as usual, Middlesex lost the toss and found themselves batting, with Chris Wright and Keith Barker bearing down on them, but the outfield was fast and the bowling of the table toppers was wild and Sam Robson had smashed his way to a run a ball 28 before he lost Chris Rogers for 6, well caught at first slip by Rikki Clarke (playing with a side strain). Joe Denly smashed a four, then went for a horrific wild waft outside off stump to be caught behind by Tim Ambrose off Wright for 4, 46-2. Dawid Malan decided that being caught behind looked like fun, and was out for one in Wright's next over. 48-3 and it was looking like more of the same, but Neil Dexter (on his birthday) and Robson found some batting form, albeit with a large slice of luck.
Boundaries flew quickly, quite often off the edge over the slips (bringing that rarely seen third man into play), with Darren Maddy's first two overs going for 23 and Boyd Rankin failing to stem the flow as the 50 partnership came up in the 21st over and the 100 in the next. Robson departed before lunch, having past 50 from 62 balls, edged Rankin to Ambrose for 60 from 73, 121-4. Adam Rossington improved on his duck at the Oval by aiding Dexter (52 ball 50) in causing more heartache for the bowlers with more flashing drives over the slips and solid swing all round the wicket, showing how easy batting was once the new ball was gone. 3 consecutive fours by Dexter off Wright brought up the 50 partnership, and after 40 overs of the innings Middlesex had reached 200-4, better than some of their CB40 scores. Ian Blackwell was making his debut for Warwickshire, on loan from Durham, and he provided the control from the Birmingham End, with Rossington caught by Varun Chopra for his career high 29, 216-5. Gareth Berg then chipped to Will Porterfield at cover for 8, Blackwell's 2nd at 229. Steve Crook relaxed Dexter's 90s nerves by swing Wtight for 4 and then 6 over midwicket to raise the 250, before Dexter completed a 126 ball 100, his first in over a year and one that saved Middlesex from embarrassment. Crook fell to Blackwell just for tea for 27, and the innings finished soon after, Rankin having Dexter LBW for 101 and Toby Roland-Jones caught by Clarke for 0. A brief last wicket flurry took the score to 287, Ian Blackwell snaring Ravi Patel on debut to finished with 4-46.
Chopra and Ian Westwood saw out the 5.1 overs before bad light stopped play, 21-0.

A Ginger Rescue

The 2nd day of the crucial third Test match between England and South Africa to decide the number one spot in the rankings. South Africa resumed 262-7, with England looking to keep them below 320, Vernon Philander quickly completed his maiden test 50, from 75 balls, having lost Dale Steyn, well caught by Graeme Swann at 2nd slip for 26 off Stuart Broad. Morne Morkel then thumped a couple of boundaries as South Africa passed 300 in the 100th over. Steve Finn then had Morkel well taken one handed to his left by Matt Prior in his first over of the morning for 25 from 36. Swann then wrapped up proceedings as Philander went for a massive heave, to be smartly stumped by Prior for 61, Prior's sixth dismissal in the innings South Africa 309 all out, a total that gave England a chance if they could see off the new ball.
Andrew Strauss received much ovation as he walked out for his 100th test and got underway immediately, flicking Morkel for a single, before helping take 13 off Philander's first over. The pair added 29 in 10 overs before Morkel snuck one onto Strauss's stumps for 20 with 3 balls left in the session, there was to be no 100 in 100th test for him.
After lunch, England struggled, and Jonathan Trott fell third over after lunch for 8, LBW to Dale Steyn, not saved by a review, the ball was clipping leg stump. Steyn then made it 2 in four balls as Cook sliced to Kallis at 2nd slip who gobbled (sorry, couldn't resist) the chance as he departed for a 40 ball 7, 39-3. Now it was the turn of James Taylor and  Ian Bell to rescue England, Taylor edged Steyn for 4 before crashing him past point for four more, before England tried to block their way to safety as South Africa bowled tightly and Taylor finally edged low to Graeme Smith at first slip for 10, 52-4 and England in a bit of trouble with Jonny Bairstow now in and plenty of work to do. The pair started slowly but then began to cash in on the loose balls and brought up the 50 partnership in the 42nd over with Bell smacking a four. The runs flowed more easily and Bairstow took 13 off an over from Tahir as the explosion (relatively) in runs raised the 150 and the 100 partnership in the 54th over which also included Bairstow's maiden test 50 from 86 balls, an encouraging performance against the experienced bowling attack of South Africa. Bell's 50 wasn't far behind, guiding Kallis through point for four, but he would fall soon after edging Philander to Alviro Petersen at third slip for 58, 178-5.
Baristow and Prior then played cautiously until the close at 6:30, as England finished 208-5, Bairstow 72 and Prior on 22 still 101 behind and reliant on some lower order hitting to get any sort of lead.

Burns Burns Middlesex

A good way to start a day is to lose an early wicket, which is what Middlesex did on the 2nd Day against Surrey at The Oval as Sam Robson was LBW to Jade Dernbach fourth ball for 29, nightwatchman Tom Smith brought up the 100 with a four off Zander De Bruyn and he and Joe Denly started a fightback.
The fightback ended with Denly caught behind by Steve Davies off Tim Linley for 17, 128-3 still 16 behind in bowler friendly conditions similar to the previous day, with similar results from the batsmen. Dawid Malan and Smith took Middlesex into the lead, and the lead to 20, before Murali Kartik from the Vauxhall End finally ended Smith's excellent resistance on 31, and had Malan caught at short leg for 22 a sharp catch from Rory Burns (who also got clopped on the head from a sweep shot), 171-5. This gave Middlesex's 2nd debutant in the match, Andy Balbirnie the opportunity to cover drive Kartik for four three times in four balls in the next over before Neil Dexter gave Kartik his third, edging to Jason Roy for 5, 186-6.
Balbirnie (14) and Steve Crook then fell in consecutive balls LBW to Gareth Batty before he caught Adam Rossington at cover off Kartik for another duck as Middlesex slumped to 188-9 having lost 4-2 in 25 balls. Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones then carted the total towards respectability as Murtagh planted Batty for six towards the pavilion as they brought up the 200 and forced Batty out of the attack. Murtagh was driving and lofting the ball well, until he tried one heave across the line too many and Rory Hamilton-Brown took a smart catch at midwicket, Middlesex 232 all out, the 44 runs for the last wicket giving them a lead of 88.
Murtagh started the 2nd innings by spraying a ball past Rossington for 5 wides, but Roland-Jones was better, and, having found the edge from Zafar Ansari (9 ball duck) watched as Sam Robson pulled off an amazing low catch to his left. Surrey then woke up, in (relatively) sunny conditions and Arun Harinath and Burns then saw off the opening bowlers before tucking into Smith, Balbirnie and Dexter as they reached 86-1 at the close, Harinath 39 and Burns on 40, only two behind with 9 wickets left.

A Good Day

The first day of Surrey vs Middlesex at the Oval was something of an important game for both teams, with Surrey needing a win and Middlesex coming of the back of a thrashing by Sussex needing points to take them away from the relegation zone.
Gareth Batty won the toss and Surrey batted, and found themselves in huge trouble as Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones carved through the weak top order. Rory Burns (6) edged to Dawid Malan at first slip before Zafar Ansari (10) edged to championship debutant keeper Adam Rossington off Roland-Jones who, after a rain delay then had Zander De Bruyn (0) LBW and next over Rory Hamilton-Brown (2) missed a straight ball and lost his middle stump as Surrey slumped to 33-4. This then became 41-5 with Arun Harinath (14) LBW to give Roland-Jones his third. Steve Davies and Jason Roy tried to launch a recovery (interrupted by more rain) against Steve Crook and Neil Dexter, but Davies was undone by late swing from Dexter, flicking one through to Rossington for 16, which led to Roy starting to thump the ball around with more urgency as his partners failed, Batty left another inswinger from Dexter and was bang in front LBW for 9, 97-7. Murali Kartik had fun with Roy walloping the ball around until Murtagh returned to bowl him for 23 before cleaning up to take 3 wickets in seven balls, Tim Linley edged to Sam Robson at slip and Jade Dernbach LBW first ball to give Murtagh 5-37 and Surrey 144 all out (Roland-Jones 3-38), now for Middlesex to push for a good lead.
This they looked doing as Chris Rogers and Robson played under the now blue(ish) skies in easier conditions to play the 32 overs left as the Surrey attack looked lifeless with Dernbach and Linley bowling fairly badly, the 50 partnership coming up from Rogers in the 15th over off De Bruyn, Rogers then went to a 71-ball 50 before slowing up towards the close, only to be bowled by a Dernbach slower ball for 56 in the penultimate over with the score on 98, Middlesex closing 99-1, only 45 behind.

I Do Declare

So, to Chelmsford for some Championship Division 2 cricket between Essex and Hampshire. Day 3 and after a day 2 was washed out, Hampshire resumed on 303-6 in their first innings, Neil McKenzie 134 and Dimitri Mascarenhas on 7.
A maiden from Harbhajan Singh began the day, before McKenzie straight drove Graham Napier for four next over. David Masters came on for the third over at the River End and got McKenzie 6th ball, caught behind from a good ball for 139. Mascarenhas was left trudging back next over after Napier's yorker flattened his off stump, Hampshire now 308-8. David Balcombe got a similar sort of feeling as Napier did the same to him in his next over, 313-9. The end came soon as Danny Briggs got an outside edge to a big heave off Harbhajan and was comfortably caught at point by Greg Smith for 7, Hampshire 323 all out, Napier taking 4-62 and Masters 3-55.
Essex's first innings got under way with a three but then took on an unusual note as Billy Godleman and Jaik Mickleburgh blocked their way along for the rest of the session to 18-0 in 18 overs, Balcombe 7 over for 2 runs being the most startling statistic.
Essex then surprised everyone, including the groundstaff by declaring at lunch before coming out to help Hampshire to set an (obviously agreed) total for Essex to chase. Jimmy Adams and McKenzie came out to bat and went along comfortably for 14.5 overs, the highlights really being consecutive fours by McKenzie off Napier, 15 off Ryan ten Doeschate's only over (wide, and 3 fours round the ground by Adams) and McKenzie's lofted six over long off off Tom Westley. Hampshire declared with a single off Tom Craddock on 54-0, setting Essex 360 to win in a day and a half.
So, for the 2nd time in two hours, Godleman and Mickleburgh walk to the crease and it was a dig in effort from Essex as scoring runs proved to be difficult on a pitch that had had puddles on the outfield the day before as Balcombe and James Tomlinson found plenty of movement and the batsmen were more happy to leave the ball. Mickleburgh became the only wicket of the session as Tomlinson jagged one in and onto his leg stump for 18, 25-1. Westley and Godleman took the score to 44-1 at tea and began to score more freely, but were still happy to leave the ball where possible.
Balcombe got the breakthrough of Westley LBW for 26 with the score on 60, but that brought in Mark Pettini saw that no further wickets were lost as Essex crawled to 102-2 from 50 overs at the close still needing 258 more to win. Hampshire only dropped one catch, a low chance at slip off Tomlinson, but with plenty of time left, wickets are what is needed to win.

No Alarms For Middlesex

After a long break, some CB40 action at Chelmsford, as Essex take on Middlesex. The rain arrived at around 4pm and after an abortive 6pm start, we finally had the toss (which Middlesex won for once, and fielded) and a 25 over match.
The first couple of over went by without incident, then Toby Roland-Jones found some swing to take a thin edge from James Franklin through to John Simpson for 4. Next ball Greg Smith was trapped bang in front as Roland-Jones completed a double wicket maiden and Essex slumped to 12-2. Steven Crook bowled well as well as Essex reached 22-2 after 5 overs. Mark Pettini's rebuilding operation was hampered by Tom Westley's struggle to get the ball off the square, even though boundaries did come, and Pettini swung Tom Smith over midwicket for six as Essex ambled to 62-2 after 13 overs.
Westley then fell to Smith, going for a huge heave over midwicket, only to find Chris Rogers just inside the boundary to go for 12. Then Ryan Ten Doeschate flicked towards midwicket and Pettini ran back for a second as Rogers reached the ball and threw, and hit the stumps at the bowler's end with Pettini run out well short with the dive for 44, 64-4. Graham Napier arrived and started in usual fashion, swinging Ollie Rayner over midwicket for four before doing similar off Crook. Essex still struggled on a slow and damp pitch and Napier soon fell, top edging Crook down to third man where Dawid Malan took a good catch for 15. Essex's troubles with momentum continued as next over Ten Doeschate(9) went for a big smash straight to Malan running round and taking a good catch falling at long-on with Essex reached 90-6 with 5 overs to go. Thankfully Jaik Mickleburgh and Adam Wheater showed up for the fight and Dexter disappered for 14 runs from the 22nd and Roland-Jones for 11 from the 23rd including a six from Wheater then smashed the window of the ice cream van over the stands at long off. Dexter decided to bowl himself for the 24th over and the results were underwhelming as Wheater parked him twice over midwicket from consecutive balls, one out of the ground as 17 came from the over. Wheater fell in the final over, caught by Berg at long on off Roland-Jones (3-24 from 5) for a 19 ball 33, to end a partnership of 53 in 5 overs as Essex finished 146-7, Mickleburgh 22 not out.
The Middlesex reply began quietly as Malan and Rogers scored 3 from the first 3 overs from Napier and David Masters, Rogers cut Napier past point for four then top edged a pull next over off Masters that saled high over square leg for six. Middlesex then began to dispatch the bowling, Malan launching Masters high over deep midwicket into the trees for six. Rogers was dropped by Westley at slip, the only chance he gave, as Westley parried the ball up, but couldn't cling on to the 2nd attempt. Keeping up a steady run rate outside of the powerplay overs (45 after 8) as Pettini tried Tymal Mills, Franklin and Smith all with no success as the 50 came up in the 10th over as the pair found the boundary all round the ground, even a burglar alarm next door couldn't distract them. 79-0 after 12 overs and the return to Napier and Masters brought 21 from the next two overs including Rogers swinging Masters for another six into the Tom Pearce Stand before taking an easy single to bring up the 100 partnership.
The last roll of the dice was Tim Phillips, Phillips first over went for three, bringing up an easy 50 for Malan from 50 balls, but his 2nd went for 10, including another six to Malan over long on. Rogers reached his fifty inbetween off 48 balls with a couple from Smith. The runs flowed and with 5 overs left Middlesex were 136-0, equalling their highest first wicket List A partnership against Essex and in complete control. Mills did finally get a consolation wicket next ball as Roger lined up another massive club over long on but mistimed it to Masters running round at mid-on for 64 from 60 balls. Tom Scollay came in at three and just looked to get Malan on strike as he'd finish on 2 not out as Malan hit Mills back over his head for four, before waiting on a slower ball and playing off the back foot through midwicket for four to bring up the win for Middlesex by nine wickets with 15 balls to spare, so fast that Middlesex didn't use their batting powerplay. Malan finished with 76 from 68 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes and deservedly took the man of the match award as Middlesex kept their semi final hopes alive and left Essex bottom of the table.

If You Lose It From Here...

With the summer fast descending into a damp mess, Essex took on Middlesex in a t20 match at Chelmsford.
Middlesex won the toss and batted, it looked like a reasonable decision as Joe Denly and captain Neil Dexter started steadily, Denly hitting Graham Napier over cover for four as 11 came from the first 11 balls. Dexter then fell LBW to Napier for 2 to end the over, and things started to slide from there. Adam Rossington hit Reece Topley for four, but then stuttered coming back for a 2nd after a flick to Adam Wheater in the deep on seven, James Foster completing a simple run out. Middlesex were 30-2 after the powerplay, and Dawid Malan then fell for 9, chipping the ball back down the track for Greg Smith to make a smart catch. 35-3 and things not looking up, Gareth Berg joined Denly in adding 28 for the 4th wicket without a single boundary, when Berg was bowled by Tim Phillips spin for 12. John Simpson (0) then hit to cover, hesitated, and was comfortably run out by Mark Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate as Middlesex were only 73-5 after 15 overs.
Thankfully for Middlesex, Denly was still there, and he planted Topley straight back over his head for 6 into the sightscreen and then 4 as 17 came off the 16th over, before completed his 50 from 50 balls, a great knock given the awfulness of some of his team mates. Next ball, normal service was resumed, as Ollie Rayner nicked ten Doeschate behind to Foster for 2, and then Steven Crook was caught at short fine leg, middling a flick off his pads straight to Owais Shah. This left Middlesex 98-7 after 18 and Denly finally departed for 53, failing to middle a full toss over deep midwicket, where ten Doeschate took a good catch off Topley, then Oli Wilkin (on debut) went the same way next ball for four. 99-9, but the hundred was reached in the final over, Tom Smith swiping Napier through midwicket for four, and Toby Roland-Jones almost cleaning up Smith with a powerful straight driven four, Middlesex would fail to bat out the overs however, as Smith toed a ball just off the square, and Roland-Jones (5) charged through, with Smith (5*) not interested in the single, leaving Napier to dive, gather, and complete the run out at the bowler's end with ease. 109 all out, Topley 2-34, Phillips 1-12 and ten Doeschate 2-7 (from 2 overs) being the top bowlers. That score that should see Essex comfortably thrash Middlesex, but something unusual almost happened.
Pettini played out Rayner's first over, then dabbed the ball to point and tried a quick single, Crook, the bowler, ran in, pounced, and whilst horizontal, managed to back hand the ball onto the stumps to run out James Franklin without facing a ball, 3-1.
Pettini then decided to get a move on, swinging Smith through cover for four in consecutive overs, before swinging him downtown and into the river next ball, before treating Roland-Jones with the same contempt, a six over square leg and two more fours, meant 28 came from the 5th and 6th overs, Essex 48-1 after the powerplay. Greg Smith kept good company for Pettini, smashing Malan and Berg for fours as the required run rate dropped to four an over, Dexter using seven bowlers in the first ten overs. Pettini reached his 50 in the 11th over from 38 balls with a glorious strike for six over long off and the deal looked sealed. Smith then fell to Smith, trying a completely ridiculous switch hit from outside leg stump, to be bowled off stump for 27 from 29, and then got one to rip from outside leg stump to take Pettini's edge through to Simpson on 50, Essex now 78-3 from 12 overs.
Dexter now gambled on giving Wilkin (the eighth bowler used) his first bowl for the club, and was promptly smash for two fours over mid off by Shah, before Smith finished up his spell by having Napier (6) caught at deep square leg, a towering hit coolly caught low down by Wilkin as Smith finished with 3-24 from his four overs. Wilkin then struck, getting some inswing and low bounce to have Shah LBW for 8, 91-5 and not looking so comfortable now. Foster and ten Doeschate took Essex past 100 and seemed to be on the final stretch, but Wilkin then bowled ten Doeschate's off stump for 2 and did the same to Foster two balls later and almost yorking Phillips first ball as Essex slumped to 103-7 with 3 overs left.
It was not to be an improbable comeback, however, as Wheater reverse swept Rayner for two then four to level the score, before trying to win with a big shot, only to toe end to square leg, where Wilkin (who else?) took a tumbling catch and caused Topley to run into the dressing room to find his pads.
A wide by Rayner to David Masters next ball ended the game, but Essex only won by two wickets, as they lost 7-33 in six overs. Pettini was awarded man of the match deservedly, but Wilkin was the stand out performer, with two catches and 3-12 from three overs.

Raj's Charge Overpowers England

After winning the t20 series 2-0, England Women moved on to take on India Women in the first match of the ODI series at Lord's.
England won the toss and batted, and Charlotte Edwards fell LBW to Nagaranjan Niranjana for the 3rd game in a row for 1 in the 2nd over, 1-1. In form Sarah Taylor joined Tammy Beaumont and they looked to be taking England to a large total, after struggling to 18-1 after 10 overs, the 50 came up in the 17th over as Archarna Das went for 12 in her first over. Niranjana's 2nd spell got the breakthrough as Beaumont fell LBW playing across the line for 27. Taylor then charged Das, missed the inseamer, and was stumped by Sulakshana Naik for 38, 76-3 in the 22nd over with both set batsmen out.
Arran Brindle and Heather Knight began the rebuild, Brindle bringing up the 100 with a four off Amita Sharma in the 29th over. Veda Krishnamurthy then bowled Knight for 12 with only her 5th ball in ODIs, 114-4. Seeing off Niranjana was probably the plan, but Jenny Gunn was bowled from the final ball of an excellent spell as she finished with 3-28 from her 10 overs.
Brindle went on to her 50 from 66 balls as England reached 162-5 after 40 overs, ready for a final push.
Laura Marsh swiped Gouher Sultana for four, then edged behind for 19 from 21, 175-6. Next over, Das got the huge wicket of Brindle, well held caught and bowled smacked straight back at her for 58 from 73, 181-7. Katherine Brunt swung a massive six into the Tavern Stand, but skied Jhulan Goswami to Harmanpreet Kaur at deep square leg for 13. Danni Wyatt gave Das her third wicket caught by Niranjana for 20 from 16, and the innings ended in the final over, Danielle Hazell bowled Das (4-61) for 9, 229 all out, a below par total you felt as England never managed to get away from India.
India needed to bat sensibly and Mona Meshram and Poonam Raut started solidly against Brunt and Georgia Elwiss with runs coming slowly, and India's problem with running returned, Raut pushing to point and running through for the single, and Meshram being beaten out by Wyatt's throw to Taylor for 9, 21-1.
Captain Mithali Raj and Raut then made sure England didn't take any further wickets for a while with some solid strokeplay, seeing out Brunt and Elwiss's opening spell, 24-1 after 10 and then playing solidly against Marsh and Gunn, 59-1 after 20 overs. Raut then opened up, hitting 8 off Wyatt's 2nd over before combining with Raj to have 11 from a poor first over by Brindle, giving easy runs square of the wicket.
Raut passed 50 from 94 balls, before Hazell, the 7th bowler used, struck 2nd over, bowling Raut off stump for 60, 127-2 with 103 needed from 102 balls.
England needed to dismiss new batter Kaur and Raj fairly quickly from now on, but the bowling just wasn't effective, firstly Rak passed 50 from 76 balls then Kaur hit Marsh for four then six into the Tavern Stand as India needed 71 from the final 10 over with 8 wickets left. England tried to constrict the run rate, but Kaur found the Mound Stand boundary at square leg against Wyatt. Raj then chipped the ball just over Elwiss at midwicket, the last chance for England to win really. 18 from 18 and Kaur went to a run a ball 50 then top edged a massive sweep towards square leg where Brunt running round took a spectacular diving catch to give Hazell a deserved 2nd wicket.
Raj settled nerves by hitting the next ball for four to move into the 90s. Krishnamurthy swung at three in a row against Wyatt, scrambling back for the 2nd each time. With two needed to win and the field up Krishnamurthy's next heave went towards midwicket where Brunt (the only fielder outside the circle) took another great diving catch. This left Naik on strike for the final over from Hazell, and after swinging adn failing against the first two balls, the third was hit towards square leg and the batsmen charged through for the single, only for Gunn to pick up and hurl down the stumps at the bowlers end, Naik run out for nought. That got Raj on strike, and she dispatched the next ball over midwicket for four, to win by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare and finish with a player of the match winning 96 not out from 111 balls. Lord's now goes off limits due to the Olympics until August, an exciting game before the send off.

Beer Sloshes Over Essex

The 2nd game of the t20 double header was the "main" game of Essex vs Sussex. Essex won the toss and decided to bat first.
Mark Pettini and James Franklin came out to bat, and Luke Wright went for nine from the first over. Sussex then removed Pettini, caught by Chris Nash off Amjad Khan for 1, 16-1. Graham Napier was promoted to 3 as the pitch looked placid and runs were there for the taking, but, even though Franklin took consecutive fours off Naved Arif, Essex struggled to get on top. Franklin had his stumps scattered by Chris Liddle's first ball for 25 and Napier was lucky to be dropped by keeper Ben Brown off Mike Yardy after running round to a top edge, waving off the bowler, then grassing the chance.
Napier then merrily swung Liddle out of the ground next over, and followed it up with another four, as along with Ryan Ten Doeschate, Essex were 66-2 at the halfway point. Yardy's third over began quietly before Napier came on strike third ball, which disappeared over midwicket for six, next up, a four, then a no-ball, which meant a free hit, played from deep in the crease by Napier, and hammered over point for four. Suddenly 17 had come off the over, but Napier then went for another huge swing over midwicket, finding the top edge and Brown redeemed himself, clinging on to the chance this time, 83-3.
Essex edged ahead in the game again, as 13 came from Yardy's last over and 11 from Will Beer's 2nd over as Ten Doeschate hit both of them for six, before he then fell to Wright, well held by Liddle for 39 from 27, 118-4 with five overs to go.
James Foster and Adam Wheater then added the quick runs at the end, well Foster did, Wheater had 5 from 12, but Foster looked in great form. Consecutive sixes came off as Beer free flowed around around the ground (more jokes like that later) then four and six off Khan as Foster looked good while Wheater failed to get the ball off the square.
Foster went to his 50 from 26 balls, thumping Liddle for another six before scrambling another 11 to finish with a career best 65 from 31, Essex finished 177-4, 59 from the last five overs making a tough but gettable chase for Sussex.
The chase was on from ball one as Nash dumped Tim Phillips over long on for four, as he and Wright went about the chase in quick style, 14 and 9 coming off the 2nd and 4th overs from David Masters before Wright went after Phillips, going six (down the ground), four, four to take Sussex to 58-0 after the powerplay, bang on target to make the runs. Reece Topley then got blasted by Wright high over midwicket out of the ground, before coming back in his next over to get Nash, skying to Franklin at deep square leg for 31, which was quickly followed by Wright in the next over going for a big swing straight to Greg Smith at long off for 46. 88-2 at the halway point, ahead of Essex, but they had the good finish. Matt Prior started quickly and he hit Franklin for 12 in his only over, including another massive six over midwicket and into the construction site.
Greg Smith then went the same way as Franklin, four, six from his first two balls, as Sussex raced to 114-2 after 12. Prior then fell, caught by Phillips off Topley for 35 from 18 balls, 59 needed from 42, but a tight over from Phillips swung it back to Essex, then Murray Goodwin and Joe Gatting hammered 15 from Ten Doeschate's third over, including a flat six into the covered seats at cover leaving 31 to get from 24.
Napier then went into yorker mode, first one went past Foster for 4 byes, but the next crashed into Goodwin's off stump. Then Greg Smith (now bowling off spin) went for only 6 from the 18th and finished by bowling Yardy off the inside edge for 4. 17 from 12 became 13 from 8 as Gatting was bowled by another excellent yorker from Napier for 22 from 18. Beer managed to get a three to bring it down to 10 off the final over.
Foster decided to let Ten Doeschate bowl it, and Beer found the low full tosses easy enough to consecutive twos, before finding the square boundary, before levelling the scores with a single. Brown was then left with the easy task of crashing the ball to the cover boundary with the field up to win the game by six wickets with one ball remaining, despite Napier taking 2-25 from his four overs. Wright was awarded man of the match, as Sussex moved clear at the top of the table over Essex in 2nd.

A Good Tayl(or)

The First half an afternoon of a t20 double header, England Women, already 1-0 up in their two match series, taking on India Women at Chelmsford.
India won the toss and batted, and were soon in a bit of trouble as Amita Sharma played and missed 3 of the first 5 balls from Katherine Brunt, before edging the sixth behind to Sarah Taylor for a duck. Poonam Raut and captain Mithali Raj then started a recovery, finding boundaries from Brunt and off spinners Danni Wyatt and Laura Marsh to take the score to 32-1 after the six over powerplay. Then a collapse ensued as Raj got in a tangle against Wyatt to thin edge to Taylor for an 18 ball 21. Then next over Harmanpreet Kaur played Holly Colvin into the covers and rejected the single with Raut halfway down, the throw from Susie Rowe was wide of the stumps, but Colvin managed to complete the run out whilst lying on the ground. This left India 38-3 and in danger of folding a low score.
Kaur and Mona Meshram scored fairly steadily though the middle overs, reaching 71-3 after 14 overs, with solid fielding from England keeping them down to mostly singles. Marsh, Colvin and Arran Brindle couldn't find the breakthrough and India looked to be stepping up the pace when Kaur got inside the line and swept Jenny Gunn high into the stands at square leg as nine came from the 15th over. Another big hit from Kaur off Colvin looked to be heading for six over midwicket, but Lydia Greenway dived, caught the ball, then threw it back onto the field before hitting the boundary, a fantastic bit of fielding that turned six into two and showed how well England were saving runs in the field. A wide from Brindle brought up the 50 partnership in the 17th over, but Meshram fell two balls for later for 17, skying high to Greenway at deep midwicket who took a good high catch, 89-4. Sulakshana Naik carted her first ball high for four, but was then run out for 8, failing to beat the throw from Charlotte Edwards to Taylor, 99-5 with two overs left.
Brunt then bowled an excellent final over, with Kaur trying to flick a yorker over fine leg from outside off, missing, and  being bowled for 34 from 38. only three more came from the over as Jhulan Goswami skied to Brindle and mid off for 2, Brunt finishing with 3-18 including a wicket maiden. Nagaranjan Niranjana hit four from Brindle, but the mad dash for runs brought three run outs to end the innings. Firstly Niranjana (8) hit to cover and was beaten by Marsh's throw to Taylor going for a 2nd run. Then Ekta Bisht (3) went after a good diving stop on the point boundary from Rowe was relayed by Wyatt to Taylor to beat out the attempted third run. Then Gouher Sultana's slap to long off was well fielded by Colvin to Brindle to run out Archana Das for 2, India finishing 114 all out.
England's reply began strongly as Edwards and Marsh looked to attack the bowling, but Edwards was almost out when Niranjana's strong appeal for caught behind was turned down, Edwards replied by smahing the next ball for four but was LBW next ball for 15 from 14, Niranjana leaping about wildly again in celebration this time. This brought in Taylor who, after hitting 60 in the first game, wanted more today, but had to wait before she could cut loose. England were 31-1 after the powerplay, fairly even with India and India would have felt they had a chance when Marsh (5) was run out by Bisht, who managed to deflect the return from Taylor onto the stumps, 32-2.
This brought in the other in form batter Greenway, who was promptly dropped by keeper Naik on 0, as she and Taylor started to take the game away from India as quick running between the wickets and a steady supply of boundaries sped the chase along. 58 came from the first 10 overs, and more came along quickly as Sultana's first two balls were powerfully smashed back over her head for four by Taylor. Another four from Greenway took the partnership past 50 from 41 balls in the 14th over. Taylor then reached her 2nd fifty of the series from 39 balls as the end came quickly. With the score on 113-2, Taylor flicked Das's medium pace high over midwicket for four to pull off an 8 wicket win with 17 balls to spare, Greenway 30 not out from 31 and Taylor 67 from 48 with nine fours, and she picked up the player of the match and series awards as England took the series 2-0.
Next up this evening was Essex taking on Sussex.

Not Quite, White

A t20 on a Saturday, a collectors item in itself as Northampton (with dodgy forecast) is the venue for Northants vs Worcestershire.
Worcestershire won the toss, and decided to bat first, and found the going a bit tough (for a t20 anyway). Moeen Ali and Vikram Solanki both found the boundary, but Oli Stone then found Solanki's leg stump to fall for 8, 14-1. Chaminda Vaas and Stone then followed up with 7 off the next three overs, even a four off James Middlebrook's first over left Worcestershire 29-1 after the powerplay.
Moeen Ali then fell backing away and trying to swing Middlebrook over cover, well caught by captain Alex Wakely for 14, 33-2. This brought James Cameron to join Australian Phil Hughes for the partnership that took the game away from Northants.
It wasn't fast going, but some solid strokes brought boundaries off Middlebrook and Rob Keogh left the score 78-2 after 14 when the fireworks began. Con de Lange's first ball was smashed by Cameron for six and next over Hughes swung David Willey over long on, and followed it with two fours through midwicket (the last off a free hit) as 21 came from the over. Things got worse for Northants as Cameron absolutely annihilated a full toss from De Lange high over the West Stand at square leg, and on one bounce, out of the ground to bring up his 50 from 31 balls as 13 came from the over. Stone then got stoned for 11 off the 18th that brought up the 100 partnership for the third wicket, as Hughes also passed 50 from 47 balls. Vaas returned for his last over, and immediately had Cameron caught on the long on for 57 from 39, Hughes (52 from 50) then fell next ball, a big heave to the outswinger, and found the edge to be caught low down (somewhat bizarrely) at short third man by Stone, who then had Daryl Mitchell caught in the deep by Keogh for 1 as the late comeback left Worcestershire 142-5. Vaas was the best bowler, with 2-15 from his four overs, and Stone took 2-26.
Northants start was slow and uninspiring as Kyle Coetzer and Vaas struggled against Jack Shantry and David Lucas, and when Vaas lasered Lucas for four, he was bowled next ball for 9 off 9. Northants managed to leave things pretty even after the powerplay, partly due to Wakely's insistence of smiting Gareth Andrew to Alex Kervezee on the square leg fence for 1, 32-2.
Cameron White, the big hitting Australian then came in, but was reigned in during the spell of the match from Moeen Ali, whose off spin from the Lynn Wilson End was tight and when it did get hit, it was straight to a fielder. The innings was meandering along with 56 off the first 10, but that was all Northants really needed provided they didn't do anything stupid. Coetzer was beginning to play some good strokes, but then skied Mitchell to Ali at long off for a run a ball 33. This was the key break as Rob White then came and went for a tough 9 ball 4, heaving to Kervezee in the deep to give Mitchell another. Ali finished his 4 for only 14 runs with no boundaries, a match winning spell as it turned out.
At the other end, with the score 73-4, White decided he'd had enough of dealing with these amateurs, smashing Mitchell for a six into the roller at square leg, and then six more just past the Kervezee running round to midwicket. 16  from the 16th, but 12 an over was too much on this pitch for the others with Middlebrook hitting Shantry to long off where Cameron completed a great low catch to go for 4, 99-5.
White then hammered Lucas way over midwicket, over the groundsman's hut and out of the ground with bring up his 37 ball 50, but struggled to get the strike as Willey only succeeded in toe ending the ball to the men in the ring. White did have the last laugh in his fantastic innings, swinging the last ball of the match from Lucas effortlessly over the groundsman's hut at midwicket again as Northants ended 14 short, 128-5. White ended 62 from 42 ball with 1 four and four sixes. Mitchell took 2-29 but it was Ali's 14 run spell that got the match award. The win aids Worcestershire's quarter final push and all but eliminates Northants from the running.

Just How Close Can You Get?

With a return to the shorter format of the shortest format, Middlesex took on Essex at Lord's, in a tough south group where the hosts have struggled so far. Essex won the toss and batted first, and found the going tough, with Mark Pettini and James Franklin not blasting away against some tight bowling from Ollie Rayner, Steven Crook and Toby Roland-Jones. The powerplay brought 44 runs, and in the next over, Pettini's ambitious cut chopped Rayner onto his off-stump to go for 26, 46-1. Joe Denly then made a terrible drop of Franklin at long-on off Tom Smith, but it didn't cost much as he was stumped by John Simpson off Rayner for 23. Rayner finishing up with 2-16 off his 4 overs.
Ryan Ten Doeschate then took this as his cue to go nuts, hitting Smith for consecutive sixes in the next over, both huge hits over long-on, before doing the same in his next over. This brought up the 100 in the 14th over, and but Essex back on course for a decent total, but he fell next ball, LBW to Neil Dexter for 38 off 26. This brought in Graham Napier, who went about his merry way the rest of the over, ending it with four over cover, four through square leg, six over cover, four over cover to cart 18 from it.
The pace slowed again, as Middlesex had a strong finish to the innings, James Foster (13) holed out to Dexter off Roland-Jones, Napier (28 off 12) skied Gareth Berg to Rayner at cover and Greg Smith (14) hit Berg to Chris Rogers at long-on as only 34 came off the last four overs, Roland-Jones in particular with some accurate and fairly unplayable death bowling, leaving Essex 155-6, Middlesex needing 156 to win.
Middlesex then messed up their reply, Denly (1) swinging Tim Phillips spin to Franklin diving at mid-on. Adam Rossington then hit David Masters' first ball for four, and then swung Phillips high over long-on for six. Rogers, however, then smashed Phillips to Smith at deep mid wicket to go for 3, 19-2.
The introduction of Napier brought a wicket first ball as Malan slashed to point for 1, 26-3. Rossington fell next over, LBW to Masters for 22, perhaps unlucky, the ball looked like it was going over the stumps.
Reece Topley struck in the ninth over with the innings going nowhere, Dexter batting wide outside leg, got an edge to Foster, who was standing up and managed to trap the ball on the top of his gloves before flicking it into his gloves to complete the catch, gone for 5. Middlesex 36-5 needing 10.7 an over as Berg and Simpson rebuilt the innings, Berg hit fours in each of the next four over from Smith, Topley (a particularly good swipe through square leg off a free hit), Franklin and Phillips (a reverse sweep).
Simpson then skied to Tom Westley at cover, and Berg dumped Phillips into the Grand Stand, then was caught by Foster next ball off a reverse sweep for 39 from 36. This left Middlesex 88-7 after 15 overs with Crook and Rayner the only hope. Crook began by pulling Smith into the Mound Stand six, then followed up with six into the Grand stand and a four off Napier in the next over. Rayner then got going, four, four (inside edge), two off Franklin, then Rayner carted a Napier full toss into the Grand Stand, leaving Middlesex still in with a sniff, 19 needed from the final over. It was not to be, as Crook toe ended Smith to Pettini at deep cover to go for 22 off 10, a partnership of 49 from 26. Rayner did swing Smith for another six over cover, but couldn't fond the boundary off the penultimate ball, Toby Roland-Jones was then run out off the final ball, complete with pouring rain, by Adam Wheater and Foster coming back for a second run. Middlesex finishing 149-9, losing by six runs, Rayner finishing 39 off 21, Phillips the stand out bowler with 3-27.

Bravo, Smith, Bravo!

The 50 over tour match between Middlesex and the West Indies would be a one-sided affair, with the home side being comfortably crushed. Dexter won the toss and batted, with Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle (his first game back for the West Indies) blasting the ball about, Gayle hitting Robbie Williams for two fours in one over, before hoisting Tim Murtagh for two sixes in the next. He then swiped Anthony Ireland's first ball to Josh Davey in the deep to go for 34. Simmons then wandered down the track to Paul Striling and was easily stumped by Adam Rossington (on debut) for 23, 67-2 after 15 and not looking too comfortable. But they needn't have worried as Dwayne Smith and Darren Bravo began to hit out against the weak Middlesex attack, they weren't without chances as Smith inside edged Ireland for four and was dropped by Malan off Tom Smith, a tough chance diving to his right at long-off.  He was also missed by Smith at cover, a half chance from a lasered drive.
Smith reached 50 off 48 balls, and Bravo off 69 balls before they decimated the bowling. Smith thumped an on drive off Ireland which carried into the back of the top tier of the pavilion, only a couple of metres lower the Keiron Pollard's hit into the right side tower couple of years ago. Smith looked set for his first list-A hundred, but toe ended Murtagh to Stirling at mid off to fall for 96 from 89 balls, a partnership of 156.
Big hitting Pollard was next in, but he only scored 18 when he top edged a hoick off Davey for Stirling to take an excellent diving catch at deep point in front of the Grand Stand crowd. 262-4 with 6 overs left and Middlesex may have thought they were getting away with it as a variety of full tosses weren't always punished as they should be. Williams had dropped Darren Bravo at long-off a couple of overs before, and had broken his collarbone in landing, so it meant Ireland, Davey and Dexter (Middlesex used 8 bowlers in all) to finish off, and it went badly. Sub Tom Scollay provided more poor fielding, letting Dwayne Bravo (Darren's half brother) get four through long on with a weak flap at a bouncing ball before Dwayne twice hit Ireland to the shorter Grand Stand boundary as 22 came off the 39th over to bring up the 300. Darren Bravo then went to his hundred off 110 balls in the last over, before Dwayne hit another six off Davey over point. Dwayne couldn't get two from the 4th ball of the over, but Darren finished the innings well, rattling a straight six off the middle deck of the pavilion then hitting the last ball high into the Warner Stand to finish 112 not out from 112 balls, Dwayne with 40 from 21 (2 fours 3 sixes) as West Indies finished 335-4, a massive total and probably well beyond Middlesex. Stirling finished with 1-28 from seven (why didn't he bowl all 10?) and Davey 1-71 from 10.
Any hopes of a solid start were dashed when Robson (3) was LBW to Andre Russell, though it maybe was a touch too high. Paul Stirling (1) mis-timed a flick off his pads to Darren B at square leg, 11-2. Neil Dexter hit three fours, and actually looked like making a decent score, before toeing one from Russell to square leg for 12, 31-3. Adam London (3) then fell to the obvious hook trap, hitting the ball down the throat of Simmons on the boundary to give Dwayne B a wicket, 38-4. 19 year old Rossington looked capable against the West Indies bowlers, playing Dwayne B and mystery spinner Sunil Narine very well, unlike his team mates. But all too soon, Malan went for a pull and top edged to keeper Denesh Ramdin running round to go fro 21 from 43 as Middlesex then had another collapse. Next over, Davey played the ball from Narine to square leg and charged through for the single, with Rossington shouting back to no avail, so sacrificing his wicket for 17, run out by Pollard and Ramdin by the length of the pitch. Murtagh then had a massive slog at Narine 2nd ball and edged to Ramdin, 67-7, 3 wickets in 9 balls and reaching 100 looking a big ask.
Davey and Tom Smith then fashioned a defensive partnership, mainly blocking and occasionally hitting through the gaps, Davey with a particularly good slog-sweep off Narine for four. Smith even bowled to Smith to complete a further commentators nightmare, but the end was nigh as Gayle's off spin soon cleaned up in his only over. Smith tried a reverse sweep and got in a complete tangle, with the West Indies claiming the catch at slip, the umpires ruled it incomclusive, so Gayle fired the next ball down to send the leg stump flying, 107-8, adding 40 in 12 overs. Ireland came and was LBW 2nd ball for a duck (both wickets accompanied by Gayle's unique celebrations) and with Williams unable to bat, Middlesex were all out for 107, a double wicket maiden from Gayle meaning a win by 228 runs for the West Indies, Rampaul 2-15 from six and Russell 2-19 from five being the other stand out bowlers. This was Middlesex's biggest List A defeat and an uninspiring warm up for the T20 which they now begin.

Royal Rain

On Jubilee Tuesday, Middlesex start their 5th home game of the season at Lord's, this time against Sussex. For the first time this season Middlesex won the toss and fielded first.
Ninth ball of the day, Alex Barrow was tucked up by a short ball from Corey Collymore finding the edge for John Simpson to take a great diving catch to go for nought, 0-1. Then Nick Compton, scorer of 1000 runs this season, left an inswinger from Tim Murtagh which trimmed the off bail, Somerset 1-2 inside three overs. Arul Suppiah and James Hildreth then showed some lasting power, albeit with luck, as runs came about slowly with the run rate at 2 an over. Toby Roland-Jones then got one to skid past Suppiah's prod to be bowled for 15, 45-3. Craig Kieswetter came in and batted out until lunch. After lunch, runs began to flow as Kieswetter played some powerful drives and pulls, bringing up the 50 partnership in a good fightback. Hildreth found the going easier against the older ball and he reached 50 off 108 balls with 5 fours, as Somerset passed 100. Corey Collymore pulled up with a knee injury one ball into the 47th over, meaning Gareth Berg had to complete the over, and Hildreth swung and edged the last ball behind for 58, Middlesex back ahead with Somerset 125-4. The rain then came two overs later, at 130-4, and it didn't stop, so the play was called off at 4:40, and with the forecast dodgy for the next three days, it couold be hard for one side to force a result.
There was one last thing, the aircraft from the royal flypast flew over the Grand stand, a great sight for those of us left at Lord's in the rain.

Sussex Sunk

The final day of Middlesex vs Sussex at Lord's, with Sussex 34-1 in their 2nd innings, still needing another 174 to avoid an innings defeat.
Steve Finn opened from the Pavilion End with a hostile spell, Chris Nash inside edging a four, only to be bowled next ball, 58-2. Murray Goodwin has failed so far this year to score many runs, and he promptly poked Finn to Ollie Rayner at slip for 5. Joe Gatting and Mike Yardy then saw off Finn and Tim Murtagh, but Gareth Berg struck almost immediately, Gatting LBW for 18. Luke Wright now joined captain Yardy in having to bat until almost tea to try and save the game, Toby Roland-Jones having a strong LBW shout turned down against Yardy. The pair brought up the 100, only for a couple of dumb shots cost them any chance they still had in the game. First, Wright (13) went for a booming drive through the covers, only for the edge to fly to a diving Finn at gully. Then, 4 balls later, Yardy pulled a short ball from Roland-Jones straight to Eoin Morgan at deep square leg for 10, one of the two men placed there for the obvious ploy. That moment of madness left Sussex 101-6, with Ben Brown and Naved Arif seeing out the time until lunch, 102-6.
After lunch there was a seven over period before Sussex scored a run and when the did Arif edged a cut to Morgan at gully who spilt a relatively easy catch. The pair had their moments of luck, Arif even headed a Berg bouncer, but wickets weren't forthcoming as Brown played some good strokes as he had in the 1st innings and showed that there really was nothing wrong with the pitch. The fifty partnership then came up as the batsmen started to get more expansive, Brown thumping a cover drive off Rayner.
Arif finally fished at an outswinger from Berg and was well caught low down by Dawid Malan diving at first slip on 15, 164-7 after adding 63 in 25 overs. Sussex had tended to lose wickets in batches, and after another booming cover drive off Rayner to go to 50 from 83 balls, his 2nd of the game, Chris Rogers moved himself to a very short cover so Brown attempted a reverse sweep next ball, only for it to bounce off his glove to Berg at slip to fall for 53, 170-8 now. The return of Finn couldn't get another before tea with Sussex 191-8, 17 behind, James Anyon and Steve Magoffin surviving.
After tea, Rogers made the smart move of replacing Rayner with Malan at the nursery end, and the batsmen couldn't resist going for a hit against his leg-breaks. Magoffin having one keep low and miss his leg stump. Anyon edged Finn for four, before hitting four more to level the scores in the match. Magoffin then swung Malan for a colossal six flat into the back row of the Mound Stand. Four more to the Grand Stand boundary and an upper cut off Finn and soon the pair had added 50 in 12 overs. Magoffin then went for one hit too many, skying to Roland-Jones at deep mid-on to fall for 37 off 54, 223-9. Monty Panesar (0) then went for a Viv Richards-esque swing over midwicket, only to find Finn and give Malan his 2nd (2-19) as Sussex finished 225 all out, Anyon 13*, Finn 3-66, Berg 3-53, Rayner 1-12 with Middlesex needing 18 to win off 29 overs.
Gatting and Nash opened the bowling as Sam Robson and Rogers made light work of the of the win, Robson (10) driving Nash for four to win by 10 wickets at 4:40 their 3rd win of the year, shoring up 4th place in the table for now.

If a West Indies Team Bats Without Chanderpaul, Does It Score Any Runs?

The third day of the first test between England and the West Indies, England resuming overnight on 259-3, ahead by 16, with captain Strauss on 121 not out. Kemar Roach found some early movement, and had Strauss caught by Denesh Ramdin on review, which showed the inside edge. Jonny Bairstow then came in on debut to join Ian Bell, and played nicely for 16, though was nearly run out getting off the mark. He was LBW to Roach England wobbled, making a possible 450 much less likely. Matt Prior (19) then missed a drive to give Shannon Gabriel his first wicket in tests, charging off towards point to celebrate. Tim Bresnan (0) had a fatal waft outside off to be caught behind to give captain Darren Sammy his first wicket
Lunch then came at 341-7, but Stuart Broad was bowled by Fidel Edwards for 10 in the first over after lunch, 343-8. Bell finally found a reliable partner in Graeme Swann, and they added 55 in seven overs, Bell reaching fifty off 94 balls and Swann hitting six fours in a 25 ball 30, when Gabriel bowled him. Bell then was last out, looking to heave Gabriel into the Mound Stand, only to be well caught by Keiran Powell at deep square leg.
So 398 by England, a lead of 155 was good, but could have been much more, the pick of the bowlers being Gabriel (3-60) and Roach (3-108).
The West Indies reply started slowly, but saw off James Anderson and Broad without trouble, but the introduction of Bresnan started a slide, as Adrian Barath edged behind for 24, 36-1. Then 4 balls later, Powell pulled Broad straight to Bell at deep square leg, falling for an obvious ploy, 36-2. The chaos before tea was completed four balls later, as Darren Bravo played the ball to cover, Kirk Edwards set off for the single, Bravo didn't, the pair standing mid-pitch pointing and Edwards scramble back was wasted as Jonny Bairstow had picked up the ball and gunned down the middle stump, West Indies 36-3 and in chaos at tea.
After tea things got slightly better as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo looked to bat for some time in an effort to stop the slide, which they did, although Anderson dropped a flying chance at slip off Bresnan, the only chance Chanderpaul gave, as the intensity dropped with England scratching their heads as to how to prise them out. Swann eventually got the breakthrough, Bravo (21) leaving one that went down the slope and knocked back the off stump. 65-4, but Marlon Samuels and Chanderpaul managed to see out the rest of the day without any further trouble, 120-4, Chanderpaul 34 not out and Samuels 26 not out still trailing by 35.

A Bad Day for B "oh no" para

The final day of Essex vs Kent at Chelmsford was a dull affair on paper as it quickly became evident that neither side fancied a result (unlike other games around the country) and we'd be off at 5pm pretty much whatever.
So Essex began 94-2 with Mark Pettini on 61 and Billy Godleman on 27, and Mark Davies struck ninth ball of the day with Godleman falling LBW so 94-3. Greg Smith then came, played a glorious drive past mid-off for four, then edged to James Tredwell next ball to give Charlie Shreck his first wicket.
The news was that Alviro Petersen (ankle) and Ravi Bopara (thigh tear) would bat with runners and having been off the field could only come in after 5 wickets down. This meant James Foster came in and he and Pettini played well, Pettini in particular taking 12 off a Shreck over. Ivan Thomas, making his Kent debut replaced Shreck at the River End, and soon had Essex in all sorts of bother, as Foster aimed a powerful cut, only for Brendan Nash to leap at point and cling on and had two wickets in four balls as Pettini, destined for a first hundred for a couple of years, played around a straight one and was LBW for 92. This left Essex a bit stuffed at 140-6, as they were obviously planning on gaining some batting points, which looked some way off.
Now we had the highlight of possibly the season as Petersen (with Tom Westley) and Bopara (with Smith) batted together with runners, this only lasted five balls as Bopara almost ran his first run, so both batsmen dispensed with their runners at the end of the over. Bopara was ordered (via the twelfth man) that he must bat with a runner, so Greg Smith (who'd already gone back to the dressing room and taken off his helmet) came back out looking thoroughly fed up with it all.
Petersen was charging between the wickets and hobbling afterwards, becided that boundaries was the best way forward, smiting one off Davies before spooning to midwicket where Scott Newman took a good diving catch to his right giving Davies his fourth.
Lunch came almost after that wicket at 158-7, and afterwards, with no prospect of a contrived chase happening, Bopara (looking more uncomfortable by the ball) and David Masters then decided to bore their way towards 200, with Masters getting a slightly ironic round of applause when he scored his first run after some long time. The pair ground on and on, and it was a relief when ninth ball with the new ball, Shreck found the edged of Masters bat to Ben Harmison to go for one of the most boring 9s known to humankind (47 balls), the pair had added 23 in 17 overs. 181-8 then became 181-9 since Tymal Mills was LBW first ball to Shreck. Willoughby survived the hat trick ball and the next ball, before Bopara farmed the strike for the first 3 balls from Davies.
Then came the moment of the match, as Bopara (on 19) dabbed the ball to Newman at deep-ish cover and Willoughby went through for the single, but Bopara ambled down the other end as well, along with the runner, which nobody noticed immediately as Newman picked up the ball, only to look up and see Shreck charging in from fine leg gesticulating wildly and shouting to Newman to run out Bopara as he'd left his crease at the striker's end. Bopara heard this as well and started back, but in vain as Newman threw to Geraint Jones to complete the easiest run out of his career.
The incident was similar to the 2010 T20 final when Somerset didn't realise they could run out the batsman. This left Essex 181 all out with 50 overs left in the day, the pick of the Kent bowlers being Davies (24.4-13-20-4). Nothing more interesting was going to happen now  and Rob Key and Newman saw through to tea at 38-0, Key playing a nice reverse sweep for four off Westley on the way. After tea, Newman hit a couple of fours off Mills, before giving Westley an easy return catch on 24, 54-2. Ben Harmison was then caught at 2nd slip for 1 off Mills in the next over, 57-2, but that was the last real action as Nash (22 not out) and Key (40 not out) saw out the 10 overs before at 4:50 Kent declared on 92-2 and the players shook hands, Essex taking 6 points and Kent 7.

A Howelling Defeat

The opening game of the CB40 for Middlesex was against Gloucestershire at Lord's. The afternoon started damp and wet and when it finally stopped, we had a 26 over game in front of the Sky cameras. Gloucestershire won the toss and fielded, which looked like a good decision as Middlesex scored only a single off 3 of the first 4 overs. Dawid Malan and Joe Denly then began to pick up the pace and had put on 45 in 7 overs when Denly missed a drive to Graham McCarter and was bowled for 25.
A slow outfield was making runs harder to come by and Malan finally snapped, heaving the spin of Ed Young to Benny Howell at deep mid-wicket for 22, Chris Rogers then edged Howell to Jon Batty and Middlesex were 58-3. Paul Stirling was one of the few who mastered the conditions and cracked three fours as Middlesex began to recover, but Neil Dexter aimed a huge swipe off Young, and was caught at long-on for 9. Then the key blow as Young spun one past Stirling through to Batty, Young was the only one to appeal and it was given out, much to Stirling's surprise (25 off 21).
Gareth Berg and John Simpson rebuilt the innings from 90-5, gradually increasing the scoring rate as they added 47 for the sixth wicket before McCarter grabbed his 2nd wicket on debut, Hamish Marshall holding the catch at long-off to dismiss Simpson for the top score 29. Berg edged Ian Saxelby behind next over, and Steven Crook was caught at cover in the final over as McCarter finished with 3-41. Young finished with 3-26 off 6 overs. Ollie Rayner's 13 off 6 provided a useful flourish as Middlesex 157-8, a good total but it seemed 10-15 runs too few.
Chris Dent smashed two fours off Tim Murtagh's first over, but fell LBW to the final ball for 8. Marshall then laid into Collymore, hitting 22 off his two overs as Gloucestershire raced to 54-1 after 5 overs. Howell provided good support, and Middlesex needed a quick wicket, and they got one as Rayner struck in his first over having Marshall LBW for 33 off 22, 61-2. Howell and Kane Williamson carried on accumulating as Gloucestershire reached 89 after 10 overs. Steven Crook then struck having Williamson LBW first ball for 9.
Alex Gidman carried on the quick hitting, blasting 26 off 21 before Rayner bowled him on his way to 2-29 off 6 overs. Ian Cockbain was the last wicket to fall for 19 LBW to Dexter, 149-5 but only nine needed off 7 overs. Howell soon ended proceedings, smashing Denly through midwicket or four to win by five wickets with 22 balls left, Howell 45 off 48 (3 fours, 1 six). Young was awarded man of the match.

I Declare The Improbable Possible

The morning of the final day of Middlesex vs Worcestershire had the game turned on it's head as Daryl Mitchell approached Chris Rogers with the offer of a match. As a result Worcestershire declared on their overnight 45-2 and Middlesex forfeited their 2nd innings leaving Worcestershire with 283 to win from 96 overs.
Mitchell and Michael Klinger looked none to sure as they edged and played and missed their way to 21 before Klinger did what Dexter had the day before, leaving one that swung in this time from Murtagh and this time, LBW rather than bowled for 12. Mitchell then hacked to Dawid Malan at slip to fall for 9 in Murtagh's next over as 26-2 then became 35-4 as Andrew Strauss caught both Vikram Solanki and Moeen Ali off Gareth Berg and Toby Roland-Jones. The chase looked off, but Matt Pardoe and James Cameron showed some fight, as they took the score past 50 in the 24th over. But another wicket was bound to go, and it did, Pardoe edging Berg to John Simpson 14. Lunch then came with Worcestershire 73-5 and the question was now, could they last until tea?
Worcestershire's problem wasn't losing wickets occasionally, it was losing them in huge torrents, as was exemplified after lunch as first Cameron (30), Ben Scott (13) and David Lucas (3) all went in the space of 10 balls to Murtagh and Roland-Jones as they crashed to 96-8 with 60 overs left in the day. Aneesh Kapil and Richard Jones then went about hitting the total towards respectability as after some swinging and missing they picked up a couple of boundaries. Rogers then brought Malan on from the Nursery End and Steve Finn on from the Pavilion end. Jones tried to flog Malan out of the ground and was just missed by Rogers at deep mid-off and Berg at cover before swiping a flat six into the Grand Stand.
The plan seemed to be, Kapil plays out Finn, Jones targets Malan, and Jones brought up the 50 for the ninth wicket with the top edged slog which hung in the air before dropping over the short boundary to the Grand Stand just over the head of Finn. Kapil brought up the 150 with the first ball of the next over, giving Finn a shot at Jones. He needed just one ball, as the edge from Jones screamed low into the gully where Neil Dexter pulled off a stunning catch diving to his left to break the partnership on 54 with Jones top scoring with 32 off 33. The end was nigh, as Finn yorked Richarson 3rd ball, for a duck on his 37th birthday, as Middlesex pulled off an unlikely win by 132 runs, Kapil finishing 21 not out. Roland-Jones took 3-29, Murtagh 3-39, Berg 2-20 and Finn 2-30 as a solid team bowling effort gave the hosts 19 points for their 2nd win of the year as they rose to third in the table with Worcestershire's two points leaving them 2nd from bottom.

Denly's Day

After two days of rain, the third day of Middlesex vs Worcestershire began with Middlesex 148-2 after only 40 overs play.
Joe Denly and Chris Rogers resumed in gloomy damp conditions and it wasn't long before David Lucas had Rogers caught behind by Ben Scott for 9. Dawid Malan then fell to Alan Richardson, tearing in from the Nursery End, for a duck and when Neil Dexter left one first ball that annihilated his off stump, Middlesex had slumped to 172-5.
There then followed a long rain delay and at 2:45 with the question being, how long would Middlesex bat for in a now likely draw. Denly passed fifty (94 balls) and John Simpson provided able support as the 200 came up before Richardson took his fourth, finding the edge of Simpson's bat on 14. Gareth Berg joined Denly, and they denied Richardson his fifth and took the score past 250. Both batsmen were a bit lucky as Moeen Ali missed a couple of half-chances at mid-wicket.
Denly then reached his first Middlesex hundred with his 17th boundary, cracking Richard Jones to the long on boundary. A great innings given the poor batting by some of his team mates. Richardson would not be stopped, however, and Berg edged behind for 36 with the score 298-7 for his fifth wicket. Tim Murtagh and Denly then decided to play some shots and get a move on towards the declaration. In three overs they added 29, with Denly swinging Richardson into the Grand Stand for 6 and lashing a couple more fours to finish 134 not out. Murtagh being 8 off 11. 327-7 represented a great total after the morning collapse and Richardson's 5-89 giving the visitors a chance.
Daryl Mitchell and Michael Klinger came out to bat in what was looking like a draw and although generally awful weather was to cut short the day there was still time for action. Klinger edged Murtagh to Strauss who spilled a fairly easy catch. Mitchell wasn't so lucky and after almost heading a Steve Finn bouncer for leg byes, he flicked Murtagh to Dexter at mid-wicket fall for 14. Toby Roland-Jones then had Klinger off what was eventually the last ball of the day, caught by Sam Robson for 17, Worcestershire finishing 45-2, still 133 off avoiding the follow on, which may prove tricky for their batsmen.

Getting Chopped Up By Onions...

After two days of almost total rain at Lord's, Middlesex were only 132-5 in their first innings against Durham, which became 132-6 when Neil Dexter edged Ben Stokes to Michael Di Venuto at slip from the 3rd ball of the day for 65. Gareth Berg (2) did the same thing off Callum Thorp. Luckily, the tail showed some fight as first Tim Murtagh then Toby Roland-Jones hit 18 and 17 respectably before the destroyer of the 2nd day Graham Onions returned from the Nursery End. Murtagh was caught behind and R-J skied to Ian Blackwell at mid-on to give Onions a handy 5-for, which he turned into 6-45 as Steve Finn poked to slip 2nd ball to leave Middlesx 188 all out, John Simpson unbeaten on 25.
The 6 overs before lunch brought 29 runs as Di Venuto and Will Smith feasted on loose bowling from Finn and Murtagh. The pair took the score to 59 when Finn produced a cracker to flatten Di Venuto's off stump for 30. Next over Murtagh forced Smith to edge to Malan at slip for 29. Paul Collingwood and Stokes played Durham past 100 with some good strokes before Collingwood edged to Strauss off Roland-Jones for 19, 109-3. Stokes hit 7 fours in his 45, when he gave Strauss his 2nd catch (as many balls as he'd faced batting) with an off stump swish off Finn. Dale Benkenstein was caught behind by Simpson off Berg for 24 and Blackwell (12) fell LBW to Finn in the next over to put Durham 164-6 still 24 behind with four wickets left at tea.
After tea Berg took two wickets in 3 balls as Mustard (ct Simpson 5) and Thorp (LBW 0) made the score 181-8. Mitch Claydon then hit two fours to bring up the lead before giving catching practice to Finn at mid-on off Murtagh, 194-9. The last wicket was to provide a crucial partnership as Onions (who else?) and Scott Borthwick clubbed quick runs. Borthwick hit Berg into the Grand stand for 6 and Onions hit an all four 20, including a sweet cover drive and some hard hits off Murtagh. Roland-Jones finally caused a miscue to Finn at mid-on to leave Durham 238 all out, 50 ahead, big, given the circumstances.
Middlesex then made heavy weather of the 11.3 that were possible before bad light stuck with the outfield seemingly slowing down for them, Strauss struggled to get off his pair and when he did it was due to a dropped catch by Thorp at gully. Onions was swinging the ball all around again, and bowled Strauss for 6 off the inside edge. 12-1 and still 38 behind Roland-Jones came in as nightwatchman and saw off the remaining time with Sam Robson to finish 21-1 with a draw looking likely.
The unusual observation of the day was either the three all-run fours or the pigeon that settled on a length as Robson was about to face Thorp and had to be chased away to the Grand Stand.

In A Good Mahmood

Another cold day, this time at Fenner's again for the 2nd day of Cambridge MCCU vs Lancashire. Lancashire resumed on 277-5 and were quickly moving as Steven Croft and Gareth Cross looked to add quick runs. Croft only added 3 to his score when he sliced Peter Turnbull to Craig Park at slip to pick up his 5th wicket. Sajid Mahmood had a quick hit until being caught low down at cover by Zafar Ansari off Turnbull for 14. 313-7 represented a reasonable performance from the students and although Cross (49*) and Kyle Hogg (12*) took this to 348-7 before the declaration, Turnbull's 6-108 stood out as an excellent performance against the county champions.
Mahmood then struck in the third over having Ben Ackland caught behind by Cross attempting a hook for a duck, Ackland's body language implied hat he didn't hit it, but that was to prove a small worry for Cambridge as the day wore on. Cambridge then played out the remaining overs to be only one down at lunch, but then the the superior opposition began to assert their dominance. Luke Procter, when he wasn't bowling one of his 12 no-balls in 7 overs, bowled James Johnson (20) and had Akbar Ansari (11) LBW in the first 35 minutes of the session. Inbetween Tom Smith had Park caught by Cross for 1, meaning Cambridge were now 74-4. Zafar Ansari then edged Smith behind to fall for a top scoring 25. Smith then caught Rob Woolley in the next over to give Procter his 3rd wicket, making it 86-6.
Dean Bell and Paul Best then brought up the 100, but the return of Mahmood signalled the beginning of the end as Best gave Smith his 2nd catch at slip on 18, and Turnbull was yorked first ball to put Mahmood on a hat trick. Matt Salisbury avoided the hat-trick ball, but Bell was then LBW to Hogg playing across the line for 9.
Mahmood then cleaned up having Patrick Sadler easily caught by Paul Horton at slip for 2, leaving Cambridge all out for 123, Salisbury being 1*. Mahmood finishing with 4-38, Procter 3-52 and Smith 2-12 with extras (35) being top scorer!
Lancashire began their 2nd innings with a "handy" lead of 225 but Steven Moore fell in the 3rd over for one, mistiming a flick off Turnbull to Sadler at mid-on, 5-1. Horton and Tom Smith then ground down the bowling, easily picking runs off the loose bowling before Smith decided to cut loose against Zafar Ansari, playing attacking strokes all round the wicket, reaching his 50 with one of a number of reverse sweeps for four. He celebrated by coming down the pitch and thumping the only six of the day off Ansari over long off. Smith looked like he'd reach his hundred before close but, in the cold and dark, he appeared to have some discomfort in his hamstring, or an immense case of boredom, because he promptly retired hurt on 83 off 70 (1x6, 12x4) with the score on 128. Horton batted in a more circumspect manner, scoring 48* off 112 balls but still with eight fours, picking off the bad balls with relative ease given the conditions.
Horton and Karl Brown (0 not out) batted out the last 5 overs to finish the day 134-1, 359 ahead and looking likely to declare early and have some more bowling practice. Turnbull finished with 1-14 from 7 overs.

What Just Happened?

Arrived at Lords with Surrey playing on the 3rd day against Middlesex and being 161-5 in their 1st innings still 94 behind Middlesex and looking to push for the lead.
Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown swung Corey Collymore into the Grand stand before edging a four of the next ball early in the day, but that was about as well as anyone batted for some time.
Chris Jordan was then bowled off the edge by Tim Murtagh before Batty was squared up by Collymore for Joe Denly to take a diving catch at point. Jon Lewis and Hamilton-Brown brought up the 200 when Toby Roland-Jones had HB lbw for 35. Lewis then heaved Dexter just over Collymore at mid-on before hitting one to Murtagh at mid-off. The End came with Jade Dernbach edging RJ to Gareth Berg at gully, Surrey 222 all out trailing by 34.
In reply Lewis opened the bowling with Zander De Bruyn and De Bruyn quickly enticed Denly to play a horrible hack outside off stump to go for 5, 21-1. After lunch, De Bruyn got Chris Rogers caught by Steve Davies for 4 playing a similarly awful shot, 29-2. Dawid Malan then joined Sam Robson and they moved the total along with comparative ease to 65 when Dernbach then clipped the off-bail of Malan on 13. Robson (43) then fell LBW in Dernbach's next over and Neil Dexter departed 3 balls later Middlesex were now 76-5 only 110 ahead. Berg then gave Lewis his 2nd wicket and Batty his 2nd catch to go for 1. John Simpson was then unluckily run out by Lewis in his follow through for a 27 ball 9. Murtagh brought up the 100 off Chris Jordan before Lewis then blasted out Ollie Rayner (7), Roland-Jones (6) and Collymore (0) to finish with 5-41 as Middlesex were bundled out for 106 leaving Surrey needing 141 to win in 4 sessions.
Roland-Jones got the first wicket in the 6th over trapping Jacques Rudolph LBW for 6 before the catch of the day in the next over. Davies (8) cut a short ball from Murtagh towards point where Denly then flung himself to his right to take a cracking catch, 14-2. Mark Ramprakash looked like a man at the end of his career as he and De Bruyn scratched around for 5 overs when Ramprakash edged Roland-Jones very low where Malan dived forward at first slip and took the catch, Ramps wasn't happy to go, but was sent on his way. 22-3 and Surrey looked in a bit of trouble only for Hamilton-Brown to again start hitting out against the bowling. They hauled down the runs required before a loose cut from De Bruyn on 15 gave Rogers a surprise catch at cover, 68-4. HB wasn't about to start blocking and, with a fair slice of luck, he went to his 50 from 49 balls a great innings given the circumstances. Tom Maynard drove a nice four then edged another away before Dexter missed a return catch off him. The last ball before bad light stopped play, Berg couldn't quite cling onto another caught and bowled chance from Maynard as Surrey, not happy to go off, finished 97-4 only needing another 44 to win in a tough game where 19 wickets fell and everyone batted at least once.

Napier, Masters, Wind, Mills

For a cold, windy Good Friday, why not go to Chelmsford to see the 2nd day of Essex vs Gloucestershire? Essex had been all out for 364 the evening before so Gloucestershire strated the day batting and, in tough conditions, they struggled. David Masters and Maurice Chambers found early swing and the first runs of the day were from Chris Dent's edge over the slips for four. His opening partner Richard Coughtrie fell in the next over for a duck, caught at slip by Alviro Petersen.
Dan Housego and Dent then somehow managed to add 62 for the 2nd wicket as edges fell short of the slips and chances were missed by both James Foster and Greg Smith. Finally, Tymal Mills splattered Dent's off stump for 38 before Housego and Alex Gidman saw them to 86-2 at lunch. After lunch was a different story as Gloucestershire's luck ran out and after a couple of good strokes Alex Gidman edged Masters to Foster to go for 15, 91-3. Hamish Marshall then looked all at sea against the swing and could only skew one from Chambers to cover where Masters took an excellent diving catch.
Housego brought up the 100 only to see Iain Cockbain play around a full ball from Chambers (0) and when Housego himself was bowled by Masters for 39, Gloucester were 108-6 having lost 4-22 since lunch. It was now bitterly cold, windy and dark with the ball swinging round corners as Ed Young was caught behind after blasting three 4s, off Masters on 13. Will Gidman, Ian Saxelby, James Fuller and Paul Muchall (on debut) then managed to cobble together a reasonable resistance as they got Gloucestershire to 180, Mills (3-35) and Graham Napier finished off tail still 35 short of avoiding the follow-on at the stroke of tea. Chambers took 3-49 and Masters 3-49 (off 20 overs) as Essex decided to enforce the follow-on against their hapless foes.
Given how badly the previous session had gone, their was only one way the match was heading and Napier and Masters ripped through the top order in a further (floodlight assisted) session of mayhem. First Dent was caught by Foster off Napier for 5. Then, after 45 minutes, Coughtrie was stuck on the pad, loud appeal, given out for a 33-ball duck to bag a pair in a day, leaving him scratching his head as to how Essex had scored runs yesterday. This spurred Napier on and Alex Gidman fell two balls later prodding to Tom Westley at slip for nought. 19-3 became 29-4 as Housego wafted Masters to Peterson at slip before Marshall fell LBW for eight leaving them 42-5 and meaning they had lost their last 13 wickets for 131.
Will Gidman and Cockbain then saw off 3 more overs when the umpires called them off for bad light, which when you've got floodlights on is a bit ridiculous, not that the batsmen complained, they were in the pavilion before Foster had realised what had happened. After all that Gloucestershire are left 55-5 still 129 away from making Essex bat again and making a 3 day finish almost certain.

Blood Among the Blue Caps

The 2012 season started with a trip to Fenner's for Essex taking on Cambridge MCCU.
Essex won the toss and batted, only to get bogged down by some good bowling from Peter Turnbull, Matt Salisbury and Robert Woolley. Billy Godleman and Tom Westley added 62 before Westley was LBW to Salisbury for 30. Jaik Mickleburgh was then dropped at slip off Turnbull before slicing the next ball to gully to fall for 9, 77-2. He then had Pettini caught behind by Dean Bell for a duck. That left Essex on 91-3 at lunch, which became 91-4 when Woolley got Wheater for another duck caught behind.
Greg Smith, newly acquired from Derbyshire came in began to hit the attack more easily as the bowlers tired.
Cambridge had further chances to take wickets as Godleman was missed from a stumping chance before he passed 50 but Salisbury then splattered his off stump for 57, leaving Essex still in a bit of trouble at 141-5.
The next wicket wasn't to fall for a while, quite a while as it happened as captain James Foster proceeded to hit the bowling around freely, easily milking the spinners including 16 off an over from Josh Poysden as Smith went past 50 and then on to a hundred from 103 balls, despite nearly being run out on 95. Foster reached his 50 soon after. Essex were 286-5 (Smith 106*) at tea and afterwards went about walloping a few more. Smith hit two more sixes before being bowled by Salisbury, only for it to be called a no-ball. Smith managed 21 fours as well as he raced to 160 before to edging Poysden to third man where Salisbury took a great diving catch making the score 366-6. Normally you'd expect the county side to declare now, but Essex, obviously incensed by the morning collapse went on a slaughterfest as Graham Napier joined Foster in 12 overs of Twenty20 hitting as Foster reached his hundred off 103 balls as the score went past 400 then 450 with Napier reaching a 32 ball 50. but that wasn't all as Napier carted 20 off the 87th over from Paul Best including the last ball being taken by the fielder who fell over the rope for six. This left Napier on 77 and Foster gave him the strike before carting 23 more off the over from Salisbury ending the over with a six towards the pavilion, a four over midwicket and finally a colossal six over the Hughes Hall at square leg to reach a crazy hundred from 48 balls with eight fours and eight sixes (including 6 of them in the final 9 balls). Essex promptly declared 506-6 from 88 overs with Foster on 114 (off 117) as well, and the bowlers nursing some painful figures including Best 0-148 from 22, Poysden 1-96 off 11, though Turnbull 2-75 showed some reward from the good morning.
There was just enough time for David Masters to dismiss Bell LBW for 10 as Cambridge ended the day 26-1 from 8 overs.

Desert Dreams

Yes, I'm still about though not having any games to go to, I've written a preview of the Pakistan-England series.

So England begin their series against Pakistan tomorrow in the neutral UAE in what is the first test for their number one Test Ranking.

After hammering India 4-0 at home in the summer Andrew Strauss and co. are at first glance the favourites against Misbah-ul-Haq's men who are ranked 5th. But looking deeper into it Pakistan have been one of the most improved sides of the last year after the spot-fixing scandal and with the likes of Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal and all-round hero Mohammad Hafeez they have a strong spin attack and have played enough games in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to know that runs are their to be scored if you are prepared to wait for them.
England have looked shaky in their two warm-up games and have relied on 2nd innings runs and generous declarations to win. Alaistair Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott have all been in great form for the past year but and it would be a surprise if they all failed to adapt to the conditions. That said, England have historically struggled in Asia and there is no better time than now to show they are truly the best team in the world.

The loss of Tim Bresnan for the whole series is a blow for England and has probably scuppered any immediate chance of Monty Panesar playing as a 2nd spinner with Graeme Swann, despite taking 5 against the PCB XI last week. Chris Tremlett will probably be the lucky bowler who gets in ahead of Steve Finn.

Both matches so far in Dubai have been fairly slow, low scoring affairs meaning that a patient start will be required and may not prove good for the likes of Strauss who hasn't scored a test hundred since Brisbane in 2010.

Umar Akmal is the future of Pakistan's batting and was one of the few stand out players from the disaster-thon of Pakistan's 2010 tour of England so ought to play ahead of Asad Shafiq.

England's fast bowlers won't be able to get away with bowling short on a slowish track so the likes of Anderson could prosper most. Umar Gul will lead the Pakistan bowling and his late swing could prove decisive with the older ball.

A draw may well be likely, but any small mistakes from either side could easily cost them the game and possibly the series.

First Test 17-21st January, Dubai
Second Test 25-29th January, Abu Dhabi
Third Test 3-7th February, Dubai.