North Sends Middlesex South

Middlesex's first game of the new 40 over season began with Glamorgan at Lord's. Middlesex won the toss and fielded, which soon looked a bit dodgy, as Will Bragg targeted the short boundary early, and had reached 30 in 7 overs when Toby Roland-Jones removed Mark Wallace for 7, caught by Dawid Malan at first slip. The over got better as Chris Cooke pushed his third ball to cover and set off for the single, only for Joe Denly to field the ball and hurl down the stumps at the Pavilion End with Cooke short of his ground for nought, 38-2.

This brought in Marcus North, who set about milking the the change bowlers as they eased along at 5 an over up to the 18th over, as Bragg passed 50 from 53 balls. At the halfway stage, Glamorgan were 107-2 and looking set to a make a big score, with North going to his 50 from 47 balls. Finally a wicket fell, Bragg edging a ball from Josh Davey to Tom Smith at short third man, who took a good catch to go for 62, 124-3. This only brought in Jim Allenby, who gave North plenty of the strike, which set up a charge in the final 10 overs, Smith going for 13 in an over, before Neil Dexter was swung into the Grand Stand next over, before a quick two from North brought up his 100 from 81 balls as the runs flowed easily, the 100 partnership came, then Allenby reached his 50 from 39 balls. The last four overs brought a further 52 runs, Allenby finishing with 69 off 50, and North a majestic 137 off 98 balls, 16 fours and 3 sixes. Glamorgan's 280-3 was their highest against Middlesex and would take some chasing.
Malan and Chris Rogers opened the batting, and managed to take 11 off the first two overs, and then looked set with 42 after six, as Glamorgan weren't that accurate, giving away early wides. The charge couldn't last, as Rogers got a leading edge off Allenby to Murray Goodwin at cover, to go for 22, 43-1. Paul Stirling and Malan played sensibly, scoring runs where they could, but with the score on 79, Malan (35) pushed a ball from Will Owen to Dean Cosker at point. Then the innings fell away somewhat, even though Stirling swiped boundary to the short boundaries, as Denly was caught behind by Mark Wallace off Owen for 11, 107-3 after 18. Owen made it two in three balls by bowling the big fish of Stirling for 36 off 34, 110-4. Gareth Berg and Dexter took up the challenge with the required rate rising, with Berg hitting consecutive boundaries off Cosker, then Dexter hammering Hogan down the ground for six.
But the partnership ended at 60, Dexter chopping Hogan to Cooke on the point boundary for 24, 170-5. John Simpson quickly followed, giving Mike Reed an easy catch off Wagg on the cover fence for 1. Berg carried on hitting, Allenby walloped for six, then Owen for four and then six more into the Grand Stand as Berg reached 50 from 40 balls. Davey fell for 5, swinging an Allenby full toss to Cooke and Roland-Jones for a run a ball 12, leaving 56 from the last four overs. Berg hit two more fours, but was cleaned up by a Michael Hogan yorker for 75 from 57 as Middlesex finished 254-9 losing by 26 runs. North earning man of the match for his captain's innings

A Bit of a Change

Instead of heading to the fourth day at Lord's, lets head instead to The Oval, where Surrey Women were taking on Yorkshire Women in the Women's County Championship. Yorkshire (starting as favourites) won the toss and chose to bat. The started solidly, with England Acadmeny keeper Loz Winfield outscoring Kathryn Doherty  when Doherty fell LBW to another Acadmeny player Nat Sciver for 1, 26-1. Sciver then got another in the same over as Jess Watson also fell LBW for nought, 27-2. Yorkshire were soon in a bit of trouble as Katherine Robson bagged Dani Hazell for another duck, a wild slash to point where the sub took the catch, 31-3.

Then came some stability in the innings with Winfield and Hollie Armitage seeing off openers and settling in to the rest of Surrey's young attack. The pair found runs difficult to come by but Surrey should have had Armitage at slip, but the chance went down. The fifty partnership came up with a flick through square leg from Winfield. But Armitage then departed edging Cecily Scutt's left arm spin to keeper Lucy Binns for 25, 89-4. Winfield reached her 50 (85 balls) and took Yorkshire past 100 as she began to look to hit the ball over the infield Salliann Briggs holed out to cover off Jess Jackson for 4, 108-5 with plenty of overs left. Laura Spragg only last two balls before chipping one down the track for Jackson to take a good catch high above her head.

Winfield was kept off strike for a couple of overs and Phoebe Graham got to five before lifting one to the infield to give the impressive Jackson her third wicket, 115-7 and a possible upset on. Winfield went back to attacking the bowling, launching the ball to the leg side boundary with some powerful drives and sweeps. This was the innings that brought all the runs as she added 33 for the eighth wicket with Kennedy Nuttall, whose contribution was four, though Surrey dropped Winfield in the deep when she was on 70, there weren't many other chances. Nuttall was eventually run out taking a quick single to mid on by a direct hit from Jackson (to go with 3-27 from her 10) to leave Surrey 148-8. Winfield kept attacking but on 96, her luck ran out as she hoisted one towards long off, where Beth Kerins ran round and just clung on to the catch, a disappointing end to an innings that formed the bulk of the total with 15 fours. The end came soon after, Aimee Simms pushed a single square, hesitated, went and was run out by Hannah Jones's throw to Clarke for 5 with Katie Levick 4 not out, 169 all out, an achievable target if Surrey showed application.
Surrey began their chase cautiously with Spragg and Levick giving little away, apart from an early set of 5 wides from Spragg sprayed past Winfield. Sophie Pout was first to go, caught by Hazell inside the circle for two, 14-1. This brought Sciver in who started whittling down the runs required thanks to the favourable required run rate with 13 year old Hannah Jones, they saw off the opening bowlers, but Jones was out caught by Watson off Graham for 13, 44-2. Sciver then started swinging away, hitting a couple of fours straight and square down through backward square leg, as Kirsty White chipped a return catch to Hazell for 1 having helped a partnership of 31, 75-2. That was to be Hazell's only wicket despite some fierce appealing. Sciver motored along to her 50 from 60 balls, but lost Scutt lbw to Simms for 8 with 77 still remaining.
Briggs then brought back Levick from the pavilion end, and set a field with four fielders in the leg side arc, when Sciver then hit one straight to Armitage at deep midwicket to fall for 68 off 91 with 10 fours, 122-5, and it was up to Clarke and the tail to see what they could do. Kerins though, was bowled by Simms for 6 and Lucy Binns was bowled by Spragg for 4 as the score became 138-7. Clarke hit two fours to bring up the 150, and with Jackson it looked like they might do it. Briggs decided to bring on Armitage from the Vauxhall end with 17 needed from 30 and, after starting with a wide, trapped Clarke LBW next ball for 22. She then bowled Robson off stump third ball for a duck before finishing it off next over as Jackson (6) charged, missed and the ball clipped the off bail as Surrey were all out for 157 to lose by 12 runs, Armitage finishing with handy figures of 3-2 from 10 balls.

The Comeback

Middlesex began the 3rd day against Surrey at Lord's in a bit of trouble, 161-9, still 177 behind, and Corey Collymore was soon LBW for 1, 166 all out. Graeme Smith, unsurprisingly enforced the follow on, so Sam Robson and Chris Rogers were out to bat as much of the two days as they could to save the game.
This time round, the pitch seemed flat and batting was easier, an early set of four overthrows was happily accepted by Rogers, as runs flowed more freely with 50 being reached in the 17th over. Lunch came and went before Robson reached his 50 from 79 balls. Even Gareth Batty's spin proved ineffective at removing anything, as the 100 came up with Rogers then getting to a 94 ball 50. The only thing that looked likely to break the partnership was some of the interesting running from Rogers, with three different occasions in the afternoon session where a quick single almost ended up in a run out.
Surrey looked a fast bowler light, with Zander De Bruyn bowling more overs than would be ideal as Rogers accelerated to catch up with Robson's score (76 to 71) as the 150 came up with four leg byes to the Media Centre boundary, the first extras conceded by Surrey in the match. Middlesex went into the lead in the match still none down and with enough time to possibly force victory as 3 runs an over was easily achieved without any risks being taken as Robson and Rogers happily left the short ball and Rogers was to reach his 100 from 185 balls with a push through midwicket, and Robson, next over, reached his 100 also from 185 balls with a quick single off Batty. Both batsmen cut loose, as the partnership passed 231, it became the highest first wicket for Middlesex against Surrey, beating a hundred year old record. Rory Burns got his first bowl in professional cricket, as the 250 came up in the 72nd over, before De Brutn got one to bounce on Robson, who went for the pull to edge through to keeper Steve Davies to go for 129 for the first wicket in about 5 hours, 259-1.
Vikram Solanki dropped Denly at slip on nought, but caught him just before close having a nothing poke to Jade Dernbach with the new ball for 12, 279-2. Steve Finn came in as nightwatchman, and saw Middlesex to close 283-2, Finn 4 not out and Rogers 131 not out. Middlesex leading by 111 with one day left, could they force an improbable win?

A Tale Of The Tail

The 2nd day of Essex vs Hampshire at Chelmsford began with Essex in a bit of bother at 72-5, still 125 runs behind Hampshire's first innings total. The day didn't begin well as James Tomlinson forced Ben Foakes to edge one to keeper Adam Wheater for 20, though it took a 2nd appeal to convince the umpire, 73-6.
James Foster and Alistair Cook then carried on the recovery at a slow pace as the Hampshire bowling swarmed around them and 100 came and went, then Foster played a nothing perod to Danny Briggs to chip the ball straight back to him for 25, 117-7. Graham Napier and Cook took Essex to lunch, Cook reaching his 50 from 131 balls.
Cook was out soon after lunch, LBW to Tomlinson for 59 and 156-8, still 41 behind as Tim Phillips joined Napier. The pair swung to came towards Essex, repelling the bowlers and finding a regular supply of boundaries, including Napier's six off Briggs into the pavilion. They brought Essex the lead, and then the 200 with Napier reaching his 2nd fifty of the season from 81 balls. The runs were now flowing, and the first ball of the new ball was cracked by Napier to Carberry at point who fielded sharply, returned the ball before then wringing his hand from the pain. It was almost a surprise when Chris Wood managed to get some movement to have Napier LBW for 74 with the score on 243 with only Topley (average of pretty much nothing) to come. A couple of hits from Phillips gained the 2nd batting point before Topley edged Briggs to short leg where Shaun Ervine took a sharp catch, 254 all out a lead of 57 with Phillips 40 not out and Hampshire's 2nd innings to begin after tea.
Hampshire began cautiously, with the accurate bowling of David Masters and Topley tying them down a little when Master induced the edge off Carberry where Ben Foakes took a reaction catch above his head at short leg for 2, 14-1. Master then got his 2nd next over, Adams LBW for 9 as Essex looked like they might blast through the batting that evening. Liam Dawson and George Bailey held firm, however, and they whittled down the defecit before taking Hampshire safely to close 20 ahead on 77-2, Bailey on 26, Dawson on 31.