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

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.

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.

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.

If Only...

The final match report of the year for the final CB40 group match of the year as Middlesex take on Sussex at Lord's on the August Bank Holiday. The battle of the top two in the group with only the group winner to qualify for the final, which would be Sussex unless Middlesex utterly destroyed them.
Sussex won the toss and batted and Ed Joyce and Chris Nash then proceeded to hammer along against an attack with some key players rested. Anthony Ireland went for 23 in his first two overs as Sussex reached 47 after 6 overs with Toby Roland-Jones and the lesser spotted Robbie Williams stemming the tide only slightly although the bowling powerplay only went for 21, Nash swinging Williams for 6 in the process and reaching 50 off 38 balls whilst Joyce played more carefully as they had added 90 in 14 overs when Nash went for one shot too many off Jamie Dalrymple and was bowled for 57. Lou Vincent came in and he and Joyce scored steadily as the total pushed along. Joyce passed 50 off 64 before swinging one from Dawid Malan to Sam Robson at long on for 54, 149-2 after 25.
Middlesex needed more wickets to stop Sussex posting 270+ and Murray Goodwin started quickly, only to top edge a ball that rolled onto his stumps from the economical Tom Smith (8-0-22-1) for 18, 178-3. Next over Vincent holed out off Dalrymple to Williams for 42 when he looked ready to up the run rate, 184-4. Captain Mike yardy and Joe Gatting then added 38 in the batting powerplay and 14 off the last two overs even though Gatting was caught by Scott Newman at midwicket off Roland-Jones for 26 o ff the penultimate ball. Sussex finished 239-5 leaving Middlesex a chase that they would feel they had a chance with. Dalrymple was the best bowler, with 2-41.
Malan and Robson opened the batting and they made steady progress, going along at five an over against Amjad Khan and Chris Liddle, reaching 43 after 8 overs. Crunching fours were mixed with smart play as both batsmen showed off a bit, Robson late cutting one over the slips for 4 and Malan smacking a big six off Monty Panesar. Sussex's day was summed up when Khan on the boundary let one through his legs for 4. The 100 partnership came up after 16 overs. Malan reached 50 off 48 balls and Robson off 53 balls. Middlesex weren't blasting it, but were edging nearer the target without losing wickets. Malan also passed 500 runs for the tournament. 153-0 after 25 overs and a crack at the first wicket record looked on as Malan, looking for his 2nd hundred of the year, edged Wayne Parnell to Ben Brown to fall for 84 (off 84!).  Next over, Robson's maiden List A 50 ended when he was bowled by Yardy for 65, 157-2.
Paul Stirling and Chris Rogers then endured a tough few overs, Rogers almost being bowled before they cut loose and flayed the bowling around, Stirling hitting Panesar for another huge six into the Mound Stand in the 29th over. Yardy then bought back Parnell for the 33rd over, which promptly disappeared for 19, Stirling effortlessly flicking the ball into the Mound Stand again before Rogers walloped one to the vacant midwicket area. 213-2 and Middlesex were almost there with Nash and Gatting on to bowl, Sussex weren't expecting to win now. Nash did have Rogers LBW for 37, a partnership of 72 off 57, 229-3. Bit this didn't stop Stirling, who hit Gatting into the Mound Stand again, before driving a single off Nash to finish 46* off 29 and to win the match by 7 wickets with 17 balls left. The win, whilst impressive meant Sussex still qualified top with their superior net run rate but Middlesex could be happy to end this part of their season on a high before getting back to the important business of winning championship promotion.

We All Fall Down...

16th August, Canterbury, under the floodlights for Kent vs Middlesex in the CB40 in front of the Sky cameras as Middlesex needed to win to have any chance of making the semi finals. Neil Dexter won the toss and Middlesex decided to bat first with Martin Van Jaarsveld captaining Kent with Rob Key rested.
Scott Newman and Dawid Malan opened the batting and scored slowly off the first seven overs before Newman was caught behind off Azhar Mahmood for 11, 23-1. Malan and Paul Stirling then set about scoring at a healthy pace and brought up their 50 partnership in the 14th over. The pair batted well without scoring many boundaries and Malan reached his 50 off 58 balls with Middlesex cruising past 100 and Van Jaarsveld trying eight different bowlers and shortly after the 100 partnership the eighth one (Simon Cook) had Stirling just stumped in the 22nd over for 45 leaving Middlesex 130-2.
Dexter now joined Malan and they carried on the good work and with 10 overs to go Middlesex were 193-2 and looking well placed to make 280+ and the batting powerplay was taken at the start of the 32nd over which Wahab Riaz obliged in bowling 3 consecutive no-balls in as Malan reached his first List-A hundred off 106 balls though not without some trouble from Riaz's yorkers which he fell over twice. The 36th over was to prove the beginning of the Kent fightback as Riaz had Malan LBW falling over another yorker for an excellent 107, 239-3.
Malan's teammates then conspired to throw away the chance of a big total as the last eight wickets fell for 24 in 26 balls. Chris Rogers edged Mahmood to Geraint Jones for 3, John Simpson was LBW to Riaz for 5, Dexter, after reaching his 50 off 46 chipped one to substitute Matt Coles at mid on for 58. Steve Crook was caught by Tredwell off Mahmood for 0, Tom Smith also fell for 1 in the same over caught at third man. Jamie Dalrymple then had his off stump cartwheeled by Riaz for 2 and Toby Roland-Jones went almost identically next ball to leave Riaz with 5-46 and Mahmood 4-52 and Middlesex 263 all out with 3 balls left unfaced.
Tim Murtagh opened the bowling and the spin of Smith opened from the Nackington Road End and Smith bowled what turned out to be the only maiden over in the match. Only 15 came from the first 4 overs but soon it became clear that this was a good pitch and that scoring runs on it was really quite easy and the 50 came up before Daniel Bell-Drummond sliced Crook to Rogers on the boundary for 17, 51-1. Next over, Roland-Jones had Joe Denly LBW for 28, 55-2. Van Jaarsveld then gave Malan a catch to fall for 0 and Kent were 56-3 and Middlesex were back in the game again.
Mahmood and Darren Stevens then set about steadying the ship and kicked on as the pair added 90 in 12.1 overs before Mahmood was LBW to Malan for 46, 146-3. Sam Northeast helped Stevens past 50 (42 balls). 74 runs were needed off the final 10 overs just when it looked like the game was gone, Stevens fell for 65 giving Dexter an easy wicket. 195-5 became 213-6 as Jones hoisted one from Roland-Jones to Crook at long-on who took an easy catch. Adam Ball joined Northeast and they added the partnership which took Kent almost to the win with 29 in 3.4 overs before Ball edged Roland Jones to Simpson for 19. 22 needed off 16 had been reduced to 15 off 12 when Northeast launched one off Murtagh high towards Smith at deep midwicket who ran round and dropped the catch over the ropes for 6 to bring up Northeast's 50 (43 balls) and to almost win the game for Kent, 3 balls later another heave produced a drop from Crook at long-on. Northeast's next heave off the last ball of the over did produce his downfall (ct Dexter b Murtagh 57) as only 4 were needed off the final over which were easily achieved by Riaz(12*) and Tredwell(1*) for Kent to finish 264-8 and win by 2 wickets with 3 balls left. Roland Jones finished with 3-51 and Crook 2-38 as Middlesex now had a very limited chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the CB40. Mahmood was given man of the match for his all-round performance and everyone shot off home as the championship game between these sides begins at noon.

Unicorns Are Real, and They Play Cricket

Bury St Edmunds, an unusual venue for Unicorns vs Essex, on a sunny day (not what the forecast said) Unicorns won the toss and batted.
This was not to be their day as Napier bowled Lett, then Thornely was lbw to Masters for 25, which proved to be the 2nd highest score. Campbell and Knappett then launched a recovery before the collapse began. Ravi Bopara bagged Campbell and Parsons in his first over Knappett was unluckily bowled off his pad by Tim Phillips. Amar Rashid went as well in the same over to leave the Unicorns 71-6. Phillips then took the next three to fall as Saker, Querl (the third 2nd ball duck of the innings) and Wheeldon all fell to varying degrees of shot to leave the Unicorns 98-9 with 10 overs still to go.
Then Chris Benham finally had someone to bat with in Tom Craddock on debut. Benham went after Phillips to ruin his figures slightly (5-28) on his way to a 66 ball 50. He then hit two fours off the under par Tsotsobe before holing out to Matt Walker at deep midwicket for 58 to set Essex 138 to win.
Essex's reply was steady with Pettini occupying the crease whilst Cook went after the bowling as Essex took the batting powerplay in the 11th over. Cook would fall though to a cracking yorker from Saker for 38 (which would later be voted champagne moment) as Napier came in to try and finish it off from 53-1. He didn't really get going on the slow track and after swiping a six off Craddock hit one to cover for 11.
Bopara and Pettini then batted Essex to a slow win with 5.5 overs to spare with Bopara hitting Benham's first ball in list-a cricket for 4. He finished 29 not out and Pettini 48 not out (off 100 balls) and Phillips was voted man of the match for his bowling.