Morgan the Magnificent

The final (probably ever) 40 over game for Middlesex was against Leicestershire at Lord's on August bank holiday. Eoin Morgan was captaining Middlesex in his last game before going off on England duty, won the toss and fielded, and it began fairly evenly as an early pull for six from Greg Smith over the short square boundaries was tempered by Josh Cobb departing for six driving Finn to mid off. Ned Eckersley joined Smith in adding a 50 partnership to lay a solid foundation, Smith reaching 50 off 61 balls before slicing into the deep off Ravi Patel for 56, 91-2. Eckersley and Matt Boyce kicked on in the 2nd half of the innings, lofting the ball over the short boundary as Eckersley completed 50 from 53 balls and looked set for a hundred, before smearing Harris to Roland-Jones in the deep for 73, 186-3 and a good total on the cards.
Boyce then brought up the 200 and reached his 50 from 51 balls, then sliced to point for 53, to give Ollie Wilkin his first wicket. Wilkin then had two in five as Mike Thornley edged behind having a huge swing, 222-5 with 3 overs left. Two balls later Rob Taylor holed out off Roland-Jones for 5, 226-6, things were getting a bit tense as Middlesex were running out of time to finish their overs as Patel rushed to complete the 39th over. Ben Raine smashed a six, then smashed to Morgan in the deep and (after a six run ppenalty as Middlesex failed to finish their overs in time) Shiv Thakor top edged Harris to Finn at fine leg, 248-8. Then Harris had another final over meltdown like he had against Somerset, as Tom Wells as three balls disappeared for four, and a no ball bouncer was iced by a short ball whacked into the Grand Stand and the final ball of the innings a length ball that was smoked over extra cover into the Mound Stand, Wells making 31 off 11 balls, the last over costing 32 with the penalty and Leicestershire making a challenging 274-8.
Straight away Dawid Malan edged Rob Taylor behind first ball and then Paul Stirling lost his middle stump to Nathan Buck as Middlesex slumped to 22-2. Joe Denly and Eoin Morgan revived the chase with a quick 72, Morgan looking particularly good against the spinners. Denly then chipped a return catch to James Sykes who had to dive over non-striker Morgan to complete the catch, 94-3.
Adam Voges, also his last game, joined Morgan as the skip reached 50 from 43 balls, leaving Middlesex needing 143 with 20 overs left. Morgan raced onwards adding 81 in 9 overs and moved onto 90 before scooping the ball to Smith off Thakor for 90 from 63, a great knock, but with 100 still needed, job not finished. Voges then fell in identical fashion for 37 and at 198-5 Leicestershire were back in the game. Enter John Simpson, who along with Wilkin, went on the attack and found the boundary as Taylor and Buck wilted under pressure, and it was down to 18 off 20 when Wilkin top edged to third man for a handy 20. But there was to be no panic, as Simpson swung Taylor for a short six, completed a 37 ball 50, and then hit back to back boundaries off Buck ending it with a late cut, to win by 4 wickets with 10 balls to spare, Simpson unbeaten with 58 off 39. A pleasing end for what was a solid one day season.

A Giddy Day in Leicester

A different day, a different ground. Leicester, for the 2nd day of Leicestershire's Championship game against Gloucestershire, why can't they make it easy to get to from Northampton?
Arrived at the ground just before the start where Gloucester started the 2nd day 177-3. Kane Williamson moved on from his overnight 102 to 149 before he was brilliantly caught low down by the giant Will Jefferson off Hoggard. At the other end Alex Gidman, the captain anchored the innings and was unbeaten at lunch after bringing up his fifty with a six off Henderson as the Leicester bowlers were looking pretty weak, even Kadeer Ali bowled an over, on a flat pitch with Gloucester 286-4.
After lunch, Gidman moved on past his hundred for the first time since 2009. His brother Will was the only wicket to fall lbw to Jigar Naik as Gloucester carried on to 419-5 at tea with Alex cracking his 150 and Gloucester scrambled their final batting point off the penultimate ball of the 110th over. Throughout the session, Hoggard kept the fielders awake with his witty banter.
Tea seemed to bring with it an improvement in the bowlers as the Gloucester quick run search turned into wickets with Gidman finally falling to Henderson for an excellent 168. Ed Young and Jon Batty then fell to Naik as Leicester fought their way back, Ian Saxelby hit Henderson for a massive six into the pavilion before Naik had him lbw as well. Jon Lewis hit Henderson for another six, then with a missed stumping bringing two byes, the declaration came with Gloucester 504-9.
This left Leicester 8 overs to bat and they did this to finish 15-0, Boyce (14*) taking 12 off one over from Saxelby.
Overall the day wasn't that great for Leicester although their good over rate (+8 at one point) meant play finished at exactly 6pm. Naik was the pick of the bowlers with 4-91 although Hoggard(3-80) looked menacing when the new ball had been taken.