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.

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.