Quote of the day:

"Smith plays hardball.  Middlesex held a 361 lead when Eoin Morgan was out. A declaration soon after would have seemed logical. Instead, Smith, allowed the innings to come to a natural end. Whether it was in response to Essex not letting Middlesex to use a substitute keeper, for the injured David Nash in the reverse fixture at Chelmsford in May, is a moot point. But there seemed to be no good cricketing reason": source Daily Telegraph.

As it panned out, had Smith taken their advice, Middlesex would have been required to bat again as Essex totalled 384ao.(required 422). Not significant, but you never know. So Smithy was vindicated on this occasion. SM.
 

Scenario:

Overnight Essex 200 for 4 requiring a further 222 to make The Middle bat again. As events were to prove, they failed in that quest and lost by an innings.
 
1st session:

Opening over Murts to Pettini from P.E. This led to a couple of lbw shouts. Dirk from the N.E. 96 overs available for The Middle to take 6 wickets. Ryan ten Doeschate passed 50 in the third over. Finn was first change from NE for Dirk, who had a very short spell.

Soon after Pettini (75) fell with the oppo's score on 239, ct by Shaggy at midwicket off Murts. Time 11.40. Double bowling change had Berg at PE and Udal at NE. We settled down to a 'winkling out job '. This led to constant bowling changes. The new ball was taken at 12.35. This immediately produced a wicket, Foster (23) lbw to Murts off his 2nd ball. Fall at 283.

Nannes resumed at NE. In his next over, Murts removed ten Doeschate for 78: bowled. 7th wicket fell at 12.50. Score 288. The last over before lunch nearly produced a runout by sub fielder Adam London. Lunch 297 for 7. A satisfactory situation. With 3 wickets taken against an expectation of 2. We had a bonus wicket and the ' winkling out ' had proceeded at pace.

Lunch:

Perambulation was allowed: so strolled across the outfield through to the back gate to pick up an icecream. Not too many opportunities to do that this summer so far.
 

2nd session:

Fancied it would be over in 45 mins but in fact it took an hour. Murts opened the session to Middlebrook. Immediate success, as the batsman was removed plumb lbw from the second ball of the over. 297 for 8. Middlebrook (8).

This gave Murts a ten wicket match haul. Superb and deserved. Only fly in the ointment was that the over-rate showed -1. So Shah was entrusted with the new ball to adjust that situation. This he did  but gave away a few unimportant runs in so doing. The Essex late order taking advantage to tonk a few boundaries.   [Editor's note: I arrived just in time to miss the 8th wicket fall, and to see Ace bowling.  I noticed that the over rate was showing -1 and remarked "I wonder whether we think Ace is the most likely bowler to finish this match off or whether we've spotted that the over rate in -1".  Of course, subtle humour only works to a limited extent on Turkey Hill so I had the match situation explained to me in no small detail....]

It was back to ' nil points ' by the 92nd over of the innings. Nannes then resumed at NE. Tudor tried to smash Nannes out of the ground but without making any contact. The Essex 9th wicket put on 50 in 37 balls and 21 minutes. So no lack of entertainment with the tiring Murts being hammered for 3 successive fours by Tudes. Finn replaced Murts: his first ball being edged over the slips.  [Editor's note: that bowling change came recommended by both Seaxe Man and Ged - it would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those pesky kids].

Good over. Nannes pitched one up to castle Masters off stump, for 27. Fall 356. Amusingly, the scoreboard recorded this dismissal as lbw. Later corrected.  [Editor's note: the Allen Stand scoreboard was playing up more than the aforementioned daft error - firstly a large chunk of the board's pixels disappeared - then the whole board darkened, then disappeared completely, then returned in it's partial and darkened form.  To be fair, the boards are now several months old so perhaps we should expect them to be crocked.] 

Kaneria had joined Tudes and the pair added a rumbustious 38 before Shaggy's 1st ball on return was slogged by Danish and caught by sub Housego at deep mid wicket. Tudor was left stranded on 47no. Essex 384ao. Win for The Middle by an innings and 38 runs. Time 3.42.  [Editor's note: I met quite a few MTWD readers today, initially by watching up on Turkey Hill and then on my guided tour of "the clockwise route round the ground ensuring that you don't miss a ball". We concluded that semi-circuit by plonking ourselves onto Long Room seats only to witness the final ball of the match and then the celebrations.  The first time I have ever seen a match conclude in that hallowed hall.  Most enjoyable]

Summation:

A pleasing result in reversing the Chelmers result bigtime: points Middx 22 Essex 1. The afficianados in Upper Edrich made that this placed us third but Warwickshire were, when I looked ( on ceefax) requiring a further 73 to beat Glammy with an hour and 9 wickets left. So unsure where that leaves us, but a win is a win.  [Editor's note: Warwickshire won despite... we're still a very respectable third with a game in hand over Warws but 21 points adrift from them http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/countycricket2008/engine/series/319687.html?view=pointstable]

 Two successive Midd-x wins at Lord's, has not been done too often in the 21st century. We obviously need to win most of our home games to maintain the challenge. Two interesting games against Northants and Warwick (both in the frame) are next on the list at Park Road, Uxbridge, bracketing Glaws at Bristol. These follow the mid season 20/20 break.

Other news:

Gareth Berg left the field with a slight injury before lunch and did not return. Hopefully this was precautionary.
 
Seaxe Man: 9th June 2008