Middlesex Championship Division 4 (2nd XI)
5 August 2006

Having had my return to action delayed by a week owing to a pressing need for an umpire in the 1st XI match v Polytechnic, I was handed the Captain’s armband for the visit of the League leaders Grove Park.

Revenge was in the air because GP’s only defeat of the campaign had been against us but odds on doing the “double” was, with respect, a tough ask. Survivors from the PCC line up were few & far between whereas GP arrived at Broadfields with a number of familiar faces.

GP won the toss & opted to bat. Our new ball attack of Matt Ashton & Anthony Campbell were soon in action & while Matt generated a lot of movement, Anthony settled for bowling a tidy off stump line. GP’s openers were forced to play a watchful game for the majority of the 1st hour. Chances were far & few though the odd play & miss did give us hope.

Once the breakthrough did come, it was not until 53 was on the score board. Even then it was a rather lucky wicket. Yorath was too quickly into position for the short ball & wicketkeeper Leon Parks was grateful to take the dolly off the back of the bat. GP’s Captain & number 3, Lee, aimed more than a few violent drives in his brief innings before clipping an full toss from Adrian Reed (who’d replaced Anthony) to square leg. In Adrian’s next over the other opener, Kenny, cut a short ball to point. On taking the catch, Anthony had done some damage to a finger on his bowling hand. His prospects of bowling again looked remote.

At 89/3 we were definitely back in the contest but Glover (in at 5) had other ideas. He immediately greeted new bowler Simon Wilkinson with a straight 6 & continued to play aggressively scoring 29 quick runs before Simon produced a pearler of a delivery to knock the off stump back (136/4).

With plenty of time still to bat, Jacobs & Costello got their heads down & in between the odd lofted boundary ran intelligently between the wickets. Aided by some rather generous calling of wides & no balls the total crept up to 173 before McEvoy bowled Jacobs. A surprising addition to the bowling attack (surprising in that I was unaware he could bowl), McEvoy bowled well at a difficult time in the innings. It also gave his Skipper the chance to rest Ashton in time for a final burst in the closing overs.

Having bowled very well in his first 7-8 overs (which cost something like 30), Wilkinson was targeted for a bit of tap in the final overs before a well overdue declaration at 267 for 8. On reflection I ought to have replaced him but 1, you can’t take a bowler off midway through an over & 2, someone of Simon’s experience is more likely to deal with pressure than someone newer to the team. It wasn’t all gloom & doom. Kevin picked up a very handy 3 wickets in his 5 over spell at the other end. One of those was that of Costello who had played an excellent innings of 54 which incidentally was the top score of the innings.

Survival was the only target when we began our innings. The few who had played GP up at their place in early June knew what a dangerous bowling & fielding side they could be. When the early wicket fell it was a touch unlucky though I can fully understand why the umpire (John O’Hara) gave it out. As I shaped to play an inswinger the ball clipped my boot & took a fairly big deflection where their keeper held an amazing diving catch.

That happened in the 4th over but what occurred in the 6th over defied belief. Bowling not very dangerous looking medium pace, Jupe claimed wickets with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 5th balls of the over.

First to go was Steve Houchin who hit drove to cover point. Second was Paul Lane who completed a “king pair” against GP by swishing a ball that got big on him & giving slip/gully catching practice. In on a hat trick, Leon Parks was trapped lbw to one that scuttled along the deck (though Leon’s view of it may differ) and finally John O’Hara survived his 1st ball only to fall to his 2nd with an attempted hoick. This left the score at 7/5. Some bad luck & I have to say some poor shot selection.

It was to get worse when Matt Ashton (1st ball) was clean bowled next over leaving us 8/6 & with Anthony unlikely to be able to bat, on the verge of total humiliation. The final 2 wickets added 22 but that was of little consolation. We had been well & truly hammered. Best to learn from this & quickly move on.

NK