The Home of Cricket, an ICC2011 story

[Dutz]

Big blow for Malan to be missing hes a rock in the middle order for Middlesex, looks like the younger ones will have to step up!

[Jorg]

Big blow for Malan to be missing hes a rock in the middle order for Middlesex, looks like the younger ones will have to step up!

It is certainly a disappointment but I have quite a few options.

[Jorg]

On to our first game of the season. A warm-up game away to Cambridge University.

It was a 3-day game, the pitch was decent but the outfield was slow and the forecast wasn't good. I wanted to bat first and my wish was granted when Cambridge won the toss and put us in.

Middlesex Team
Newman, Robson, Rogers, Dexter (c), Davey, Dalrymple, Simpson (wk), Murtagh, Roland-Jones, Williams and Finn.

Day 1
The two openers looked a bit suspect and went early. Rogers and Dexter looked good and took us up to 123-2 at lunch. Dexter 41 (79) went after lunch and Dalrymple followed for a run a ball 20. Rogers went on to make 86 and Davey 38 (86) played a very mature innings. At tea, we were 258-6. Simpson 50 (92) shared a 70-run partnership with Murtagh before departing. Rain brought the session to an end and we finished the day on 329-7.

Day 2
We batted on in the morning. Murtagh reached his 50 off 121 balls, sharing a partnership of 85 with Roland-Jones. Murtagh was in great form with the bat and brought up his century before lunch. We declared on 405-7 with the sky looking very dark. Cambridge struggled in the afternoon session and at tea they were 69-4 after good spells from Finn and Roland-Jones. We bowled them out for 128 after a superb spell from Murtagh 7.3-1-20-5, he couldn't do anything wrong. I decided not to enforce the follow-on so the batters could get some more practice. We were 31-0 at the close.

Day 3
Day three started with the sun shining. The score was on 132 before we lost our first wicket, Robson going for 42. I was waiting for Newman to get his century and he did just that after lunch, making 101 from 145 balls with support from Williams 18 (14) and Finn 9 (21), the two players who didn't get a bat in the first innings. We now had a session and a half to bowl Cambridge out. At tea, Cambridge were 74-3 and looking very determined. However, Williams and Roland-Jones shared 5 wickets after tea and it was left to Finn to finish the home side off. They were all out for 134.

Middlesex won by 319 runs

MOM - Murtagh

[Jorg]

That was a really good run out for the players. Everyone got a bat and we bowled Cambridge out twice.

News

Strauss suffers minor injury 10/4/11

Strauss fit but Scott out for two weeks with a knee injury 14/4/11

[Jorg]

It was time for the real stuff to start. We were at home to Essex in the County Championship Division 2.

I wanted a little bit more experience with the ball so Collymore replaced Williams.

The sun was shining and the pitch looked good. I won the toss and decided to bat first.

Middlesex Team
Newman, Robson, Rogers, Dexter (c), Davey, Dalrymple, Simpson (wk), Murtagh, Roland-Jones, Collymore and Finn.

Day 1
A solid start with the first wicket going down with the score on 57, Robson 21 (65). Rogers joined Newman and at lunch we were 102-1, Newman 43* and Rogers 30*.
Rogers (39) didn't last long after lunch leaving us on 122-2. Dexter was next in and another partnership over 50 took us through until tea.
Soon after tea the 100 partnership was reached. Newman looked very composed and it was Dexter (84) who was next out. Davey came in and helped Newman to his century, 100 off 195 balls. We ended the day on 326-4 after losing Davey for 14.

Day 2
A great partnership got us off to the perfect start on day two. Newman passed 150 and Dalrymple 50, sharing a partnership of 100+ and taking us over 400. Dalrymple went for 64 and Simpson came and went for 13 leaving us on 446-6 at lunch.
Newman reached 200 off 338 balls, he really was a joy to watch at time. The 500 came up in the 140th over. Newman quickly reached 250 pushing for a declaration, he eventually went for 256 (396). We declared on 537-8 leaving Essex half an hour to bat before tea. Finn saw Cook dropped second ball but his disappointment didn't last long when he had the same man trapped lbw for 7. Essex were 22-1 at tea.
We had a great final session. Finn and Roland-Jones really put the pressure on and we had Essex really struggling at 63-5. A 50 partnership between Afzaal and Walker helped them recover to 132-5.

[Jorg]

Day 3
Essex got off to a flying start on day three. Afzaal and Walker batted positively, both reaching their fiftes without much alarm. Their partnership had passed 150 and Afzaal had reached his 100 off 129 balls before Finn came back into the attack and made the breakthrough. He got Afzaal 109 (137) leaving Essex on 240-6. Dalrymple got a huge wicket when he had Walker 78 (147) caught in the last over before lunch. Essex 272-7.
Essex came out after lunch needing another 115 to avoid the follow-on. They couldn't manage it and were all out for 333. We enforced the follow-on and we had a lead of 204. Essex were 30-0 at tea.
The aggression continued after tea, Essex finding the boundary on regular occasions. It took a superb catch from Rogers to help dismiss Pettini 29 (45). Roland-Jones had impressed with the ball and picked up three wickets before the close, he was helped by a great spell by Murtagh at the other end, returning figures of 10-5-9-0.

Day 4
We led by 94 runs and Murtagh picked up a wicket with the third ball of the day. However, we were frustrated once again by Afzaal and Walker. They took the away side up to 202-5 and they led by two runs as they headed for their lunch.
It was Murtagh again who made the breakthrough, removing Walker for 53. Afzaal went for 66, leaving Essex on 256-7 and with a lead of 52. Our bowlers had their tails up and they bowled Essex out for 282. We needed 79 to win and at tea we were 1-0.
The chase started nervously, Newman was dropped twice and Robson once. After 4 overs we were 15-0. Newman was dismissed for 12 and we were 19-1. There was one hour left and we needed 39 runs. The experience of Rogers was vital and we reached our target off 27.1 overs with 20 minutes left. Robson 34* (89) and Rogers 31* (61).

Middlesex won by 9 wickets

MOM - Newman (Middlesex)

[diagoj]

Good going,continue with stuff.

[Jorg]

Good going,continue with stuff.

Don't worry I will, just trying to fit some time in to play the game.

Now, I am not planning on posting any screenshots. There will be stats and tables but I will be doing those myself.

[Major]

Interesting use of a County team. Really interested to see how your youth players mature and get central contracts.

[Berkley]

Interesting use of a County team. Really interested to see how your youth players mature and get central contracts.

Its very interesting to see that since national team picks very less players from middlesex.

[Monty]

Please keep going with this story. Love a good county game!!!!

[Dobcheev]

Loving this. It's like reading JA's yearbook !

PS: Well done to the Red Rose county; ours again at long last !