Middlesex 2014 Captains Diary

[LBW Miller]

Now in my third year as captain of the Middlesex Cricket Club I feel that it is time to do a Captain’s Diary.

The Story so far…

’11 ’12 ‘13
FC 12th 10th 5th
OD G6 G4 G6
T20 G7 G9 SF

I was very disappointed with my effort in my first summer as captain.
We struggled to win a match in the shorter formats of the game but managed to play some great Cricket and finish third on the County Championship Division Two table and miss out on promotion by just six points.
I was stoked to uncover a future Test player in Adam Rossington, an 18 year old wicket keeper batsman who made over 1,000 runs in his first full season of first class cricket.
In my second summer as captain we managed to finish fourth in our group of the One Day league but struggled in the T20 competition finishing last in our group.
The highlight of season 2012 was finishing on top of the County Championship Division Two table, putting us into the Division One for 2013.
Adam Rossington had another astonishing season scoring a wopping 1,820 runs for the season while fellow wicket keeper batsman Simpson scored over 1,200 runs for the summer.
Summer 2013 had me very excited for the future with us finally having some success in the shortest form of the game, making the semi final of the T20 tournament.
For a while we topped the County Championship table but a series of close losses meant we dropped down the ladder to finish fifth which was a fantastic effort in our first year in the top division.

Stats

First Class
Highest Team Total: 571 vs. Glous 2011
Lowest Team Total: 121 vs. Kent 2011
Highest Individual innings: A. Rossington 221 vs. Lanc 2012
Best bowling innings: S. Finn 7/80 vs. Leics 2011
Best bowling match: S. Finn 13/169 vs. Leics 2011
Most Runs in a season: A. Rossington – 1,820, 2011
Most Wickets in a season: S. Finn – 77, 2011

One Day
Highest Team Total: 312 vs. Neth 2013
Lowest Team Total: 122 vs. Sussex 2013
Highest Individual innings: A. Straus 134 vs. Neth 2013
Best bowling match: A. Ireland 5/44 vs. Neth 2011
Most Runs in a season: S. Newman – 491, 2012
Most Wickets in a season: A. Ireland – 22, 2011

T20
Highest Team Total: 186 vs. Kent 2012
Lowest Team Total: 51 vs. Hants 2012
Highest Individual innings: A. Patel 106 vs. Yorks 2013
Best bowling match: S. Finn 5/34 vs. Kent 2011
Most Runs in a season: S. Newman – 794, 2013
Most Wickets in a season: R. McLaren – 40, 2011

Season 2013

After guiding Middlesex to 5th spot on the County Championship table in 2013, I began 2014 by deciding on who would stay and who would go from the squad for the coming summer.

After some deep thought I decided not to re-sign the following players:

A. London – LHB (Specialist Opener) 25yo
- Had a reasonable season opening the batting the T20’s but was unable to force his way into the 1st Class line up, unfortunately for London he was not picked up by another Club.
A. Kapil – RHB, RFM (All-Rounder) 20yo
- Had plenty of promise and age on his side but after two years he struggled to make inroads and looked out of his depth in all formats. Did play a magnificent innings of 67 when opening the batting in the last One Dayer of the summer but he was unable to make the most of his opportunities and was let go. Kapil was also not picked up by another club.
G. Dockrell – SLA , 22yo
- Came to the club as a back up second spinner and was to be used primarily as a limited overs specialist but failed to impress. George was given a few opportunities in the 1st Class line up on decks suited to spinners but he was unable to take wickets and was let go. Another of our players not picked up by, it appears that Dockrell has retired from cricket at age 22.
R. Topley – LFM, 20yo
- Taken from the youth pool at the end of season 2011, Topley came to the club as an 18 year-old and was in the squad as a back up bowler. Showed some signs of potential in the limited overs formats but just couldn’t get a bag of wickets. Also unlucky with injuries, Topley was overlooked by other clubs.
G. McCarter – RMF, 21
- The hardest cut to make as McCarter managed to take four wickets in his final 1st Class appearance for the Club. Showed signs he can make a good 1st class bowler McCarter was picked up by Gloucestershire and will hope to add to his four first class games and 10 wickets.
S. O’Keefe – RHB, SLA (All-Rounder) 24 Overseas player
- O’Keefe first joined the club as the backup overseas player in 2012 and impressed me enough to earn a full overseas contract for 2013. Despite bowling well in the shorter forms of the game his 1st Class efforts with Bat and Ball were not enough to justify his selection and by seasons end he was dropped. The emergence of Tennyson contributed to Steve not being given another contract.
T. Roland-Jones – RFM, 26
- When Toby’s contract came up at the end of the season I felt the new contract he was asking for was too much and after ongoing contract talks Toby felt that the offer from Sussex was too good to pass up. One of the most talented pace bowlers in the country the club wishes Toby all the best with his new club.

With Toby Roland-Jones gone I felt that our bowling attack was a little thin and decided to chase a few young pace bowlers that had become free agents.
I also looked to sign another wicket keeper on a one-year contract as backup for Simpson and Rossington. Simpson was injured midway through last year and an injury to Rosso would have left us without a wicket keeper.

Here are the following signings to the Club for the summer of 2014:

Batsmen
Daniel Bell-Drummond – 20yo RHB(Opener) RFM

- An aggressive opening batter who we picked up from the Youth Team with the aim of becoming a specialist One Day Opener. Averages 29.33 with the bat in 149 Second Team matches.
Anthony Allen – 21yo RHB, RM
- A good middle order batsman with limited first class experience. Averaged 46.45 from 7 first class matches last year with 1 hundred and 3 fifties. Allen has also played 3 One Day games with an average of 18.37. Averages 64.52 from 25 Second Team matches. Also an occasional bowler with 2 wickets at 41.5 we hope Allen can debut for the club sometime this summer.
Dan Kelly – 20yo LHB, LM
- Picked from our youth team Dan looks to be an exciting middle order player. Averages 41.31 from 41 Second Team matches he also has 3 wickets at 38. With two years on his contract we hope Dan can push for a spot in one of the formats.

Wicket Keeper
Jordan Clark – 23yo RHB, WK
- Received limited opportunities at Lancashire and joins the club on a one year contract. Yet to make his first class debut Jordan has played one One Day match with a high score of 32. Jordan has also played 4 T20’s but batted only one scoring 4n.o. Averages 23.36 from 133 Second Team matches.

All Rounders
David Tennyson – 21yo RHB, LS
- A promising spinning All-Rounder, David debuted for the Club towards the end of last year. Coming from our Youth Program David impressed with 18 wickets at 40.94 (including a 5 wicket haul) in his first 7 First Class matches. Also averages 23.55 with the bat and has a high score of 40. Played a handful of One Day and T20 games without any spectacular performances but will be one to watch this summer.
Tim Hodgson – 23yo RHB, RFM
- Needing a genuine Fast Bowling All-Rounder to join Lewis Gregory in the squad, Hodgson is a solid player who averages 32.27 with the ball and 44.79 with the bat from his 46 Second Team matches. At 23 I will expect him to make his way into the First Class line up before the summer ends.

Bowlers
Gary Buss – 23yo RFM
- Has already played 7 First Class games and looks impressive with the ball taking 28 wickets at the tiny average of 19.46. Averages 24.64 with the ball in One Day cricket with a tally of 14 wickets from 9 matches and looks good in the shortest format with 5 wickets at 14.2 from 3 T20 matches.
Chris Wood – 23yo LM
- A risky choice Wood has made 3 First Class appearances taking 13 wickets at an average of 18.46. Chris has also played 10 One Day games taking 18 wickets at 28.44 and looks good with the ball in T20’s taking 25 wickets from 25 games at an average of 27.84.
Moin Ashraf – 22yo RFM
- Limited to 4 First Class matches nearly four years ago I decided to give Ashraf a chance. Has 11 First Class wickets at an average of 18 and has 397 wickets from 159 Second Team matches at an average of 34.03.
Nathan Bowles – 24yo LFM, LHB (Overseas)
- Looks to be a future Test player for Australia, Bowles averages 18.32 with the ball in first class cricket (85 wickets in 19 matches). Also a star with the ball in the shorter formats Bowles has taken 31 One Day wickets from 18 matches at and average of 15.58 and in 20 T20 appearances has taken 24 wickets at 14.71 apiece. Can also bat lower in the order and has two First Class fifties to his name.
John Arlott – 19yo RFM, RHB
- The youngest signing for the summer Arlott is a really exciting prospect who averages 21.76 with the bat and 27.56 with the ball in 36 Second Team appearances. Has taken a total of 114 wickets in his 36 appearances.

[LBW Miller]

Feeling very happy with my signings for the upcoming summer, we faced a warm up match against Durham UCCE.
Continuing with my tradition of playing my new signings in the preseason University Match, I handed first class debuts to Bell-Drummond, Kelly, Clark, Hodgson and Arlott. Wood was unlucky not to get a game and had to carry the drinks.

Middlesex XI:
1. D. Bell-Drummond
2. S. Robson (C)
3. A. Allen
4. D. Kelly
5. T. Hodgson
6. D. Tennyson
7. J. Clark (WK)
8. N. Bowes
9. M. Ashraf
10. J. Arlott
11. G. Buss
12th Man C. Wood

Winning the toss I chose to bowl with the pitch looking good for both pace and spin bowlers.

Durham UCCE 1st Innings All Out 118
G. Hancock 26 D. Tennyson 6.4 – 1 – 4/19
A. Turpin 21 T. Hodgson 7 – 1- 2/29
G. Buss 7 – 1 – 2/22
M. Ashraf 8 – 0 – 1/20
J. Arlott 9 – 3 – 1/17
N. Bowes 6 – 1 – 0/11

What a magnificent bowling performance!
Bowes and Arlott kept things tight to start with before Buss wrecked the top order with two wickets.
Hodgson picked up two wickets in an impressive spell while Tennyson bowled superbly picking up four wickets to have Durham all out for 118.

Middlesex 1st Innings All Out 360
1. D. Bell-Drummond – 12 T. Barnwell 3/43
2. S. Robson (C) – 8
3. A. Allen – 10
4. D. Kelly – 21
5. T. Hodgson – 151
6. D. Tennyson – 29
7. J. Clark (WK) – 0
8. N. Bowes – 7
9. M. Ashraf – 1
10. J. Arlott – 86n.o
11. G. Buss – 15

Things looked shaky early on with our top three going cheaply.
Kelly looked solid during his 21 but could push on to make a big score.
Hodgson was absolutely magnificent in his innings of 151, the highest score on debut for a player during my time as Middlesex coach.
Tennyson aided Hodgson and looked good until being dismissed for a well-made 29.
Clark was then dubiously given out caught behind without scoring and when Bowes and Ashraf both fell quickly it looked as if the innings was going to be wrapped up in no time.
What happen next took me by surprise with Arlott playing a faultless 86n.o building a mammoth 176 run partnership with Hodgson. (A club record for the 10th wicket)
When Hodgson fell I was tempted to declare but with Arlott close to a ton on debut I let things go until Buss was out for 15.
With Durham UCCE needing 242 runs to make us bat again I was confident we could bowl them out and hopefully seal an innings victory.

Durham UCCE 2nd Innings All Out 230
G. Wheatly 47 J. Arlott 13 – 3 – 3/33
D. Brabin 44 D. Tennyson 14 – 1- 3/44
R. Oliver 38 N. Bowes 15- 0 – 2/38
G. Buss 13 – 3 – 1/27
T. Hodgson 13 – 4 – 1/45
M. Ashraf 14 – 0 – 0/36

Middlesex win by an Innings and 12 Runs.

Very pleased with the innings victory, Arlott followed up his batting innings with three wickets while Tennyson finished with seven wickets for the match. Bowes managed to grab two after going wicketless in the fist innings.
Was a bit worried that we might of needed to bat again to win the match with Wheatly, Brabin and Oliver all putting up strong resistance but breakthroughs from Tennyson and Arlott helped us to an innings win as Durham UCCE lost their last five wickets for 41 runs.

While the pitch did aid the bowlers I thought the overall quality of our bowlers was superb.
This will make my job very difficult when picking the line up for our first match of the County Championship.
Arlott, Tennyson and Hodgson all had impressive games and have staked their claims for selection while I felt Bowes underperformed a little.
Strauss is also available for selection and after missing out on an English contract and should take a batting spot near the top of the order.
Rossington will come in and take the gloves from Clark while Simpson could also take a place in the side after two good summers with the bat.

Next Post will be the wrap up of our first County Championship Match.

[LBW Miller]

County Championship Vs. Hampshire

Middlesex XI
1. Newman
2. Strauss
3. Barlow
4. Dexter
5. Hodgson
6. Rossington
7. Tennyson
8. Smith
9. Bowes
10. Finn
11. Ireland

Due to the spin friendly conditions I included Slow Left Arm bowler Tom Smith and Leg Spin All-Rounder David Tennyson after his 7 wicket haul in the University Match.
Hodgson also retained his place, as did Bowes while Finn and Ireland came in to make up the pace attack.
My main concern with the line up was the lack of batting depth.
I considered leaving out Ireland and including Akhil Patel a Left handed batsman who really impressed me last summer.

After winning the Toss and electing to bat my only concern was how much the pitch would turn, especially with Hampshire having two quality spinners in Imran Tahir and Danny Briggs.

Middlesex 1st Innings All Out 226
Newman 3 Tahir 3/36
Strauss 56 Briggs 4/58
Barlow 84
Dexter 23
Hodgson 8
Rossington 16
Tennyson 0
Smith 16no
Bowes 1
Finn 8
Ireland 0

A very disappointing batting effort to say the least.
Strauss and Barlow managed to put on a steady partnership after Newman was dismissed cheaply.
After Strauss departed for 56, Dexter came in and looked comfortable building a good partnership with Barlow.
At Tea we looked steady at 2/121 but disaster struck not long after play resumed with Dexter out for 23.
Hodgson looked out of his depth and only managed 8 as Barlow looked century bound before going for a well made 84.
Rossington looked steady and went for 16 and Tennyson came and went, out for a duck.
Smith and Finn stuck around for a little while before the tail collapsed leaving us all out for 226 with a session to play on day one.
Tahir and Briggs proved to be the main destroyers and my fears of the batting line up not being strong enough were confirmed with a meager total.

Hampshire 1st Innings All Out 391
4 Batsmen made 50+ Tennyson 31-2-5/105
1 Batsmen made 40 Smith 27.4 – 5- 4/75
Bowes 17 - 3 – 1/54
Ireland 15 -1 – 0/56
Hodgson 15 – 1 – 0/49
Finn 14 – 1- 0/46

If it wasn’t for our spinners Hampshire’s total could have gone well past 391.
Tennyson should’ve had better figures with three catches dropped off his bowling but he deserved his second five-wicket haul of his career.
Smith kept things tight and proved his selection was the right call.
Our pace bowlers struggled with Bowes the only pace bowler to take a wicket with Ireland looking out of form and again making me doubt his selection.
We now needed to make 165 to make Hampshire bat again.

Middlesex 2nd Innings All Out 287
Newman 18
Strauss 120
Barlow 31
Dexter 28
Hodgson 32
Rossington 27
Tennyson 14
Smith 6
Bowes 1
Finn 6
Ireland 0no

I felt our second innings was much better with most of our batsmen getting starts; it was just unfortunate that none of them could push on and make a big score.
Strauss Looked magnificent in his 120 and Barlow was looking set for a big one before getting out for 31.
Hodgson looked more settled but threw away his wicket on 32, Rossington also played a terrible shot getting out for 27 when he looked in good touch.
The tail again collapsed leaving Hampshire needing just 123 to win.

Hampshire 2nd Innings 4/126
Tennyson 1-0-0/7
Smith 6-0- 0/25
Bowes 13- 3 – 1/32
Ireland 10 -1 – 1/33
Finn 8 – 1- 2/24

With the pitch starting to favor the batsmen and Hampshire going for the runs the wickets weren’t a surprise.
Bowes, despite his figures was the best of the bowlers getting good swing and seam.
Finn looked in good touch with two wickets while Ireland bowled better taking one.

Hampshire won by 6 wickets.