Wowsers - what a game. What a match, and what a morning - a finish that will live long in the memory of Middlesex fans. With Surrey just one hit away from winning the game, Jade Dernbach lobbed one up in the air, and after a nervous few seconds of waiting, Sam Robson stepped forward from nowhere to claim the catch, and seal the victory for Middlesex, by just three runs.
A massive, massive performance from the team, all the way through the game - a game that was a brilliant advertisement for county cricket. Played on a sporting pitch that offered a bit for both bat and ball (nowhere near as bad as Surrey are making out), there were some high quality performances from both teams throughout, but it was Middlesex who held their nerve to record victory by such a narrow margin. Anyone who was at Lord's this morning will have no doubts that the county game is in rude health at the moment.
Anyway, onto the main talking points from the game - the main one being the pitch. While Adams and Hamilton-Brown do have a point that the pitch did offer a bit to the bowler (and one nameless member of the Middlesex team did tell me that it probably could have done with a little less grass), from watching three days of the game, I don't think that it was an 'unfair' pitch. Given that we're in the second week of April, and that much of the game was played with overcast skies, batting is always going to be tough, and for Surrey to come out and publicly slate it does smack of sour grapes. Both teams have to bat twice on it, and of course, if Hamilton-Brown felt it was going to deteriorate so badly he probably should have elected to bat first when he won the toss. And it was the sort of pitch that if you dig in and stick around, you can make some runs, as Malan, Robson, and Hamilton-Brown all showed. Yes, it was a low scoring game, but it wasn't 33 plays 18.
The ebb and flow of the game was superb, and again, the fight showed by Middlesex was very heartening. After Dernbach ripped through the middle order (who have now failed for a concerning fourth time in a row), Middlesex were 108-6 and in tatters, but a strong rearguard action from the patient and watchful Malan and the #lambethlara (copyright me) Murtagh, plus support from TRJ and Collymore pushed us up to 256, and two important batting points. With every run being crucial, that effort from the tail-end, for the second game in a row, was excellent. And with the ball, when Surrey looked to be on top, somehow we'd find a way of wresting back the initiative, first with Ollie Rayner getting the breakthrough with Rudolph stumped, and then the captain Dexter bringing himself on to bowl and excellent spell and take 3-23. And then of course, when Surrey were four down overnight on Saturday, Middlesex somehow managed to take the final six wickets just in the nick of time and win the game.
On a less positive note, the batting side has failed now for four innings in a row. While the top four of Robson, Denly, Rogers and Malan all seem in good nick, and have made good starts in both games, the form of the lower-middle order is becoming quite worrying. Captain Dex at 5 has made 15 runs from 4 innings so far, John Simpson's made 26, and Gareth Berg has made 20. We've collapsed in all four innings of the season, which is not a good thing at all. Berg and Simpson will both remain in the team due to the other strings to their bow (Bergy for his bowling, Simmo for his keeping), but the question is how long Dex can afford to rely on his captaincy to keep him in the team. With Strauss coming back next week there is a school of thought that Dex should drop out to make way, and looking at his form, both this season and the end of last, you can see why he's vulnerable. However, for my money, dropping the captain would be a foolish move, and you sense Dexy just needs one knock of any note just for a bit of confidence, which he looks like he's desperately lacking at the crease. As a captain this year I think he's been superb - making the right bowling changes at the right time, and getting the fields pretty much bang on (although I probably would have put a midwicket in when Maynard and Hamilton-Brown kept picking up easy singles, and I would also have had a third man in for Dernbach with only four needed and the possibility that an outside edge wins Surrey the game!), but he is in the team primarily as a batsman, so he does need some runs quickly to quieten the naysayers. Century next week please Neil!
So, with Durham starting on Thursday, and Finn and Strauss available, the question is who should they come in for - if at all? Well, if you have players of their class available they should undoubtedly come in, but working out who to drop will be a tough one. There are no obvious candidates for who should miss out, which means Gus will have a bit of a headache trying to piece together the team. Were I in charge, I'd probably drop Ollie Rayner and Corey Collymore - Ollie because we haven't needed a spinner massively in the first two games (Olls only bowled the six overs this game), and with it seaming about he's fairly redundant, so we may as well add the extra batter in Strauss - and Corey, because of it's difficult to drop any of Berg, Murtagh and TRJ, who have all excelled so far, so Corey (who it must be said has also started the season well, but not quite with that spark of the other three seamers) being the unlucky man to make way for Finn.
All of that means I'd rejig the batting order a bit, dropping Robson down to four (which is a shame as he is an excellent opener, but you do have to accommodate the England captain), meaning my team would be:
1) Denly
2) Strauss
3) Rogers
4) Robson
5) Malan
6) Dexter (c)
7) Simpson (wk)
8) Berg
9) Lara
10) Roland-Jones
11) Finn
The extra batsman just gives us that little bit of a safety net after the shakes of the middle order thus far, and that seam quartet is as strong as any that will play county cricket this year. Durham will be a tough ask, but if Middlesex can show the same amount of guts that they did this morning - anything's possible!
And if you weren't lucky enough to have been at Lord's today (or just want to relive it) - here's the highlights from Day 4!
Showing posts with label Dawid Malan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dawid Malan. Show all posts
Monday, 16 April 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Winning is a habit...
And seemingly it's one that Middlesex have even at this very early stage of the season.
Much of the success of last year has been given to the flying start that we made, which was down to a successful pre-season, both in training and the warm-up matches. Already we're three from three in our friendlies, with wins over Kent, a MCCL representative team, and Essex, and Middlesex are guaranteed a win today as the Neil Dexter XI take on the Dawid Malan XI. Hopefully the teams for that will have been decided by the two captains, who each picked a player in turn...
The main point of the warm-up games, aside from getting match fitness, is to get some time in the middle and some confidence. Which is why it's great to see flying starts from Malan, who made a ton against Kent, Toby Roland-Jones who's taken 6 wickets cheaply in his two games, and Steven Crook, who blazed a 29-ball fifty against Essex. Crooky is a genuine all-rounder, and while he didn't contribute as much as we'd have liked last year with the bat (although he nearly got us over the line when all seemed lost in the CB40 game against Yorkshire), it's great to see him striking it clearly. If he gets both parts of his game going, he could be a formidable player.
On Malan - after going without a one day ton for so long, he's now got two, both against Kent (even if this was just a friendly). In fact, up to the start of last season, his List A performances were incredibly disappointing, with 742 runs at just 19.53 and a high score of 60. Since then, however, he's made 512 runs at 42.67, 3 fifties and a ton, and if you include the Kent game, he's averaging 49.23 since the start of last year. His turnaround in the quarters has been remarkable, and could well be due to his elevation as an opener. After a slowish start to last season, it would be great to see Malla hit the ground running and really stamp his mark on Division One. Now one of the more senior players, (having been given the responsibility of captaining a side in today's friendly, one would assume he's third in line to the throne behind Dexter and Rogers), 2012 could be a big season for Malan. Let's hope so anyway!
Middlesex's next port of call is the University game against Durham at the weekend, and it will be interesting to see what side is named, as chances are that will be the side that takes to the field in just over a week's time to play Somerset. Come on the Middle!
Much of the success of last year has been given to the flying start that we made, which was down to a successful pre-season, both in training and the warm-up matches. Already we're three from three in our friendlies, with wins over Kent, a MCCL representative team, and Essex, and Middlesex are guaranteed a win today as the Neil Dexter XI take on the Dawid Malan XI. Hopefully the teams for that will have been decided by the two captains, who each picked a player in turn...
The main point of the warm-up games, aside from getting match fitness, is to get some time in the middle and some confidence. Which is why it's great to see flying starts from Malan, who made a ton against Kent, Toby Roland-Jones who's taken 6 wickets cheaply in his two games, and Steven Crook, who blazed a 29-ball fifty against Essex. Crooky is a genuine all-rounder, and while he didn't contribute as much as we'd have liked last year with the bat (although he nearly got us over the line when all seemed lost in the CB40 game against Yorkshire), it's great to see him striking it clearly. If he gets both parts of his game going, he could be a formidable player.
On Malan - after going without a one day ton for so long, he's now got two, both against Kent (even if this was just a friendly). In fact, up to the start of last season, his List A performances were incredibly disappointing, with 742 runs at just 19.53 and a high score of 60. Since then, however, he's made 512 runs at 42.67, 3 fifties and a ton, and if you include the Kent game, he's averaging 49.23 since the start of last year. His turnaround in the quarters has been remarkable, and could well be due to his elevation as an opener. After a slowish start to last season, it would be great to see Malla hit the ground running and really stamp his mark on Division One. Now one of the more senior players, (having been given the responsibility of captaining a side in today's friendly, one would assume he's third in line to the throne behind Dexter and Rogers), 2012 could be a big season for Malan. Let's hope so anyway!
Middlesex's next port of call is the University game against Durham at the weekend, and it will be interesting to see what side is named, as chances are that will be the side that takes to the field in just over a week's time to play Somerset. Come on the Middle!
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Pre-Season Thoughts: County Championship
As alluded to earlier, I'm going to go a little bit more in-depth in my thoughts about what the season might hold. Of course, we're still a good few months away from the season starting, and a lot could change (mainly my thoughts) but seeing as I've started this blog so early I might as well put something up on it.
I'll start off with the County Championship, where Middlesex are a Division One club. (It still feels good to say that). After last year's promotion it's goodbye Wantage Road and The County Ground, Derby and hello Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and the rest. Things are going to be a little different to the last few years, namely in the quality of opposition we'll be up against. Many pundits have spoken of the widening gap between Divisions One and Two, and while there was a feeling that Middlesex were a big fish in the small pond of the second division, we're suddenly back to being mere plankton in the ocean (slight exaggeration). But the point is still the same, we're going to be up against far better teams than the previous few years in the basement; teams with a lot of international and high-level experience packed with players who are capable of some outstanding performances.
But are Middlesex good enough to take them on? Of course they are.
Middlesex were comfortably the best team in Division Two all season long, and but for some dodgy weather would have had the title wrapped up long before that final nervy day. This was a team that bowled Essex out twice in a day. This was a team that decimated the runners-up of the division home and away in comprehensive wins. This was a team that handed out the first ever 24-0 defeat in the history of the county championship. Middlesex were superb last year, and with the signings that have been made so far, have only got stronger.
In terms of the batting, Middlesex's line-up could go toe-to-toe with any in the country. The expected top five have it all. Sam Robson, Joe Denly and Chris Rogers will make up perhaps the most solid top three going, with support from Dawid Malan and captain Neil Dexter. In at six will be the still-improving John Simpson, arguably the player of the year. Add to that the all-round talents of Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner to come, and even against the best attacks on the greenest pitches, chances are Middlesex will make a lot of runs. Taking on the better bowlers of Division One will be a challenge to the batsmen, but one they are all certainly good enough to take. There geniunely isn't a weak link in that line-up, something you can't say about quite a few of the teams around. And that isn't even accounting for the potential inclusion of England captain Andrew Strauss, or even Eoin Morgan (although that is unlikely).
The bowling stocks too are strong. While the change from the Tiflex to the Duke may not help Tim Murtagh, we all know he's good enough to take plenty of wickets when it matters. And the seam-friendly ball will certainly help Corey Collymore, who was unlucky to only pick up 49 wickets in 2011, and if he can remain fit, Toby Roland-Jones, who is a real star in the making. Everyone at Middlesex knows what Gareth Berg can do with bat and ball, and this could be the year that he shows the world just how good he is. And then there's Steven Finn, who has proven his class on every stage, and there will be plenty of Division One batsmen praying that he gets a prolonged run in the England team.
Perhaps the only concern might be spin, as neither Ollie Rayner or Tom Smith have proven themselves consistently with the ball in their relatively short first class careers. Given his extra batting ability, it's likely that Rayner will be given the nod to start off with, and he'll want to get off to a good start at his now permanent home. However, we did see the spinners used more in a containing role last year as the seamers did the damage, and as a naturally more defensive spinner, this will suit Ollie down the the ground (which is a long way for him, because he is very tall).
I'm painting an optimistic view of Middlesex's team, because I know just how strong it is. Of course, I don't want to get too ahead of myself and start talking us up to win it (although two leagues in two years would be nice), as taking on the likes of Lancashire, Durham, Notts and Somerset will be tough, and there will be games where we get battered for four days and get nothing. But, there are teams in this division that we know we are as good, if not better than. Being realistic, survival is the name of the game this year, and staying up by one point will be brilliant, but we're certainly good enough to cause a couple of upsets along the way.
Come on the Middle!
I'll start off with the County Championship, where Middlesex are a Division One club. (It still feels good to say that). After last year's promotion it's goodbye Wantage Road and The County Ground, Derby and hello Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Old Trafford and the rest. Things are going to be a little different to the last few years, namely in the quality of opposition we'll be up against. Many pundits have spoken of the widening gap between Divisions One and Two, and while there was a feeling that Middlesex were a big fish in the small pond of the second division, we're suddenly back to being mere plankton in the ocean (slight exaggeration). But the point is still the same, we're going to be up against far better teams than the previous few years in the basement; teams with a lot of international and high-level experience packed with players who are capable of some outstanding performances.
But are Middlesex good enough to take them on? Of course they are.
Middlesex were comfortably the best team in Division Two all season long, and but for some dodgy weather would have had the title wrapped up long before that final nervy day. This was a team that bowled Essex out twice in a day. This was a team that decimated the runners-up of the division home and away in comprehensive wins. This was a team that handed out the first ever 24-0 defeat in the history of the county championship. Middlesex were superb last year, and with the signings that have been made so far, have only got stronger.
In terms of the batting, Middlesex's line-up could go toe-to-toe with any in the country. The expected top five have it all. Sam Robson, Joe Denly and Chris Rogers will make up perhaps the most solid top three going, with support from Dawid Malan and captain Neil Dexter. In at six will be the still-improving John Simpson, arguably the player of the year. Add to that the all-round talents of Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner to come, and even against the best attacks on the greenest pitches, chances are Middlesex will make a lot of runs. Taking on the better bowlers of Division One will be a challenge to the batsmen, but one they are all certainly good enough to take. There geniunely isn't a weak link in that line-up, something you can't say about quite a few of the teams around. And that isn't even accounting for the potential inclusion of England captain Andrew Strauss, or even Eoin Morgan (although that is unlikely).
The bowling stocks too are strong. While the change from the Tiflex to the Duke may not help Tim Murtagh, we all know he's good enough to take plenty of wickets when it matters. And the seam-friendly ball will certainly help Corey Collymore, who was unlucky to only pick up 49 wickets in 2011, and if he can remain fit, Toby Roland-Jones, who is a real star in the making. Everyone at Middlesex knows what Gareth Berg can do with bat and ball, and this could be the year that he shows the world just how good he is. And then there's Steven Finn, who has proven his class on every stage, and there will be plenty of Division One batsmen praying that he gets a prolonged run in the England team.
Perhaps the only concern might be spin, as neither Ollie Rayner or Tom Smith have proven themselves consistently with the ball in their relatively short first class careers. Given his extra batting ability, it's likely that Rayner will be given the nod to start off with, and he'll want to get off to a good start at his now permanent home. However, we did see the spinners used more in a containing role last year as the seamers did the damage, and as a naturally more defensive spinner, this will suit Ollie down the the ground (which is a long way for him, because he is very tall).
I'm painting an optimistic view of Middlesex's team, because I know just how strong it is. Of course, I don't want to get too ahead of myself and start talking us up to win it (although two leagues in two years would be nice), as taking on the likes of Lancashire, Durham, Notts and Somerset will be tough, and there will be games where we get battered for four days and get nothing. But, there are teams in this division that we know we are as good, if not better than. Being realistic, survival is the name of the game this year, and staying up by one point will be brilliant, but we're certainly good enough to cause a couple of upsets along the way.
Come on the Middle!
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