Writing (my writing) – Page 13

Middlesex v Gloucestershire Day One at Lord’s, MTWD Report, 27 August 2009

This was clearly one of those days when I had expected/hoped for more cricket time than I actually got.

But I was the MTWD match reporter, so I did my bit – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – Tomorrow Belongs To M(iddl)e

Turns out it was a fairly prescient report; not so in the matter of Adam London, but Messrs Robson, Malan and Compton certainly formed a nucleus for Middlesex’s improvement and success, following the dog days of the late noughties.

Middlesex v Lancashire, Lord’s, 26 August 2009

Following my marking days at Lord’s earlier in the month, this was judgement day.

But it was also the day of the Pro40 day/night match between Middlesex and Lancashire, so Janie and I arranged to meet Charlie and Chris at Lord’s.

The best laid plans…but the weather had other ideas.

I wrote a report on this one for King Cricket – click here. Lavender, Escamillo Escapillo and Stentor Baritone all make their inaugural appearances in this report, which got some fun comments too.

Just in case anything ever happens to King Cricket, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex v Lancashire Pro 40 match report

We made the most of it and still had an enjoyable evening of sorts.

Kent v Middlesex County Championship Day 3, Canterbury, 7 August 2009

I was the guest of Mark and Geoffrey Yeandle at Canterbury that day. We had a very enjoyable day – Canterbury is a charming place to watch county cricket.

I wrote up the day for MTWD:

Kent Knackered At Nackington Road – MTWD report – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – KENT KNACKERED AT NACKINGTON ROAD

And if you really want to know what happened, statistically speaking, here is the scorecard from that match – click here.

Animal Spirits or Canterbury Tails, MTWD Match Report, 5 August 2009

It seems we couldn’t find an MTWD match reporter for Day One of the Kent v Middlesex match at Canterbury, so I “sent Hippity” to do the best he could:

Animal Spirits or Canterbury Tails – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – Animal Spirits or Canterbury Tails

I actually went to the game myself on the Friday (Day 3) and reported on it, so you can get a more conventional report and find out what happened by clicking here.

England v Australia, 2nd Test, Lord’s, Day Five, 20 July 2009

For several years now I have written occasional pieces about cricket for the King Cricket website, under my nom de plume, Ged Ladd. Janie and I have called each other Ged and Daisy since the mid 1990s.

The King Cricket website has very strict rules about match reports: “If it’s a professional match, on no account mention the cricket itself. If it’s an amateur match, feel free to go into excruciating detail.”

This particular day was a rather important one; this was the day that England defeated Australia at Lord’s for the first time for 75 years, but none of that is apparent in my King Cricket Match Report, click here.

England v Australia, day five at Lord’s, match report

Just in case anything ever happens to King Cricket, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

England v Australia, day five at Lord’s, match report

For those of you who might actually want to know what happened in the match, for the Cricinfo scorecard and link to professional reports, click here.

Hampshire v Middlesex T20 Match, MTWD Futurology Match Report, 23 June 2009

In what appears to have been a first (and mercifully last) attempt to produce an MTWD match report before the match took place, Ged produced the following piece for MTWD.

Hawks Prove Too Much For Panthers – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – Hawks Prove Too Much For Panthers

The reason I did this, I suspect, was that the match was a televised match and we hadn’t managed to find someone to commit to writing a post match report. Also, of course, because Middlesex were predictably awful in the T20 tournament that year, despite having won it the year before.

Here is a link to the predictably awful scorecard.

It certainly says something about commentator predictability and cliche, as the MTWD piece and the comments below it attest. King Cricket lovers will no doubt appreciate the sentiments.

Bore Draw – NOT!!, MTWD Piece, Surrey v Middlesex Day 4, The Oval, 9 May 2009

This turned out to be one of the most exciting days of cricket I have ever witnessed.

It was one of those strange situations in which everything worked out for the best.

Janie and I were all dressed up / picniced up with no place to go that Saturday, as we had Day 4 test match tickets for a Lord’s match which had somehow managed to conclude in three days.

So we went to the Oval and saw a screamer of a Day Four County Championship day there instead.

We attributed the resulting MTWD piece to Daisy feat. Ged:

Daisy watching cricket at Lord’s on a subsequent cold feet, cold hands day

Here is that Daisy Feat. Ged MTWD report: Bore Draw – NOT!! – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – Bore Draw Not

If you want to see the scorecard, which barely does justice to this extraordinary match – click here.

Anything Hughes Can Do (Ramps Can’t Do Better), MTWD Piece, Following Surrey v Middlesex and England v West Indies Remotely, 7 May 2009

We sometimes struggled to find reporters MTWD reporters for away matches, so ended up resorting to somewhat detached reports.

It seems that “Hippity volunteered” to report on this particular day, from his vantage point on the bed at the flat.

Younger readers (or older readers with early stages of memory loss) might need to resort to this Wikipedia link to learn/remind themselves what Ceefax was.

It is sad to reflect on Phillip Hughes, who played such a huge part in that early part of Middlesex’s 2009 summer and who was so sadly cut down in his prime just five years later.

Over to Hippity: Anything Hughes Can Do (Ramps Can’t Do Better) – click here.

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to Ogblog – only click the link below if the link above doesn’t work:

Middlesex till we die – Anything Hughes Can Do (Ramps Can’t Do Better)

In case anyone was wondering about the England v West Indies match – click here for the scorecard from that one.

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