KENT KNACKERED AT NACKINGTON ROAD

Fourfer

By Ged
August 7 2009

Ged tells us all about Day 3 at Canterbury. Learn about a power cut, a weird bet, a partisan crowd, some fine hospitality, a terrible day for England at Headingley........and..........there was one other thing now what was it?................oh yes.............Middlesex won a County Championship match. Read all about how that happened.

GETTING THERE

I woke up this morning in the early hours to discover that there was a power cut in my house.  This was to make the process of getting up and out early a little difficult.  In particular, putting on the false beard and other elements of my disguise in near darkness was tricky to say the least.

Nevertheless , I set off on the 9:03 from Victoria and was met by  Mark, one of my Kentish hosts, at Canterbury East.   I must say that my hosts were more pessimistic about Kent’s chances than I was optimistic about ours at that stage.  Mark was also concerned for a bet he had placed with our very own Barmy Jez, based on the aggregate total scores made by the top four batsmen across both innings.  Mark was still some 60+ runs shy. 

We were warmly greeted in the Harris Room, where my hosts are well known regulars.  The view is similar to Tavern Stand boxes such as the Seaxe Club box, so it seemed fitting that I was donning my Seaxe Club tie for the occasion.

MORNING

Tim Murtagh opened up proceedings from the Pavilion End and Steve Finn from the Nackington Road end.  Finn broke through early, getting Denly sharply taken at slip.  I started clapping and realized that absolutely no-one else in the crowd seemed to be doing any such thing.  A couple of minutes later, one of the batsmen edged one of Finn’s deliveries through the space between 3rd slip and gully for 4 – rapturous applause broke out.  I wryly suggested to my hosts that Kent supporters show their appreciation of good cricket in a very non-partisan way, which my hosts found quite funny.

About 30 or 40 minutes into the morning’s play, Northeast edged one (I’m pretty sure off Finn) straight but hard to Malan at gully, who put it down.  Very disappointing.  Indeed, an hour or so later, with just a few minutes to go until lunch and no further breakthrough, I thought that might have been the match dropped.  But Middlesex bowled with great control and had given away little throughout the morning. 

It seemed to me that the Middlesex strategy was a simple one – the Nackington Road end was offering a little something to the seam bowlers, whereas the only thing you might get from the Pavilion end was a bit of swing or spin.  Silverwood had a decent but fruitless go from the Nackington Road end.  At the other end, Kartik was  troubling young Northeast but no-one was troubling Van Jaarsveld.  Berg came on for a short spell before lunch and I have to say he looked to me a wee bit sharper than he has looked on previous occasions when I have seen him bowl. 

Then joy – Van Jaarsveld plays a loose shot through to slip off Berg’s bowling just before lunch.  My hosts thought that was probably the match; with hindsight I can see that they were right.   Mark was also  wondering how his bet had panned out.  I suggested that as soon as Jez saw the Cricinfo update (which by my estimate would be in about 5 minutes) Mark would get a text.  More or less on cue came the text to Mark from Jez – “you owe me 6p”.  Penny a run – these city guys are overpaid, I tell you.

AFTERNOON

Meanwhile we had all been getting thoroughly downhearted with the news from Headingley.  Still, nothing a fine lunch and some decent wine couldn’t sort out.  

Stevens seemed to struggle to get going (or was he over-trying to play with circumspection) with Kartik and Berg starting off again straight after lunch.  Soon Murtagh had a go from the Nackington Road end  got Stevens to played around a straight one so he was gone. 

Kartik Smelt Blood Today and Delivered 

Then a clatter of wickets, arising I think from Kartik smelling blood.  Northeast, who had looked unsure against Kartik throughout, snicked one to Malan at slip.  Then a clever, slightly quicker one (I think) trapped Azhar before he got started.   Then a bit of a partnership between Tredwell and Kemp, which worried me more than it raised the spirits of my hosts.  Kartik again confusing the batsman (this time Tredwell) who was bowled.  Another mini partnership between Kemp and Cook, broken also by Kartik getting Kemp LBW.  Superb passage of play, with good control from the other end also.

With over 130 still needed and the last pair at the crease, even I started to relax a bit.  Perhaps Middlesex did too, because all of a sudden everything pace-wise sent down from the Nackington Road end looked like easy pickings and Kartik from the Pavilion end, while conceding fewer runs, seemed very manageable to the batsmen.  Malan tried a few fruitless overs in tandem with Kartik just before the new ball.  Then the new ball was taken but Kartik persevered even with that, although the over rate was fine by now (it had been -4 but was now +2).   Khan batted really well, to be fair, but perhaps Eoin Morgan’s inexperience showed a little at that stage.

There was some dodgy running and on a couple of occasions a direct hit would have been curtains – we all agreed that would have been a fitting end to the match.

We were made to wait for our tea and a lengthy conversation broke out throughout the Harris Room as to the exact nature of the tea rule when there are 9 wickets down.   Eventually, as expected, and before tea, the partnership was broken and the game won.  Knackered from the Nackington Road End by Tim Murtagh.   Yet another slip catch and fittingly it was Eoin Morgan who took it.

VERDICT

I’m not going to extrapolate massive team positives from this win.  Based on the several eye-witness accounts I have heard, both sides batting on day one was a crime against first class cricket.  Indeed, even the second innings was dominated by lower-order batsmen making mugs of the top order.   Kent handed a totally dominating position back to Middlesex twice in this game.  But at least we did take those positions when they were handed to us and closed out a game, for the first time this season.

Man of the Match - Gareth Berg

Individual positives, however, there are several to take.  It was an absolute breakthrough match for Berg; mostly with the bat but also that short spell before lunch was excellent and rewarded with a prized scalp.  Kartik clearly still has what it takes to break the back of a good side when there is some dryness for him to work with; that should be the case at several of the grounds for our remaining matches - Groundie (for example) – do your stuff!   All the bowlers applied themselves today.  Eoin Morgan, while he still has some learning to do as captain, will be benefiting hugely from these opportunities to captain the side occasionally. 

But we’ll need to improve our consistency and (in particular) the batsmen will need to start batting better if we are going to continue from here and win several CC games this season. 

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