Match report day 3: Lancs v Middx in Championship 2004 by Neil Adams

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Scorecard:

Lancashire v Middlesex

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Summary for Day 3

 

Anyone who suffered a poor nights sleep before the start of play on the third day of this match, were given an ideal chance to close their eyes and not miss any action. Never can a morning session have been more desperate to watch. The visitors field placings were negative, their bowling woeful, and their time wasting utterly blatant . Put simply, Middlesex's desire to chase victory was completely devoid - no wonder cricket sometimes gets a reputation for being boring.

 

During the first session, Middlesex bowled 40 overs - highly commendable one would think. Wrong! Chris Peploe bowled persistently on, or outside the leg stump forcing umpire Clarkson to call wide on several occasions for negative bowling. No wonder that Lancashire only managed to strike 5 boundaries in the first session. Loye and Law added 99 for the third wicket before Law (49) played back to one which turned in sharply. He never waited for the umpires finger to be raised (288-3).

 

Carl Hooper scored just four runs before cutting the ball into his middle stump (300-4). The quality of his batting is a shadow of that last year. His ability to dominate the bowler has seemingly disappeared, and his forcing stroke play has become but a distant memory. Alec Swann batted well in the 17 overs up to lunch. He struck three excellent cover drives. Mal Loye reached 84 not out playing a very uncharacteristic rear guard innings (343-4).

 

Middlesex finally elected to take the new ball in the 126th over with Lancashire 358 for 4. Seven overs and 15 runs later, the scoreboard was transformed to read 373 for 8. Alec Swann (34) could class himself unlucky - the ball staying very low as it removed his off stump (370-5). Rather than safely negotiating the 130th over and preventing the visitors from collecting their second bowling point, Glen Chapple (1) wafted his bat at a wide ball from Lance Klusener, offering a straight forward catch to David Nash. Surely common sense would have dictated that you prevent your main rivals from collecting points (371-6). Having been stuck on 98 for a considerable time, Mal Loye drove a wide ball to Ed Joyce fielding at point - a really fantastic effort (373-7). Sajid Mahmood only lasted 4 balls before returning to the pavilion with nothing to his name - leg before wicket to Hayward.

 

Hegg and Keedy batted together for nearly fourteen overs, in which time they added 43 vital runs. Hegg batted with enormous common sense. He was desperate to build a lead, no matter how small. He eventually fell for 34 sweeping Dalrymple to Weekes at short fine leg (416-9). In the following over, Anderson (1) was bowled by Peploe to leave Lancashire 417 all out - leading by 35 runs. An early tea was taken at 4pm.

 

Sven Koenig's second innings only lasted seven balls before Anderson repeated his first dismissal (8-1). Shah and Hutton added 109 runs with the minimum of fuss as the day came to a close. Anderson, now bowling from the Brian Statham end, summoned up the energy to bowl the final over. Much to everyone's surprise, Hutton (41) fell leg before wicket with two official balls left (117-2). Although Middlesex led by 82 by the close, one assumes this match will end a draw, especially bearing in mind the poor weather forecast for the final day.

 

Key Notes of the Day

• 50 Loye from 142 balls (3 x 4 & 1 x 6) - 257 for 2 in the 84th over - Law 33
• Law lbw bowled Dalrymple 49 - 288 for 3 in the 95th over - Loye 61*
• 300 for 3 n the 101st over - Loye 67* Hooper 4*
• Hooper bowled Dalrymple 4 (Played on) - 300 for 4 in 103rd over - Loye 67*
• 37 consecutive overs of spin
• Lunch - 343 for 4 from 120 overs - Loye 84* Swann 21*
• 50 partnership + 352 for in the 123rd over - Loye 87* Swann 27*
• New ball taken - 358 for 4 in the 126th over - Loye 89* Swann 31*
• Swann bowled Hayward 34 (Kept low) - 370 for 5 in the 129th over - Loye 98*
• Chapple caught Nash bowled Klusener 1 - 371 for 6 in the 130th over - Loye 98*
• 371 for 6 from 130 overs - Loye 98* Hegg 0* - No more bonus points
• Loye caught Joyce bowled Hayward 98 (296 balls) - 373 for 7 in the 133rd - Hegg 0*
• Mahmood lbw bowled Hayward 0 - 373 for 8 in the 135th over - Hegg 0*
• 383 for 8 in the 136th over - Hegg 10* Keedy 0* - Lead by 1 run - 3.10pm
• 400 for 8 in the 142nd over - Hegg 24* Keedy 1*
• Hegg caught Weekes bowled Dalrymple 34 - 416 for 9 in the 147th over - Keedy 3*
• Anderson bowled Peploe 1 - 417 all out in the 148th over - Keedy 3* - Lead by 35 - Tea

• Koenig bowled Anderson (Played on) 7 - 8 for 1 in the 3rd over - Hutton 0*
• 38 for 1 in the 11th over - Hutton 9* Shah 21* - Lead by 3 - 5.05pm
• 52 for 1 in the 17th over - Hutton 14* Shah 30*
• 50 partnership - 58 for 1 in the 18th over - Hutton 18* Shah 32*
• 50 Shah from 79 balls (8 x 4) - 85 for 1 in the 28th over - Hutton 25*
• 100 for 1 in the 32nd over - Hutton 35* Shah 55*
• 100 partnership - 108 for 1 in the 35th over - Hutton 41* Shah 57*
• Hutton lbw bowled Anderson 41 - 117 for 2 in the 38th over - Shah 66* - Lead by 82 - Close
• Lancashire 6 points, Middlesex 6 points

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Neil Adams http://www.cricketimages.co.uk/adams-report/intro.html)