The main purpose of my visit to Nottingham was to watch Durham Cricket Club take an important step in winning their third County Championship in four years and their fourth trophy in five years thus making it a golden half decade, something which I did not anticipate experiencing in my life time. However having lost away to Somerset and again at home in the rain affected game against Hampshire I was not optimistic as in both instances it was the batting that had failed and which had been Durham’s great strength this season.
I always enjoy my visits to Trent Bridge because it is possible to have a good seat and view behind the bowler’s arm. After 50 years of watching cricket I learned why if one is not playing, the best view is from above the bowlers arm, especially as at Trent Bridge anyone buying a ticket to the championship games can sit immediately over the wicket and have one of the best views in the country, usually taken by the media at one end of every ground. The only disadvantage is that a substantial number of Nottinghamshire Members like to enjoy the experience so you have sit with other supporters on either side unless you arrive early and gain an aisle seat which I did on the two days of what proved a three day match.
When I normally watch a game I have great difficulty in seeing the ball especially if I watch side on and even behind the wicket I have problems. However looking over the wicket at height it becomes possible to see the movement of the ball, the swing or the turn in such a manner that I have not witnessed before. It was a revelation.
Notts won the toss and elected to bat on an overcast day which quickly changed to hot sunshine by the time play commenced and I had left hat in the car and sun cream at home. I investigated if there was in suitable in the club shop but those available were for smaller heads and expensive so I missed around 30 mins of the morning session going back to the car which I had managed to park in a side road only a few minutes from the Co Op and ticket office. I then decided to try another 7 day, all hours, local store on the road leading to the coop for sun cream and was horrified at having to pay 6.99 for a factor 15 sprays. I checked the price after leaving the store and then return to my seat in stand which was now full on both sides of the stadium at this level leaving large areas of emptiness.
The star of the day was Alex Hales with 115. He is the young man who in a 20 20 game, three, may even be four seasons ago he took a catch going backwards and stood on the rope which should have registered as 6. Half of Durham supporters could see the error which he failed to admit. It was a good innings in a season which has brought him to the attention of the England A side and then the England 20 20 team playing later this evening. At 202 for six and 239 for nine I had hoped for a lower total which could have made all the difference. Durham alas had a disastrous start losing 3 wickets for 25 runs and visions of 400 runs plus and an innings win vanished.
Everyone, that is the weather forecasters, the ground staff and Nottingham spectators all were convinced that the rain would arrives early and remain heavy for the greater part of the day and as I had an engagement late afternoon I decided it was not worth planning to go to cricket and made arrangement to spend the day elsewhere arriving for an early lunch. It was therefore just before 11 when I set off with darkened skies and spots of heavy rain so yes I said to myself the result looked destined to be a draw as the weather for Thursday was also not forecast as good for cricket. I had a great time but blame myself for not being at the game and therefore perhaps contributing to the mounting disaster as alas for Durham a full day’s cricket was possible.
One day and former Championship winning Benkenstein with the dependable Blackwell scored 101 between them putting on a stand of 90 but the last five wickets went for 30 with the last 3 going for a couple run. This gave the opponents what proved to be an invaluable lead of 75 runs. When Hales went for 0 and Turner for 17 things looked up for an interesting third day and at 159 for 7 the feeling was Durham had the upper hand. However Adam played a brilliant innings, I was told the following day making 53 so the home side made 235 setting Durham to get 300 runs two days, a very gettable target by any standards.
Alas Smith went for 9 and De Venuto for 20 so the third day task quickly became daunting. Then after Claydon, the overnight watchman was out at 35, Stoneman with the help of Benkenstein commenced a great innings which changed the mood of the surrounding Notts supporters who believed the game was Durham’s at the luncheon. I know from experience, especially of late that nothing is certain until the weight challenged lady sings.
I had made the most of the visit enjoying a coffee on the first morning in the Radcliffe Road stand restaurant and Bar, enjoying my spicy chicken wings for lunch but the great treat came later at tea when I scooped a giant portion of cream to go with my scone and strawberry jam and cup of tea and then had an enjoyable chat with a lady who was one of the Durham supporters on the coach trip I presumed than perhaps a mum of a player. She was upset that a second team had been sent without Onions, Stokes or Borthwick all away on England call up for the game in Dublin Ireland on the Thursday. I also kept an eye on the Test match to see if Tendulkar would get his 100 100‘s, a consolation for three poor Test performances but he was out just before and this paved the way for England to win the fourth Match and reaffirm their position as the number one team in the world.
On the third morning, arriving early, the ancient Members pavilion was visited for much needed bacon bap, as I had eaten what I had bought for breakfast the previous evening. Alas I to wait until 10 past 10 but and enjoyed even more although coffee was already unremembered. This reminds that I now need coffee and some cereal. The bacon is banned until Christmas
For lunch there was my second carton of chicken wings brought for the trip but I settled for a cold drink in the afternoon as the weather had been hot. When the wickets started to fall I knew a loss was in sight and spent the last session after tea prancing about on the concourse at the back of the middle tier hoping for a miracle. Only young Wood playing in his first game made a creditable 45 not out after 6 in the first innings. He bowled 2 for 57 in the first innings and 3 for 72 in the second 5 for 129 in the match which is a reasonable return and indicated that the former Academy player has a good future.
With the other results going badly Durham slipped to third in the table with 188 points having played 14 and impetus with Lancashire on 198, Warwickshire 195 and Somerset 177 all with an extra game to play over Durham. It was therefore time to turn attention to the 40 40 competition to be played on the Bank holiday Monday..
It was almost certain that Durham would qualify even if they lost their away game at the Oval because of the faster run rate. The match was shown live on Sky on what was a chilly and overcast day in the North East. Durham winning the toss and choosing to bat found the champion side Colonel Mustard, as he is always known on the circuit, had a fabulous knock with 13 fours and 1 six for his 66 from 31 balls and set up what proved to be a total which was too much even for Surrey who on the high scoring wicket have achieved some fine innings this season.
After the departure of the Colonel it was Paul Collingwood who has recently agreed a three year contract to stay with Durham who made an excellent considered 96 four short of a century with Benkenstein 48 so that Durham were able to amass 325 for 9 in their 40 overs the second highest total of the season in this format of the game. Surrey therefore needed to score these runs at a rate of over 8. For a period of time when Maynard was joined by Spriegel and they added just under 100 for the 5 wicket when it looked as if they still had a chance although behind in the required rate. However Claydon and Thorp with three wickets each did damage although Graham Onions bowled well for his 7 overs taking 1 for 33 to keep the over rate over 20 runs below that required from which Surrey failed to recover.
The disappointment of the day was the draw which sees Durham going to Somerset for the semi final on Sunday rather than back to Surrey who now have Sussex as their visitors. Both games will be televised with Sussex members able to go to the match free. Sussex has a fine record over recent year’s competitions after having not so good years in the Championship after winning 3 in four. They won the original pro forty competition- Sunday competition which was in two leagues until last year with Sussex winning three times back in 1982 and then in 2008 and 2009 with gaining promotion twice while Durham has only gaining promotion as leaders in 2007. Somerset back in 1978 and Surrey 1996 have won the first division. In the 50 over competition Sussex have won five and been runners up 4, Somerset have won 3 and been runners up 4, Surrey has only won once as had Durham but Surrey has also been runner up 3 times. Warwickshire beat Somerset in first of the new format competition held last year. Sussex, Surrey and Somerset have all won one of the 20 20 cup competitions which have been held since 2003. Somerset was the runners up last year and has been the bridesmaid in about 4 competitions in the last couple of years have reached finals day including this year.
This brings me nicely to this year’s Final day at Edgbaston and what a day it proved to be. The first semi final between underdogs Leicestershire and a strong Lancashire team ended in a tie Leicestershire considered themselves to be about a dozen runs short in the rain affected first innings which closed for 132 for 6 after 18 overs. Razzaq set the place alight with a splendid 3 sixes and two fours for 36 not out at the end. Lancashire was set 80 to win under Duckworth Lewis rules in 11 overs after further rain delays. Moore the Lancashire opener set of well making 42 with 7 fours and 1 six and with only losing their first wicket after scoring half the runs required. However some fine Lancashire work in the field and Cobb getting 2 wickets for six runs both teams ended with the same DL score after Cross got the six required off the last ball and the match went into was is described as the golden over.
Each side bowls 1 over to see how many runs they can score on the basis that if two wickets fall the innings ends so if the first and second batsmen are out in the first two balls the side has no score and the other side has only to score I run to win.
Lancashire batted first scoring a six but failed to score on the last two balls leaving the Foxes to get 15. They had reached 11 after four balls and Jefferson smashed a six to take the underdogs into the final. The romance of the contest was that 39 year old former England wicket keeper Paul Nixon was potentially playing in his last match before retiring. By qualifying for the final his team automatically became part of the world 20 20 club series which is held in India.
Amazingly there was also a Golden Over at the end of the 20 20 semi final between Hampshire and Somerset last year’s finalists, As with the first semi final there were several rain interruptions, Hampshire the visitors and champions the year before were asked to bat first and made 138 in 15.5 overs made with three rain delays, the highlight being a glorious career best innings by Shahid Alfredi of 80 which included 5 sixes and 6 fours. Somerset were given 10 overs to score 95 runs. Again the two team faced a single over decider and. Somerset made 16 and Hampshire who lost a wicket early on could only total 5. The two men who were crucial to the win was young England star of the future Josh Butler who hit 32 from 16 balls to bring Somerset close to winning after Marcus Trescothick was out for 28. Josh Butler partnered Kieswetter in the golden over. It was their bowler Alfonso Thomas who went for 1. 19 in his 3.5 overs who bowled the over with 1 wicket for 5 runs.
However it was the underdogs Leicestershire who were triumph in another final which swung between the two teams. Hampshire decided to field after winning the toss and the decision appeared to be a good one restricting the Foxes to 145 in the full 20 overs, as the rain cleared away by the start of the Final. Suppiah and Pollard were excellent taking 2 wickers each for 27 and 24 runs in their four overs but the star Bowler was Henderson who only gave away 11 from his four overs. However the Foxes were not downhearted arguing that the wicket had become more difficult as the day progressed and they thoughts they could defend the total. They were proved right because of some remarkable fielding including a sensational catch by Paul Nixon and four catches in the deep, always difficult under the lights by the substitute from the bowling of young Cobb who also had the presence to turn round after stopping a ball from his bowling and running out the backing up batsman who was well out of his crease. This brought ecstasy to the team finishing last at present in the second division championship and to Paul Nixon who will delay taking up his coaching appointment with the county until after the tournament in India.
This was not the last 20 20 game of the domestic season as earlier this evening England played India at Old Trafford. India blitzed away as England under Broad could not resist sticking to their plan of bowling short before a packed ground where the majority appeared to be supporting India and making the kind of noise experienced on the sub continent. I watched without sound listening to the closing overs of Durham at Sussex as well as keeping and eye on the games played by the three others with the game in hand. It was Rahane with 8 fours in an innings 61 supported by Dravid and Raina who appeared to be taking the game away from England as the run rate reached over 8 and approached 9. However some excellent bowling by Dernbach 4 for 22 from 3.4 overs at the end with Bopara taking 1 for 4 of his only over dismissing Dravid early on who ensured an unexpected England victory restricting the visitors to 165 in 19,4 over.
A nervous Pietersen before his resting from the 1 day game against India to be played on Saturday at Durham made 34 before being stumped but it was Morgan who appeared to take the game away with 49 before a contested catch who reduced to run rate to less than 8 Young Hales was out second ball which pleased me! The match became in balance when England needing 13 runs from 12 could only get 3 with the loss of a wicket at a time when Bopara and Patel had played themselves in. The first ball of one of the Kumar’s was declared a wide, a dubious decision, and this unsettled the bowler who gave another wide and then three fours which meant the required total was passed with 3 balls to go and the Brits celebrated while the Indian supporters tried to hide their understandable disappointment. The difference being the ability to bold tight at the end.
There are two more 20 20 game before the official end of International in the UK when England Play the West Indies at e Oval in late September as he season is extended.
The 50 over game in Dublin was rain affected but Trott made an excellent 69 with Owen Morgan 59 Debutants Taylor 1 and Durham’s Ben Stokes 3 failed to cover themselves in glory but Borthwick did get a promising 15. Another youngster Woakes was also promising with 19 as the total was pushed to 201 in 43 over on a difficult pitch for batting. There was more rain and Ireland restricted to 137 were 11 runs short at 117 for 8. Borthwick was only give one over from which he was hit for 13. Dernbach from Surrey had a promising 3 for 30 and proving himself to be the up and rapidly coming new fast bowler of the season.
Going back further to the fourth Test England declared on a massive 591 runs for 6 with Bell making a massive 235 and Pietersen 175 in a stand which took the total from 97 for 2 to 447 before the third wicket and for a time it looked as if there were to be two players reach double centuries in the same game. Pietersen his 27 fours and Bell 23 plus two sixes.
It was going to be tough for India and touch it was with only Dravid 146 not out one of the few players to carry their bat throughout Test Innings the only player to distinguish himself. Late in the order Mishra made 43 and the last four wickets made over 150 runs after India were 95 for 5.
The question therefore was could England win by an inning in another ain affected game and could Tendulkar get his 100 100’s reminding once more that Don Bradman only needed 6 runs to end his Test Career with an average of 100 at the Oval Test in I was there in 1948 only to be bowled by Eric Hollis in the second ball faced. Tendulkar made 91 with partner Mishra 84, a partnership of just under 150 for the fourth wicket at 262. After that wickets timbered again at 262,268,269, 69 275 and 283 with Swann 6 for 106, The lads done well!
Meanwhile there is a ray of light perhaps two emerged today regarding Durham’s now outside chance of winning the championship. Before reporting what happened I have a lot of catching up to do.
I always enjoy my visits to Trent Bridge because it is possible to have a good seat and view behind the bowler’s arm. After 50 years of watching cricket I learned why if one is not playing, the best view is from above the bowlers arm, especially as at Trent Bridge anyone buying a ticket to the championship games can sit immediately over the wicket and have one of the best views in the country, usually taken by the media at one end of every ground. The only disadvantage is that a substantial number of Nottinghamshire Members like to enjoy the experience so you have sit with other supporters on either side unless you arrive early and gain an aisle seat which I did on the two days of what proved a three day match.
When I normally watch a game I have great difficulty in seeing the ball especially if I watch side on and even behind the wicket I have problems. However looking over the wicket at height it becomes possible to see the movement of the ball, the swing or the turn in such a manner that I have not witnessed before. It was a revelation.
Notts won the toss and elected to bat on an overcast day which quickly changed to hot sunshine by the time play commenced and I had left hat in the car and sun cream at home. I investigated if there was in suitable in the club shop but those available were for smaller heads and expensive so I missed around 30 mins of the morning session going back to the car which I had managed to park in a side road only a few minutes from the Co Op and ticket office. I then decided to try another 7 day, all hours, local store on the road leading to the coop for sun cream and was horrified at having to pay 6.99 for a factor 15 sprays. I checked the price after leaving the store and then return to my seat in stand which was now full on both sides of the stadium at this level leaving large areas of emptiness.
The star of the day was Alex Hales with 115. He is the young man who in a 20 20 game, three, may even be four seasons ago he took a catch going backwards and stood on the rope which should have registered as 6. Half of Durham supporters could see the error which he failed to admit. It was a good innings in a season which has brought him to the attention of the England A side and then the England 20 20 team playing later this evening. At 202 for six and 239 for nine I had hoped for a lower total which could have made all the difference. Durham alas had a disastrous start losing 3 wickets for 25 runs and visions of 400 runs plus and an innings win vanished.
Everyone, that is the weather forecasters, the ground staff and Nottingham spectators all were convinced that the rain would arrives early and remain heavy for the greater part of the day and as I had an engagement late afternoon I decided it was not worth planning to go to cricket and made arrangement to spend the day elsewhere arriving for an early lunch. It was therefore just before 11 when I set off with darkened skies and spots of heavy rain so yes I said to myself the result looked destined to be a draw as the weather for Thursday was also not forecast as good for cricket. I had a great time but blame myself for not being at the game and therefore perhaps contributing to the mounting disaster as alas for Durham a full day’s cricket was possible.
One day and former Championship winning Benkenstein with the dependable Blackwell scored 101 between them putting on a stand of 90 but the last five wickets went for 30 with the last 3 going for a couple run. This gave the opponents what proved to be an invaluable lead of 75 runs. When Hales went for 0 and Turner for 17 things looked up for an interesting third day and at 159 for 7 the feeling was Durham had the upper hand. However Adam played a brilliant innings, I was told the following day making 53 so the home side made 235 setting Durham to get 300 runs two days, a very gettable target by any standards.
Alas Smith went for 9 and De Venuto for 20 so the third day task quickly became daunting. Then after Claydon, the overnight watchman was out at 35, Stoneman with the help of Benkenstein commenced a great innings which changed the mood of the surrounding Notts supporters who believed the game was Durham’s at the luncheon. I know from experience, especially of late that nothing is certain until the weight challenged lady sings.
I had made the most of the visit enjoying a coffee on the first morning in the Radcliffe Road stand restaurant and Bar, enjoying my spicy chicken wings for lunch but the great treat came later at tea when I scooped a giant portion of cream to go with my scone and strawberry jam and cup of tea and then had an enjoyable chat with a lady who was one of the Durham supporters on the coach trip I presumed than perhaps a mum of a player. She was upset that a second team had been sent without Onions, Stokes or Borthwick all away on England call up for the game in Dublin Ireland on the Thursday. I also kept an eye on the Test match to see if Tendulkar would get his 100 100‘s, a consolation for three poor Test performances but he was out just before and this paved the way for England to win the fourth Match and reaffirm their position as the number one team in the world.
On the third morning, arriving early, the ancient Members pavilion was visited for much needed bacon bap, as I had eaten what I had bought for breakfast the previous evening. Alas I to wait until 10 past 10 but and enjoyed even more although coffee was already unremembered. This reminds that I now need coffee and some cereal. The bacon is banned until Christmas
For lunch there was my second carton of chicken wings brought for the trip but I settled for a cold drink in the afternoon as the weather had been hot. When the wickets started to fall I knew a loss was in sight and spent the last session after tea prancing about on the concourse at the back of the middle tier hoping for a miracle. Only young Wood playing in his first game made a creditable 45 not out after 6 in the first innings. He bowled 2 for 57 in the first innings and 3 for 72 in the second 5 for 129 in the match which is a reasonable return and indicated that the former Academy player has a good future.
With the other results going badly Durham slipped to third in the table with 188 points having played 14 and impetus with Lancashire on 198, Warwickshire 195 and Somerset 177 all with an extra game to play over Durham. It was therefore time to turn attention to the 40 40 competition to be played on the Bank holiday Monday..
It was almost certain that Durham would qualify even if they lost their away game at the Oval because of the faster run rate. The match was shown live on Sky on what was a chilly and overcast day in the North East. Durham winning the toss and choosing to bat found the champion side Colonel Mustard, as he is always known on the circuit, had a fabulous knock with 13 fours and 1 six for his 66 from 31 balls and set up what proved to be a total which was too much even for Surrey who on the high scoring wicket have achieved some fine innings this season.
After the departure of the Colonel it was Paul Collingwood who has recently agreed a three year contract to stay with Durham who made an excellent considered 96 four short of a century with Benkenstein 48 so that Durham were able to amass 325 for 9 in their 40 overs the second highest total of the season in this format of the game. Surrey therefore needed to score these runs at a rate of over 8. For a period of time when Maynard was joined by Spriegel and they added just under 100 for the 5 wicket when it looked as if they still had a chance although behind in the required rate. However Claydon and Thorp with three wickets each did damage although Graham Onions bowled well for his 7 overs taking 1 for 33 to keep the over rate over 20 runs below that required from which Surrey failed to recover.
The disappointment of the day was the draw which sees Durham going to Somerset for the semi final on Sunday rather than back to Surrey who now have Sussex as their visitors. Both games will be televised with Sussex members able to go to the match free. Sussex has a fine record over recent year’s competitions after having not so good years in the Championship after winning 3 in four. They won the original pro forty competition- Sunday competition which was in two leagues until last year with Sussex winning three times back in 1982 and then in 2008 and 2009 with gaining promotion twice while Durham has only gaining promotion as leaders in 2007. Somerset back in 1978 and Surrey 1996 have won the first division. In the 50 over competition Sussex have won five and been runners up 4, Somerset have won 3 and been runners up 4, Surrey has only won once as had Durham but Surrey has also been runner up 3 times. Warwickshire beat Somerset in first of the new format competition held last year. Sussex, Surrey and Somerset have all won one of the 20 20 cup competitions which have been held since 2003. Somerset was the runners up last year and has been the bridesmaid in about 4 competitions in the last couple of years have reached finals day including this year.
This brings me nicely to this year’s Final day at Edgbaston and what a day it proved to be. The first semi final between underdogs Leicestershire and a strong Lancashire team ended in a tie Leicestershire considered themselves to be about a dozen runs short in the rain affected first innings which closed for 132 for 6 after 18 overs. Razzaq set the place alight with a splendid 3 sixes and two fours for 36 not out at the end. Lancashire was set 80 to win under Duckworth Lewis rules in 11 overs after further rain delays. Moore the Lancashire opener set of well making 42 with 7 fours and 1 six and with only losing their first wicket after scoring half the runs required. However some fine Lancashire work in the field and Cobb getting 2 wickets for six runs both teams ended with the same DL score after Cross got the six required off the last ball and the match went into was is described as the golden over.
Each side bowls 1 over to see how many runs they can score on the basis that if two wickets fall the innings ends so if the first and second batsmen are out in the first two balls the side has no score and the other side has only to score I run to win.
Lancashire batted first scoring a six but failed to score on the last two balls leaving the Foxes to get 15. They had reached 11 after four balls and Jefferson smashed a six to take the underdogs into the final. The romance of the contest was that 39 year old former England wicket keeper Paul Nixon was potentially playing in his last match before retiring. By qualifying for the final his team automatically became part of the world 20 20 club series which is held in India.
Amazingly there was also a Golden Over at the end of the 20 20 semi final between Hampshire and Somerset last year’s finalists, As with the first semi final there were several rain interruptions, Hampshire the visitors and champions the year before were asked to bat first and made 138 in 15.5 overs made with three rain delays, the highlight being a glorious career best innings by Shahid Alfredi of 80 which included 5 sixes and 6 fours. Somerset were given 10 overs to score 95 runs. Again the two team faced a single over decider and. Somerset made 16 and Hampshire who lost a wicket early on could only total 5. The two men who were crucial to the win was young England star of the future Josh Butler who hit 32 from 16 balls to bring Somerset close to winning after Marcus Trescothick was out for 28. Josh Butler partnered Kieswetter in the golden over. It was their bowler Alfonso Thomas who went for 1. 19 in his 3.5 overs who bowled the over with 1 wicket for 5 runs.
However it was the underdogs Leicestershire who were triumph in another final which swung between the two teams. Hampshire decided to field after winning the toss and the decision appeared to be a good one restricting the Foxes to 145 in the full 20 overs, as the rain cleared away by the start of the Final. Suppiah and Pollard were excellent taking 2 wickers each for 27 and 24 runs in their four overs but the star Bowler was Henderson who only gave away 11 from his four overs. However the Foxes were not downhearted arguing that the wicket had become more difficult as the day progressed and they thoughts they could defend the total. They were proved right because of some remarkable fielding including a sensational catch by Paul Nixon and four catches in the deep, always difficult under the lights by the substitute from the bowling of young Cobb who also had the presence to turn round after stopping a ball from his bowling and running out the backing up batsman who was well out of his crease. This brought ecstasy to the team finishing last at present in the second division championship and to Paul Nixon who will delay taking up his coaching appointment with the county until after the tournament in India.
This was not the last 20 20 game of the domestic season as earlier this evening England played India at Old Trafford. India blitzed away as England under Broad could not resist sticking to their plan of bowling short before a packed ground where the majority appeared to be supporting India and making the kind of noise experienced on the sub continent. I watched without sound listening to the closing overs of Durham at Sussex as well as keeping and eye on the games played by the three others with the game in hand. It was Rahane with 8 fours in an innings 61 supported by Dravid and Raina who appeared to be taking the game away from England as the run rate reached over 8 and approached 9. However some excellent bowling by Dernbach 4 for 22 from 3.4 overs at the end with Bopara taking 1 for 4 of his only over dismissing Dravid early on who ensured an unexpected England victory restricting the visitors to 165 in 19,4 over.
A nervous Pietersen before his resting from the 1 day game against India to be played on Saturday at Durham made 34 before being stumped but it was Morgan who appeared to take the game away with 49 before a contested catch who reduced to run rate to less than 8 Young Hales was out second ball which pleased me! The match became in balance when England needing 13 runs from 12 could only get 3 with the loss of a wicket at a time when Bopara and Patel had played themselves in. The first ball of one of the Kumar’s was declared a wide, a dubious decision, and this unsettled the bowler who gave another wide and then three fours which meant the required total was passed with 3 balls to go and the Brits celebrated while the Indian supporters tried to hide their understandable disappointment. The difference being the ability to bold tight at the end.
There are two more 20 20 game before the official end of International in the UK when England Play the West Indies at e Oval in late September as he season is extended.
The 50 over game in Dublin was rain affected but Trott made an excellent 69 with Owen Morgan 59 Debutants Taylor 1 and Durham’s Ben Stokes 3 failed to cover themselves in glory but Borthwick did get a promising 15. Another youngster Woakes was also promising with 19 as the total was pushed to 201 in 43 over on a difficult pitch for batting. There was more rain and Ireland restricted to 137 were 11 runs short at 117 for 8. Borthwick was only give one over from which he was hit for 13. Dernbach from Surrey had a promising 3 for 30 and proving himself to be the up and rapidly coming new fast bowler of the season.
Going back further to the fourth Test England declared on a massive 591 runs for 6 with Bell making a massive 235 and Pietersen 175 in a stand which took the total from 97 for 2 to 447 before the third wicket and for a time it looked as if there were to be two players reach double centuries in the same game. Pietersen his 27 fours and Bell 23 plus two sixes.
It was going to be tough for India and touch it was with only Dravid 146 not out one of the few players to carry their bat throughout Test Innings the only player to distinguish himself. Late in the order Mishra made 43 and the last four wickets made over 150 runs after India were 95 for 5.
The question therefore was could England win by an inning in another ain affected game and could Tendulkar get his 100 100’s reminding once more that Don Bradman only needed 6 runs to end his Test Career with an average of 100 at the Oval Test in I was there in 1948 only to be bowled by Eric Hollis in the second ball faced. Tendulkar made 91 with partner Mishra 84, a partnership of just under 150 for the fourth wicket at 262. After that wickets timbered again at 262,268,269, 69 275 and 283 with Swann 6 for 106, The lads done well!
Meanwhile there is a ray of light perhaps two emerged today regarding Durham’s now outside chance of winning the championship. Before reporting what happened I have a lot of catching up to do.
