Middlesex 251 and 95-3 (Stoneman 60*)
Derbyshire 229 (Madsen 62,. Masood 49, Guest 40 Roland-Jones 5-45)
Middlesex lead by 117 runs
At 208-3, the top order having played well to a man, they were 43 behind and looking at a decent first innings lead that could have been match-defining.
Instead, the last seven wickets fell for just 21 runs. Toby Roland-Jones bowled well, but the later order was anaemic at best and it was disappointing.
Masood looked in great touch but was undone by extra bounce, while Godleman was undone by the advent of spin. Yet Guest and Madsen were solid and we were in the ascendant in the early afternoon period.
Then it all fell apart. Good bowling and loose shots combined to undo the last seven wickets and it was as if a pin had been stuck in a balloon as the mood at Chesterfield deflated.
This is a terrific cricket wicket and it has been a good game. You can score runs, you can take wickets with seam or spin. You can't ask for more. The result may ultimately lie in an experienced pace attack against one of much less, though our spinners have bowled much better.
I thought Watt bowled splendidly in the evening session, but we need to make early inroads tomorrow to stay in this. I would suggest 230 the Northern limit of what we could chase in the final innings and that only if the late order shows greater resilience than today.
We also need to be sharper in the field. Too many half chances have gone down so far, things you can ill afford on such a track. A batsman is never truly in, but I have enjoyed the genuine battle between bat and ball, regardless of the final result.
Big day tomorrow.
It was all going so well for us at 208-3 but Wayne's dismissal sparked an astonishing collapse. Well though Roland Jones bowled ,some palsied strokes by our lower order handed the initiative back to Middlesex. Then our opening bowlers failed to follow Roland Jones example of bowling to a consistent line and length , spraying the ball around so much that they were taken off after only only 5 overs. This allowed Reece and the sipnners to bowl very well and put the brakes on but we will need to take early wickets tomorrow to stand any chance of winning on the unpredictable Queen's Park pitch. The stage will hopefully be set for another master class of batting by Masood. Let's hope he can take us to victory though I have to admit the odds are against us.
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We were in the driving seat - and then lost 7 wickets for 21. What on earth happened there? Credit to Roland-Jones, who produced an extraordinary spell, taking 5-17. We were on target for at least 350.
ReplyDeleteWe've got it all to do now.
Felt like 8 hours/4 sessions of high quality work undone in an hour unfortunately. With 3 wickets down and plenty of batting to come it looked like a lead of around 100, perhaps even 150 could be achieved. Now we are appear to be really up against it. A shame as it was looking like a chance to record big win.
ReplyDeleteThe Middlesex buffoons commentating on the Derbyshire live feed didn't realize Shan Masood had reached 1000 runs
ReplyDeleteMiddlrsex buffoons - I had the misfortune to sit in the middle of a group of them at Queen's Park yesterday!
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