Unbelievable against a backdrop of unbelievability

Middlesex 179 for 5 

lost to 

Gloucestershire 157 for 5 (18 Overs) 

by 2 Runs (DLS Method) 

Blast T20 South Group 

Thursday 17 June 2021 

Played at Radlett 

Incredibly exciting last ball finish to the game. Not like we fucking knew that at the time. One "I'm a qualified Umpire" in our block declared it a Tie on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. A bloke I asked on the way out was convinced Gloucestershire had won. I'd four square given the points to Middlesex. At 8:21pm (ish) the rain started, the light had gone way back, the Umpires took the players off. I caught the 8:42pm train from Radlett station. I fired up the BatPhone. Glos had won by two. Cricket doesn't help itself at times.

There's a long list of characters. None of them particularly to blame. It's just the circumstances were ridiculous. Front & centre were Umpires Peter Hartley & Martin Saggers. This game played (again) at an outground in Hertfordshire. No floodlights. Longest Day next Monday. They set it as a 5:30pm start. But, overcast day, rain expected. Remarks around Block L that "it's getting dark" with 10 overs of the chase still left. 

Middlesex quick Blake Cullen bowled the 11th over. At the end of that, Gloucestershire were 109 for 3, needing another 71. Leggie Luke Hollman bowled the next. Then, I believe Hartley & Saggers intervened because of the light. Steven Finn trotted down to field on the boundary - "No Pace" he said to anyone within hearing. So Eoin Morgan then had to juggle what he had amongst his slower bowlers. 

The DLS on the scoreboard was trying to update every ball. But, you can't be sure.

Is that what it needed to be off that last ball?

Is that what it needs to be off this next ball?

Do they need to get that score as a target?

Or get past it as a target?

Morgan had his own printed Crib Sheet. The batsmen were consulting the Umpires Crib Sheet. Green, Hollman, Green, Stirling completed overs. 142 for 5 off 17 overs. 38 needed off 18 balls.

Then a multi disciplinary conference in the middle. Morgan, of course, is running out of resources. After five overs of No Pace. And the light obviously receding further. Hartley & Saggers allowed Steven Finn back on. Basically, that's unbelievable against a backdrop of unbelievability. 

Now. If me & my Middlesex Muckers had known. Categorically. That it was FOURTEEN to win off this single Finn over. We'd have been in - Right Here We Go - mode. Did Finn even know?

Dot Ball. Single to Higgins. Single to Cockbain. SIX for Higgins. Single to Higgins. Cockbain hits a SIX off the final ball of the over. And the rains came. And the Umpires took them off. And an essentially knowledgeable cricket crowd of Middlesex Members began the debate about who had just won the fucking game in front of us. 

Ian Cockbain scored 62 off 39 balls. And hit one SIX. Off Steven Finn. Off the last ball of the 17th over. Which proved to be the last ball of the match. Which proved to be the winning runs. If only he'd known. If only Finn had known. If only we had fucking known.

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