v Middlesex 370 all out
Leicestershire 272 all out
Middlesex 52 for 0
Middlesex Win By 10 Wickets
County Championship Division 2
Day Three
Saturday 30 April 2022
Played at Lord's
We left Day 2 a bit early to get over to Loftus Rd. But, we had the speculation. The Running Foxes had finished Day 2 miles behind & 3 down. There was heated discussion as to how many bottles of Champagne to take. Of course, the Carrier Bag Firm rule is simple - always take as many as you can.
Often when I write Blogs from Middlesex games, I'm appealing to my Yorkshire Constituency. I'm a Yorkshireman. I support Yorkshire County Cricket Club. But, sometimes, it can be a frustrating and maybe even joyless experience with Yorkshire. I'm not saying that about what happens on the pitch. They're my guys. They put the lot in, and leave nothing behind. There's the joy right there.
But, the surrounding experience. Ggggrrrr. Take for instance, those bubbles I argued we should take into the ground. The Steward at the Lord's gate looked at my bag. Looked AT it. Maybe 5 yards away. Looked AT it. Not IN it. And queried & ruled.
"There's just alcohol in there I think. I've no need to look in it…"
Wouldn't happen at Headingley. No. And, here's the CBF info for my Yorkshire Constituency.
I enjoy ALL the discounts for my Middlesex Subscription. Early Bird. Direct Debit. Country Membership. Two Members at one address. And, over the Pandemic various extra loyalty discounts & perks have kicked in.
This Middlesex 2022 season, I got my own Membership. Which includes admission, and the roam of Lord's (including the Pavilion) and outgrounds for Championship, 50 Over & T20. And I got a voucher/promo code to gift an equivalent Membership to another Carrier Bag Firm Footsoldier. And I got a guest admission card (only Championship & 50 over), which allows me to take another ad hoc rag tag CBF into games. Let's call that THREE MEMBERSHIPS in all but name.
That cost me. £47.20. Yes. £47.20. Effectively for three Memberships. Now, I'm not claiming you can walk in off the street & pick up three Middlesex Memberships for less than a nifty fifty. As I said, I'm up to my nostrils in discounts & loyalty. But, I am saying, me, myself, I paid £47.20 for three Middlesex Memberships.
I paid £230 for my solitary, single 2022 YCCC Membership. Oh. And One Fucking Pound extra as a piss take Postage charge. Here. You can have this from me. Until Yorkshire (and many other Counties) get Subscription rates designed to attract & retain a wider, bigger, more diverse, more representative of all corners of the County fanbase, then we'll continue churning through the same shit we just have.
Oh. And don't forget. For that £47.20. The Steward looked AT my bag & waved me on my alcohol journey.
In that bag were…
Nyetimber, Classic Cuvee, English Sparkling Wine, Traditional Method, (West Chiltington, England), so NOT Champagne, from a bottle, with a "pop" at 12%
That smelled glorious just as the cork was popped. Lots & lots of fruit. I'll admit disappointment as not all that survived. Very easy drinking, but a tad thin. I felt it played out a bit acid as I got down it.
Monsigny Champagne, No. III Brut, from a bottle at 12.5%
That's one of Aldi's. A great go-to for your second bottle. When they're three down overnight & miles behind.
Some of the display cases between the Lord's Long Room, The Old Library & The Writing Room were dedicated to memorabilia from the Civil Service Sports Clubs Cricket Teams. Now, I was a career Civil Servant, I joined the CSSC on Day One of my working life. So, fair to say, I was fascinated.
The display included an intriguing (but incomplete) card from a match as recently as 1975. I Zingari v The Civil Service at Battersea. A potential long lost cousin of mine, W M Rose, opened for I Zingari in the first innings. Got Six. Not sure where he batted in the second. But, he ended 2 not out in a poor 54 all out. But he took EIGHT Civil Service wickets in their first innings. Including the Hat Trick. The Civil Servants will have hated that. The longer the game went on, the longer they could stay away from their desks!!!
Ben Mike was born in Nottingham in 1998. He took 5 for 37 (and 9 for 94 in the match) on his Leicester debut v Sussex in 2018. His highest score before today was 74 v The Brown Hatters last year. Today he came in at 105 for 5 in the 36th over. Leicestershire still trailed by 116.
Mulder went at 127 for 6, with Ben on 8 off 25 balls.
Barnes went at 225 for 7 (having made 36 of that 98 run stand). Ben was now 66 off just 76 balls. And the Middle Saxons would at least have to bat again.
Callum Parkinson went at 264 for 8 (having made just 9 in a stand of 39). Ben had blasted past his previous best. Now just five short of his maiden century (and at Lord's) off just 103 balls.
A single (now on 96) off the first ball of the 73rd over. Chris Wright (a former Middlesex player) blocked out the rest.
Ben snaffled two singles (now on 98 off 106) in the 74th. But Wright took a single off the last to keep the strike. And took two off the third of the 75th. And was out to the 5th ball. 271 for 9. Ben Mike off strike on 98 not out.
Ben took a single off the second ball of Toby Roland-Jones over. Overseas Gunslinger Beuran Hendricks on strike.
DOT DOT GONE
Cleaned up.
Ben stranded on 99. Short of his maiden ton. Nine fours. Four sixes. Just 108 balls. And at Lord's. Cruel game sometimes. He actually had to console Hendricks who was distraught. By the time he got to the rope, I think he realised he'd got a better story to tell his grandkids than if he'd actually got the ton over the line. The lower pavilion, and the Long Room, and me cheered him to the rafters.
Stoneman & Robson brought the chase home without drama. They didn't bring Ben Mike on to bowl.
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