da dobrowin： Gloucestershire in total control at Cheltenham after England call for unlikely pair
da doce： Paul Edwards06-Jul-2021
With the charming eccentricity that is entirely characteristic of county cricket, the College Ground boasts a number of signposts, none of which are much use. Instead of telling spectators the distances to splendid nearby villages like North Cerney or Elkstone, they inform them how far it is to the six traditional Test grounds. Mileages are also indicated for more distant destinations: Motera (India), 4329, for example, and even Cheltonians might consider the latter a little ambitious for a half-holiday jaunt. But in the school attended by Edward Wilson, one of Scott’s men, the simple mention of such locations is probably thought an inspiration. The omission of Cardiff from the list, however, appeared an unfortunate oversight on the second morning of this game, when both John Simpson and David Payne received utterly unexpected calls to the England squad that will play Pakistan at Sophia Gardens on Thursday.Meanwhile the two teams contesting the match followed the advice of Winston Churchill and kept buggering on. Such slightly coarse language may seem inappropriate in these classical surroundings – Churchill himself used “plodding” when ladies were present – but it is nevertheless fair enough when applied to a game thrown into slight disarray by the isolation of the national team. Dominic Goodman replaced Payne in Gloucestershire’s side and James Bracey assumed the captaincy. Middlesex’s Robbie White took over the gloves from Simpson, whose overdue call-up was greeted with particular pleasure from those who suspected this very fine cricketer’s chance had gone.In truth Simpson’s colleagues missed his batting rather more than his keeping. For if we may civilise Churchillian phraseology, Gloucestershire’s cricketers went about their business with far greater resolution than their opponents, gaining a first-innings lead of 147 and then extending that to 345 by the close. It is a quintessentially match-winning position and one that has been achieved without the skipper, Chris Dent, who has a broken finger, and Ryan Higgins, whose wife gave birth at 4.48am – how can they be so precise? – on Monday morning.This day’s play – quite possibly the whole game – hinged on the 10.3 overs that bridged the luncheon interval. At the beginning of that period Middlesex were 76 for 2 having lost the debutant Josh de Caires, who was leg before to Matt Taylor in the fourth over of the day, and Stevie Eskinazi, whose authentic leg glance off Goodman was athletically caught by a diving Bracey. The only other noteworthy incident early in the day saw Gloucestershire penalised five runs after Dan Worrall had hurled the ball back at Eskinazi and appeared to hit the batter on the back.An hour later even more painful injuries followed for Middlesex who lost their last eight wickets for 25 runs with the final seven batsmen falling either leg before wicket or caught in the keeper-and-slip cordon. Gloucestershire’s bowling was excellent. Having failed to remove Eskinazi by a method that would have earned him an appointment with his Housemaster in this school’s distant past, Worrall returned at the College Lawn End and employed more conventional methods to dismiss both Robson, who was bowled between bat and pad, and Daryl Mitchell, whose maiden first-class innings for Middlesex lasted one ball. The New Zealander clearly thought he was too far down the wicket to be give leg before but replays indicated otherwise and Graham Lloyd’s finger, which had earlier been wagged in Worrall’s direction, now brought the bowler joy illimited. White, who a few hours earlier may have been looking forward to a gentle day of squeezing sanitiser bottles, prevented the hat-trick.Related
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Yet that was as far as Middlesex’s resistance extended. On the resumption the visitors folded up their tents and disappeared like the bedouin in the night. Faced with confident seam bowling on a typical Cheltenham pitch that rewards excellence but offers no exculpation for carelessness, six Middlesex batsmen were sent packing in less than half an hour. Peter Handscomb received a fine ball from Taylor and nicked it to Bracey; Martin Andersson attempted the careless drive typical of a man desperate to find form. The non-specialist batsmen were swept away by Taylor and Tom Price, the latter taking his second, third and fourth first-class wickets in 17 balls. Middlesex have now been bowled out for less than 175 in eight of their 15 completed first-class innings this summer.Gloucestershire’s cricketers, by contrast, for all that they lost their last two Championship matches by an innings, are enjoying themselves hugely this season and cricket is so revelatory of character that their pleasure is evident in almost all they do. Miles Hammond’s 46 included a lovely pick up over square leg off Ethan Bamber and an equally fine cover drive in the next over. George Scott, Tom Lace and Glenn Phillips were all dismissed for single figures but those reverses were more than countered by the batting of Bracey, whose 88 included four fours in one Mitchell over, and Jack Taylor who clearly had licence to pillage and made 40 off 29 balls before he edged Mitchell to White. The New Zealander celebrated that wicket with the enthusiasm of a man putting his bins out but rather more joy attended the dismissal of Bracey, who was caught at point by Eskinazi eight balls before poor light ended the day’s play.Neither of those last two wickets affected the price of fish very much. The two sessions that comprised Gloucestershire’s second innings were watched with quiet satisfaction by paying spectators and members, most of whom were sitting at the Chapel End. For their part the Middlesex players might enquire whether Henry Prothero’s most famous piece of architecture is open to the public. One fears their chances in this match have entered the Land of Lazarus.
