Middlesex: Better Than Sex?

What a climax. Take away the curious half hour of declaration bowling and Friday was championship cricket at its best. It proved, as if we didn’t already know, that first-class cricket is still the best form of the game. You don’t need city based teams, you don’t need players wearing pyjamas, and you certainly don’t need another effing T20 tournament when you’ve got a product as good as the county championship.

If only the ECB would take note. Their apparently lack of faith in the county game at first class level is utterly depressing. At one point on Thursday the county cricket page was the second most visited section of the whole BBC website. It just goes to show that interest in, and the genuine fondness for, the county game is still alive.

It takes a special kind of ineptitude to screw up marketing a product this good. And yet here we are, with the ECB pinning all their hopes on a city based T20 tournament rather than invigorating the first class game. Don’t they realise that putting county cricket on a free-to-air television channel and marketing it robustly would do a hell of a lot more for cricket, and increasing participation levels, than squeezing in an extra T20 cup involving artificial teams that nobody has any affection for.

No doubt the naysayers will read the above, which I admit is a little polemical, and claim that terrestrial television has no appetite for county cricket. My answer to that is simple: create an appetite. If a product is good then people will buy it. If you disagree with this you’re basically saying “look guys, county cricket is crap”. Well, I dare anyone to say that with a straight face after an intriguing and dramatic few days. Tell that to Middlesex fans. Tell that to Somerset fans. Tell that to Warwickshire fans. And even though they lost out in their pursuit of a lost cause, tell that to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Yorkies who made their way down to North London this week.

So where do we begin to dissect Friday’s drama? I guess we should start with the declaration. Some thought 240 in 40 overs was generous and that Yorkshire would canter to victory. Even Mike Atherton said so in the commentary box. My gut, however, told me differently:

This was a fourth day pitch, with very little pace, very little bounce, and Middlesex could put fielders wherever they wanted. It was never going to be like a one-day match. Yorkshire had no option but to force the pace and it was always likely to prove their undoing. I suspected their chase was futile after about ten or fifteen overs. Scoring a run a ball looked such hard work.

I guess what everyone forgot was this: Middlesex play lots of cricket at Lord’s. They know conditions incredibly well. Did we really think they’d agree to 240 off 40 overs if the odds weren’t stacked in the favour? Anyone who watched the weekend’s Royal London Cup final, when Surrey perished in a bid to raise the tempo, should have guessed the likely outcome. All the signs were there.

Although I actually thought Middlesex winning in these circumstances was the least satisfactory outcome – after all, they wouldn’t have got close to taking twenty wickets on that benign surface without Yorkshire committing hari kari – one cannot deny that James Franklin’s team have performed excellently over the season. It’s easy to forget that they were 2-2 and over a hundred behind at one point on Thursday afternoon. Yet they still found a way to win.

Toby Roland Jones bowled absolutely beautifully in this match and it must be a dream come true to seal the championship with a hat-trick. Nick Gubbins batted also superbly. All I can say is that Haseeb Hameed must be one hell of a player to keep the Middlesex opener out of the test squad. He looks seriously good to me.

Dawid Malan also played well for his century, while Tim Murtagh surely deserves to win something after bowling over after over, summer after summer, for so long. Middlesex have good players in all departments and they’re worthy champions.

Of course, many people, including myself if I’m being honest, feel desperately sorry for Somerset. They’ve become many cricket fans’ second county over the years. Lifting the trophy would have been a great way for Chris Rogers, and who knows perhaps even Marcus Trescothick, to round off their stellar careers. Unfortunately however, it wasn’t to be.

There were rumours on social media that the declaration agreement between Middlesex and Yorkshire actually precluded any prospect of a draw. If this is so, Somerset never had a chance and might consider themselves stitched up. However, in my opinion such an agreement seems unlikely. Yorkshire surely wouldn’t have been expected to throw wickets away stupidly in a lost cause just as Middlesex wouldn’t be expected to throw runs away if Yorkshire were 200-1 with 5 overs left. I assume both teams were simply going for the win until the very end (realising a draw was no good to either of them). The way I see it, Middlesex were simply the beneficiaries of serendipitous circumstances.

Anyway, it’s all moot now. Middlesex are the champions, Andrew Strauss can let Jonny Bairstow out of his basement (just kidding folks), and our thoughts can now turn towards what should be an interesting winter for the senior England side and the Lions.

But before I sign off, I’d just like to congratulate Angus Fraser for Middlesex’s triumph. I’ve given Gus a lot of stick recently, mainly because I disagree with many of the selectors’ picks (and I don’t think he should be a selector due to the whole conflict of interest thing). However, you can’t argue with the job he’s done at Middlesex.

Fraser is a good man by all accounts, he’s Middlesex through and through, and he’s still (and always will be) one of my favourite England players of all time. He thoroughly deserves several glasses of whatever he’s drinking tonight. Congrats.

James Morgan

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