Middlesex Topple Yorkshire
At the start of Day Four, I think the consensus was that Middlesex were outsiders. I was thinking about 50% Somerset, 35% Yorkshire, 15% Middlesex. Certainly at 2-2 on Thursday night they looked in real trouble. But Gubbins and Malan batted intelligently, and got Middlesex back into the match. Even so, with the declaration leaving Middlesex 40 overs to bowl out a Yorkshire side chasing 240, the odds were still about 50/35/15 in Somerset's favour, with Yorkshire second favourites.
But credit to Middlesex, because the simple truth is that they played an absolute blinder on Day Four, first with the bat, and then with the ball. Their first priority at the start of play was survival, and they batted through until lunch to achieve that aim. They were still behind Yorkshire's tally with two wickets down at the start of play, so making sure that they didn't give Yorkshire an easy chase was priority one. Gubbins and Malan batted Middlesex to safety, before Gubbins fell for 93 and Eskinazi came in to carry on the plan.
And the plan worked perfectly. After about 85 overs, midway through the day, with Middlesex a hundred and twenty runs in front, Yorkshire folded and allowed Middlesex to set them a target. The next ten overs were farcical, as Middlesex plundered 120 runs off them, Malan and Simpson bizarrely losing their wickets as Yorkshire bowled absolute filth, horrible bowling allowing the run fest, so that the game could truly begin. It was a real show of grit and intelligence from Middlesex, who held their nerve and knew that sooner or later Yorkshire would have to let them bat.
In terms of whether or not it was a sporting thing to do, I'm not really sure. Certainly it would be frustrating for Somerset watching it, but for both teams it wasn't beneficial to let the game meander to its inevitable draw, and the kind of dolly declaration bowling that Yorkshire gave Middlesex is just a part of the game.
In any case, it looked to experienced eyes that Middlesex's declaration leaving Yorkshire 240 off 40 was a little generous and maybe even favoured Yorkshire. But, as others pointed out, there were no bowling or fielding restrictions and on a fourth day pitch, scoring a run a ball across 40 overs would be hard for Yorkshire, especially when they were essentially a batsman light, although Tim Bresnan had the game of his life to close that gap.
And from there, Middlesex bowled well, kept it tight, but most importantly, bowled intelligently and kept their heads. They didn't bowl to take wickets, they bowled to restrict Yorkshire, and sure enough, as Middlesex kept their heads, Yorkshire lost theirs, and started trying to hit good balls for six, which inevitably meant that they lost wickets. Lyth, Lees and promoted up the order Willey falling early to put Yorkshire in trouble. And Middlesex kept bowling to restrict Yorkshire, certain that their opponents would collapse and hand them the win desperately chasing the runs.
And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. With Bresnan out LBW with ten overs to go, leaving Yorkshire 153/5 still needing another 87 runs, Yorkshire imploded. It would have been easy for Middlesex to get desperate and start bowling poor lines and lengths, but they kept doing what they needed to do and sure enough Yorkshire crumpled. It was only once Rafiq holed out to Roland-Jones with six overs to go that Middlesex turned to the yorkers against the tail-enders and once Finn removed Patterson with five overs to go and Yorkshire still needing to chase the 60 runs, the end was inevitable, and it's fitting that it was Roland-Jones who took the final two wickets in his next two balls, to secure his hat-trick and his 10-fer.
And whilst it was agonising for Somerset, Middlesex absolutely deserved the win. They played an absolutely faultless final day, batting to keep themselves into the game, and then when they needed the runs, they stayed calm and waited for the opportune moment, confident that Yorkshire would fold and let them score in order to make a game of it. And then, once they had dangled the perfect carrot, and left themselves more than enough time to take the required wickets, they bowled to perfection. I really cannot understate the nervelessness of Middlesex's batting and bowling. They came into this day with a plan and executed it perfectly, never panicking or losing their heads despite the fact that Somerset and Yorkshire both looked more likely to get the result they wanted right up until the moment when Middlesex claimed the win. With ten overs to go and needing five wickets, they bowled to their plan and it paid off. They out-thought, out-maneuvered and out-played Yorkshire.
Their first title in 23 years. Well played Middlesex.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Full dissection tomorrow but oh no Leicester.
- Hampshire didn't have the bowlers and were relegated.
- Mamadou Sakho. No. No. No.
- Can Tyson Fury just go away now?
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