T20 v Glamorgan 2nd July 2023

[Paul W]

Unchanged squad announced-

https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2023/07/squad-preview-glamorgan-v-middlesex-vitality-blast-2

[MIDDLE EXILE]

We win the toss and BAT ! Fernandes is in for Anderson

[adelaide]

We win the toss and BAT ! Fernandes is in for Anderson

What a strange match. Two awful lbw decisions by the umpire, one plumb not given (Smale) and one - the really bad one - pitching way outside leg stump (the crucial wicket of Ingram).

So we start next season on a winning streak!

[Paul W]

If Smale is the one I'm thinking of (Fernandes bowling) he might possibly have got the bottom of his glove on it before it hit the pad, although neither commentator suggested that. Good as the live streams are, we don't get the really good high quality close ups we would get on Sky, but it's the only thing I can think of that saved him. Agree Ingram was a dreadful decision. Was Old Mr Grace keeping wicket for Glammy, as he didn't look too nimble on his feet.

Final Middle averages-

https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/averages-batting-bowling-by-team/vitality-blast-2023-15160?team=1241

[Jonathan Winsky]

It could be argued that this match was a tale of two batters who were able to score the majority of the runs while they were at the crease by way of outscoring their batting partners. Ryan Higgins scored 71 of the 115 runs Middlesex scored while he was at the crease, while Kiran Carlson scored 77 out of 95 for Glamorgan. However, whereas Higgo’s innings had been preceded by Stevie Eskinazi and Joe Cracknell getting us off to a great start, none of Glamorgan’s players could get close to replicating what Carlson had done.

We will have to see how beneficial it is going forward that we ended our Twenty20 campaign with two wins, with Higgo having picked up some form in this format (after being a bit of a disappointment at the start of this campaign), and with Josh de Caires and Ethan Bamber having put in some decent performances after starting our campaign seemingly not in our plans for this format. If a football team ends the season in good form, they may be able to carry their form into the following season, which would begin around three months later (or even earlier if you consider the season to start when pre-season training does or on the date of the first pre-season friendly). However, with our next T20 match being around 11 months’ away (unless we participate in the Pakistan Super League), I fear that by then, this form will be long forgotten. Still, it is better to approach an important run of County Championship matches on the back of some good T20 results than on the back of some poor results. And with our squad for the 50-over competition likely to be similar to the Blast, maybe that will provide an opportunity to carry some momentum.

de Caires bowled really well of what I saw of him today, conceding just 4 off the ninth over. I don’t know about his first over, as I was watching the conclusion to the Test match!

[adelaide]

de Caires bowled really well of what I saw of him today, conceding just 4 off the ninth over. I don’t know about his first over, as I was watching the conclusion to the Test match!

His first over went for 20, but most of them did until Carlson was out.

I quite liked the comment on the feed that we had two sides who had forgotten to win, and even when they did win they weren't sure how.

That stat that is always being dragged out about 90% of matches being lost if you lose three wickets in the powerplay. I wonder if there is a statistic for winning after losing four wickets in the first over, as Warwickshire (sorry, Bormingham) did last week? It would be based on a very small sample though, possibly a sample of one.