Cricket game summaries from the Times, 1965

MIDDLESEX GET
TO TARGET
IN TIME


FROM A STAFF REPORTER

LORD'S. -- Middlesex (2 pts.) drew
with Worcestershire.

With the whole of Monday lost
through rain, this match developed into
a question of first innings
lead. In spite
of the weekend rain they were able to
make a prompt start to a full day yesterday
morning, and after 50 minutes'
batting Worcestershire declared, leaving
Middlesex exactly five hours to reach
their target, or an average of 54.5 runs
an hour. This they did, and continue
at the top of the championship table.
Middlesex, thanks mainly to Gale and
Russell, made fair progress immediately,
scoring 53 runs in an hour before luncheon,
and 118 in two hours and 10 minutes
between luncheon and tea, at which stage
they were exactly 100 behind. A sunny
afternoon gave way to a cloudy evening,
and there was a feeling that this might
have been a single innings match, with
Middlesex taking cheeky singles which,
however, led to only one run out.
With rain holding off, they tended a little
towards the extreme of circumspection,
but, finishing in a horrible light, they
completed their task.
During the first hour in the morning not
the least interesting feature was the brisk
bowling of young Herman, son of a former
Hampshire bowler and with still a
year or two to go before he quits his teens.
[[STATS]]
He removed Booth's middle stump with
one that came back. In spite of his tender
age, Herman shows wise faith in sound old
tenets, accelerating during his run-up,
pointing his leading shoulder before
delivery, and thus getting some body into
his action, unlike so many of his contemporaries,
who rely almost solely on arm.
Russell and Gale went steadily about
their job, scoring about evenly before
luncheon, but afterwards Russell out-
stripped his partner, reaching his 50 in 80
minutes, but missing an attempted sweep
at Slade and being bowled soon afterwards.
This brought together Gale and Brearley,
who in their contrasted ways put on 68 runs
in just over an hour.

GROPED AROUND


Brearley took one on the ear from Coldwell
early in his innings, but without serious
mishap, and rather understandably groped
around for a while, like the man out of
form that he has been lately. Gale, by contrast,
played a confident innings, easy and
controlled, and included some fine driving.
The 100 was scored off 32 overs, and Gale's
50 in two hours and 10 minutes. He blossomed
in the sunshine, treating the spinners,
Slade and Horton, as authoritatively
as he did the quicker bowlers until he
reached out to Horton and was bowled.
With the departure of Gale the scoring
slowed, although Brearley did strike a
couple of boundaries in one over. At
length he was brilliantly thrown out by
Headley, moving across to mid-off from
extra cover, picking up smartly and hitting
the only stump visible to him.
With an hour to go 50 were needed, a
reasonable target, but Clark and Murray,
for a time seemed oblivious of urgency.
Yet they were always just a little ahead of
time, and with half-an-hour left wanted 26.
Shortly afterwards, Clark reached a stubborn
50, then was caught at the wicket
with a slash, but in the end Middlesex got
home with 20 minutes and six wickets to
spare.
[[STATS]]

HARMAN'S SPIN REPRESSES
KENTISH AGGRESSION


BLACKHEATH. Surrey (2 pts.)
drew with Kent.

After a slow first day and an empty
second one the prospect of a positive
finish at the Rectory Field looked remote,
but cricket is an unpredictable game.
Interest was stimulated by Kent's spirited
attempt to overhaul Surrey's first innings
score. That they failed by so little, was
due to cheerful aggression from Richardson
and Wilson ; that they failed at all
was due to a long, teasing spell of bowling
by Harman, who was rewarded with
seven for 86.
Surrey's declaration sent Kent to get 139 in
65 minutes, a heavy task that might have
been lighter, had not three catches been
dropped, at vital moments. Denness and
Luckhurst began with mildly hostile intent
but, after Denness was out leg-before, resolution
and hope alike faded.
The spirit of Mr. Mantalini hung heavily
over this game. Monday was "demd
damp, moist, unpleasant", while yesterday
play was only made possible through the
heroic efforts of the ground staff, who
employed almost every kind of drying
equipment, including an old fashioned
Victorian mangle.
Kent resumed their innings only half an
hour late and the pitch at once showed
that it was taking spin, to the advantage
of both Harman and Pocock. In Harman's
first over Luckhurst was neatly caught round
the corner, but Denness and Wilson
followed a bold policy of hitting their side
out of trouble and, in Kent's first 40 runs,
there were eight fours and a three.
At 43 Denness was bowled, trying to
hook, but Wilson and Richardson pressed
forward with the scoring to send up the
50 in 35 minutes. Most of the runs came
from hard driving and pulling on the leg
side and the middle of Wilson's bat was
much in evidence. At 72 he was snapped
at the wicket, but with Leary in, the hot
pace was kept up and, though Richardson
was caught at 109, from his first ineffectual
stroke, the total of 113 for four was reached
at luncheon in a manner highly creditable
to Kentish enterprise.

DYE'S BEST


Early in the afternoon three wickets fell
quickly : Prodger was taken at slip and
Dixon at the wicket, while Leary, who had
attacked the bowling with commendable
vigour, fell to Gibson, who made a difficult
catch look supremely easy. Brown hit
a couple of fours which were fast bowlers'
dreams, but the spectators derived most
pleasure from a last wicket partnership of
29 between Knott and Dye which was rich
in both drama and comedy ; drama, because
they brought Kent to within 23 of their
opponents' total, and comedy, because Dye,
after lifting one enormous six over long on,
settled down with elaborate care to play
the highest innings of his career.
Surrey started their innings at a furious
rate and, though Steward was caught at slip
off a leg hit that went wildly astray, Tindall
helped Smith to hurry along to 65 in 40
minutes. Smith's was a gem of an innings,
admirably blending precision and power,
and though he made one or two false strokes
before being trapped leg-before, he gave
the Surrey innings such backbone as it had.
The later batsmen, apart from Storey, were
all at sea with Dixon's off breaks.

SUSSEX GIVE TRUEMAN SOME
EASY WICKETS


HOVE. -- Sussex (2 pts.) drew with
Yorkshire.

Everything depended on the two captains
at Hove yesterday and both of them
responded well. Considering that no
play had been possible on Monday
because of heavy rain, it was to the
groundsman's credit that the game was
able to be resumed yesterday on time.
Close had obviously come to the conclusion
that an hour's batting was all
he could afford, so he and his colleagues
hit out at every opportunity.
Hampshire struck three glorious fours
and one straight, high drive, which stopped
dead exactly where it pitched three yards
short of the boundary. In trying to repeat
this stroke, he lifted his head to Thomson
and was clean bowled. Close and Hutton
hurried the score along until after exactly
one hour's play and with the score at 74
for four, Yorkshire declared 111 runs
behind on the first innings.
The wicket, when Sussex went in again,
was naturally slow, but it was not a difficult
one, and too many of their batsmen
vacillated between the scoring of runs and
the denying of time to Yorkshire. The
result was that they took two hours to
reach 82 for nine and some of Trueman's
five wickets must have been among the
easiest he has taken this season. All the
same, he never relaxed and his match
analysis of 13 for 77 was a deserved reward
for nearly 30 overs of sustained fast
bowling.
Pataudi had a difficult decision to make
after the luncheon interval ; but with
Oakman's bandaged wrist allowing him to
bat only in an emergency, the Sussex
captain did not declare until he had set
Yorkshire to make 194 runs to win in 153
minutes. With the wicket drying out, that
seemed a reasonable task.
The visitors started slowly. Sharpe took
25 minutes to obtain his first run, but
then, by contrast, he scored 31 in the next
half hour. Yorkshire had 69 on the board
at the end of the first hour's play, so it
was still anybody's game. Padgett and
Sharpe punished Suttle for 21 runs in three
overs, and their partnership was worth 72
in an hour, when Sharpe lifted Thomson's
slow ball into the hands of mid-on. As
Yorkshire still required 100 runs with 65
minutes to go, it was an interesting situation.
Close hit a high boundary off his first
ball and then stole quick runs at every
possible opportunity. But when Thomson
took Hampshire's wicket for the second
time in the match, in strode Trueman for
a final effort. Gunn moved up to the
wicket in the hope of a stumping ; instead,
he caught Trueman on the offside. When
Wilson's leg stump was knocked out of the
ground by the persevering Thomson, Yorkshire
required 70 runs in 40 minutes. Close
and Hutton continued the chase until
Hutton hit his wicket attempting a pull ;
then both sides opted for a draw.