Middlesex steamroll their way to another dominant win

Middlesex (173/3) beat Gloucestershire (172 all out) by seven wickets with 110 balls to spare

On Watling Street, the road which took people in ancient times from Verulamium to Londinium, many great battles have been fought over the centuries. It was here that in AD 46 that Roman legions marched northward to conquer the Britons. It was here that Boudica, Queen of the Iceni (the ancient world equivalent of Captain of Essex) marched her forces through Radlett, situated on this ancient road, in AD 61, having destroyed Colchester and St Albans, on her way to destroy London.

Today Radlett is the sort of village which just about retains some of its rural identity against the backdrop of the urban sprawl of London and the impingement of its major arterial routes. The modern equivalents of Watling Street: the M25, the M1 and the A1 hum metaphorically if not literally in the background.

It feels a bit like Frodo Baggins’ Shire if the hoards of Mordor had won: still recognisably a village, yet full of the signs of modern, metropolitan life – a Gail’s artisan coffee house and a Budgens supermarket. Where once “Old maids cycled to Holy Communion through the morning mist” on a Sunday, now gas-guzzling SUVs transport children to rugby and cricket training at the Brunton Memorial ground, sending the car park into angry gridlock.

So, at this Brunton Memorial Ground, on a crisp and bright Spring morning the women of Middlesex overcame their Gloucestershire counterparts by doing the three things they do best: bowling consistently straight, batting aggressively yet seemingly without risk and, perhaps most noticeably, fielding ferociously.

Gloucestershire won the toss and Liv Daniels chose to bat first. It did not start well. The fourth ball of the innings, Laila Moledina pushed the ball to leg, well to the right-hand side of midwicket, giving chance for a single. Saskia Horley at midwicket dived to her right and somehow, in one movement, picked up the ball and launched it back-handed towards the stumps at the striker’s end. It was an audacious and unlikely piece of fielding, but it worked. A direct hit had the disbelieving Becca Halliday heading back to the pavilion.

Moledina, on loan from Somerset, overcame the shock of the dismissal by dropping anchor and playing ultra-conservatively alongside firstly Meg Ahearne and, following her dismissal to the ever-accurate spin of Anaya Patel, alongside fellow loanee, Warwickshire’s Chloe Brewer. Between them, these two would contribute over half of Gloucestershire’s total runs.

Brewer, seemingly surplus to requirements at the moment at Warwickshire, was far and away the most accomplished Gloucestershire player on show. She would not allow herself to be restricted by Patel’s accurate bowling, advancing down the pitch and launching the spinner over mid-off and mid-on in order to loosen Middlesex’s tight control of the innings and create some problems for them to solve. She even stung Patel’s hands with a whacked caught and bowled chance which the bowler put down in the 19^th over.

It was Middlesex’s captain Saskia Horley who struck back to tear the heart out of Gloucestershire’s innings. She tempted the normally cautious Moledina down the pitch for a stumping chance that Pippa Sproul did not waste. Geogina Start made a positive and aggressive innings of 16 in 17 balls before feathering a ball from Horley to wicketkeeper Sproul. This brought a moment of high drama to the game as Maddie White came in to bat only for her bat to fail the bat gauge test. There was a delay as she quickly had to find a legal bat, which only gave her two singles and eight dots before Horley had dismissed her too, this time lbw.

What Brewer really needed was another batter to stay with her for a while. Another smart bit of fielding at mid-wicket by Scarlett Hughes saw Emily Geach dismissed run out, her despairing dive not enough to save her. But in captain Liv Daniels, Brewer found someone who was prepared to bat patiently and wait for the bad ball and rotate the strike well to give the experienced Warwickshire player the chance to build an innings which could put some pressure on Middlesex.

When Daniels flat batted a Patel delivery straight to Georgia Irving at mid-on, it was the beginning of the end for Gloucestershire. Alice Hill hit a full toss straight to square leg to present another catch to Irving.  On 168/8, with still 10 overs to go, it was time for Brewer to start hitting out. She launched a ball from Issy Routledge to long on. The ball hung in the air for an incredibly long time, but eventually a very grateful Hannah Francis took the catch. The Gloucestershire innings ended when Alice Bird was run out without scoring, leaving Middlesex needing 173 to win.

Having won by 10 wickets against Derbyshire last weekend, many would have thought that Middlesex’s batters would once again reach the target without losing a wicket. And for 8 overs it seemed that would be the case. Riva Pindora and Abbie Whybrow looked as untroubled as they had done at the County Ground, Derby as they confidently found gaps in the field, comfortably progressing at a run a ball. It was Chloe Brewer who intervened yet again to give Gloucestershire hope. Having not looked like getting a wicket, Gloucestershire suddenly got two in two balls, as Whybrow picked out Alice Bird on the square leg boundary and then next ball Brewer clean bowled Scarlett Hughes. 

The arrival of Saskia Horley accelerated the run rate immediately. The confident Australian Scot found the boundary four times on her way to a rapid 23 from just 16 balls before she completely missed a ball from Charlie Phillips, the off-spinner going round the wicket to fire the ball across Horley and into her off stump.

Suddenly at 97/3, Middlesex looked vulnerable. However, Gloucestershire needed to keep taking wickets when defending such a low total. When Maddie White dropped Issy Routledge in the 20^th over, with still 60 runs needed, one felt that Gloucestershire’s last chance of an unlikely victory was gone.

So, Routledge and Pindoria steered Middlesex to yet another victory – this one by 7 wickets with a massive 110 balls to spare. In the two years of this competition, Middlesex have now won 11 group games out of 11. What is more, 9 of these games have been won with a bonus point. Their only defeat was to Yorkshire in last year’s semi-final. It is difficult to imagine them losing at all this season, which is even more astonishing considering that they are probably the only team who do not rely on loan players to bolster their playing squad.

Saskia Horley was the stand-out player today. Batting, bowling and fielding she was “a presence” everywhere she went and continually influenced the game.

So, with the game finished by 3.30pm, there was even chance for the writer to drop in to Gail’s café on Watling Street for a very nice scone and a pot of Earl Grey after the game. I’m not sure Boudica would have approved.