This is a different kind of cricket

Krishna Kumar12-Jun-2013

This is a different kind of cricket. Not the soft artistry of VVS Laxman, not
the classical, streamlined beauty of Rahul Dravid, not the scientific art of
Sachin Tendulkar’s genius. This isn’t the moody strokeplay of Sourav Ganguly, nor the
muscular presence and timing of Yuvraj Singh. This is somehow a bit more
uninhibited. At times, it’s easier to define things by describing what
they aren’t. When you think of Sehwag, you first think of unrestrained,
unrehearsed, inscrutable. Everything seems instantly conceived.
Everything is very definitely original.It is easy to get carried away by the seemingly spontaneous flow of Sehwag’s
shotmaking. When hours of careful study of bowlers’ techniques align with
an unerring ability to pick line and, more importantly, length early, you feel
a batsman is playing purely by instinct. It is an instinct that has been finely
honed. Sehwag possesses a fine cricketing mind and he plays the ball very
late. Nearly always, he’s on tiptoe and, now and then, his feet are off the
ground. This is what allows him the freedom to improvise.Sehwag’s confidence in his abilities borders on cricketing swagger. It is a
different brand of arrogance. It isn’t the restrained confidence of a
Tendulkar. It’s a bit like Richards. With bowlers bowling to Tendulkar,
especially these days, it is an acknowledgement of mastery. With Sehwag,
it’s almost a fear of flogging. There’s a crucial difference with Richards
however. Viv was the master of machismo, of the exaggerated strut and the
flourish of the follow-through. It was muscular masculinity expressed
through sport. Where Richards’s arrogance was significant in its
exaggeration, Sehwag’s is apparent in its minimising.Sehwag doesn’t hold his pose after a flashing cover-drive, the bat is brought back down from the follow-through very quickly, as if it wasn’t such a big deal after all. He
might take a couple of short steps about the crease, look down the handle of
his bat held away from him at an angle, and then he’s ready again. His is
almost an oriental spunk. Viv’s cricket was also a statement of a people,
Sehwag’s is simply the sporting expression of a free-spirited individual.
To bowlers, both might appear the same.There are resemblances to Javed Miandad in his very streetsmart approach to
cricket. But the jauntiness is at variance with Miandad’s. He may assume his
stance well outside leg as he did to Stuart MacGill in Sydney. He might splay his
left leg and hit the first ball of a new spell for six over the bowler’s
head. But, the jauntiness isn’t in your face like Miandad’s. He very
rarely provokes, he generally only reacts.From a batsman who modelled some of his early batsmanship on Tendulkar,
Sehwag has blossomed quickly into a batsman with his very own range of
strokes. Not many now will mistake him for Sachin. That flick off his toes
that resembles Sachin’s in body balance has a table-tennis-like flourish,
you can feel the face of the bat turning on the ball. Sachin seems to use the
pace of the ball, Sehwag looks to give it a real whip. His vast array of
off-side shots are close to all his own. He might have initially borrowed
the upper cut from Sachin, but he plays it far more regularly than Sachin
these days. There is incredibly, at least one six over point every big
innings. There is a difference even in the way he ducks under the short
ball. He doesn’t necessarily follow the ball into the keeper’s gloves, it’s
as if he’s saying, the ball’s gone over my head, why bother looking.He has succeeded at opening because he has stuck to his game. Shrewdly, in
Tests, he gives the first hour to the bowler and then opens out. The
defence has tightened and he leaves a lot more outside off. His camaraderie
with Akash Chopra reminds you sometimes of the relationship between Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge. His acute cricketing alertness makes you feel he’s rarely rushed when taking those quick singles. Mostly, you see him ease to the striker’s end at a short,
light canter.The same alertness is why he’s a very good fielder and an
excellent catcher. Ajit Agarkar and Dravid were the architects of that famous
Adelaide win, but it was the brilliant, full-length diving tumble from
Sehwag to catch Simon Katich at the end of an exhausting first day that
provided the initial spark. Earlier in the year, he’d held a few very sharp
ones at slip to help Ashish Nehra run through England in the World Cup game at
Durban. His first movement to the ball is so well-timed that the rest seems
easy in comparison. To top it all off, he’s a half-decent offie as well.Often it is flippantly claimed that there’s a method to his madness. I beg
to differ. This is no madness. We see so much of what’s conventional that
we can’t seem to recognise celebration. It isn’t that he doesn’t respect
cricket’s time-tested techniques, it’s just that he’s very alert to its
intricacies. He can conceive attack when so many would defend. It’s not as
if he doesn’t understand the importance of footwork and getting behind the
line. He appreciates these for what they are. They are means to an end.
That of hitting a cricket ball consistently with the middle of the bat. He
does this by a wonderful combination of bat-speed and fine balance. This is
a celebration of rare talent. Not someone having a waft in the wind.

Michael Klinger smashed a brilliant 61-ball century to lead Gloucestershire to a 48-run Friends Life t20 victory over Worcestershire at Bristol

30-Jun-2013
ScorecardMichael Klinger hit his first T20 hundred to set up a comfortable win for Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Michael Klinger smashed a brilliant 61-ball century to lead Gloucestershire to a 48-run Friends Life t20 victory over Worcestershire at Bristol.The skipper cracked five sixes and nine fours in contributing 108 to the home side’s total of 184 for 5 after winning the toss, with the next highest score Alex Gidman’s 18. In reply Worcestershire could muster only 136 all out, Alexei Kervezee making 39 and Ben Cox 37 going in at No. 8. James Fuller, David Payne and Benny Howell all bowled tightly for Gloucestershire.Both teams went into the game on the back of defeats in their opening match but after a steady start opener Klinger paced his innings perfectly, accelerating to move from a half-century to his first Twenty20 ton in just 27 deliveries. His five sixes included three in the 17th over, sent down by Daryl Mitchell, which cost the Worcestershire captain 25 runs. The first was over extra cover and the next two straight into the flats being constructed at the Ashley Down Road End.Gidman provided the best support in a fifth-wicket stand of 65 from five overs but was felled by a beamer from Chris Russell, which hit him in the chest, in the 19th over and did not field later in the game. It was Russell’s second such delivery in the over so he was ordered out of the attack and it was completed by Gareth Andrew, who bowled Gidman with the first ball after the batsman received treatment.Worcestershire’s reply got off to a bad start when Moeen Ali drove a catch to cover off Fuller’s fourth ball of the innings and it was 4 for 2 when Thilan Samaraweera skied to slip off Dan Christian. At the end of the six overs of the Powerplay the visitors were becalmed on 35 for 2. The next over saw Mitchell caught at short fine-leg off Payne to make it 39 for three.Andre Russell launched left-arm spinner Tom Smith for two big sixes but perished leg before in the same over and at the halfway stage Worcestershire were 60 for 4, needing a further 125 off 10 overs. They never looked remotely capable of that and wickets continued to fall around Kervezee as Gloucestershire outplayed their opponents in all departments. Cox at least hit a couple of sixes in a defiant and impressive 24-ball effort.

Richard Levi will join Northamptonshire for this summer’s Friends Life t20 competition, in time for their first match against Gloucestershire on June 28

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2013In what has been a week of rush signings for the Friends Life t20 competition that begins on June 26, Richard Levi, the South African batsman, has been signed by Northamptonshire for this summer’s campaign. Levi will join the squad before their first match against Gloucestershire on June 28. This is the club’s second overseas signing, after Cameron White joined in February.Northamptonshire head coach, David Ripley, was optimistic about Levi’s addition to the squad, “We are delighted to welcome Richard to the County Ground as he will add much needed firepower to the top of our order.”His willingness to jump on a plane and get over here at very short notice is testament to his desire to play not just for us, but to try and force himself back into international contention – something we hope this stint at Northants (Northamptonshire) will help him achieve.”We are looking forward to Richard joining Cameron White here at the County Ground as we go all out for a place in the latter stages of the Friends Life t20.”Levi has featured in 13 T20Is and 78 Twenty20 matches for the likes of Cape Cobras, Mumbai Indians and Somerset. He scored the fastest century in T20 international history off just 45 balls in only his second international appearance. He also hit a record 13 sixes during the unbeaten knock.

Afghanistan will play Pakistan in a Twenty20 match in Sharjah, on December 8, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2013Afghanistan will play Pakistan in a Twenty20 match in Sharjah, on December 8, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced. The match is a result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Afghanistan and Pakistan boards, through which the PCB will aid the ACB in the lead-up to the 2015 World Cup.”We are excited by the opportunity to play against a Full Member nation,” Noor Mohammad Murad, the ACB’s chief executive, said. “Win or lose, the experience gained by our players will be absolutely invaluable.”One of the issues for Afghanistan cricket in recent years has been that we are among the top teams of the Associate and Affiliate members and we tend to win a high percentage of our matches against them. Our national team needs the challenge of playing against some of the elite cricket teams like Pakistan and Australia, in order to raise their performance level. So far only Pakistan and Australia have given us this opportunity, but we are hoping that more Full Member nations will follow their example.”Afghanistan have played four Twenty20s against Full Members, including South Africa, India and England, but those matches came in the 2010 and 2012 World Twenty20s. Outside of ICC tournaments, they’ve played one ODI each against Pakistan and Australia last year.Understandably, they did not win any of those six games, but Murad remains confident of a strong showing in December. “We believe we can give the Pakistan team a good run for its money. T20 is one of our strengths and last year we gave India a scare in the World T20. We hope to give the Pakistan team a strong challenge and, who knows, maybe even more than that.”

A win in one of the remaining two matches will give Zimbabwe their first bilateral series win since beating New Zealand 2-1, 12 years ago

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria28-Aug-2013

Match facts

Thursday, August 29, 2013
Start time 0930 local (0730 GMT)Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on their top order again•AFP

Big Picture

Zimbabwe’s shock win in the first ODI was their first against Pakistan in 15 years, but now the beleaguered team has a chance to go one better – a win in one of the remaining two matches will give Zimbabwe their first bilateral series win against a top side since beating New Zealand 2-1, 12 years ago. The win on Tuesday gave Zimbabwe a chance to celebrate amid the gloom; a series win would inject some much-needed faith.Zimbabwe coach Andy Waller said the success was the fruit of two months of hard work, during which the team has attempted to fine-tune its game plan of the top order making sure they lay the platform for the stroke-makers in the middle order. The manner in which the top three handled the chase in the first part exemplified the team’s methods and Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on the three to do the same at least one more time.The batting plan has seemed to work in the last few matches and the bowling has been steady for the conditions, but Zimbabwe need to focus some attention on the fielding. Once one of the best fielding sides, Zimbabwe’s fielding has withered away. Had they taken all the chances that came their way on Tuesday, they could have restricted Pakistan to an even lower score. Waller said that one of his goals is to take Zimbabwe’s fielding to the level it used to be in the ’90s and the team is working hard towards it, but poor performances during the matches pull the team back.The fielding didn’t hurt Zimbabwe on Tuesday as Pakistan made a few errors of their own. Apart from losing the tempo during their batting and the sloppy fielding towards the end of the match, Pakistan misread the pitch and batted first on a surface that Masakadza later said “gets better in the afternoon”. They are armed with the knowledge now and Zimbabwe expect Pakistan to come back harder at them. But Pakistan can be the most beatable of the top sides and unbeatable on the same day. They are the Harvey Dent of cricket: which side turns up on a day seems to be a result of an imaginary coin toss.

In the spotlight

Zimbabwe’s openers, Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda, have been batting together since their school days and that familiarity with each other helped them focus during their century partnership on Tuesday. Masakadza later said that they talked about how their stand was going to be critical for the team’s chances in the chase. The two negated Pakistan’s bowlers with ease and that opening stand will again be crucial to Zimbabwe’s chances.It wasn’t long ago that Shahid Afridi, on his comeback trail, ripped through West Indies with bat and ball. Since that explosive performance, Afridi has gone into a shell. He hardly caused a flutter with the bat in the first ODI when the team needed some late push, while his bowling lacked zip and he was taken for easy runs. Pakistan would hope the allrounder doesn’t wait to fire till his place in the side is in doubt again.

Team news

Pakistan’s bowling lacked incisiveness on a pitch that flattened out later in the day, so they could consider bringing in Abdur Rehman in place of a batsman.Pakistan (possible) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Umar Amin, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Haris Sohail/Abdur Rehman, 8 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad IrfanZimbabwe are unlikely to disturb the team combination that won them a historic match.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Brendan Taylor (capt & wk), 4 Timycen Maruma , 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sean Williams, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Tendai Chatara, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Brian Vitori, 11 Tinashe Panyangara

Stats and trivia

• Eleven times in the last 10 years, Zimbabwe openers have registered century stands. Eight of those have involved either Hamilton Masakadza or Vusi Sibanda.
• If Shahid Afridi’s epic show against West Indies is taken out, he has 163 runs and three wickets from 10 matches this year.

The Supreme Court’s strictures on N Srinivasan and the BCCI elections don’t seem to have affected preparations within the board for Sunday’s annual general meeting, of which the elections are a part

Amol Karhadkar27-Sep-2013The Supreme Court’s strictures on N Srinivasan and the BCCI elections don’t seem to have affected preparations within the board for Sunday’s annual general meeting, of which the elections are a part. Srinivasan’s own confident statement that he would attend the meeting and stand for re-election is mirrored in the business-as-usual attitude of his colleagues on the board, making any discussion on whether he should or should not contest irrelevant.Right now, there is serious business to be concluded: The distribution of the various board posts and similar rewards. The deadline to file nominations for all the nine posts – president, secretary, treasurer, joint secretary and five vice-presidents – ends at 4pm on Saturday, enabling all sorts of possible compromises for all the top posts. The corollary – the prospect of losing out on staging matches or landing plum tour assignments – is what is keeping the opposition in check.All the five incumbent vice-presidents, one from each zone, are set to be replaced, the final decisions regarding their replacements to be taken in the zonal unit meetings on Saturday morning. At the same time, once the likes of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Arun Jaitley, Rajiv Shukla and Anurag Thakur – key figures in the BCCI – check in to their hotel, the candidates for other key positions, including that of the IPL governing council chairman, will be zeroed in on.Despite the board seemingly divided in the aftermath of the IPL corruption scandal, it is unlikely that there will be an election for any of the top posts. Traditionally, once a president is elected unopposed in the BCCI, even the other office-bearers emerge as consensus candidates from his group of supporters. It would be interesting to see whether Sanjay Patel and Ravi Savant, who were appointed secretary and treasurer in June following the resignations of Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke, end up retaining their positions.With Srinivasan’s re-election in little doubt, the sole question concerns who will preside over the AGM. Similar to most of the AGMs, where the members usually request the senior-most member attending the meeting to preside, it is likely that Dalmiya, who has been running the board’s day-to-day affairs during Srinivasan’s “exile”, may chair the AGM.In a way, BCCI officials appear relieved that Srinivasan’s decision to step aside, in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal that saw his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan arrested, has been vindicated. While questions were raised over whether the BCCI constitution allowed for the president to “step aside”, the Supreme Court’s directive will most probably mean the arrangement will prevail till the BCCI’s legal tussle with Cricket Association of Bihar ends.In any case, officials believe it will only be a matter of days before the case is resolved. The Supreme Court’s next hearing is on Monday, the day after the meeting.

Yorkshire have signed offspinner James Middlebrook to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2015Yorkshire have signed James Middlebrook, the 37-year-old offspinner, to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.Yorkshire asked England to release Rashid from their tour of the Caribbean but the request was denied with the legspinning allrounder in contention to play the third Test in Barbados on May 1.Middlebrook, originally from Leeds, was released by Northamptonshire at the end of last season in a cost-cutting purge despite being one of their more effective players in a grim season.He has been playing for New Farnley in the Bradford League and has been included in the 12-man squad for the match at Headingley starting on Sunday. Head coach Jason Gillespie said he was likely to play.Middlebrook, who began his career at Yorkshire and last played for the White Rose In June 2001, described his unexpected comeback as “surreal”.Yorkshire feel they had fair reasons to request Rashid’s return, believing that he has no prospect of playing in the third Test in Barbados and that he is being used as little more than a glorified net bowler on a tour that, improperly, clashes with the start of the England season. Their request has been criticised by the BBC’s cricket correspondent, Jonathan Agnew.”Karl Carver has been in our squad this season and we have been pleased with his development over the past 12 months,” Gillespie said. “But at this point in time, we feel he is best served learning his trade in the second team.”We felt that James could come in and do a job for us in the short-term. He is an experienced campaigner and knows the county system inside out. I expect him to do well for us and add to our squad in the short-tem.”Middlebrook added: “It has been surreal. I wasn’t expecting a call to come and play first-class cricket again and to get the call from Yorkshire was a shock. It will be a big honour to walk out in front of the Yorkshire members on Sunday at Headingley.””Yorkshire are a talented side with some great players. I’ll do my job and hopefully help the lads get a win against Warwickshire.”

ESPNcricinfo reporter Daniel Brettig was taken to hospital in Dominica on Saturday night after being mugged by men armed with knives in the capital city Roseau

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2015ESPNcricinfo reporter Daniel Brettig was taken to hospital in Dominica on Saturday night after being mugged by men armed with knives in the capital city Roseau.Brettig was attacked by two men and thrown to the ground after withdrawing cash from an ATM a short walk away from the Australian team hotel, and had his wallet and phones stolen.He was treated at hospital for a cut to the head, a bloody nose and other grazes, but said the incident would not taint his view of the Caribbean.”After nearly 10 years of touring maybe I had got too comfortable, but Dominica was certainly not particularly high on my list of dangerous places,” Brettig said. “It goes to show that we must be extremely careful wherever we are in the world, and that we must also look after each other and operate in groups.”The mugging itself was pretty awful and violent, although it could of course been so much worse. Quite early in the confrontation you realise that your valuables are meaningless without your life, and they can all be replaced.”Brettig had visited Dominica previously in 2012 to cover Australia’s Test match there, and said he had fond memories of the country.”I’m grateful to the overwhelming majority of the local population for how much they have worked to try to help me, from the two young men who helped me out of the street where I’d been attacked, to hotel staff, police and others,” he said. “They deserve better than to have their country dragged through the mud by a few thugs and thieves.”I’m also grateful for the kind words and gestures of the Australian team on tour, nearly all of whom have wished me well over the past day. The vigilance of the team security manager, Frank Dimasi, should not be underestimated. Equally, I am thankful for the supportive words I’ve received from the cricketing family back home.”I don’t want to let this episode dissuade me from travelling to the Caribbean nor touring generally, but I will certainly be doing so in more cautious ways in future.”Another Australian tourist travelling with a group of cricket fans was also mugged in Dominica on the same night in a separate incident.The first Test finished in Dominica on Friday, and the teams will move on to Jamaica for this week’s second Test.

Allrounder Shoaib Malik and fast bowler Mohammad Sami have been recalled to the Pakistan team for the two Twenty20 internationals against Zimbabwe in Lahore

Umar Farooq19-May-2015Allrounder Shoaib Malik and fast bowler Mohammad Sami have been recalled to the Pakistan team for the two Twenty20 internationals against Zimbabwe in Lahore. Uncapped 19-year-old opener Nauman Anwar and former under-19 captain Imad Wasim were given call-ups.Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti and Hammad Azam also returned to the squad, while Saad Nasim, Imran Khan and Haris Sohail were dropped from the Pakistan T20 squad that played against Bangladesh in Mirpur last month. Saeed Ajmal, who was ineffective with his new bowling action, was also dropped along with Sohail Tanvir. Both Sohaib Maqsood and Sohail Khan were sidelined over fitness issues, and Junaid Khan was the other notable exclusion for the Zimbabwe series.Sami’s call-up came as a surprise considering he has not played for Pakistan since June 2012, when they toured Sri Lanka. He took six wickets in three matches in the Super8 T20 competition in Faisalabad last week.Anwar, who entered the domestic circuit last year, has only played a handful of first-class matches but caught the attention of the selectors after an extraordinary show in the recently concluded Super8 tournament in Faisalabad, scoring 270 runs at a strike-rate of 162.65 for Sialkot Stallions. Wasim, who led the Pakistan Under-19 World Cup team in 2007, was selected on the basis of his all-round performance for Pakistan A in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka A.The selectors retained Ahmed Shehzad, who was not part of the ODI series in Bangladesh but played the T20. He scored 0, 58*, 8 and 8 in four innings in the Super8 tournament. Umar Akmal, who was also not part of the Pakistan side against Bangladesh, returned to the squad after putting up scores of 35, 1, 95*and 85*.Pakistan will play two T20Is and three ODIs against Zimbabwe – the first international cricket to be played in the country since March 2009. Only six players – Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Sami – in this T20 squad have played an international match in Pakistan.Squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Sarfraz Ahmed (vc), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Nauman Anwar, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Imad Wasim, Bilawal Bhatti, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami

James Harris was in the wickets again for Middlesex to keep up their title challenge and take his haul of first-class scalps to 53

ECB/PA01-Jul-2015
ScorecardJames Harris now has 53 first-class wickets•Getty Images

Middlesex took just one session on day four to complete a comfortable nine-wicket LV= Championship victory against Hampshire at Lord’s and strengthen their third-placed position in the Division One table.Hampshire, resuming only 41 runs in front on 195 for 7 in their second innings, were bowled out for 227 in 13 more overs, with Middlesex’s in-form seamer James Harris finishing with 4 for 80.Middlesex captain James Franklin said: “We had to win this game to stay up with the leaders of the division. Seeing Yorkshire beat Durham earlier in the day means we are right up there in the mix.”The bowlers were excellent in this match, led by James. I knew him as a teenager when I played at Glamorgan, and he has always has a lot of talent. It’s been well documented that he’s had a tough couple of years, during which time his bowling technique was changed a little, but now he’s back doing what he did before and the results are there for all to see.”I’ve no doubt that he can go on and play for England. He just needs to keep taking the numbers of wickets he has been taking this season – with another eight in this game – and then that sort of thing tends to look after itself.”It took Middlesex just 17.4 overs to knock off the 74 runs they needed for a 22-point win, their fourth in the championship this season. The lunch interval was delayed to enable Middlesex to score the 13 runs they still required, with the result confirmed at 1.15pm when Sam Robson hit Will Smith’s offspin through the covers for four.Paul Stirling hit four boundaries before being bowled by Gareth Berg for 16, but Robson and Nick Compton then added an unbroken 39 to deny Hampshire’s bowlers any further successes. Robson ended on 36 not out, and Compton – whose first innings 87 was so valuable to his side – was unbeaten on 16.Hampshire, for whom it was a fourth defeat, go bottom of the division and the threat of relegation is very much hanging over a team who have won just one of their nine matches to date.Danny Briggs, one of Hampshire’s not out batsmen overnight, took early fours from both Harris and Tim Murtagh, who opened up with a second new ball still only four overs old.Briggs, however, had added only 14 runs to his overnight score when he edged Toby Roland-Jones, who had replaced Harris at the Pavilion End, and was superbly held by a diving Ollie Rayner at the first of two gullies.In the next over, the ninth of the morning, Murtagh had Berg leg-before for 25 and the last moment of Hampshire defiance came when Jackson Bird, the No 11, pulled Harris into the Grand Stand for six.Harris had the last laugh, though, by trapping Brad Wheal lbw for 1 to take his match analysis to 8 for 128 and his season’s tally to 53 first-class wickets and, just after noon, Middlesex began their second innings in search of the modest victory target.