Cricketing high drama
Sep. 26th, 2009 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
undyingkingI'm currently listening to BBC Radio Essex, something I normally avoid like the plague, but they have live county championship cricket on. We're in the last couple of hours of the season, and Essex need to score heavily and quickly against Derbyshire to achieve promotion.
Essex have made a late and unlikely push to get themselves in contention, through a combination of taking risks and terrific performances. They really should have had no chance of winning this game -- which they must do, as Northants won yesterday -- but declared 118 behind on first innings, to give Derbyshire the incentive to push for a victory themselves. Derby duly declared this morning, to set Essex 359 to win -- and be promoted -- in just 65 overs. A sporting target, but a pretty tough one.
It's been a seesaw chase, at times Essex just keeping up with the rate, at times scoring briskly, at times losing wickets. As I write they are 207 for 5, so they need a further 152 to win with 5 wickets remaining, in 23 overs. The runs should be makeable in that time -- think of it as a Twenty20, you'd have no trouble -- but have they lost too many wickets? Two more and we'll be into the tail, and apparently David Masters is injured so may not be able to bat.
Watch this space!
Essex have made a late and unlikely push to get themselves in contention, through a combination of taking risks and terrific performances. They really should have had no chance of winning this game -- which they must do, as Northants won yesterday -- but declared 118 behind on first innings, to give Derbyshire the incentive to push for a victory themselves. Derby duly declared this morning, to set Essex 359 to win -- and be promoted -- in just 65 overs. A sporting target, but a pretty tough one.
It's been a seesaw chase, at times Essex just keeping up with the rate, at times scoring briskly, at times losing wickets. As I write they are 207 for 5, so they need a further 152 to win with 5 wickets remaining, in 23 overs. The runs should be makeable in that time -- think of it as a Twenty20, you'd have no trouble -- but have they lost too many wickets? Two more and we'll be into the tail, and apparently David Masters is injured so may not be able to bat.
Watch this space!
