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Rahul Dravid has said he wishes he had reviewed the decision that ruled him out caught-behind in the second innings of the Edgbaston Test, and that it was confusion that led him to walk off without contesting

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-2011Rahul Dravid has said he was too confused in the heat of the moment to contest the decision that ruled him caught behind off James Anderson in the second innings at Edgbaston. Replays showed he hit his shoelace and not the ball and Dravid said later that he wished he had asked for a review.Dravid appeared to have nicked a delivery from Anderson in the 16th over and was given out, but he was not convinced by the decision. After a word with the non-striker Sachin Tendulkar, however, Dravid decided against using a review.”My first instinct was that I had not hit it,” Dravid told the . “But there was a loud noise, and I couldn’t figure out where it had come from. I knew I hadn’t hit the ground, or my pad, or my shoe, so it confused me as to where the noise had come from. But I didn’t think I had touched it. So I asked my partner and he said there was a big noise. So I had Simon Taufel, one of the best umpires in the world, ruling me out, my partner saying it was out and I myself had heard the noise. I thought maybe it was just one of those instances where I hadn’t felt the edge.”As soon as I got back to the dressing room I told the guys I had to see the replay. I wanted to know where I had touched it [the ball]. I could never have imagined it was a shoelace. It was disappointing because I’ve been batting well and if I had batted longer with Sachin, who played well in that innings, and if we had seen off Anderson’s spell before lunch, we could have at least put up a bigger fight.”It was an odd sequence of play, with the dismissal preceded by Dravid running off the field in between overs. “I rushed off the field because my bladder was full and I wanted to relieve myself. It is an uncomfortable feeling to bat with a full bladder, so I did not want it on my mind.”Dravid has been India’s most successful batsman on a dismal tour of England. After he fell at Edgbaston, the rest of the line-up offered little resistance and India slumped to their third-biggest defeat in Tests. The result meant England replaced India as No. 1 in the ICC’s Test rankings.”It’s been a hard series for a combination of reasons. The pitches have been conducive to good swing bowling, and also the quality of the England bowling has been superb,” Dravid said. “Their seamers have bowled beautiful lengths, and have pitched the ball up. We expected England to be good in this series, but we expected ourselves to be better.”While the rest of India’s batsmen, including Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, struggled to deal with the conditions and England’s bowling, Dravid managed two centuries in six innings. He said there had been a change in his mental approach to the game since his early years.”Early in my career, I used to try to block out thoughts while I was batting and that was very tiring. Now I let my mind wander a bit. I recognise that it is wandering and that helps bring me back to reality. I take a couple of deep breaths and that gets me focussed.”While Dravid heaped praise on England, he pointed out they still had to win in India. “You have to do well in conditions in which you haven’t done well. England haven’t won in India for 27 years, so they have to do that. They’ve got the team and the skills to do it but it still needs to be done. Hopefully we can stop them from doing that.” England will play four Tests in India at the end of 2012.Down 0-3 in the series, India go into the fourth Test at The Oval with little to play for. Dravid, though, said they were also thinking about climbing back to the No. 1 spot. “Of course we want to play for pride and to show people what we can do. But also the goal now is to get back to No. 1 and for that every Test matters.”

Highlights from the IPL fixture between Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers at the Brabourne Stadium

Cricinfo staff04-Apr-2010
Kieron Pollard take a bow, Jonty Rhodes is up on his feet•Indian Premier League

Pushing the performance up
Bowlers usually limber up for the spells by stretching their limbs. But Rahul Sharma decided to get in some push-ups before he was thrown the ball by Adam Gilchrist. Even if it was an unusual way to get loose, it seemed to have worked for Rahul, as he trapped Sachin Tendulkar in his first over and set off on a solo victory-ride. It was not the first time Tendulkar has fallen to an unkown player – Piyush Chawla and Vinay Kumar are notable names that burst into promimence after picking his valuable wicket.Gibbs in limbo
Herschelle Gibbs has had an average IPL with the bat, but today even his fielding was not up to the mark. First, he had to contend with bad bounce in the opening over of the Mumbai innings, and ended up giving two extra runs to Shikar Dhawan. Then, standing at long on, he was in two minds about intercepting a lofted drive from the same batsman, and a late attempt only resulted in the ball kissing his outstretched hands before sailing over the ropes for a six.Cheer up, love
Ambati Rayudu picked an innocuous delivery from Andrew Symonds and lofted it handsomely over deep midwicket. Initially, it seemed the ball would sail deep into the stands, instead it landed in the pit where a group of Deccan Chargers’ cheerleaders were having a happy breather with little knowledge of the white orb landing in their midst. Nice style by Rayudu to say “hello ladies”.Pollard makes Jonty smile
Rohit Sharma hit back a length ball from Kieron Pollard so hard that, barely a fraction of a second had passed before the ball whizzed to the bowler’s left. But the big Trinidadian, mid-way into the follow-through, bent low to finish off the catch in neat fashion. Pollard has a good reputation as a fielder, and this was the first time he showcased his abilities in the IPL. Even the Mumbai Indian’s fielding coach, Jonty Rhodes, arguably the greatest fielder off all-time, stood up to applaud the effort.

He will link up with Ricky Ponting in the US, even as he fights for a spot in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2024Steven Smith has been confirmed as a signing for Major League Cricket (MLC) franchise Washington Freedom ahead of the second season of the tournament which begins on July 4. The move had been widely tipped, with Smith having signed as a brand ambassador for Freedom last year, and with Australia’s international schedule allowing a clear window for him to participate through July.New South Wales (NSW), Smith’s domestic team in Australia, have a high-performance partnership with Freedom, although NSW coach Greg Shipperd was replaced by Ricky Ponting in February.”I’m super excited about joining the Washington Freedom for season two of the MLC,” Smith said in a video posted on the Freedom’s social media channels. “I can’t wait to meet all of my new team-mates and play in front of some incredible crowds in America. I’m also really looking forward to working with Ricky Ponting again, and his amazing staff.” Freedom recently announced the signing of Rachin Ravindra, the New Zealand allrounder. They retained two overseas players from the 2023 season in Marco Jansen and Akeal Hosein.Smith, who owns an apartment in New York, has previously said it would be “pretty cool” to play in the USA.However, he faces a fight to earn a spot in Australia’s final 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, which will be held in June, having been unable to play much T20 cricket in recent times. Since his prolific return to the BBL for Sydney Sixers in the 2022-23 season, where he made 346 runs at a strike rate of 174.74, Smith has played two T20Is in India, two matches in last season’s BBL and as many games against New Zealand in February, where he made 11 and 4 while opening the batting.But after the New Zealand series, he said he was relaxed about whichever way the selection call for the T20 World Cup fell, with Australia having to name their initial squad by May 1.Related

• Maxwell signs with Washington in MLC, clarifies that form was the reason for IPL self-omission

• Travis Head joins Steven Smith at Washington Freedom for Major League Cricket 2024

• Ponting confirmed as Washington Freedom head coach in MLC

• Texas Super Kings snap up Mitchell; Shepherd goes to MI New York

• Hundred faces MLC clash as 2024 fixtures are announced

“I think they’re pretty settled up top – to be honest – with [Travis] Head, [David] Warner and [Mitchell] Marsh in the top three,” he had told AAP. “I’m not really sure what [selectors] want to do. I’m not really too fussed either way. If I’m there, I’m there; if I’m not, I’m not.”Smith joins Adam Zampa (Los Angeles Knight Riders), Spencer Johnson (Knight Riders) and Tim David (MI New York) as confirmed Australian signings for the second season of MLC, with more expected to join for the tournament which starts immediately after the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies ends on June 29.

Ageas Bowl to be renamed as club looks to solar-powered future

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2024Hampshire’s home ground, the Ageas Bowl, is to be known as the Utilita Bowl, after the club agreed a new naming-rights deal with Utilita Energy amid plans to become the “world’s greenest cricket ground”.The venue, which was originally known as the Rose Bowl when it opened in 2001, has since become a major South Coast venue for sport, music and leisure, with its on-site hotels and golf course backing onto a ground that has hosted 50 men’s internationals in the past two decades, including the inaugural World Test Championship final in 2021.The venue is scheduled to host 19 more internationals from 2025 to 2031, including a Men’s Ashes Test in 2027 and a Women’s Ashes Test in 2031, and as the host venue for Southern Brave in the Hundred, the club management recently confirmed they had been in talks with “prospective investors”, including GMR Group, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals.The plans for the ground’s “pro-planet partnership” include the installation of more than 1,000 solar panels, capable of generating around 25 percent of the electricity used in the stadium each year. This, according to a club statement, will save the venue a six-figure sum each year in electricity costs – as well as 80 tonnes of carbon per year, the same level of emissions produced by driving 301,855 miles in the average passenger vehicle.”We’re delighted to partner with Utilita, a Hampshire-based business who share our values and can now help shape our vision of creating the greenest international cricket venue in the world,” David Mann, CEO at Utilita Bowl, said. “This is the dawn of a new era for the venue, and we’re excited by the possibilities this partnership will offer.”The announcement comes in the same week that more than 70 local residents gathered outside the venue to protest against Hampshire’s plans to build a new 171-home development on ground near the local village of West End, including a budget hotel, a wellbeing centre and a care home.

Essex collapse after 103-run powerplay before Masood, Wharton guide Yorkshire home

ECB Reporters Network13-Aug-2023Dom Bess and Matthew Revis produced career-best List A bowling figures to spark an Essex batting collapse and set up Yorkshire Vikings’ first Metro Bank One-Day Cup win of the season.Bess claimed 5 for 37 as Essex subsided from 103 for 0 – underpinned by Michael Pepper’s swashbuckling personal-best 63 from 34 balls – to 221 all out in 36 overs. Revis had earlier sliced through the Essex upper order with 4 for 54.The Vikings reached their target with 25 balls remaining, barely breaking sweat and only five wickets down. Shan Masood, their Pakistani white-ball captain, led the way with a patient 54 from 66 balls, with James Wharton seeing them over the line with an unbeaten 54 from 49 balls.Yorkshire had seen two of their previous three games in the competition abandoned without a ball bowled, and the other lost to Kent by just two runs under DLS. But they bounced back on the same wicket that Essex had won a thriller under the Chelmsford floodlights against Middlesex on Friday.Pepper’s whirlwind innings encompassed the entire powerplay before he fell to the last ball of the 10th over, skying Bess to cover. The wicket had come at a cost to Yorkshire, though, as Pepper had just gone through his repertoire off the previous three balls, sweeping, lofting over midwicket and reverse-sweeping for boundaries.In all, Pepper scored 58 of his 63 runs in boundaries, three of them clearing the ropes without bouncing, two of them in an over from Ben Coad that went for 22 as Essex rattled up three figures inside 10 overs. Das contributed 32 in the opening stand of 103 and tucked into Bess with three fours in a row during a run-a-ball 36.Michael Pepper was released by London Spirit for Essex duty•Getty Images

Tom Westley maintained the tempo in a brisk 17 before he chased a wide delivery from Revis and was caught behind. Three balls later Das drove straight back to the bowler. Luc Benkenstein put on 50 in six overs with Beau Webster, both of them hammering two sixes each as Essex continued to score at around eight an over.But that charge was stifled, starting when Revis claimed his third and fourth wickets in just six balls with Benkenstein clubbing to mid-on and Simon Harmer chipping to short midwicket.Jack Shutt had Charlie Allison lbw sweeping before Bess took centre stage with the final four wickets, three of them falling in six balls as Essex left 14 overs unused, He had Webster caught behind attempting to cut, Jamal Richards patting back a return catch, Will Buttleman beaten by one that kept low and Aron Nijjar playing on.In comparison, Yorkshire’s openers were more circumspect and had just 46 on the board at the end of the powerplay, less than half of Essex’s 10-over total. The pair were together for exactly an hour, having knocked off 80 from the target, before Bean was caught in two minds against Webster’s offspin and the ball was past him before he jerked his bat down.Fellow opener Duke reverse-swept Harmer for the first of four fours in his patient 42 before he was bowled attempting to scoop Nijjar. The spinner then had George Hill snaffled at short midwicket before Harmer dived full-length to his left to take a return catch and dismiss Will Fraine.The Vikings had become becalmed in mid-innings without a boundary for almost 10 overs before Masood added to his earlier six over long leg with successive fours off Nijjar. He put on 68 in 11 overs with Wharton to take Yorkshire within 42 of victory, but was strangled down the leg-side by Westley with Buttleman taking the catch.Wharton took Yorkshire within sight of the target with two sixes in an over from Webster, the second over midwicket to reach his first white-ball fifty from 47 balls.

The Bushfire Cricket Bash will take place on February 8 ahead of the BBL final

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2020Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh will coach the Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne teams respectively in the Bushfire Cricket Bash on February 8.The bushfire relief match will take place ahead of the Big Bash final with the venue to be confirmed on January 31 after the Qualifier is played with the winning team hosting the final. Before that double-header, the Australia and India women’s teams will play their tri-series match in Melbourne and it could be the city hosts the trio of matches if the Melbourne Stars secure the BBL final at the MCG.ALSO READ: Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting to lead teams in bushfire relief matchAlongside Ponting and Warner, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Alex Blackwell and Michael Clarke have confirmed they will take part in the match.”We are absolutely honoured to be welcoming Sachin and Courtney back to Australia where they both enjoyed a lot of success as players, and we can’t wait to have them involved in what is going to be a special day,” the Cricket Australia CEO, Kevin Roberts, said.The Bushfire Cricket Bash is one of a range of initiatives the sport has undertaken to raise funds for those impacted by the devastating bushfires around the country over the last few months. They have included auctioning Test and BBL shirts and players donating money for sixes hit and wickets taken in various competitions.

Maxwell’s 37-ball 52 gave Australia a glimmer of hope, but another top-order failure meant that Pakistan took an unassailable lead

The Report by Danyal Rasool26-Oct-2018It will take something truly special to put an end to this purple patch Pakistan are basking in as far as T20I cricket is concerned. As another top-order collapse saw Australia fall short by 11 runs, it became patently obvious this particular visiting side aren’t that special someone.Pakistan, again, weren’t at their very best with the bat, and it was only a string of medium-sized scores that took them to 147. But it was in the field that their swagger was on full display, with an exceptional bowling performance – and at times an even better fielding one – snuffing out Australia’s chances.It was a final result that made the game look closer than it really was. It wasn’t until the last five overs that Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Coulter-Nile finally took control of the chase and started finding the boundaries with regularity, and it was then that Pakistan found themselves under pressure in the field. They had, however, done enough during the first half of the innings by way of controlling the runs and taking regular wickets to ensure Maxwell’s late salvo wouldn’t imperil their inexorable path to sealing the series -their tenth in a row – at the earliest opportunity.Chasing a target similar to the one they were tasked with on Wednesday, Australia didn’t make quite the calamitous start that saw them lose six wickets on that occasion. That, unfortunately, was all that could be said for it, with the top three falling for a combined 12 runs, and as Mitchell Marsh and Maxwell tried to rebuild, they fell far behind the asking rate.It is when Pakistan have teams on the rack in this very fashion that they’ve sculpted their T20I fortunes on. Imad Wasim was teasingly accurate, conceding eight runs in his allocated quota, while Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hafeez almost queued up to torment Aaron Finch’s men. In the field, Pakistan were taking flying catches and inflicting miraculous run-outs. One from Fakhar Zaman may arguably be the best run-out inflicted all year, with Zaman diving forward while throwing backwards at the non-strikers end without even looking at the stumps. He hit middle, with a non-plussed Ben McDermott finding himself trudging back, victim to two sensational run-outs in as many games.Australia were arguably unfortunate at the start of their innings in the manner D’Arcy Short was dismissed. When Finch drove Imad back to the bowler, he got a finger on it as the ball hit the stumps. The third umpire deemed Short to have his bat in the air, but no one could be sure; indeed, certain angles seemed to imply he had it grounded all along.That began a furious and prolonged remonstration from Finch against the umpire that may yet see him part with a portion of his match fee. Australia’s sense of being against it intensified, while Pakistan began to constrict them as the asking rate soared. Soon enough, Maxwell -who had managed to hang around as the rest of his teammates found their stays at the crease prematurely curtailed – realised he’d have to do it all by himself. For the briefest moment, it appeared he’d make a match of it. Twenty-seven came off a couple of overs bowled by Shadab and Hasan, and for the first time Pakistan began to lose their rag slightly. Hafeez dropped a sitter at the cover, and the young Shaheen Afridi lost his bearings and bowled a couple of wides to send the jitters through everyone involved with Pakistan. But when Maxwell – who scored a gutsy half-century – fell in the final over, Australia’s fate had been sealed.Pakistan’s first-innings total was once more set up by Babar Azam and Hafeez, a 70-run partnership between the two taking Pakistan to 99 with six overs still to remain. Neither, however, pushed on to provide Pakistan a flourishing finish, and Australia picked up wickets at regular intervals as they dented Pakistan’s march towards a big total. Coulter-Nile, who was the most disappointing of the three seamers in the first game, was the pick of Australia’s bowlers here: his three big wickets for 18 an instrumental factor in containing Pakistan to under 150.But it is the innings too short to even count as cameos that have made enormous differences in both games. In the first, it was Hasan Ali whose big-hitting meant Paksiatn smashed 17 in the final over to undo much of the good work the visitors had done to seize the initiative. Here, Faheem Ashraf played that role in the final over, with Andrew Tye clobbered for 15, once again robbing Australia of the uplifting finish that would enable them to carry over the momentum to the second innings.It isn’t merely a matter of fortune, though. Winning these small moments has enabled Sarfraz – still unbeaten in a T20I series – to win some big matches over the past two years. Once the final ball had been bowled, Sarfraz raced to the middle of the pitch and let out a roar that was part elation, part relief. Judging by the captain’s reaction, this T20I felt as big as any he has won in the green of Pakistan.

Opener’s 27-ball 77 sets up huge total, before bowlers suppress Karachi’s steady surge to give Peshawar an opportunity to defend their crown

The Report by Arun Venugopal21-Mar-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellPowered by Kamran Akmal’s 27-ball 77, Peshawar Zalmi waltzed their way to their second consecutive PSL final, after suppressing a steady surge from Karachi Kings. After Peshawar posted 170 for 7 in a rain-shortened 16-overs a side contest, their seamers teamed up in disciplined fashion to ensure Karachi never outpaced them. Despite half-centuries from Joe Denly and Babar Azam, who stitched together a 117-run partnership for the second wicket, Hasan Ali, Sameen Gul and Chris Jordan choked the flow of runs at regular intervals to crush any aspirations Karachi might have had of a home final.Needing 44 off the last two overs, Denly belted out a few big hits to take 16 runs off Hasan in the 15th over. However, 28 runs off the last over proved a little too steep, even though Wahab began with a no-ball. Karachi were left to rue their inability to accelerate. In the end, they had their strongest finisher Colin Ingram walk in a little too late.Much of Karachi’s discomfort was also a product of some inspired seam bowling from Hasan and Gul early on. Hasan thrived on seaming the ball away from the batsmen late and finished with figures of 4-0-41-1, while Gul conceded only 20 runs from his three overs and removed opener Mukhtar Ahmed, who was brought in for his first game this season. There were backed up by an excellent support cast – Jordan, Umaid Asif and Wahab – that made Azam and Denly work hard for their runs. Captain Daren Sammy didn’t even have to employ left-arm spinner Liam Dawson on a wet day where the opposition’s spinners continually struggled to grip the ball.That, however, wasn’t the only reason Karachi struggled after they put Peshawar into bat. Apart from stand-in captain Mohammad Amir, who finished with remarkable figures of 4-0-16-0, their bowlers fluffed their lines in the face of Akmal’s onslaught. Karachi were also undone by some listless fielding in sharp contrast to the smartness that Peshawar displayed later in the evening.Where the match was won
In taking their time to suss the pitch out, both Peshawar and Karachi began their innings in remarkably similar fashion. Peshawar were on 29 for 0 at the end of four overs while Karachi had scored four runs fewer at the same stage. However, the difference lay in how Akmal and Peshawar took off from there and consistently amped up their scoring rate. The fifth over, bowled by Usman Khan, went for 25 runs and the over after that yielded 15, as Peshawar reached 69 at the end of six overs. They didn’t let the ball drop, as overs six to 10 produced 66 runs.In contrast, Karachi wheezed their way to 37 runs at the end of five overs and never managed the 20-run overs that Peshawar achieved regularly. Karachi did pull it back in the backend as Peshawar only scored 50 off their last six overs, but the belligerent striking at the top had eventually given them enough cover.
The men who won itAkmal was a doubtful starter ahead of the match with a bothersome hamstring. It was thanks to some last-minute repair work from the physio and the trainer that he was able to play. Once on the field, Akmal, like so often during this tournament, set the tempo for the rest of the batting group. He remained true to his methods, and merrily collected boundaries by clearing his front leg and giving the ball a resounding whack. Predictably, a large chunk of his runs came on the leg side, and he finished with five fours and eight sixes.What was more impressive was the manner in which he transferred pressure on to the opposition. Sensing that his opening partner Andre Fletcher was struggling, Akmal counterpunched against Karachi’s bowlers, who had started steadily, and broke their resistance. He disoriented Usman in the fifth over with a sequence of 6,4,4,4,6,1 to open the floodgates. From thereon, it was carnage. It was only after his dismissal off the last ball of the 10th over that Karachi found some respite.Where they stand
Thanks to the win, Peshawar travel to Karachi, where they will meet Islamabad United, the champions of the 2016 edition, in the final. Meanwhile, Karachi would be sorely disappointed at blowing both their shots at making the final, after finishing in the top-two at the end of the league phase.

Wayne Madsen has played many more fluent and attractive innings in his long and illustrious career, but the South African cannot have made a more hard-fought than that which he scored on the first day against Leicestershire

ECB/PA07-Aug-2015
ScorecardWayne Madsen made half Derbyshire’s total on the opening day•Getty Images

Wayne Madsen has played many more fluent and attractive innings in his long and illustrious career, but the South African cannot have made a more hard-fought or more valuable century than that which he scored for Derbyshire on the first day of their Championship match against Leicestershire at Grace Road.Madsen finished unbeaten on 164 as Derbyshire closed on 320 for 8, a score which looked well beyond them after they lost their first three wickets for just 38. In bowler-friendly conditions and on a green-tinged pitch Leicestershire captain Mark Cosgrove put the visitors in after winning the toss, and his seamers found movement through the air and off the pitch.Ben Raine made the early breakthrough for Leicestershire, swinging the ball in to left-hander Billy Godleman to win a leg before decision, and Ben Slater followed soon afterwards, leaving Charlie Shreck’s first delivery and losing his off-stump.It was Shreck’s 50th wicket in the Championship this season, and he should have had a 51st in the same over, when Madsen, on 11 at the time, edged high to third slip, only for Rob Sayer to put down the chance.The 37-year-old Shreck did pick up a second wicket when Tillikeratne Dillshan edged another out-swinger to Angus Robson at first slip. Madsen and Alex Hughes fought their way through to lunch, but after the break Derbyshire lost Alex Hughes, caught behind fending at Clint McKay, and Wes Durston, who edged an attempted drive at Shreck, to leave Derbyshire teetering on 118 for 5.Madsen enjoyed a huge stroke of fortune when on 54 he cut a delivery from Cosgrove to gully, where Ned Eckersley took the catch above his head – only for umpire Paul Baldwin to signal no-ball after seeing Cosgrove had knocked off a bail in his delivery stride.Madsen and Shiv Thakor then compiled a partnership of 71 for the sixth wicket before Thakor – a former Leicestershire player – attempted to turn offspinner Rob Sayer down the leg side, and was given out leg before to give Sayer, making his Championship debut for Leicestershire, his first first-class wicket.Harvey Hosein leant his captain valuable support as Madsen went to his 100, off 203 balls, and though Hosein was then brilliantly caught by Andrea Agathangelou diving to his right at second slip, Tony Palladino and then Mark Footitt hung around as Madsen went through to his 150, and took Derbyshire through to a third batting bonus point.

A day dominated by the two youngest men to represent Middlesex in first-class cricket ended with Derbyshire in the sort of parlous position that many would have predicted after they had lost the toss and were inserted

Alan Gardner at Lord's17-Apr-2013
ScorecardSteven Finn’s return to action was productive with four wickets•Getty Images

A day dominated by the two youngest men to represent Middlesex in first-class cricket ended with Derbyshire in the sort of parlous position that many would have predicted after they had lost the toss and were inserted. Had it not been for Billy Godleman, who debuted as a 16-year-old for Middlesex in the same match as Steven Finn back in 2005 and made a stoic, 244-ball half-century for Derbyshire here, the situation could have been far worse.In taking 323 minutes, Godleman’s is a contender for the slowest-ever Championship fifty – though he was still half-an-hour quicker than “The Barnacle” Trevor Bailey with his 350-ball effort in the first Ashes Test of 1958-59. Godleman’s innings, assembled in the painstaking manner of a man constructing a model ship in a bottle, was ended six minutes shy of six hours, though it might have felt longer to the smattering of Middlesex members who attended the opening day of the season at Lord’s.”I just love batting,” Godleman said, “I don’t necessarily see it as grinding, although the spectators might have a different view.” When it was suggested he may have set a record, he replied with a grin: “It wouldn’t surprise me, because it was pretty slow.”Godleman is at his third county in Derbyshire, having been released by Essex last year. His first full season at Middlesex, in 2007, brought 832 runs at 38.27 but he has never bettered that return and left his native London at the end of 2009. His Camden twang is still distinct and, although their paths have diverged he refers to Finn – who took 4 for 36 in his first outing of the season – as his “dearest friend”.The innings will undoubtedly long live in the memory – whether those present want it to or not – though it did not provide Derbyshire the platform it might have. Still, Godleman was pleased to have acquitted himself back at HQ. “Lord’s is always a special place but for me specifically, having grown up here and Middlesex being my boyhood club and facing my best friend opening the bowling against me, yeah.”It was a burst of 3 for 11 in six overs from said friend that most severely undermined Godleman’s graft, as Derbyshire’s 132 for 3 at tea rapidly became 150 for 6. In , Laertes warns his sister Ophelia that the “best safety lies in fear” but, having countenanced the danger and avoided it well enough in morning, Derbyshire’s batsmen became comfortably complicit in their demise. Dan Redfern and Chesney Hughes both poked at Finn deliveries they could have left on length, though Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s departure before the interval, pulling loosely to midwicket, was the most surprising.If the morning session had been billed as a horror show, with Division One newcomers Derbyshire put in under cloudy skies against one of the most-vaunted pace attacks on the circuit, it was to prove disappointingly short on video nasties. Finn’s second delivery was a leg-side wide and his opening spell of 7-5-5-0 camouflaged what had been a mixture of the unplayable and the unreachable.Toby Roland-Jones – who took eight wickets in the win over Nottinghamshire last week – was also wayward, though Tim Murtagh should have seen Godleman on his way when he had made just 2 but a low chance to third slip wriggled out of Sam Robson’s grasp.There was one early breakthrough and Wayne Madsen’s eminently preventable run-out foreshadowed the eventual path of the Derbyshire innings. In digging out a Finn delivery, a pinball ricochet sent it via Godleman, the non-striker, towards Chris Rogers at mid-off who was unerring in throwing down the stumps as Madsen belatedly realised his mistake in trying to get off the mark.Wes Durston and Godleman added 83 for the second wicket, the former looking increasingly assured right up until the moment he pulled Finn confidently straight to deep fine-leg and gave the bowler his 300th first-class wicket. That the ensuing collapse unfolded in slow motion was appropriate, though Godleman’s grit may yet prove vital for Derbyshire.