M Fleming: Talking Cricket (30 May 1998)

30 May 1998

Talking Cricket

Matthew Fleming

IF OUR Benson and Hedges quarter-final at Leicester had been a contest of a different nature it would have been stopped. In what truly was 'a game of two halves' Kent were on the receiving end of an old-fashioned drubbing.

During the first half - our innings - the ball so dominated the bat that the uncontrollable movement off the wicket and in the air contributed 55 extras to our meagre total of 158.

Had conditions remained the same we would have stood a chance, albeit a slim one. But inexplicably, the ball stopped swinging and movement off the seam was almost non-existent. Darren Maddy's bat resembled a willow tree in comparison to earlier toothpicks.

It was a subdued trip back to Canterbury. I allowed myself the length of the A14 and half the M11 to wallow in self-pity. By the time I reached Stansted I was beginning to feel better about myself. "Concentrate on the positives," we are always told. And by the time I reached the M25 I appreciated just how good a player I must be to have got so much bat on to the ball and to have hit it quite so high and be caught by the wicketkeeper.

My bowling, while not poetry, had its good points and I was unlucky. I had Maddy dropped in the gully - well a fierce cut to backward point - and had contributed in no small way to both the wickets we took. If Darren had not hit me out of Grace Road and into the net area we would not have been able to get the ball, which was doing nothing, changed. Mark Ealham immediately struck twice with the replacement ball.

There are few things in life that one can truly count on. I should have known that the M25 would provide a thoroughly miserable end to a thoroughly miserable day.

While parked in the outside lane admiring the A12 interchange along with hundreds of other frustrated drivers, I had ample time to reflect on an extraordinary week. The Texaco Trophy series against South Africa was an incredible event to have been part of.

Playing in Sharjah and the West Indies was a real thrill, but playing in England is something else. I wasn't expecting to play at the Oval, being fully aware of the selectors' desire to play two spinners, and the wicket being as dry as it was.

THE writing was on the wall the evening before when I wasn't even in Ceefax's 'squad of 14'. Yet it was still disappointing when Adam Hollioake told me I wasn't playing. David Lloyd was extremely generous in confirming the news. "Jazzer, I don't know what we'd do without you . . . but we're going to find out."

It was a strange sensation watching Ashley Giles bowl so well. Ninety-nine per cent of me was shouting encouragement immensely applauding his every delivery. There was, however, 0.1 per cent of me that thought: "There go my chances of playing at Old Trafford."

It is a squad game, and there will always be someone who misses out; I know that. I don't think I would be human if I didn't want that 'someone' not to be me. As it was, I did play at Old Trafford, but had what can only be described as a bad day at the office.

On Sunday at Headingley it was altogether different. We got back to something like our best form and won comprehensively. It was an important, if slightly hollow victory.

Our main aim had been to win the Texaco Trophy, and we messed it up. Yet we came out fighting, and proved to ourselves that the South Africans can be beaten - and just as importantly confirmed that when we get it right we are a match for everyone.

It was an important and memorable game for me. Important because I took my first international wicket in England, and memorable because I've never had a kiss blown at me by an opposing bowler before. I'd never have guessed that he cared.

As soon as it had started it was over. Before I had had a chance to really think about Sunday's victory in Leeds, and the whole series, I had driven home and was playing for Kent against Durham in a 40-over game on the Monday. On Tuesday we travelled to Leicester and the rest, as they say, is history.

Our quarter-final defeat was deeply disappointing, yet such is the nature of our game that before we can fully analyse or come to terms with such a performance we are into a crucial championship game against Surrey.

There is little time to train to make sure that mistakes are learnt from and not repeated. It is ironic that the next day we will have for quality practice will be June 9, the day of the Benson and Hedges semi-final. That is when Wednesday's shambles will really sink in.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)