April 21st 2007 - We bloody did it! An innings victory to start off the season; What a perfect start! We arrived at the ground this morning expecting another hard day's cricket as well as a hell of a lot of rain but for once, the wet stuff stayed away. Middlesex collapsed dreadfully and were all out before lunch thanks largely to Muttiah Muralitharan and myself. Alright i've kept it quiet enough for now, it's time to finally say that; I GOT A TEN'FER ON DEBUT! Right, now that's out of my system i'd better get on explaining how the day went.
I came on in the 61st over of the innings which was round about the 20th of the day and Middlesex were 4 wickets down for only 91 runs thanks to some excellent bowling from Corky and Glen. I was hit for four off my first ball after I sent down a horrible long hop but the next ball would see me get my revenge.
I was angry at conceding a sloppy boundary so I put all my anger into another searing yorker which clattered into Owais Shah's pad and then onto his legstump.
Howis-Shah? He's out, that's what he is.
It got even better with the next ball as Johann Louw was even more comprehensivley beaten by one of my yorkers and his leg-stump was tore right out of the ground and I was on a hat-trick. As if my debut couldn't get any better, I now had a chance to join a very elite group of people who had taken a hat-trick on debut.
The Louw-down; He certainly was down after being beaten by sheer pace.
I couldn't get my hat-trick thanks to some sturdy defense from Silverwood but I only had to wait 2 more overs to strike the decisive blow.
My 4th wicket came when Betts tried to smash me out of the ground, which wasn't very sensible given that I was bowling pretty decently, and subsequently lobbed a simple catch to Glen Chapple who duely obliged. That wicket was my tenth of the match and it also ended Middlesex's innings and the match itself.
That's the 10th; Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this.
And the joy wasn't over for me yet as I was announced as the official man of the match and today I was interviewed again. I was slightly more confident than last time, saying things such as, "It felt really nice to put a sense of fear iinto the opposition" and "It's great to thrash teams when wearing Lancashire colours. Tim then said congratulations and was on his merry way, leaving me to reflect on a thrilling debut performance.
My first ever MOM award.
Sorry reading for Middlesex but not for myself.
Corky started it, Murali continued it and I finished it.
April 22nd 2007 - Following my terrific debut against Middlesex the predictable media hype that any young bowler gets following a good first impression surrounded me. "The Future's Bright, The Future's Roberts" raved one newspaper, "Robert's Reliant" raved one of the more London based papers as the media were caught up in a frenzy at this new young English fast bowling prospect. I was determined not to get ahead of myself because despite my bowling heroics, my batting was miserable and I was disapointed at not being able to contribute with the willow. After all, I am supposed to be an all-rounder aren't I?
No matter how any TV program, magazine, newpaper or cricket forum portrays me, I will always consider myself a team player, and the the mot important thing to me for now is this;
Top of the pile; I'll be happy as Larry if we can stay there.
In a few days time i'll be heading to Belfast to face minnows Ireland although any team with Shahid Afridi and Saqlain Mushtaq in it can't be taken too lightly. My main aim for this game was score runs and prove that I wasn't a one trick pony but above all, I wanted a Lancashire victory.
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