A trip to the midlands (part two)

posted by John Winn

The small market town of Coleshill is eleven miles east of Birmingham and thus conveniently placed for visiting Edgbaston. Having spent a comfortable night at The Swan Hotel I drove through a large industrial estate to Coleshill Parkway which offers a regular and frequent train service into New Street with a fifteen minute journey time. A scheme offering free parking at the station has been extended until 2015.

Buses to Edgbaston run from New Street  at frequent intervals and the journey takes little more than ten minutes. My bus had a number of Middlesex supporters as passengers who had travelled up from London by train, heartened no doubt by their team's fightback on the first day against the Bears. This had been led by a century from Dexter (NJ not ER).

When I last visited in June 2011 the ground's major new build was receiving its finishing touches and it is fair to say the Warwickshire authorities have played safe with nothing as dramatic as The Carnegie Pavilion or The Point. Amen to that do I hear you say? I have never been quite sure where, as a non member, one is allowed to sit at Edgbaston but decided that I would risk the Bob Wyatt stand from whence I gained access to the David Heath* Suite where the usual refreshments are available. The walls of the suite are decorated with photographs of successful Warwickshire teams from the past, including one circa 1972 which includes a smiling Bob Willis, collectors' item there then.An employee of G4S put down his copy of 'Teach Yourself Stewarding' and eyed me suspiciously but said nothing and I spent the day seated in this vicinity. As at Leicester there was a flat rate charge for adults of £10 but with the bonus of a free scorecard.

The young man serving tea and coffee was boasting to some Middlesex followers that his tea and coffee prices were lower than at Lord's. I remarked that it would be a matter of some shame if they were not. Bears' supporters waiting the start of play were excited that they would be one of three grounds selected to host The Champions Trophy next June, Cardiff and The Oval are the other two with Edgbaston the venue for the final.

Play began in hazy sunshine with Warwickshire openers Chopra and Westwood continuing their partnership from Tuesday. In the early stages of play there were some streaky fours but they were still together at lunch and they added 175 before being separated. Middlesex's dismal overrate was speeded up by the introduction of Ravi Patel, making his championship debut, and his first dismissal came when Porterfield was caught at slip. Warwickshire subsequently failed to cash in on their excellent start and a post tea collapse means they lead by only six with two wickets remaining.
An unusual feature of the day was that there were two lots of four overthrows, each time accompanied by a single.
Having lost narrowly to Surrey on Saturday, Middlesex are not entirely safe from relegation but with the likelihood of time being lost to rain, especially on Friday, a draw would seem the most likely outcome. For The Bears this represents their game in hand over Notts but with the two teams still having to play each other twice the result of this game is not likely to be decisive.

Some overs were lost to bad light at the end of the day but by this time I was well on my way up the M1 in very bright evening sunshine. From Coleshill Parkway to the M42 took only about 15 minutes and I strongly recommend this facility to anybody driving in that area but wishing to avoid Birmingham traffic which at teatime yesterday was very heavy.

* a former Warwickshire chief executive.