It boasts one of the largest dressing-rooms on the county circuit.The building was finished in time for the opening first-class fixture against Cambridge University, and pre-dates the pavilion at Old Trafford by 13 years. The Australian name "bosie" is less obscure, recognising the role in the googly's development played by the Middlesex and England bowler B J T Bosanquet, who used an idea discovered on the billiard table to take 6 for 51 against Australia at Sydney in 1904.Pleasant views from one of the circuit's largest dressing-roomsAROUND THE GROUNDSAigburth, LiverpoolFirst-class cricket has been played at the Aigburth Road ground, five miles from the city centre, since it was completed in 1881, during an age of considerable prosperity for Liverpool.The port was thriving and members of Liverpool Cricket Club made generous donations to finance the construction of a fine pavilion, an imposing structure for an out-ground with distinctive green and white panelling set against red brick. Elsewhere, Nottinghamshire, whose bright start has been more surprising even than Gloucestershire's, should have Paul Pollard and Tim Robinson back against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge.TERMS OF THE GAMEThe googlyWhy the wrist-spinner's disguised off-break is known as the googly has never been established, although there is a theory that it has its root in the 19th-century dialect word "google", meaning to confuse. He made his debut against Gloucestershire last season, dismissing Robert Dawson with his first ball.Should they fail today, Kent will be still more anxious to beat Durham at Darlington.
One suspects still that the West Country side will not sustain their challenge, although Mike Smith, the left-arm seamer who might have been pushing for an England place had a side strain not ruined his A tour, has started well.Middlesex, meanwhile, have unearthed a promising partner for Angus Fraser in Jamie Hewitt, whose 6-14 at Cardiff raised his tally for the season to 31 championship wickets. The position in the games involving Gloucestershire and Kent suggests their lead may be more than temporary, with the former facing a stiff task to score 363 against Worcestershire and Kent likely to find the clock against them at Old Trafford.Gloucestershire are Middlesex's opponents in the championship round that starts on Wednesday. The following year he played his first Ashes series in England, taking 31 wickets at 17.67, a figure he bettered in 1981 with 39. He is perhaps best remembered for his partnership with Jeff Thomson, which demoralised England in Australia in 1974-75. His career total of 355 wickets places him sixth among the all-time leading Test bowlers, despite missing the best part of two years with back problems.THE WEEKAHEADThe extraordinary happenings at Cardiff have allowed Middlesex to stake a claim for top spot in the Britannic Assurance table. Presumably "Yes! No! Wait! - Sorry!" doesn't count...THE TOP TENThe 10 leading wicket takers in Ashes Tests1 Dennis Lillee 167(Australia)2 Ian Botham 148(England)3 Hugh Trumble 141(Australia)4 Bob Willis 128(England)5 Montague Noble 115(Australia)6 Ray Lindwall 114(Australia)7 Wilfred Rhodes 109(England)8 Syd Barnes 106(England)9 Clarrie Grimmett 106(Australia)10 Derek Underwood 105(England)Moustache with a dashDennis Lillee announced himself with a short-pitched ball that turned Geoffrey Boycott's cap back to front He was 21 and playing for Western Australia. "If my speech starts to ramble and I'm making no sense, that's a tell-tale sign," he said.
I'm certainly not going to turn it into a sob story."Close monitoring of the condition's progress should prevent any emergency arising, although he has briefed team-mates on the danger signs. He has a brother and an uncle who are also sufferers.Now, his daily routine involves injecting himself with insulin four times a day and taking care over his diet, although he insists his career will continue unaffected."Thousands of people have the disease, and as far as I'm concerned it is just an inconvenience. However, when a national newspaper poked fun at him for consuming a ham sandwich and a Coca-Cola at the crease during a particularly long innings last month, the Warwickshire batsman was less than pleased. The writer was apparently unaware of the fact that the 36-year-old opener has developed diabetes, and after batting for six hours in hot sunshine was beginning to worry about his blood sugar levels. "It made it sound like I'd stopped for a snack," Moles said."I don't eat much lunch or tea if I'm batting, but I knew it wasn't a good idea to go much longer without anything. I'd actually asked our 12th man to bring me a banana, but the ham sandwich was all he could put his hands on at the time."The condition manifested itself last winter, while Moles was in South Africa coaching Orange Free State's B team."I had a spate of dizzy spells and a simple urine test revealed what it was," he said. As a cricketer with, let's say, a fuller figure, Andy Moles is well used to remarks about his build and generally takes them in good part. This was another indication of the slowness of the pitch and of the early Somerset batsmen only Robert Turner had looked at all comfortable.Somerset's recovery - their last four wickets more than doubled the score - came about partly because of some poor bowling towards the end of the innings and partly because of the firm stroke play of Graham Rose, who is having a wonderful season as an all-rounder.Hampshire, beginning their innings in spitting rain, quickly lost Jason Laney, lbw on the back foot, and Robin Smith, bowled off the edge square cutting.But Matthew Hayden was soon driving in his usual fluent style while Matthew Keech also played some good firm strokes off the front foot.
After that, wickets fell regularly and, although John Stephenson and Shaun Udal kept going amid great excitement, the target was just beyond Hampshire's reach.. They put on 45 in 12 overs before Hayden sliced a cover drive off Jason Kerr and was beautifully caught by Mushtaq Ahmed running flat out round the square third man boundary.Will Kendall was out almost at once pushing one from Kerr which may have "stopped" on him to short mid-wicket.Hampshire were then helped by an extraordinary over from Andy Caddick, which lasted for 12 balls (five wides and one no-ball) and cost 16 runs. He finished with 13 wickets for 93 in the championship match.Two of his victims, Peter Bowler and Keith Parsons, tried to cut and edged the ball into their stumps, which happened to five of the batsmen who were bowled during the match. The redoubtable Kevan James, who can do no wrong at the moment bowling medium fast left-arm over the wicket, took 3 for 16 in his eight overs, moving the ball into the right hander with excellent control. Batting was also a difficult business for the Axa League Sunday frolic.Hampshire put Somerset into bat and after 22 overs had six of them out for 86.