Match Centre

MIDDLESEX V LEICESTERSHIRE | MATCH REPORT

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.

DAY ONE

Ian Holland underlined his status as Division Two’s leading wicket-taker with figures of five for 35 to give Leicestershire the upper hand on the opening day of their Rothesay County Championship clash with Middlesex.

The 34-year-old medium-pacer took his wicket tally to 26 for the season, returning three for nine during a relentlessly accurate opening eight-over salvo to reduce the home side to 19 for three at Lord’s.

Middlesex gradually rallied, with Jack Davies top-scoring on 49, before Holland completed only the second five-wicket haul of his first-class career to dismiss them for 232.

Although Leicestershire reduced the arrears by 22 before the close, they lost Rishi Patel to the final ball of the day, leg before to Ryan Higgins.

Having won the toss, Foxes captain Peter Handscomb sent his former team in to bat – a move that was immediately vindicated as Holland set about wrecking Middlesex’s top order during the first half-hour.

His fourth delivery from the Nursery End nipped in and stayed low to remove Sam Robson – and the one that zoomed back in the reverse direction to hit Max Holden’s off stump was virtually unplayable.

Two balls later, Leus du Plooy speared Holland to midwicket to leave Middlesex reeling, but Luke Hollman – promoted to three following his maiden hundred against Kent last time out – launched a repair job.

Two drives to the short cover fence off Logan van Beek got Hollman up and running, but it was a measure of Leicestershire’s accuracy that those remained the only boundaries of the innings until the 18th over.

Higgins also began to accumulate runs as the pair hauled Middlesex’s total beyond 50 and, although Hollman perished swishing outside off stump at Tom Scriven, Ben Geddes started brightly with a couple of well-timed clips to the leg side.

It looked as if Middlesex had weathered the storm, with Higgins advancing rapidly to 44 after lunch, only to become Holland’s fourth victim as he played on attempting to leave the ball.

Josh Hull picked up the next wicket, tempting Geddes with a short ball that he flicked high into the hands of long leg, but Davies cut and drove to good effect as he and Zafar Gohar rebuilt with a buoyant stand of 74.

Gohar capitalised on Hull’s tendency to pitch short, punishing the left-armer on both sides of the wicket and thumping him to the point boundary to raise the 50 partnership prior to tea.

Despite a close call when he edged Scriven between wicketkeeper and slip on 31, Davies batted doggedly after the interval and was inching towards a third half-century in as many matches when he was castled by Ben Green.

Rehan Ahmed’s tidy eight-over spell brought him the wicket of Gohar, miscuing to backward point for 36 and, while teenage debutant Naavya Sharma kept Toby Roland-Jones company during a lively knock of 29, Middlesex were unable to scrape a batting bonus point.

Holland wrapped up the innings by having last man Dane Paterson caught in the deep and that left Leicestershire’s openers seven overs to negotiate – a task they almost completed, only for Higgins to strike right before stumps.