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MATCH REPORT | LANCASHIRE V MIDDLESEX | ROTHESAY COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Match report by ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay

Middlesex 169 and 117/4 beat Lancashire 201 and 84 by six wickets

DAY THREE

Middlesex secured their second victory of the season, and their first at Old Trafford since 1996, when they defeated Lancashire by six wickets on a dramatic third day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire.

Naavya Sharma took a career-best four for 17 and Ryan Higgins four for 27 to help dismiss the home side for 84, Lancashire’s lowest score against Middlesex on this ground since 1935.

The visitors then needed 117 to win and the outcome was in some doubt when they were 64 for four just after lunch but Ben Geddes’s 73 not out off 70 balls enabled them to reach their target in some comfort. Higgins was unbeaten on seven having helped Geddes put on an unbroken 53 for the fifth wicket.

The result takes Middlesex above their opponents in the Division Two table but the two sides’ placings will not be clear until this round of matches is completed.

In the most dramatic of morning sessions, Middlesex continued their destruction of Lancashire’s second innings precisely where they had left off on Saturday. Resuming on 45 for three, the home side lost their last seven wickets for the addition of 39 runs and their last six for 21 in 10.1 overs.

Many headlines will be claimed by Sharma, who took three wickets in his first over, four wickets in ten balls and finished with career-best figures of four for 17 in 4.4 overs. But as on Friday, this was a combined effort which reflected well on all four members of Leus du Plooy’s attack.

Higgins took the first wicket of the day and his fourth of the innings when he had Marcus Harris caught behind by Harry Duke for one in the second over of the day. Toby Roland-Jones then trapped Michael Jones for 10 and bowled nightwatchman Mitch Stanley for eight when the ball hit the outside of the very top of off bail but nevertheless disturbed the leg bail.

That left Lancashire desperately placed on 64 for six but the real drama was yet to come. Brought on to replace Toby Roland-Jones at the Brian Statham End, Sharma had Michael Hurst caught at slip by Higgins for seven with his first ball, Tom Hartley caught behind for a golden duck with his second and Tom Bailey pouched at slip by du Ploy with his sixth. Next over, Sharma completed his career-best return when Chris Green skied him to Roland-Jones at deep mid-on.

That ended Lancashire’s innings on 84, their lowest total against Middlesex at Old Trafford since 1935. The batsman who spent longest at the crease and faced most balls was Stanley, the nightwatchman, who took 71 minutes over his 51-ball eight.

Needing 117 to win, the Middlesex batsmen approached their task in a positive fashion from the outset. All four of Lancashire’s seamers conceded significant runs and the visitors were 57 for two after 9.1 overs at lunch. Middlesex will surely have regarded the two wickets they lost as acceptable collateral damage. Sam Robson was caught at midwicket by Bailey off George Balderson for 14 and Max Holden was strangled down the leg side, Hurst taking the catch off Stanley for nine.

But the visitors were surely less sanguine about the dismissal of du Plooy caught behind for one five balls after the resumption. And when Caleb Falconer was also snaffled by Hurst off Stanley for a first-ball duck on his first-class debut, Middlesex were 64 for four and Lancashire’s bowlers were threatening to pull off a miraculous victory.

Instead, Geddes reached a well-judged 50 off 47 balls with five fours and two pulled sixes off Stanley and the end of an extraordinary match followed not long afterwards.

DAY TWO

Lancashire’s seamers hit back either side of a long rain break to help their side take a 32-run lead on first innings in their Rothesay County Championship match against Middlesex at Emirates Old Trafford.

But in a dramatic last hour of play, Ryan Higgins took three prime wickets in ten balls for Middlesex to reduce the home side to 45 for three at the close, giving Lancashire a lead of 77 and leaving the game evenly poised.

Replying to Lancashire’s 203, the visitors were dismissed for 169 despite skipper Leus du Plooy making a fine 67. James Anderson again led took the bowling honours with four for 67 but George Balderson took three for 19 before turning his attention to opening the batting.

In the morning session, Lancashire made their first breakthrough with the seventh ball of the day. After Ben Geddes had taken a single off the opening over, Anderson struck with his first delivery when the makeshift opener’s attempted push into the leg side only popped up a return catch off the leading edge, which the bowler ran forward athletically to take.

But the dismissal of Geddes for 12 brought in Caleb Falconer to play his maiden first-class innings and the 19-year-old got off the mark when he edged his second delivery from Anderson to the third man boundary. And although he made only 11 runs off 20 balls, Falconer did not look out of place during his 24 minutes in the middle. But the debutant’s innings when he was lbw to Tom Bailey and that wicket ushered in an eventful eight overs during which Higgins made 32 off 30 balls and put on 44 with du Plooy.

Higgins cut Balderson first ball of the day through gully for four and pulled his next delivery for six before an attempt to whack another maximum only skied a steepling catch to mid-on which Anderson judged superbly. That left Middlesex on 108 for five and they had scored eight more runs when torrential rain arrived. Du Plooy was unbeaten on 39 and could comfort himself that he had played one of the shots of the season at Old Trafford when he drove Mitch Stanley over cover point for six.

Even after the rain stopped, the groundstaff’s mopping-up operations were halted by the possibility of thunder and lightning. Further rain delayed the restart until 4.00 when there were 38 overs left to be bowled, although the umpires decreed that these should be bridged by a tea interval at 5.15.

On the resumption, Middlesex lost their last five wickets for 53 runs and their last three on 169. Harry Duke, who has been brought in on a two-week loan to cover for Joe Cracknell and is immediately substituting for him in this match, was caught behind off Anderson for three and Gohar fell to Tom Bailey for four in the next over.

Du Plooy and Seb Morgan then put on 45 for the eighth wicket and during the course of that stand, the Middlesex skipper hit three fours off successive balls from Anderson, thereby reaching his fifty off 69 balls. However, when du Plooy was caught at slip by Michael Jones off Balderson for 67, Lancashire took the last two wickets in the space of six balls to earn their side with a significant 32-run lead in what is likely to be a low-scoring game.

In their second innings, Lancashire’s openers proceeded without much trouble to 39 without loss before Higgins struck by having Balderson caught behind by Duke for 15, Keaton Jennings caught at second slip by Sam Robson for 18 and Josh Bohannon also snaffled by Robson for just two when he chose to flash at his fourth ball.

DAY ONE

Middlesex’s four-man seam attack made the most of favourable conditions to put their side in a good position on the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship match against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Having opted to bowl first under cloudy skies, the visitors dismissed James Anderson’s side for 201 in 67.1 overs. In reply, though, Middlesex struggled to 38 for two at the close before bad light ended play 17 overs early. Both wickets were taken by Anderson in a five-over spell and the visiting batsmen will surely not relish facing Lancashire’s attack on the second morning

Ryan Higgins took three for 48 in the home side’s innings and Toby Roland Jones’s three for 45 included the vital wickets of Marcus Harris and Keaton Jennings. But this was very much a team effort by the Middlesex bowlers.

Seb Morgan, who finished with three for 41, and Naavya Sharma, 1-52, supported the new-ball attack superbly and Lancashire’s only comfort came from Jennings’s watchful 67 and Australian all-rounder, Chris Green, who made 35 in his first game of the season before he was last man out, bowled by Morgan

The morning session was a struggle for Lancashire’s batsmen and they did well to get to lunch on 78 for three. Middlesex’s four seamers made the most of Leus du Plooy winning the toss on a cloudy morning and the introduction of Sharma and Morgan to replace Higgins and Toby Roland-Jones brought no great reduction in quality.

But it was the more experienced bowlers who took the wickets. The first of these fell to the twelfth ball of the day when Higgins brought one back off the seam to have makeshift opener George Balderson lbw for eight. Josh Bohannon then laboured stoically to score 15 runs in 89 minutes off 48 balls before he was well beaten by the first ball of Higgins second spell and Joe Cracknell pouched the edge. Three overs later, though, and ten balls before lunch, Middlesex dismissed Marcus Harris for 5 when the Australian’s attempted drive off Roland-Jones caught the toe of the bat and Sharma took a fine catch diving to his right at mid-on.

Lancashire’s problems only deepened during a slightly shortened afternoon session in which they scored 96 runs for the loss of four further wickets. The most significant of these was that of Jennings, who was blamelessly caught behind for 67 off a fine delivery from Roland-Jones. But it was significant that the opener had made his runs off 148 balls in 220 tough minutes and by the time he was dismissed, Michael Jones had been bowled by Seb Morgan for 27 and Matty Hurst caught at slip by Higgins off Sharma for seven. When Tom Hartley was caught behind off the ubiquitous Higgins for three, Lancashire were 164 for seven and there was relief in the home dressing room when bad light stopped play 3.5 overs before tea.

The delay lasted no longer than the normal tea interval and batting conditions on the resumption were the best of the day. However, this did not prevent Lancashire losing their last three wickets for 13 runs.

But the last nine overs of play belonged to Anderson, who had Sam Robson caught at slip by Jones for six before knocking out Max Holden’s middle stump in his next over when the Middlesex batsman had made only five. And the visiting batsmen will have been grateful to see the clouds darken and the umpires take the players off when over an hour’s cricket remained in the day.