Match Centre

MATCH REPORT | MIDDLESEX V DERBYSHIRE | ROTHESAY COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

By Jon Batham and Ben Kosky for ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay

Derbyshire 376 & 124-3 beat Middlesex 177 & 320 by seven wickets

DAY FOUR

Wayne Madsen and Matthew Montgomery put together an unbroken partnership of 53 to seal Derbyshire’s first Rothesay County Championship win over Middlesex at Lord’s since 2002.

Visiting skipper Madsen hit 31 not out, with Montgomery unbeaten on 21 as Derbyshire ended the first block of red-ball fixtures with successive victories, chasing down a modest target of 122 without much difficulty.

Seamer Nick Potts captured the last two Middlesex wickets during the first hour to finish with three for 71 as the home side were dismissed for 320, with Harry Duke undefeated on 43.

Ben Aitchison failed to increase his overnight haul of three wickets, but nevertheless claimed career-best match figures of eight for 114 to go alongside a maiden first-class hundred in Derbyshire’s first innings.

Starting the final day with a lead of 79, Middlesex managed to extend that by a further 42 – largely thanks to some clean hitting from Toby Roland-Jones, who steered Rory Haydon for a series of boundaries.

Roland-Jones’ crisp drive through midwicket for four more lifted the total above 300 and his partnership with Duke reached exactly 50 before it was ended by a swipe outside off stump at Potts.

Last man Naavya Sharma added a boundary off his inside edge before Potts pinned him leg before two balls later to wrap up the innings and hand over to Derbyshire openers Harry Came and Luis Reece.

The pair made steady progress, ticking along at around three an over and giving nothing away until a switch of ends for Ryan Higgins triggered the downfall of Reece, who nudged him to slip.

Rain arrived as the players were leaving the field for lunch, with the target still 86 away, but it cleared up during the interval and stayed away long enough for Derbyshire to complete their task.

Having taken 22 balls to get off the mark with an uncertain outside edge that flew to the rope, Montgomery was handed a life soon afterwards when he was dropped in the slips off Eathan Bosch.

Sharma struck twice in four deliveries, with Came taken at slip for 34 attempting to leave the ball and Caleb Jewell feathering one behind, but it was too late to induce any genuine jitters in the Derbyshire camp.

Madsen’s straight drive off Roland-Jones for four took the total into three figures and he and Montgomery knocked off the remaining runs in dribs and drabs to seal their side’s victory.

DAY THREE

Middlesex pair Leus du Plooy and Caleb Falconer shared a century partnership to delay Derbyshire’s progress as the visitors closed in on a rare Rothesay County Championship victory at Lord’s.

Du Plooy hit 95 against his former county, while 19-year-old Falconer – playing in only his second first-class fixture – contributed 48 to their stand of 107, which ensured the home side wiped out a first-innings deficit of almost 200.

But Derbyshire’s bowlers stuck resolutely to their task, with Ben Aitchison and Rory Haydon picking up two wickets apiece in the day as Middlesex reached 278 for eight, an advantage of just 79 when bad light ended play.

On-loan Harry Duke remains unbeaten for a fine 31, but realistically it looks as though only rain on the final day can deny the visitors their first red-ball success in St John’s Wood since 2002.

Aitchison, whose Lord’s experience has already included a five-wicket haul and maiden hundred, looked dangerous again with the ball and beat the outside edge several times after Middlesex resumed at 13 for one.

It was fellow seamer Haydon who achieved Derbyshire’s first success of the morning, tempting Ben Geddes to drive and the resulting thick edge was pouched by Wayne Madsen at slip.

Having pulled his first delivery to the rope at midwicket, Du Plooy soon settled into the groove, advancing out of his crease to the seamers as he and Max Holden began to whittle down the deficit.

The pair added 64 before Aitchison returned for a pre-lunch spell, bringing the ball back down the slope to trap Holden in front for 22, while Test spinner Shoaib Bashir extracted occasional turn in a tidy stint at the other end.

Du Plooy moved on past 50 for the fifth time this season while Falconer looked increasingly assured, straight-driving Aitchison to the boundary twice and stepping down the wicket to lash Bashir’s full toss over the top for four more.

Poor communication while running between the wickets almost proved costly, but Bashir’s shy at the stumps hurtled through for four overthrows after Du Plooy had embarked on a risky single to cover.

There was also a close call for Falconer, who gloved a rising Haydon delivery but the chance was fumbled by Brooke Guest and the pair brought Middlesex within eight runs of parity before departing in successive overs, both narrowly short of personal landmarks.

The captain was first to fall for 95, driving Martin Andersson to short cover where Bashir dived forward to grab it and Falconer then missed his chance for a first senior half-century, caught behind off Nick Potts.

That double blow halted the home side’s progress, although Duke cut Andersson for four to propel them into positive territory before tea and, with Ryan Higgins scoring productively off the back foot, their partnership reached 54.

But Higgins was undone attempting to pull Matthew Montgomery, the ball staying low to earn the off-spinner his first red-ball wicket for Derbyshire and Aitchison picked up his third of the innings when Zafar Gohar slashed outside off stump.

Eathan Bosch looked unlucky to be given out leg before to Haydon to leave Middlesex eight down shortly before darkening conditions, followed by a downpour, brought play to a close.

DAY TWO

Ben Aitchison became the first player to take five wickets and score a century for Derbyshire in the same match at Lord’s as the visitors dominated against hosts Middlesex on day two.

Aitchison, who’d come in as nightwatchman the previous evening, reached three figures for the first time in his first-class career, making 112 and sharing a stand of 208 for the sixth wicket with skipper Wayne Madsen – the joint third-highest for any wicket by Derbyshire against their London hosts.

Veteran Madsen (119) also passed three figures for the first time at Lord’s to help the men from the Peak District to a score of 376 a first innings lead of 199. On a dispiriting day for the host bowlers, Ryan Higgins again emerged with credit taking 4-98.

Bad light curtailed Middlesex’s second innings after tea but there was still time for Aitchison to snaffle a sixth wicket of the match when Robson edged to slip, before the weather closed in.

Aitchison began the day in company with his fellow nightwatchman Nick Potts, the pair extending their partnership to 40 before Higgins, who’d switched from the Nursery to Pavilion End, brought one back down the slope to uproot Potts’ leg stump.

At that stage, Derbyshire, five wickets down, still trailed by 47, but it would be an age before Middlesex tasted any success again.

Aitchison, with only one first-class 50 to his name and an average of 14, made a mockery of those stats, crunching an early boundary through the covers. He was given the first of two lives on 41 when Caleb Falconer dropped a sharp chance at backward point and he celebrated with successive fours to reach 50.

Unbeaten on 64 at lunch, a scorching square drive got him underway again after the resumption. There was a second life when he was dropped on 80, Falconer again the one to grass the chance, but he moved smoothly through the 90s before finding the fence square of the wicket to reach his milestone on one of cricket’s grandest stages.

Madsen was skittish at first, slashing one over the slips for four, but he soon settled and was powerful through the midwicket region as well as sweeping spinner Zafar Gohar into the Mound Stand for six.

Through the afternoon records tumbled. The previous sixth-wicket partnership record against Middlesex of 148 set last year at Derby was erased and the county’s record for any wicket at Lord’s of 188, a stat which had stood since 1932 soon followed.

By the time Aitchison miscued one to cover off Toby Roland-Jones the stand was 12 short of the record for any wicket against Middlesex.

Wickets tumbled thereafter, Madsen’s fine effort ending at 119 courtesy of a toe-crusher from the otherwise expensive Eathan Bosch which trapped him in front.

DAY ONE

Ben Aitchison’s first five-fer of the summer put Derbyshire in command before Middlesex’s own seamers hit back on day one of their County Championship clash at Lord’s.

The 26-year-old seamer exploited bowler-friendly conditions to the full to return 5-47 as the hosts, who collapsed from 66-1 to 89-6 either side of lunch, were hustled out for 177. Rory Haydon, in only his sixth first-class, game proved a great foil from the other end with 2-60.

Middlesex though fought back ball in hand, Ryan Higgins leading the way with 2-28 as Derbyshire struggled to 106-4 at stumps, 71 in arrears.

The other good news of the day for the hosts was England Lions call-ups for Ben Geddes and Naavya Sharma for the upcoming clashes with South Africa A.

Inserted under cloudy skies Middlesex weathered the initial assault with Sam Robson striking three early boundaries.

Geddes was Robson’s opening partner, having impressed in the role during the second innings of last week’s win over Lancashire. There, the former Surrey batter had scored at a run a ball but this was a different proposition with Aitchison in particular making his stay an uncomfortable one.

Nevertheless, the opening stand had reached 47 when, having survived this going over, Geddes tossed his wicket away, throwing his bat at a wide long hop from former Middlesex man Martin Andersson, getting the ball on the toe end and looping it to cover.

Max Holden played one good pull shot in his brief stay, only to be undone by an Aitchison delivery which deviated a fraction to beat the inside edge and trap him lbw.

Robson, had become stuck since his early flourish and he would depart eight balls later caught at slip, feeling for a widish ball from Haydon. If that served to make their lunch indigestible, their demise continued immediately upon the resumption, du Plooy trapped on the crease to the last ball of the afternoon’s opening over bowled by Aitchison.

Higgins then edged a beauty from Haydon through to wicketkeeper Brooke Guest and when youngster Caleb Falconer played all around a straight one from Aitchison, the hosts had slumped to 89-6.

For a while Zafar Gohar and Harry Duke stemmed the bleeding, rotating the strike to tick the score along, but patience with their pedestrian rate of progress ran thin, both departing in quick succession to catches behind from loose wafts.

Thereafter only a few big blows from overseas ace Eathan Bosch, including a huge straight six into the pavilion seats delayed Derbyshire for long, Aitchison completing his first five-wicket haul at Lord’s when Toby Roland Jones was bowled off the inside edge.

The visitors started positively in reply, Reece clipping Roland-Jones through midwicket for successive fours.

As so often this season it was Higgins who made the breakthrough, Harry Came nicking one through to Duke and it should have been two in two, Matthew Montgomery edging to slip, but skipper du Plooy grassed the chance.

Higgins soon clung on to another edge from Reece to give Bosch his first red-ball wicket for the county, while Montgomery didn’t make the most of his earlier reprieve, surviving one huge lbw shout from Sharma only to fall victim to another from Roland-Jones.

The hosts still weren’t done as Higgins clattered one into Caleb Jewell’s leg stump, leaving the two nightwatchmen, Aitchison and Nick Potts to nurse their side to the close.