Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
DAY FOUR
Middlesex’s bowlers wore down heroic Northamptonshire resistance to close out an emphatic victory by an innings and 107 runs deep into the final session of day 4 at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Rob Keogh defied the hosts attack for almost five hours despite being struck for a second time on the finger he damaged while fielding on day one to make a gutsy unbeaten 61, while Saif Zaib also battled through pain to add 44 to his 82 of the first innings.
There was even a last-wicket stand of 47 between Keogh and Yuzvendra Chahal to further frustrate the Seaxes, but in the end 3-54 for Ryan Higgins (seven in the match) and a maiden first-class wicket for Ben Geddes bowled out the visitors for 257.
Northamptonshire’s hopes of frustrating the host’s victory push were dealt an early blow when Lewis McManus, having played one delicious extra cover drive tried to leave a ball from Roland-Jones, only for it to cannon off the under edge and send his off-stump cartwheeling.
One wicket became two in the next over, Tom Helm beating George Bartlett twice in successive balls before banging in a short one which the batter skied obligingly to Roland-Jones at mid-on.
Much now rested on the shoulders of all-rounders Zaib and Keogh. Zaib picked up where he’d left off in the first innings, a late cut to third and a glorious drive back past Noah Cornwell taking him into the 20s
Keogh meanwhile took 18 balls to get off the mark and was then struck on his already damaged digit by a ball from Higgins. He carried on after lengthy treatment and collected four with a flick to fine leg.
The physio was back on soon afterwards, this time for Zaib, struck on the funny bone by a short one from Cornwell. A lengthier stoppage ensued before he too soldiered on, defying the pain to send successive Cornwell deliveries to the fence as the 50-partnership came up shortly before lunch.
Deprived of spinner Zafar Gohar due to the arm injury picked up fielding on day three and with a soft Kookaburra ball offering no help to the Middlesex seamers, the stoic resistance of the Steelbacks continued on the resumption.
However, as frustration looked to be setting in, Helm found some extra bounce and Zaib feathered an edge through to Joe Cracknell.
Dom Leach tarried briefly, edging a couple of fours to third before Cornwell bowled him around his legs.
Still the defiance continued with Ben Sanderson on a pair from the first innings battling for over an hour for his 12 and guiding Northamptonshire to the sanctuary of tea.
With the new ball imminent, Geddes was introduced to speed up its arrival and promptly found the edge of Sanderson’s bat with his third ball, Higgins taking a smart catch at slip.
Higgins took the ripe cherry in hand to remove Guthrie, before an entertaining last-wicket stand.
Keogh deep into his fifth hour at the crease, all of them in pain unfurled a shot or two, twice clipping Helm to the square leg fence before driving Cornwell through mid-wicket to reach a thoroughly deserved half-century.
Chahal, on a king pair played a glorious off-drive and a few other less conventional shots to reach 20, but Cornwell rearranged his stumps to clinch victory with 25 overs left.
DAY THREE
Ryan Higgins moved to the top of Middlesex’s wicket-taking chart for the season as his side closed in on a Rothesay County Championship victory over Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Higgins finished with four for 51, with Noah Cornwell taking three for 48 as the visitors were made to follow on 364 behind – and the medium-pacer then grabbed two quick top-order wickets second time around to further improve his season’s tally to 32.
Northamptonshire stumbled to 64 for three at stumps and their plight would have been deeper but for rain stoppages and Saif Zaib’s first-innings 82, which made him the county’s first player to register 1,000 first-class runs in a season since Ben Duckett in 2016.
Zaib was almost the fastest to that landmark across the Championship circuit, but the 27-year-old narrowly missed out to Surrey’s Dom Sibley, who got there just 15 minutes earlier at Scarborough.
Middlesex rotated their seam quartet when the visitors resumed on 126 for four, but their spin options were limited after Zafar Gohar, tumbling to deal with George Bartlett’s cover drive, landed awkwardly on his shoulder and had to leave the field.
Bartlett, having steered Tom Helm neatly through gully for four, repeated the stroke later in the over and picked out the fielder this time, but Zaib continued to progress steadily as he built a partnership with Rob Keogh.
Keogh, who had injured a finger while fielding on day one, did well to withstand a couple of Helm deliveries that rose sharply down the slope and helped Zaib to add 55 before Cornwell had him caught down the leg side.
The left-hander went on to pass 50 for the ninth time in this season’s Championship, ushering Northamptonshire’s total beyond 200 before rain arrived to send the players off for an early lunch.
Dom Leech provided spirited support, finding the boundary four times in his knock of 22 while Zaib capitalised on successive short balls from Leus du Plooy, pulling the slow left-armer for six and four.
Higgins broke the seventh-wicket stand of 64 with two dismissals in as many deliveries, with Leech caught top-edging a hook before Ben Sanderson was lbw without scoring to leave the visitors eight down.
A more persistent spell of rain held up play for the next hour and a half – but it took just three balls for Cornwell to wrap up Northamptonshire’s first innings, knocking out Zaib’s off stump with one that seamed back before cleaning up Yuzvendra Chahal with a yorker.
After another weather-induced delay, Higgins reclaimed centre stage, winning what looked like a borderline lbw decision against Ricardo Vasconcelos and castling Aadi Sharma next ball to leave the visitors reeling at 10 for two.
James Sales began redressing the balance with a series of positive shots in his knock of 26, but he attempted one too many and lost his middle stump to Toby Roland-Jones.
Stand-in skipper Lewis McManus remained defiant, punching Helm off the back foot to the fence to reach 21 not out before the light deteriorated sufficiently for the umpires to bring play to a close.
DAY TWO
Kane Williamson and Leus Du Plooy scored centuries as records wanted and unwanted were set on day 2 of Middlesex’s Rothesay County Championship clash with Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Former New Zealand Test skipper Williamson’s 114 came on his Championship debut for the Seaxes, while Du Plooy’s unbeaten 105 was his first in four-day cricket this season.
Williamson and Max Holden (151) took their mammoth 2nd wicket stand to 239 so eclipsing the 222 of Sydney Brown and Bill Edrich at Lord’s in 1949 and with Joe Cracknell adding a blistering 73 Middlesex totaled 625-8 their highest ever score against the Steelbacks.
Saif Zaib took 3-70 amid the run fest, but fellow spinner Yuzvendra Chahal returned 0-175 the worst return by a Northamptonshire bowler without taking a wicket in Championship history – all on his 35th birthday.
Needing 476 to avoid the follow-on, Northamptonshire reached 54 without loss before stumbling to 126-4 by the close, Lewis McManus top scoring with 39, Ryan Higgins taking 2-17.
Williamson moved smoothly from his overnight 88 not out to a century completed with two runs into the leg-side. Day one centurion Holden looked a little scratchy before two boundaries took him past 150. However, no sooner had he reached the landmark when Ben Sanderson trapped him lbw on the back foot.
As so often with huge stands both protagonists fell in quick succession, Williamson pinned in front by Liam Guthrie in the next over.
Despite the double strike the hosts hardly missed a beat, Higgins and Du Plooy sharing a stand of 67 in only 13 overs. Higgins drove the ball crisply to make 35 before Zaib struck twice in two balls, first removing the all-rounder leg-before and then trimming Ben Geddes’ off-bail.
Any Northamptonshire hopes of getting the hosts for under 500 were quashed either side of lunch with Cracknell, who made 100 in the reverse fixture a month ago playing a gem of a knock.
The wicketkeeper/batter, in the wilderness until the recent arrival of Dane Vilas, twice cleared the ropes and cut and swept with authority, playing the dominant hand in a stand of 124 with skipper Du Plooy. He eventually fell hooking one from Dominic Leach to Guthrie at long leg and when Zafar Gohar and Toby Roland-Jones fell cheaply there were fears Du Plooy would run out of partners before reaching three figures.
Du Plooy, who’d earlier thrashed a full toss from Chahal back over the bowler’s head for six, looked unperturbed, driving stylishly and stroking the ball into the gaps. His 10th four brought him to 100 in the shadows of tea.
Tom Helm provided great support with two huge sixes in a sprightly cameo, allowing the hosts to declare at the interval.
Northamptonshire began brightly, McManus unfurling a flurry of boundaries, Middlesex’s left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell on the receiving end of the flack.
He and Ricardo Vasconcelos rattled up a 50-stand, but the left-hander played a little skittishly before edging Higgins to Du Plooy at slip, who clung on at the second attempt.
Aadi Sharma was dropped on nought by Holden at long leg to deny Higgins a second wicket, but his response was to trap McManus lbw with his next delivery.
Gohar soon found the edge of James Sales’ bat, and though Sharma threatened to make the most of his reprieve with some wristy cuts and fluent drives he too fell to Roland-Jones in the death throes of the day.
DAY ONE
Middlesex’s Max Holden plundered an unbeaten century as he and New Zealand star Kane Williamson piled up runs on the opening day of their Rothesay County Championship clash against Northamptonshire.
Holden, opening to accommodate Williamson’s red-ball debut for the county at number three, batted right through the day for 137, his third ton of the season, with the pair adding an uninterrupted 197 to reach 319 for one at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Sam Robson (57) shared a stand of 122 with Holden before Williamson – sampling his first taste of Championship cricket since he featured for Yorkshire in 2018 – weighed in with an unbeaten 88.
It was a testing day for Northamptonshire, with Ben Sanderson their only successful bowler after they inserted the hosts in overcast conditions, while Rob Keogh sustained a serious-looking finger injury attempting to catch Williamson’s ferocious drive.
With Northamptonshire skipper Luke Procter absent for personal reasons, Lewis McManus took the reins for the first time in red-ball cricket and fulfilled his first duty by winning the toss.
However, his bowlers went through the morning session wicketless, despite a tricky opening spell by Sanderson – with Holden taking his time to settle, facing 20 deliveries before he got off the mark with a single.
First change Dom Leech struggled for consistency and Robson took advantage to steer him for successive fours as Middlesex picked up the pace, with Holden also unfurling a couple of classy straight drives to the boundary.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal entered the attack as early as the 15th over, extracting turn as he began with two maidens, but Holden danced down the wicket to take him on, driving and sweeping with confidence.
Having reached lunch with 90 on the board, the Middlesex pair advanced their partnership into three figures and Robson won the race to his half-century, pulling Liam Guthrie for two boundaries in an over.
But the opener departed in the next, caught behind leg-glancing Sanderson and that slowed the batting side’s progress, although Williamson opened his account with a sweetly-driven cover boundary off Liam Guthrie.
Holden moved on to 50 with a swiped hook that flew to the rope, but soon afterwards the left-hander survived a sharp chance to short leg off Chahal – now operating in an all-spin attack alongside Keogh.
Displaying exquisite timing and placement, especially on the off side, Williamson mastered the bowling and progressed to his half-century just three balls ahead of Holden’s hundred, courtesy of a back-foot punch for four off Chahal.
The Indian spinner returned for another spell earlier than expected after tea, with Keogh forced from the field after making a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to catch Williamson’s rocket drive off his own bowling.
Holden pummelled Leech for another four to lift the partnership beyond 150 and, following the last of the day’s three brief rain stoppages, he and Williamson resumed the Middlesex offensive.
Williamson cut Saif Zaib to the fence and then lifted his next ball effortlessly over the top for six but, with the new ball due and the light continuing to worsen, the umpires called a halt to proceedings.
Middlesex Men
Northamptonshire Men
