Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
DAY FOUR
Toby Roland-Jones claimed four wickets to round off Middlesex’s Rothesay County Championship campaign in winning fashion as they ground down Gloucestershire on the final day at Lord’s.
The 37-year-old seamer finished with four for 57, ending the campaign as Division Two’s second highest wicket-taker behind Derbyshire’s Luis Reece to dismiss the visitors for 281 in their second innings, despite Ollie Price’s knock of 61.
Former Gloucestershire duo Zafar Gohar and Ryan Higgins backed up Roland-Jones with three and two wickets apiece as the Seaxes sealed an innings victory with 22 overs unused.
The result meant Middlesex finished fourth in the final table, 11 points short of the promotion places, with Gloucestershire in sixth.
Gloucestershire began the final day with nine wickets standing and rarely looked in danger of losing any more during the opening hour and a half where the ball swung, but not enough to cause genuine problems for Price and Joe Phillips.
Having dispatched Roland-Jones for two early boundaries and survived Noah Cornwell’s appeal for a catch down the leg-side, Price settled into the groove, advancing to his half-century from 91 balls.
It was teenage seamer Sebastian Morgan who eventually made the breakthrough, sending down three tight overs before switching to the Pavilion End and gaining immediate reward as he tempted Phillips to drive to gully.
Morgan might also have removed Miles Hammond, who edged just short of second slip, but the left-hander quickly gained rhythm with a series of fours as he and Price guided their side through to lunch.
However, Price’s return to the crease after the interval lasted one ball – a Roland-Jones delivery that kept low, nipped back and clattered into his off stump and, when James Bracey glanced Higgins behind without scoring, Gloucestershire were suddenly on the back foot again.
Having escaped when Morgan, leaping to his right at gully, could not cling onto a difficult chance, Hammond eventually perished to a similar stroke off Higgins to leave the visitors five down.
Graeme van Buuren, having taken 17 balls to get off the mark, sprang to life with a trio of boundaries off Roland-Jones and pounced on anything wide outside off stump as he and Jack Taylor added 49.
Gohar came on to dismiss his former county captain for 46, with Ben Geddes plunging forward at short leg to take a bat-pad catch, but the Taylor brothers steered their side into the final session.
Middlesex’s hopes were lifted again by the new ball, which brought Roland-Jones the wickets of Matt Taylor – and then his elder brother, one short of his half-century – both snapped up at second slip.
With Ajeet Singh Dale falling to Gohar, there was still time for Marchant de Lange to launch a brief, defiant counter-attack against the spinner, hitting 14 from three deliveries before he was caught behind.
DAY THREE
Bad light held up Middlesex’s victory charge after they forced Gloucestershire to follow-on on the penultimate day of the Rothesay County Championship Division 2 season at Lord’s.
Zafar Gohar returned five for 53, his best figures in a Middlesex shirt, and there was a career-best four for 58 for Noah Cornwell as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 286 despite 60 from skipper James Bracewell which took him past 1000 first-class runs for the season.
Forced to follow on 348 behind the visitors lost Ben Charlesworth in reaching 39-1 second time around before the light closed in with 31 overs left un-bowled.
Gloucestershire began the day 488 in arrears under leaden grey skies, meaning there was seam movement for opening bowlers Toby Roland-Jones and Ryan Higgins.
Bracey made light of the conditions punishing any erring in line, in contrast to Ollie Price, who was scratchy, taking 45 minutes to add a single to his overnight score of 11. That was as far as he got, Cornwell’s introduction bringing his downfall via an edge to gully.
Graeme Van Buuren, who signed a new contract earlier this week to remain at Gloucestershire until 2027 got underway with a cracking cover drive, bettered only by the one which took Bracey to 50, the wicketkeeper-batter raising his seasonal landmark in the process.
Van Buuren though didn’t stay long, bowled trying to cut one too close to him which cannoned off the inside edge, while Cornwell’s third wicket came courtesy of a poor umpiring decision, Jack Taylor adjudged caught behind, despite a chasm between bat and ball.
Bracey batted untroubled through until lunch but fell soon after the resumption as Gohar, switched to the Nursery End, found a fraction of turn to force a thin edge through to wicketkeeper Joe Cracknell.
Ajeet Singh Dale came and went before Marchant de Lange and Matt Taylor entertained with a brisk stand of 44 for the ninth wicket, the former clubbing one from leg-spinner Luke Hollman over the ropes and twice hitting Gohar back over his head.
Gohar gained revenge by having him stumped to complete a five-fer, leading to Daz Ahmed, hampered by a side strain while bowling coming in with a runner to play his maiden first class innings. Cleary in considerable pain he batted out two overs from Gohar before Matt Taylor hooked Cornwell down the throat of long leg to end the innings.
Middlesex enforced the follow-on and soon removed Charlesworth caught behind off Roland-Jones but Joe Phillips and Ollie Price, the latter looking more at ease than he had earlier in the day, batted through until tea without further mishap.
Only one further over was possible before the murky light sent the players off, giving Gloucestershire hope of batting out a draw on the final day.
DAY TWO
Teenager Sebastian Morgan narrowly missed out on a maiden career hundred as Middlesex racked up the joint fifth-highest total in their history against Gloucestershire at Lord’s.
Morgan, who turned 18 last month and is making his third first-class appearance, was out for 97 after sharing a partnership of 179 with his captain Leus du Plooy – a county record for the eighth wicket against Gloucestershire – to help Middlesex amass 634 for nine declared.
Du Plooy also posted his best first-class score, an unbeaten 263, to put the visitors firmly under pressure in their final Rothesay County Championship game of the season, despite Ajeet Singh Dale’s return of five for 108.
Gloucestershire openers Ben Charlesworth (63) and Joe Phillips (36) responded with a century stand before three wickets fell for eight runs, two of them to spinner Zafar Gohar against his former team.
Singh Dale, stuck on four wickets since the previous afternoon in his farewell game for Gloucestershire, lost no more time in completing a five-for, with Joe Cracknell taken low at slip for 64 in the seamer’s first over of the morning.
He might have claimed a sixth victim soon afterwards when former team-mate Gohar swished outside off stump, but this time slip fielder Ollie Price could not cling onto the chance.
It was spinner Graeme van Buuren who eventually removed Gohar, dragging on from a long way outside off stump and his dismissal seemed to dispel any Middlesex thoughts of making a dart for a fifth batting bonus point.
Instead, Du Plooy sidled towards 200 while Morgan kept the scoreboard ticking along with an early brace of sweetly-struck fours off Marchant de Lange and went on to dominate the partnership.
Du Plooy eventually emerged from his shell, charging down the track to drive Price over the top for four to seal his double ton from 294 balls, while Morgan’s half-century arrived soon afterwards courtesy of a leg-side clip to the fence off Singh Dale.
Despite a spell of playing and missing to Matt Taylor just after lunch – and a return chance on 72 that De Lange was unable to grab – the teenager continued to flourish, expanding his repertoire to include a slog sweep and reverse sweep.
Both were productive against Gloucestershire’s spinners, with a six off Jack Taylor ushering the total past the 600 mark shortly after identical tactics by Du Plooy had lifted his personal score beyond 250.
But Morgan’s decision to attempt another reverse sweep against Price proved his undoing as he overbalanced while James Bracey took off the bails and, after a quickfire 19 by Toby Roland-Jones, the declaration soon followed.
That left Phillips and Charlesworth to navigate 10 overs until tea and they did so with little cause for concern, the left-hander looking strong off his pads as well as punching Roland-Jones for two cover boundaries.
Successive fours off Noah Cornwell took Charlesworth along to 50 at just under a run a ball and he continued on the offensive, using his feet and dispatching Gohar over the top twice in an over.
Phillips gained a life when Roland-Jones found the edge, only for Josh de Caires – diving across from slip – to shell the chance, but the seamer did achieve a breakthrough in his next over as Charlesworth tried to cut and Cracknell snared a tumbling catch behind the stumps.
Gohar then struck twice in quick succession, pinning Phillips lbw before a looping bat-pad catch accounted for Miles Hammond, but Price and Bracey guided Gloucestershire to the close with another 339 needed to save the follow-on.
DAY ONE
Middlesex skipper Leus du Plooy’s 24th first-class hundred gave the hosts the upper hand on the first day of the their final County Championship Division Two clash of the season with Gloucestershire at Lord’s.
The South African-born left-hander passed the landmark of the third time this season, remaining unbeaten with 171 in an innings sprinkled with 15 fours as Middlesex piled up 394-5.
Du Plooy shared stands of 127 with Luke Hollman (55), 121 with Ben Geddes (60), and an unbroken 112 with wicketkeeper Joe Cracknell, who had 63 by the close.
Ajeet Singh Dale kept the visitors in the contest with 4-88, including wickets with successive balls in the afternoon session, while Graeme Van Buuren bowled a frugal spell of spin to return 1-35 from 18 overs.
Despite the 10:30am start du Plooy chose to bat on winning the final toss of the campaign and the hosts made a quick start thanks to some wayward offerings from Gloucestershire’s new-ball attack.
It was a similarly innocuous delivery from Singh Dale which brought the breakthrough, a leg-stump half-volley which Sam Robson sent straight to square leg. If that was fortuitous, Singh Dale produced a useful fourth stump ball in his next over that Josh De Caires nicked through to wicketkeeper James Bracey.
It would be the last success for some time as the bowlers erred in line and length again and du Plooy and Hollman feasted accordingly. Three Hollman fours in one Matt Taylor over raised the 50, while du Plooy was quickly into stride, driving confidently in the mid-off/extra-cover arc. A back foot drive through cover from the skipper was the shot of the morning and he moved to his half-century from 56 balls shortly before lunch. The hundred partnership came up in the first over following the resumption and while Singh-Dale was finding hints of both swing and seam from the Nursery End, the pair carried the score to 161 relatively untroubled. It took a piece of brilliance from Bracey – who claimed a Gloucestershire record 11 victims against Middlesex in the corresponding fixture last season - to break the stand, grabbing a ball that was dying off the inside edge of Hollman’s bat, giving Singh-Dale a third wicket.
Higgins followed to his next ball, harshly adjudged lbw to one heading over the top, but Geddes joined his skipper in the middle as and the hosts quickly regained the upper hand.
Geddes, impressive in his first season in Middlesex colours, employed the pull shot to great effect, sending one short one from Singh Dale into the Grandstand, before a square drive took du Plooy to a chanceless century.
Van Buuren put the breaks on either side of tea and was rewarded with the breakthrough when Geddes was pinned in front.
Du Plooy however, had set his heart on a daddy hundred and while the boundaries briefly dried up he glided his way past 150.
Cracknell proved a valuable ally, clearing the ropes with a thunderous pull shot and unfurling some pleasing cover drives in becoming the fourth home batter to pass 50 in the late autumn sunshine.
Before the start of play there was a poignant minute’s silence in memory of beloved umpire Harold ‘Dickie Bird,’ who passed away on Monday aged 92.
Middlesex Men
Gloucestershire Men
