Match report by Jon Batham and Ben Kosky, ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
DAY THREE
Tom Helm captured four wickets for the second time in the match as Middlesex’s seamers steamrollered Lancashire for 136 to seal a Rothesay County Championship victory inside three days.
Helm finished with four for 36, while fellow seamers Toby Roland-Jones, Naavya Sharma and Ryan Higgins weighed in with two wickets apiece to trigger Lancashire’s collapse from 97 for three after they were set a stiff victory target of 297 at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Earlier, Middlesex endured a similar slump, losing seven wickets for just 40 as they stumbled to 200 all out in their second innings, with Roland-Jones contributing a valuable knock of 37 to stretch his side’s overall advantage.
Lancashire’s George Balderson claimed his second five-wicket haul of the summer and Keaton Jennings and Matty Hurst shared an opening stand of 57 to give the Red Rose renewed hope – but it was not enough to stave off their fourth defeat in five games.
After a morning shower had delayed play by an hour, Balderson and James Anderson (three for 56) capitalised on the combination of a deteriorating surface and heavy cloud to rattle through seven wickets inside the first 12 overs.
Anderson’s fourth ball of the morning had Ben Geddes leg before, while Max Holden – who had galloped to his half-century late the previous day – added only a single to that 50 before steering the Lancashire captain to second slip.
Harry Duke had the temerity to dispatch Anderson for four boundaries in an over, but he and Leus du Plooy were both unseated by Balderson deliveries that jagged and stayed low, while Higgins became Anderson’s third victim.
Balderson finished with five for 54 after removing Zafar Gohar and Helm with successive balls, but Lancashire’s hopes of polishing off the innings quickly were thwarted as last man Sharma stuck around for the next 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, Roland-Jones embarked on a successful policy of hitting boundaries, including an imposing straight six off Balderson, and ensuring he retained the strike to increase the Middlesex total by another 40.
Ben Walkden eventually had Roland-Jones caught behind with the lead just shy of 300 and, having seen out three overs before lunch, Jennings and Hurst settled into the groove as they chipped away at the target.
Sharma’s first over cost 13 – but his next should have brought the wicket of Hurst, who was put down in the slips and Jennings, slicing at Higgins, was afforded a similar let-off soon afterwards as the visitors posted an opening stand above 50 for the first time this season.
However, Higgins eventually got his man, with Jennings looping a bat-pad catch to short leg and Sharma struck twice in as many deliveries, with Harry Singh taken at second slip before Helm dived low to remove Marcus Harris.
Middlesex handed the ball to Gohar for a solitary over after tea – the only instance of spin being employed in the match – but that was purely a means of allowing Roland-Jones to switch ends, a move that paid off as he trapped Rocky Flintoff in front.
Meanwhile, Helm resumed operating downhill from the Benham End, unleashing a ball that reared up at Hurst, who could only fend it to slip to end his dogged resistance of almost two and a half hours.
Arav Shetty followed two balls later, leg before, and Helm then castled Balderson before Tom Bailey, opting to go down all guns blazing, fell to Roland-Jones’ tumbling catch at mid-off.
It was Roland-Jones who finished off proceedings with another spectacular catch, running back to pluck out Noman Ali’s drive off Higgins and seal Middlesex’s victory.
DAY TWO
A day of tumbling wickets in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash between Middlesex and Lancashire at Merchant Taylors’ School provided a glance back to England’s past and a glimpse into it’s possible future.
Jimmy Anderson (3-40), who almost didn’t take to the field because of ongoing struggles with a calf problem provided an exhibition of classic seam bowling, ably supported by Ben Walkden and George Balderson who took three wickets apiece to bowl the hosts out on the stroke of lunch for 247, Ryan Higgins making 44.
Middlesex though hit back to take charge, Tom Helm led the way with 4-40, while Ryan Higgins returned 3-39 and Naavya Sharma, already an England Lion, suggested he may one day be the man to assume Anderson’s mantle with 3-39 as the beleaguered Lancashire batters were hustled out for 151, Matty Hurst leading the resistance with 46.
Middlesex stretched that lead to 212 by the close for the loss of both openers, Max Holden, who had been on a pair reaching a thrilling 50 at more than a run a ball in the final over of the day.
Anderson spent more than an hour bowling down the hill from the Benham End with the ball on the proverbial string, constantly leaving batters wafting at fresh air in a bid to get wood on willow.
Ironically, his one reward came from a ball which misbehaved, scuttling along the floor and under the bast of Luke Hollman, who failed to add to his overnight 54.
The pressure Anderson built at one end brought wickets at the other as Middlesex’s middle-order crumbled. Ben Geddes promised much before being pinned lbw to the first ball of Balderson’s spell before Walkden impressively plucked out the respective middle stumps of Harry Duke and Zafar Gohar in the pace of three balls.
Higgins, dropped at slip on six, survived the sticky start to provide the main resistance, driving strongly and ramping on from Walkden over the head of keeper Hurst.
Toby Roland-Jones also launched three fours back over the bowler’s head and Helm clouted the innings’ only six to lend late belligerent support, but once again Middlesex fell short of a batting point.
Helm though soon had the visitors in trouble, pinning Keaton Jennings leg before for one before producing a brute of a ball which bounced from just short of a length and was edged behind by Harry Singh.
Marcus Harris became the fifth lbw victim of the game and when Sharma plucked out Rocky Flintoff’s off-stump, the Red Rose county were wilting at 35-4.
Hurst, not regarded as a natural opener proved obdurate, surviving an early shout for a catch behind and a bang on the grill from a Helm short ball to lead an attempted rebuild.
Arav Shetty kept company with him for a while, hitting Helm over long leg into the beer tent before the bowler took revenge and had him caught behind.
Walkden too played nicely, adding to his earlier wickets with a boundary sprinkled 28, but he was undone by lateral movement from Sharma, who then proved the undoing of Hurst too, castling him with another beauty.
Balderson did his best to shepherd the tail but Helm and Higgins cleaned up to leave the hosts with a first-innings lead of 96.
Robson’s poor run continued when Tom Bailey uprooted his off stump, while Hollman’s were spreadeagled by Balderson as Middlesex began again, but Holden’s explosive counter-attack had the hosts well in charge by the close.
DAY ONE
Luke Hollman rained on Sir Jimmy Anderson’s parade as Middlesex reached 139-3 on a murky, rain-reduced opening day of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash between Middlesex and Lancashire at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Anderson returned from a two month absence with a calf problem to lead a Red Rose County attempting to avoid one of the worst County Championship finishes in its history.
Displaying all the craft of his 44 years, Anderson took two early wickets on route to 2-30 on a day where only 39 overs were bowled due to rain and bad light.
However, Hollman, pressed into service as an opener for the second match in succession, passed 50 for the 10th time in his first-class career, finishing on 54 not out to lead Middlesex to calmer waters before the weather closed in.
The toss made at 10:45am was won by Middlesex who chose to bat, but morning rain meant they didn’t make it to the crease until 2:10pm.
Under gloomy skies Hollman had the temerity to twice on-drive Anderson for four, but it didn’t take Sir Jimmy long to make the ball talk. Sam Robson survived one strangled appeal after being wrapped on the pad, but Anderson had his number next ball as the former England opener inside-edged one into his off-stump.
Now in the groove Anderson struck again in his next over, producing a beauty which jagged back off the seam between bat and pad to bowl Max Holden for a duck.
Hollman and skipper Leus du Plooy managed to negotiate the rest of the 44-year-old’s six over spell, keeping the scoreboard moving by trading almost exclusively in boundaries. The former punched one square off the back foot, while du Plooy caressed a trio of fours through the covers before swatting a short one from Ben Walkden dismissively over midwicket.
The pair rattled up a stand of 72 in good time before, with tea imminent, du Plooy swished at a full ball from George Balderson and was caught at slip.
Hollman responded with three consecutive cover boundaries before the interval, and despite Anderson being revived by a tea-time cuppa, he reached his 50 shortly after the resumption, complete with 11 fours.
With Ben Geddes driving fluently at the other end, particularly through the cover region, Anderson’s post- tea spell was repelled and the 50 partnership was in sight when bad light intervened for a final time.
Middlesex Men
Lancashire Men
