Day 1 Updates: Middlesex vs Lancashire

Alviro Petersen’s 105 not out put Lancashire into a commanding position at 298 for 3 on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship Division One game against Middlesex at Lord’s.

 

Lancashire were also indebted to Haseeb Hameed, the 19-year-old opener who followed up making a maiden first-class century against Warwickshire last week by scoring 89 in almost five hours at the crease. He and Petersen added 97 for the third wicket before Hameed edged Toby Roland-Jones to first slip where Sam Robson clung on at the second attempt.

 

Hameed has made an excellent impression at the top of Lancashire’s order this season with 469 championship runs at an average of 39, and here he was initially joined by Luke Procter in a second wicket stand of 65 in 23 overs.

 

Procter contributed a busy 45 from 61 balls, with seven fours, before being well held low down by Ollie Rayner at second slip off Tim Murtagh.

 

Petersen, however, then came in to help Hameed, who hit 103 against Warwickshire at Old Trafford in this previous championship innings, ensure first day honours went Lancashire’s way. When Hameed was dismissed, Steven Croft scored an unbeaten 34 as he and Petersen put on a further unbroken 100 for the fourth wicket.

 

It is the 41^st hundred of Petersen’s first-class career and the 35-year-old South African, who played 35 Tests, reached it with a short-armed jab towards square leg off James Fuller. He had faced 159 balls, hitting four fours and a six. Two of those boundaries took him to 82 and came from successive balls by off spinner Rayner – the first hit to wide mid wicket for four and the second swung clean over the ropes.

 

Lancashire, who won a toss and opted to bat first despite initial cloud covering, lost Tom Smith for 17 when he was leg-before to James Franklin’s left-arm seamers in the 15^th over. Smith played defensively forward but was beaten by a ball angled into his pads.

 

That left Lancashire 36 for one, but Procter took the game to the bowlers from the moment he arrived at the crease and – when the sun came out – batting began to look far more comfortable.

 

Hameed, well-organised and patient, took three hours and 137 balls to reach his fifty, even though he had included a hooked six off Roland-Jones and six fours besides. He did bat more fluently once he had completed his half-century and was only seriously discomfited when Roland-Jones made one bounce steeply at him on 85, the ball catching the shoulder of the bat as Hameed tried to fend it off and flying away over the slips for the right-hander’s 12^th four.

 

Three balls later, he was gone as Roland-Jones finished off a hostile over by finding the edge of Hameed’s bat. It proved to be the last success of a tough day for Middlesex’s bowlers, however, as Petersen and Croft flourished and also kept out a new ball taken at 259 for 3.

 

Croft, on 17, was fortunate to survive when he skied an attempted big hit at Rayner to extra cover where Paul Stirling steadied himself under the ball but still dropped it. Earlier, as the players left the field for lunch, Stirling had been awarded his county cap.

Haseed Hameed followed up his maiden first-class hundred of last week by hitting 80 not out as Lancashire reached tea at 176 for 2 on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship Division One game against Middlesex at Lord’s.

Hameed, the 19-year-old opener who has made an excellent impression at the top of Lancashire’s order this season with almost 500 championship runs, was joined by Luke Procter in a second wicket stand of 65 in 23 overs.

Procter contributed a busy 45 from 61 balls, with seven fours, before being well held low down by Ollie Rayner at second slip off Toby Roland-Jones.

Alviro Petersen, however, then came in to help Hameed, who hit 103 against Warwickshire at Old Trafford in this previous championship innings, to add a further unbroken 75 in 26 overs for the third wicket and, at the interval, was 30 not out.

Lancashire, who won a toss and opted to bat first despite initial cloud covering, lost Tom Smith for 17 when he was leg-before to James Franklin’s left-arm seamers in the 15^th over. Smith played defensively forward but was beaten by a ball angled into his pads.

That left Lancashire 36 for one, but Procter took the game to the bowlers from the moment he arrived at the crease and – as the sun came out – batting began to look far more comfortable.

Earlier, as the players left the field for lunch, Middlesex’s Paul Stirling was awarded his county cap.