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LEICESTERSHIRE V MIDDLESEX | MATCH REPORT

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.

DAY TWO

Middlesex are facing a first defeat of the season in the Vitality County Championship after Leicestershire batted themselves into a commanding position on day two at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

Lewis Goldsworthy (75) and Ben Green (45 not out), who are both at Grace Road on loan from Somerset to boost a depleted squad, made their presence count as Leicestershire reached 311 for eight in their second innings before rain forced an early end to play, with 37 overs lost.

Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones bowled superbly to finish with five for 76, but after being bowled out for 86 to concede a first-innings lead of 93 on a 21-wicket opening day, his side are 404 runs behind.

One down for 40 overnight, Leicestershire were 63 for four within the first 10 overs, which suggested another bowler-friendly day lay ahead.

But Goldsworthy and Harry Swindells added 101 for the fifth wicket, and with batting proving a little less hazardous Louis Kimber and Ben Cox put on 63 for the seventh, while Green’s unbroken partnership with Ben Mike stands at 71 going into day three.

During that initial flurry of wickets, Ryan Higgins brought his first ball back sharply from outside off stump to bowl Rishi Patel between bat and pad.

The uneven bounce in the pitch was then illustrated perfectly as Roland-Jones had nightwatchman Scott Currie leg before to one that shot through at ankle height before dismissing Lewis Hill with one that reared up off a good length, the ball striking the Leicestershire captain a painful blow on the hand before looping gently to second slip Leus Du Plooy, who had dropped him in the previous over.

Middlesex, 93 behind on first innings after being shot out for 86 on a chaotic opening day, sensed an opportunity to fight their way back into the contest but were not able to make another breakthrough until six overs after lunch when Swindells, who had functioned as the junior partner in what felt like the decisive stand of the match, edged behind off Henry Brookes.

One wicket then brought a second as Goldsworthy, his concentration disturbed by the day’s first stoppage for rain, departed four balls later, caught at slip off as he shaped to cut Roland-Jones.

Goldsworthy, on loan at Grace Road primarily for his left-arm spin in the T20 Blast, had been one of the few batters in the match to have the measure of the pitch, picking up the majority of his 13 boundaries square on the legside or else driven through extra cover.

Much as his demise was a blow for Leicestershire, it was not the end of Middlesex’s suffering as Kimber, confidence sky high after his extraordinary performance at Hove last week and undiminished by a first-innings duck here, came in to hammer 38 off 21 balls, including four consecutive sixes off Brookes, one of them out of the ground on the Milligan Road side.

Brookes had his revenge, bowling Kimber with a slow yorker, and Roland-Jones completed his 27th career five-for when he pinned Cox in front only for Green and Mike to stretch Leicestershire’s advantage beyond 400.

Although the pitch is offering less help to the bowlers than was the case on Sunday, it is difficult to envisage the match ending in a draw, barring a substantial loss of time to rain, which means Middlesex will need to make one of the highest-fourth innings scores in their history to win the match.

DAY ONE

Career-best bowling from Ben Mike (five for 22) and loan signing Ben Green (four for 28) enabled Leicestershire to dismiss Middlesex for 86 as the opening day of their Vitality County Championship match saw 21 wickets fall in bowler-friendly conditions.

Earlier, Ryan Higgins (four for 35) and Toby Roland-Jones (four for 63) led the way for Middlesex as Leicestershire were bowled out for 179. Lewis Goldsworthy (41) and Lewis Hill (36) shared a 65-run partnership for the third wicket before a collapse from 82 for two to 126 for eight was rescued by fast bowler Scott Currie’s unbeaten 34.

Leicestershire had extended their lead to 133 by reaching the close at 40 for one after Sol Budinger, caught off a top-edged pull, was out for the second time in the day.

Green, the 26-year-old all-rounder, is Somerset’s leading wicket-taker in the Blast this season but has not figured in their red-ball side. He played three Championship matches for Leicestershire earlier in the season and is back at Grace Road as emergency cover for the latest round with seven senior members of the Foxes’ first-team squad either injured or unavailable.

Leicestershire had surprised some onlookers by opting to bat first, yet on a green pitch and with heavy cloud cover, it was hardly a surprise that the Middlesex seam attack should find plenty of encouragement.

They removed both Leicestershire openers within the first seven overs. A rare failure from Rishi Patel, leg before half-forward to Roland-Jones for his first single-figure score of the season, preceded the departure of Budinger, who marked his first appearance of the season with two boundaries before edging Higgins to give Leus Du Plooy the first of three catches at second slip.

Middlesex could not immediately press home their advantage, with Henry Brookes and Ethan Bamber struggling to bowl the right lines at first. As they added 65 over the course of the next hour or so, it might have appeared that Goldsworthy and Hill were getting the upper hand.

But then Bamber found some late swing from a ball that squared up Hill to have the Leicestershire skipper caught at first slip. Harry Swindells, like Budinger making his seasonal debut, chopped on to Higgins two overs before lunch, leaving the home side 94 for four.

Worse was to follow at the start of the afternoon, four more wickets tumbling in the first seven overs of the middle session as more edges flew to hand. Higgins had Goldsworthy snaffled by Du Plooy before Roland-Jones struck three times in as many overs.

Louis Kimber followed his epic, record-breaking 243 against Sussex last week with a 15-ball duck, caught at backward point off a leading edge, before Green edged to second slip and Ben Cox feathered one behind.

Middlesex were batting 12 overs before tea but were three down by the interval and 53 for six half an hour after the resumption, which made the 53 runs Leicestershire were able to add for their last two wickets look potentially invaluable.

Higgins dismissed Mike leg before and Brookes had Matt Salisbury caught at third slip, but Currie’s six boundaries gave their bowlers something to work with.

Indeed, after Mike found the edge to have Mark Stoneman caught at second slip in his first over and produced an inswinger missed by Sam Robson, Green’s spell at the pavilion end soon had Middlesex in trouble.

Max Holden was given out caught behind off an inside edge from the Devonian’s second ball before his first two overs after the tea interval included a near-unplayable delivery to bowl Higgins and one that took the edge of Josh De Caires’s bat to give Currie a catch at third slip.

An airy drive saw Jack Davies caught behind to give Green his fourth at 70 for seven before Mike returned with three wickets in five overs, bowling Luke Hollman with a full delivery, trapping Roland-Jones leg before with a full toss, notching his second career five-for as Du Plooy fell for 28, bowled between bat and pad.

Matt Salisbury completed the rout by bowling Bamber before the home side, batting positively, added 40 in nine overs with Budinger, who hit a six and two fours in his 18, the one casualty.