Match Centre

MIDDLESEX V NORTHAMPTONSHIRE | MATCH REPORT

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.

DAY FOUR

Toby Roland-Jones made it 11 wickets in the match as Middlesex beat Northamptonshire by 8 wickets at Merchant Taylors’ School to go back to second in the table.

The 36-year-old Middlesex skipper added to his 5-49 from the first innings with 6-58, making 37 in all for the campaign as Northamptonshire were dismissed soon after tea on the final day for 167, Luke Proctor top-scoring with 33.

This left Middlesex 111 to win in a minimum of 25 overs and Sam Robson’s second half-century of the match, made off 33 balls with 10 fours ensured they got there with some comfort.

Earlier in the day, Middlesex lost their last three wickets for 14 runs to be bowled out for 264 in their first innings, Leus Du Plooy making 71, Ben Sanderson taking 6-64.

After the loss of day three to rain, Middlesex resumed 43 ahead with a plan to make quick runs which quickly unravelled. Only 13 balls had been bowled and eight runs scored when Du Plooy was adjudged caught behind off Justin Broad. The batter dragged himself off clearly unhappy, replays suggesting he’d missed the ball. Roland-Jones fell lbw to the next ball from Sanderson as the tail were hustled out.

With their lead only 57, Middlesex needed quick wickets and Roland-Jones obliged, removing an out of sorts looking Ricardo Vasconcelos lbw for two.

Emilio Gay didn’t bat with the same assurance he’d shown on the opening day, frequently playing and missing before being pinned in front by Tom Helm with Northamptonshire still 20 in arrears.

Proctor survived a vociferous lbw shout from Roland-Jones to play really well either side of lunch, driving the ball crisply. However, just when it seemed he and George Bartlett had drawn the sting from the Middlesex attack, the latter slapped a wide one from Henry Brookes straight to point. Roland Jones trapped Proctor on the crease soon afterwards and followed that by castling Pritvhi Shaw who, hampered by a finger injury sustained when fielding, was batting at six.

When the skipper finally took his leave of the Lake End, Helm replaced him and struck immediately having Rob Keogh caught at slip by which time Northamptonshire had slipped to 104-6.

Lewis McManus looked key to Northamptonshire’s survival. The diminutive wicketkeeper had provided stoic resistance in the first innings and did so again here with Broad proving an able ally. The pair chewed up 81 balls, adding 38 precious runs in the process.

The resistance forced Roland-Jones to return at the opposite end and he snared McManus with the last ball before tea which spat off the surface, took the shoulder of the bat and flew to gully.

Roland-Jones 10-fer in the match moment came after the resumption when he pinned Dominic Leech in front, and he’d finished with six, grabbing the last wicket, that of Broad, caught behind for 30.

Despite the small target, Sanderson remained a thorn in Middlesex’s side, trapping Mark Stoneman lbw before rearranging Max Holden’s furniture to rejoin Roland-Jones at the head of the Division two wicket-taker’s list with 37 victims.

Runs though flowed freely from the other end, courtesy of Robson, who unfurled a series of expansive drives, proving especially belligerent against Yuzvendra Chahal as he moved swiftly to 50.

Du Plooy was badly dropped in the deep off the Indian spinner when on 14, before Middlesex coasted home, Robson finishing 64 not out.

DAY THREE

Middlesex and Northamptonshire were thwarted by the weather as the third day of their Vitality County Championship clash at Merchant Taylors’ School was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Persistent rain during the morning meant the covers remained in place and, although the prospects of play appeared to have improved around lunchtime, another heavy downpour drenched the outfield again.

With further rain forecast later in the day, umpires Hassan Adnan and Neil Pratt eventually called off play shortly after 2.30pm.

The washout makes a draw the most likely outcome, with Middlesex currently 250 for seven in their first innings, an advantage of 43 over their visitors.

DAY TWO

Half-centuries from Sam Robson and Leus du Plooy gave Middlesex the upper hand on the second day of their Vitality County Championship game against Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School.

Robson enhanced his impressive record at the Northwood venue, which includes four first-class centuries, by grinding out a vital 58 while Du Plooy hit an unbeaten 66 as the home side reached 250 for seven, a first-innings advantage of 43.

However, Ben Sanderson kept Northamptonshire right in contention with figures of five for 58, regaining his status as Division Two’s leading wicket-taker after being briefly displaced by Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones.

Northamptonshire were dismissed for 207, with Roland-Jones taking a season’s best of five for 49 – and the visitors’ hopes of restricting Middlesex to a lower total were not helped as Prithvi Shaw shelled a trio of slip catches.

Sanderson and Lewis McManus, who had hauled Northamptonshire out of difficulties the previous evening, did enough to usher the visitors beyond the key landmark of 200 as they extended their partnership to 83.

Sanderson unfurled a pair of classic drives to the boundary off Tom Helm and thoughts of a maiden first-class half-century must have entered the veteran seamer’s mind as he overtook McManus to reach 40.

However, those thoughts were dashed when Henry Brookes bowled Sanderson around his legs and, although debutant Dom Leech cracked a cover boundary to raise the visitors’ 200, Roland-Jones quickly wrapped up the innings by capturing their last two wickets in three balls.

In reply, Middlesex’s opening pair both survived close calls during the hour prior to lunch, although they made it to the interval unscathed on a surface with variable bounce and pace.

With just a single to his name, Robson edged a rising delivery from Justin Broad through the slips, while Mark Stoneman offered a tricky slip chance off the same bowler and Shaw, going low to his left, was unable to hang on.

Sanderson made the breakthrough soon after the resumption, getting the ball to swing and uprooting Stoneman’s off stump for 36, but Robson and Max Holden dug in for an afternoon of laborious progress.

Robson cut the seamers with authority to keep the scoreboard moving and passed 50 from 118 balls with a sweet cover drive for four off leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, whose change of ends then bore immediate fruit as he trapped Holden leg before.

Northamptonshire might have removed Robson as well in the next over, with Shaw – who had also put down Holden – fumbling another opportunity, but Sanderson made amends immediately after tea with two wickets in as many deliveries.

With Robson lbw to one that kept low and Stephen Eskinazi succumbing in identical fashion, Middlesex were suddenly wobbling at 129 for four but a bristling partnership of 72 between Du Plooy and Fernandes was exactly what they needed.

Leech eventually brought the stand to an end with his first Northamptonshire wicket, having Fernandes taken at second slip, but Du Plooy remained to nudge his side into the lead with a crisp off-driven boundary.

However, Sanderson returned with the new ball and promptly claimed two more wickets in quick succession, completing his third five-for of the summer before Roland-Jones launched a late flurry of boundary-hitting.

He took two fours from successive Sanderson deliveries and had just cracked Broad to the fence to earn Middlesex a batting bonus point when the deteriorating light brought play to a close.

DAY ONE

Toby Roland-Jones led the hunt for wickets as Middlesex had the better of a rain-affected opening day against Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School.

The Seaxes skipper, Middlesex’s leading red-ball wicket-taker this season in this his benefit year, made good on his decision to bowl first under murky skies, returning 3-34.

Tom Helm , who produced a fiery opening burst backed up his skipper with 2-41 as the visitors struggled to 167-7 in the 44.4 overs played.

Emilio Gay with 42 provided the chief resistance for Northamptonshire, who gave a debut to seamer Dominic Leech, who joined on loan this week from Yorkshire ahead of starting a three-year contract at Wantage Road next season.

Morning rain meant no play before lunch and it was 1:25pm before Middlesex’s bowlers got the chance to profit from winning the toss.

Indian Test opener Pritvhi Shaw made a positive start against some friendly offerings from Ethan Bamber and Roland-Jones. Two leg-side half-volleys were suitably despatched while two glorious drives fizzed through the covers. An injudicious attempted pull off Roland-Jones ended his fun, the ball skied to Mark Stoneman at point.

Tom Helm was next to strike. The quick had played drinks waiter since appearing for Birmingham Phoenix in the opening game of the Hundred last month, but showed no rustiness, luring Ricardo Vasconcelos into a pull shot which ballooned to Roland-Jones at wide mid-on.

The 30-year-old then produced the sort of ball pacemen dream off, bringing one back from outside off-stump to bowl Northamptonshire skipper Luke Proctor the stump careering back almost to wicketkeeper Jack Davies.

George Bartlett gave Sam Robson the first of three slip catches and while Rob Keogh briefly launched a counter-offensive, twice striking successive boundaries, he also found the hands of the former England opener with an edge off Henry Brookes.

Gay had watched all the carnage from the other end. The opener, who departs for Durham at the end of the season, and who made a career-best 261 against the Seaxes at Wantage Road earlier in the campaign, batted with greater control than his teammates, using his height to defend off the back foot, while getting a good stride in when driving through the extra cover region.

It was going to take a good ball to dislodge him and Roland-Jones found a brute on the stroke of tea which lifted from around fourth stump causing Gay to edge to slip, Robson again the catcher.

Roland-Jones removed Justin Broad for an eight-ball duck soon after the resumption but Lewis McManus and Ben Sanderson stopped the bleeding before rain drove the players from the field.

They returned 90 minutes later and 14 deliveries proved enough for the batters to raise a valuable 50-partnership before bad light intervened.