Match report provided by ECB Reporters Network.
DAY FOUR
Middlesex and Sussex maintained their status as Vitality County Championship Division Two promotion front-runners as their match at Lord’s petered out into a draw.
It looked inevitable that the spoils would be shared once the home side had avoided the follow-on early on the final day and they went on to post 613 for nine declared in reply to Sussex’s total of 554 for nine.
Nathan Fernandes missed out on a century by nine runs, while Jack Davies struck a career-best 68 and Henry Brookes registered his first half-century as a Middlesex player, with off-spinner Jack Carson taking four for 166.
Captains Leus du Plooy and John Simpson shook hands at 4.50pm, with the draw enabling Sussex to increase their advantage at the top to eight points over Middlesex, who remain in second place.
Any faint prospect of a positive outcome essentially disappeared as early as the third over of the morning, when Fernandes clipped Fynn Hudson-Prentice for two to steer Middlesex past the follow-on target of 405.
With their over rate in negative territory the previous evening, Sussex were soon utilising spin at both ends and the seventh-wicket pair continued to chip away at the deficit as they built a partnership of 119.
Having swept Carson over the short boundary for six, Davies overtook his previous best of 65, but added just three more before he was out in the off-spinner’s next over to a ball that turned away from him and took the edge.
Fernandes looked assured against both seam and spin, cutting and sweeping confidently to usher his side’s total beyond 500 and move within range of what would have been a second first-class century.
The left-hander gained a reprieve when he was put down at backward square leg, pulling a short ball from Tom Clark – but he failed to take advantage, repeating the stroke to the next delivery and this time James Coles dived to take a tumbling catch in the deep.
The remainder of the afternoon largely involved batting practice for the Middlesex tail, with Sussex deploying nine bowlers and at one stage setting a field with all nine men ranged in a semi-circle on the off side.
Luke Hollman shared a sedate ninth-wicket partnership of 65 with Brookes, which eventually came to an end when the left-hander was bowled around his legs by Ollie Robinson’s slower ball.
However, Brookes completed his half-century – the sixth of his career – after tea, swatting Coles’ full toss into the grandstand and finishing 52 not out as he and Ethan Bamber steered Middlesex to the 12th highest total in their history.
DAY THREE
Sam Robson and Ryan Higgins continued their fine form with centuries as Middlesex’s run-fest of a game with visitors Sussex continued on day three at Lord’s.
Robson underpinned the hosts response to Sussex’s mammoth 554-9 with 136, the 35th first-class hundred of his career, while Higgins added the flair his third century of the campaign – an effort of 106 in Middlesex’s total of 403-6.
Sussex, for whom Jack Carson returned figures of 3-89 will rue dropping Robson twice on 51 and 129, while Higgins was also given a life on 67, England seamer Ollie Robinson the unlucky bowler on each occasion.
Given Robson’s heroics it’s important to reflect he may have departed the scene in the opening over of the day. Responding to a call from partner Holden for an injudicious single, the right-hander running to the striker’s end would have been gone for all money given a direct hit. It set the tone for some sketchy running by the opener who suffered at least two other close calls.
Robson’s driving however, whether square or through the covers was exquisite, one such stroke taking him to his half-century. The landmark came amid a testing morning burst from Robinson, Robson surviving a confident lbw shout from one which was just going over the top before Clark grassed the first of the two chances offered a slip, a tough one, but an expensive miss nonetheless.
At the other end, Max Holden, a man revitalised this season moved to 50 with a minimum of fuss, helped by five boundaries, allowing the pair to steer the hosts to lunch at 140-1.
Holden however, as on a few occasions this year fell soon after a resumption when the ball after dancing down the pitch to strike Jack Carson back over his head for four, he flashed at a wide one from the spinner to be caught at slip for 61.
Leus Du Plooy’s contribution was brisk but brief, the acting captain paddling an innocuous ball wide of leg stump from Jaden Seales straight down the throat of long leg.
Robson though found another ally in the form of all-rounder Higgins who came out as ever bristling aggression, reverse sweeping Carson for four before playing the shot in the more orthodox fashion for the first six of the innings into the Grandstand.
Robson meanwhile crunched his 14th four through cover to raise his hundred as the stand realised 79 by tea. The opener was given a second life shortly after the restart, Clark again the culprit at slip, Robinson again the unlucky bowler. Clark beat the ground in frustration, but the second top at least didn’t prove costly as Robson fell to the new ball, chipping a tired shot straight to mid-wicket.
Higgins continued to be aggressive while Robinson continued to curse his luck. The seamer first found the inside edge of the Zimbabwean’s bat only for the ball to trickle onto the stumps without dislodging the bails, before Higgins flashed hard at a wide one on 67 to be reprieved again as James Coles failed to cling on at third slip.
That scare survived and with the luckless Robinson finally retreating into the outfield Higgins forged on, striking Coles for successive boundaries to reach his hundred, before dancing down the pitch to Carson and missing the ball to be stumped by John Simpson.
Tom Helm promoted to seven fell only two balls later in identical fashion to cause a few nerves, but 20-year-old Nathan Fernandes underlined his promise with a composed unbeaten 50 to leave the hosts just two short of thew follow-on figure of 405 at stumps.
DAY TWO
John Simpson and Cheteshwar Pujara completed centuries on a day when Sussex re-wrote their record books not once but twice as they continued to dominate this Vitality County Championship clash with hosts Middlesex at Lord’s.
Simpson, who made 10 centuries in 15 years with the Seaxes, got the second of his short tenure as Sussex skipper, eventually making 167 and Pujara posted 129 in a score of 554-9 that eclipsed their previous best against the hosts of 550-9 at Hove in 1980.
Simpson and Pujara shared a stand of 223 for the 5th wicket to erase the previous best against Middlesex of 216 by Kepler Wessels and Colin Wells in that same match 34 years ago.
Middlesex for whom Ethan Bamber took 3-114, lost Mark Stoneman early in their reply, but Sam Robson, unbeaten on 40 and Max Holden saw them through to stumps at 62-1 without further alarm. They will require a further 343 on day three to avoid the follow-on.
Resuming on 295-4, Sussex were obviously conscious of head coach Paul Farbrace’s words at close the night before about not undoing the good work of day one as Pujara and Simpson adopted a cautious approach, so much so, only eight runs came in the first 10 overs.
Pujara, in the last game of his latest stint at Hove, 91 not out overnight, took 43 minutes to add to his score, though in truth he never looked ruffled by his lack of progress.
The Indian Test veteran won the race to 100, pulling a short ball from Henry Brookes to the fence behind square, but with three overs to go until the 110-over cut-off for bonus points, the visitors were still some way short of 350.
The fact they got there was down to Simpson, who skated through the 90s with a trio of boundaries, two back passed the bowler and a third caressed deliciously through extra cover to take him to his 12th first-class century. Even so, Sussex needed a no-ball from Brookes off what should have been the final ball of the 110th to glean the third batting bonus-point.
The efforts of Wessels and Wells were consigned to history shortly before lunch, but the stand ended within four balls of the resumption, Pujara hitting a filthy full toss from Nathan Fernandes straight into the hands of Stoneman at mid-wicket.
If we were expecting a full-on push towards a declaration it didn’t materialise in an afternoon which meandered along with a distinct lack of tempo.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice tried to press the go button only to get too far leg-side of a long-hop from Luke Hollman and feather it through to Jack Davies.
As Middlesex adopted a defensive pose in the field, daring Sussex to force the pace, Simpson, who survived playing a Hollman delivery into his helmet, continued his steady accumulation to pass 150.
He fell to almost his first attempt at something unorthodox, Bamber pegging back his leg stump after he missed an attempted scoop.
Danny Lamb tried nothing as extravagant in a painstaking 49 before chipping one back to the persevering Hollman an act which finally provoked a declaration.
Middlesex dragged tired bodies and minds off the field and the suspicion was England seamer Ollie Robinson, who’d made a sprightly unbeaten 22 and Division Two’s leading wicket taker at the start of the round, Jayden Seales may be a tricky prospect in the 19 overs that remained. Robinson, under pressure for his Test place against the West Indies in July didn’t wait long to make his case.
The seamer, bowling from the Pavilion End beat the outside edge of Mark Stoneman’s bat four times in one over before getting the nick in his next set of six to send the former England opener packing for four.
DAY ONE
Cheteshwar Pujara plundered runs against Middlesex’s bowling attack yet again as Sussex posted 295 for four after being inserted in the battle between the top two sides in Vitality County Championship Division Two.
The India Test veteran, who scored 231 on Sussex’s last visit to Lord’s in 2022 – along with a century against Middlesex at Hove earlier that year – ended the opening day unbeaten on 91.
Pujara’s patient knock formed part of an unbroken stand of 131 with his captain and ex-Middlesex wicketkeeper John Simpson, who struck 71 not out on his return to the county where he spent 15 seasons.
Ethan Bamber claimed two wickets for the home side, with Ryan Higgins and Henry Brookes taking one apiece.
Middlesex’s decision to bowl after winning the toss initially looked questionable as Tom Clark and Tom Haines bustled along at around five an over, with the latter dispatching five consecutive Bamber deliveries to the rope.
Bamber was hastily switched to his preferred Nursery End and, despite Haines immediately drilling him to the cover fence once more, he had the final say by bowling the Sussex man through the gate for 40.
That broke the opening partnership of 66 and slowed the scoring rate significantly as the home side claimed two more wickets before lunch, with Higgins having Clark caught behind off a bottom edge.
Having also seen Tom Alsop put down off his bowling in the cordon, Higgins then pulled off a blinding catch when the left-hander edged Brookes to third slip, twisting to his left to clasp a sharp chance just above the turf.
Higgins, whose first delivery to Pujara beat the bat, also tested the 36-year-old with the occasional bouncer before he settled down to make steady progress with James Coles in a partnership of 72 after lunch.
Coles was eventually undone by static footwork when Bamber had him caught behind for 33 and the bowler found a consistent line against former team-mate Simpson, back at Lord’s for the first time since his switch to Hove.
Despite some early playing and missing, Simpson settled down with a classy cover-driven boundary off Brookes, keeping Pujara company while he advanced beyond his half-century for the third time this season.
Middlesex rotated their seam quartet, all of whom bowled from each end at some stage and it took them until three overs before tea to introduce spinners Nathan Fernandes and Luke Hollman into the attack.
It looked as though that move had paid off early in the final session when Simpson, on 25, slapped a full toss from Hollman straight to Max Holden in the deep – only for the umpire to signal a no-ball.
The Sussex skipper capitalised on that escape, dancing down the track to slam Hollman to the boundary and chopping him through gully for two to secure the visitors’ first batting bonus point.
There was another let-off for Simpson soon after passing 50, fencing a rising delivery from Tom Helm to gully, where Hollman was unable to cling on – and the visitors continued to build a strong platform until bad light ended play with six overs unbowled.
Middlesex
Sussex
