Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.
DAY FOUR
Tom Price and Zafar Gohar held their nerve to steer Gloucestershire to a tense victory at Lord’s and deal Middlesex’s Vitality County Championship promotion hopes a severe blow.
The visitors appeared to be cruising to their target of 234 after Miles Hammond and James Bracey both struck half-centuries in a fourth-wicket partnership of 113.
But a three-wicket burst for off-spinner Josh de Caires in the space of nine deliveries hauled Middlesex back into contention before the seventh-wicket pair steered Gloucestershire over the line with an unbroken stand of 54.
It was Gloucestershire’s second successive red-ball win at Lord’s, lifting them to fifth place in Division Two, while the home side drop to third and trail Yorkshire, in the second promotion spot, by 15 points.
Middlesex applied pressure during the early stages as Toby Roland-Jones opened up with a maiden and Ryan Higgins struck with his fourth delivery, searing back down the slope to trap Ben Charlesworth in front for a duck.
Opening partner Cameron Bancroft soon followed suit, lbw to a ball that Higgins moved the other way, but Hammond started to score freely against the change bowlers, pulling Tom Helm over the short boundary for six.
The left-hander added a valuable 41 in tandem with Ollie Price before Helm made the breakthrough, having the latter caught low at first slip to bring Bracey to the middle on a pair.
Bracey banished that prospect by carving Henry Brookes for successive off-side boundaries and added two more off Helm’s next over as Gloucestershire started to settle down again, going to lunch at 101 for three.
There was a scare for Bracey soon after the interval, when he slashed outside off stump at Helm and the ball flew fast and high to Robson at slip but, despite getting both hands to it, the fielder was unable to cling on.
It was Hammond who won the race to 50 with his partner, reaching the landmark from 100 balls by drilling Higgins to the cover fence and Bracey was not far behind, using up 20 fewer deliveries in posting his half-century.
Having swept Luke Hollman for successive fours to raise the century partnership, Hammond (78) looked on course for a ton of his own until he attempted a repeat of the stroke to De Caires and skied to mid-on.
With Graeme van Buuren given out caught behind two balls later and Bracey sweeping into the hands of deep midwicket for 56, Gloucestershire suddenly found themselves six down and under renewed pressure.
De Caires (three for 45) continued to test the batters with flight and turn, but Price eased the tension by on-driving Roland-Jones to the boundary to take Gloucestershire beyond 200 and he and Zafar advanced steadily towards the finish line.
Zafar, who had top-scored with 86 in the first innings, applied the finishing touch as he smote a De Caires full toss to the fence to finish unbeaten on 19, with Price alongside him on 34.
DAY THREE
Debutante Archie Bailey led the rout as Gloucestershire’s bowlers sparked a dramatic Middlesex collapse on an eventful day three at Lord’s.
Bailey took 4-30 as the hosts crumbled from 122-2 to 165 all out, leaving Gloucestershire 234 to win on day four. Zafar Gohar chipped in with 2-22 as the hosts lost their way following Sam Robson’s 50 at almost a run a ball. Wicketkeeper James Bracey took his tally to a record-breaking 11 catches plus a run out in the match amid the carnage.
Zafar had earlier made a stylish 86 with a six and 10 fours as the visitors rallied from an overnight 154-5 to 309-9. Ollie Price, 56 not out overnight went on to make 76 while Zaman Akhtar (30) helped Zafar add 90 for the eighth wicket to leave the men from the West Country only 68 in arrears. Skipper Toby Roland-Jones led the wicket quest for the hosts with 5-79, the fifth time in the last nine innings he has taken five wickets or more.
Gloucestershire began the day needing 74 to avoid the follow-on and were dealt and early blow when Roland-Jones castled Tom Price with only two added to the score.
Sadly, no other home bowler was able to carry the menace of their skipper and after new batter Zafar got underway with an edge through the slips for four, he and Ollie Price set about reducing the deficit.
Price, on his first appearance at Lord’s looked untroubled as he moved to 76 before falling into the leg trap to give Henry Brookes his only wicket of the innings.
Zafar played beautifully, mixing sound defence with controlled aggression, sweeping Josh De Caires to raise the 200 before hitting the next ball over mid-off for a one-bounce four. Pace too was summarily despatched, a short one from Brookes pulled to the midwicket fence as he moved to 50 in 108 balls.
Akhtar proved a great foil either side of the lunch interval before Roland-Jones returned to remove him in the first over with the new ball to complete his five-fer, though the decision looked harsh with the impact well above the knee roll.
Zafar cleared the ropes in his quest for a second first-class hundred five years on from his first but came up short when he pinned in front by Higgins, at which point Gloucestershire declared nine down.
Robson quickly avoided a king pair before surviving vociferous appeals for caught behind on 22 Tom Price spreading his arms more than once in a vain attempt to have his cries upheld and all fielders seemingly convinced the ball had been feathered. Robson remained unmoved as the appeals fell on deaf ears
Bailey immediately replaced the crestfallen Price and the youngster soon had a moment to cherish, his maiden first-class wicket, Mark Stoneman caught by Cameron Bancroft diving away to his left at second slip.
A cloudburst prior to tea proved a precursor to a stormy evening for the Middlesex batters.
Robson initially forged on, driving and cutting forcefully until nicking Akhtar’s first ball through to Bracey immediately after completing his half-century.
Max Holden was even more forceful in his quickfire 39, reverse sweeping Zafar to the boundary twice in quick succession, before falling to a catch in the deep.
His dismissal sparked the slide as the hosts either couldn’t or wouldn’t reverse out of their all-out attacking mindset.
Higgins chopped on before Jack Davies’ hesitation over a second run proved fatal, Bracey intercepting the throw from the deep to turn and flatten the stumps.
Bracey would figure in the dismissals of Josh De Caires, Luke Hollman and Roland-Jones as the procession from to and from the pavilion gathered pace while Bailey got the prize wicket of Leus Du Ploy lbw.
Zafar completed the collapse by bowling Brookes for a duck to leave the visitors favourites for a successful run chase tomorrow.
DAY TWO
Ollie Price and the weather combined to frustrate promotion-chasing Middlesex on the second day of their Vitality County Championship Division Two clash at Lord’s.
Right-hander Price showed guts a-plenty to post 56 not out, his fifth score of 50 or more in the first-class game this season, as the visitors battled to 154-5, 223 in arrears of their hosts, on a day when only 41.4 overs were bowled due to bad light and rain.
Not many of the Durham University graduate’s 7 4s came off the middle of the bat as the home bowlers found plenty of movement through the air and off the pitch, the inside edge past leg-stump being a profitable source of runs.
However, Price’s grit came in the wake of Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones’ burst of 3-12 in 16 balls either side of lunch and served to take the men from the west country from 74-4 to calmer waters, albeit needing a further74 to save the follow-on. Roland-Jones had taken 3-56 and Ryan Higgins 2-47 when bad light, followed by rain, drove the players off for the second and final time at 3:15pm.
The bad light, accompanied by some light rain delayed the start by 40 minutes before under still largely leaden skies with the lights on batting proved a hazardous occupation from the off. The first ball of the day from Roland-Jones to Cameron Bancroft was edged between third slip and gully for three, so setting the tone.
Roland-Jones and Higgins constantly challenged both edges of the bat in ideal seam conditions, Ben Charlesworth edging the former just short of wicket-keeper Jack Davies when he’d made eight. He wouldn’t prosper for long, soon nicking a beauty from Higgins to Sam Robson at first slip.
For a while Bancroft rode his luck, the majority of his 25 coming behind the wicket, before he was undone by one from Roland-Jones which jagged back between bat and pad to trim the bails.
Bad light soon intervened again to drive the players off for an early lunch and when they returned Roland-Jones made whatever new batter Miles Hammond had consumed all-but indigestible by hitting him mid-ships first ball.
The batter continued after treatment, crashing one sumptuous four through cover only to then edge another snorter from Roland-Jones to Tom Helm at third slip.
When the veteran seamer, whose contract was extended for another year only yesterday, removed James Bracey caught behind two balls later, Gloucestershire were 74-4 and in peril.
Price dug in using all parts of the bat to survive, an authoritative on-drive off Helm the pick of his shots.
Graeme Van Buren joined him in a stand of 50 from 67 balls broken by Higgins who trapped his man on the crease.
Price’s older brother Tom then joined him in the middle, surviving a blow on the head from a short one from Helm to keep vigil until the weather had the final word.
DAY ONE
Jack Davies posted his best first-class score of 91 as Middlesex built a strong platform after being put in by Gloucestershire in their Vitality County Championship clash at Lord’s.
The Middlesex left-hander missed out on the chance of a maiden hundred after sharing a sixth-wicket partnership of 120 with Josh de Caires, who struck 64 as the home side were bowled out for 377.
Max Holden’s battling knock of 77 had provided an initial foundation for the promotion contenders before he became one of seven dismissals for Gloucestershire gloveman James Bracey.
The bowling honours were dominated by Tom Price, who finished with a season’s best of five for 81, and Ajeet Singh Dale, with figures of four for 70.
Gloucestershire – who included 19-year-old debutant Archie Bailey among their seam quartet – were immediately rewarded for opting to bowl as Singh Dale’s opening effort seared back down the slope and crashed into Sam Robson’s middle stump.
The lively Bailey, who entered the attack as early as the sixth over, might also have struck with his first delivery which found the edge of Holden’s bat, but dropped fractionally short of slip.
However, Middlesex gradually settled down and Mark Stoneman raised the tempo with a flurry of cover boundaries, advancing to 42 before he attempted to hook Tom Price and top-edged it to provide Bracey with a routine catch.
That ended Stoneman’s partnership of 71 with Holden, who reached lunch one short of a half-century as he and Leus du Plooy kept the scoreboard ticking along at more than four an over.
Holden added that single off Tom Price to reach 50 soon after the interval, but the very next delivery accounted for Du Plooy, slanting across the left-hander to take the edge.
Price and Bracey combined again to remove their former team-mate Ryan Higgins, caught swishing outside leg stump and the Gloucestershire keeper claimed his fourth dismissal of the innings when Singh Dale returned at the Nursery End to prise out Holden.
But Davies looked in good touch, pulling and cutting against the seamers as well as driving spinner Zafar Gohar for the first six of the contest as he and De Caires shared Middlesex’s fourth partnership in excess of 50.
The shot that took Davies to his own 50 was a streaky one, though, slashing across the line at Tom Price and edging over Bracey’s head for a boundary that also earned the home side their first batting bonus point.
De Caires was given a life just after tea, with Cameron Bancroft spilling an edge to slip off Bailey, but he played the spinners with confidence and pulled Zafar off the back foot for a boundary to post his second half-century of the season.
Singh Dale returned to take the new ball and, although Davies got away with a leading edge that flew through the slips, he was undone in the seamer’s next over as he nudged one that moved away into Bracey’s gloves.
De Caires soon followed, trapped in front by a ball that followed a similar trajectory to Singh Dale’s first of the day before Tom Price wrapped up the innings by capturing the wickets of Luke Hollman and Henry Brookes.
Middlesex
Gloucestershire
