Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
DAY TWO
Marcus Harris’s century on Red Rose debut helped Lancashire take charge on day two at Lord’s.
The Australian Test opener, batting at four, survived an early scare to finish with an undefeated 133 , sharing a stand of 120 for the fifth wicket with Luke Wells (38). It was Harris’ 30th first-class ton and he became the sixth overseas playerto make a hundred on his debut for the county, a trend started by his fellow Aussie, the late Andrew Symonds in 2005.
Keaton Jennings earlier weighed in 55 enabling the visitors to reach the close on 353-9
The Middlesex bowlers toiled hard, with little luck, Zafar Gohar returning 3-77 on debut and Blake Cullen 2-70, the latter’s first County Championship wickets since he dismissed Mohammed Rizwan at Hove in May 2022, such have been the young seamer’s injury woes.
The alliance between Harris and Wells turned the tide of a day where Middlesex had initially held sway.
Their frugal bowling in the morning session especially led to a pedestrian scoring rate of two an over by the visitors on a slow, unresponsive pitch.
Lancashire’s inability to break the shackles brought reward for the home side, Jennings departing to a sharp catch at slip by Robson off the Ryan Higgins, shortly after raising his 50 with the aid of eight fours.
The wicket came in a spell of six overs for one run from the Zimbabwean all-rounder and the pressure he exerted affected other batters too.
Josh Bohannon was in skittish mood from the off, edging one just short of Robson at slip before he’d scored. He’d got to 11 when he slashed at a slightly wider one from Higgins only for Leus du Plooy to grass the chance away to his right hand in the gulley.
Even so, there was further reward for the Seaxes shortly before lunch when Toby Roland-Jones found the edge of Michael Jones’ bat and wicketkeeper Jack Davies took a low catch away to his right.
On the resumption, Bohannon briefly suggested he’d left his pre-lunch struggles behind him, driving Henry Brookes straight for four, but the introduction of Gohar proved his undoing.
Bohannon played back to one from the slow left-armer which went on with the arm and crashed into off stump.
And when Matty Hurst injudiciously hooked a short one from Cullen down the throat of Nathan Fernandes at long leg the visitors were 167-4, still almost 100 in arrears.
Even Harris wasn’t exempt from such rushes of blood to the head, having charged Gohar on 11, inside edging the ball beyond both leg-stump and wicket-keeper Davies. Had he not made the thinnest of contacts the stumping would have been a formality had he not been bowled in any event.
Harris though resolved to make the most of his slice of fortune, knuckling down to take charge, driving with increasing authority before raising his 50 with his eighth boundary, a savage cut to the cover fence.
As the home bowlers tired in the glorious evening sunshine he forged on to three figures reached via an edge out of the clutches of slip to third man.
At the other end, Wells, though playing second fiddle, hit two huge sixes, one over mid-on to get off the mark and the stand reached 120 before he waved lazily at one to be caught behind with the lead at 27.
Harris was reprieved on 123 when dropped at slip by Robson, but late wickets for the persevering home attack offered Middlesex some hope ahead of day three.
DAY ONE
Rookie seamers Tom Aspinwall and Ollie Sutton launched Lancashire’s bid for an immediate return to the top flight in positive fashion by bowling out Middlesex for 260 on the opening day at Lord’s.
Relegated to Division Two of the Rothesay County Championship last season, the Red Rose began the campaign without injured ex-England veteran James Anderson and West Indies paceman Anderson Phillip, unavailable due to a visa issue.
But 21-year-old Aspinwall, with figures of four for 32, and left-armer Sutton, who took two for 57 on his first-class debut, swung the game in their side’s favour after a century stand between Sam Robson (70) and Max Holden (69) had given Middlesex a strong platform.
Having reached 215 for three in front of an impressive Lord’s crowd of 4,257, the home side stumbled – losing their last seven wickets for 45 runs – and Lancashire’s openers shaved 68 off the deficit before the close.
The visitors opted to bowl after winning the toss and gained some early swing and bounce, with Tom Bailey beating the outside edge several times before breaking through in the fifth over.
Nathan Fernandes, restored to an opener’s role at Middlesex following Mark Stoneman’s departure, contributed just a single before he was tempted to nibble at a Bailey delivery that slanted across him.
But, having seen off the new ball, Robson began to play with greater freedom and rattled off a spate of boundaries, steering Sutton to the midwicket fence to bring up his half-century from 60 balls.
Holden played his part as Middlesex cruised along at around four and a half an over, but the left-hander was given a life on 28 when he hooked Sutton to long leg, only for the ball to slip through Luke Wells’ fingers and over the rope.
However, with Lancashire’s seamers toiling fruitlessly, Wells redeemed himself by coming on for an over of leg-breaks just before lunch to pin Robson lbw on the back foot with his fifth ball.
Holden posted his half-century in the first over after the resumption, squirting Wells to third man for three and looked a good bet to convert that 50 into three figures until he fell to a smart take by Matty Hurst.
Standing up to the stumps, the young wicketkeeper – who had earlier spilled a similar chance to remove Leus du Plooy off Will Williams – snapped up Holden off the same bowler and claimed his third dismissal when Ryan Higgins nudged George Balderson behind.
That triggered a middle-order collapse, with four more wickets falling in the space of just 21 deliveries – two apiece to Sutton and Aspinwall.
Debutant Ben Geddes became Sutton’s maiden first-class victim when he miscued a pull to midwicket and Jack Davies was lbw shuffling across his stumps before Du Plooy, having spent more than two hours over a watchful 41, was on the sharp end of a similar decision in Aspinwall’s favour.
By contrast, Toby Roland-Jones’ dismissal was palpable as Aspinwall brought the ball a long way back down the slope to take his leg stump, mopping up the innings after tea with the wickets of Zafar Gohar and Henry Brookes.
Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings batted sensibly alongside new opening partner Michael Jones, capitalising on loose deliveries as they chipped away at the home side’s total.
However, there were close calls for both openers before stumps, with Jennings’ inside edge off Blake Cullen rebounding off his pad but somehow avoiding the wicket and Jones almost playing on to Brookes.
Middlesex
Lancashire
