Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
DAY FOUR
Lancashire clung on to secure a draw from their gripping Rothesay County Championship Division Two encounter with Middlesex at Lord’s after falling short in their victory chase of 309 from 67 overs.
The Red Rose remained within touching distance of that target for most of the final two sessions, thanks to an opening stand of 93 between Keaton Jennings and Michael Jones and Marcus Harris following up his first-innings hundred with 52.
However, spinner Zafar Gohar took three for 64 and Henry Brookes struck twice in as many deliveries to leave the visitors eight down – but George Balderson, with an unbeaten 36, and Will Williams saw out the remaining eight overs as their side closed on 262 for eight.
Earlier, Max Holden’s majestic knock of 184, his highest score at Lord’s and second best of his first-class career, enabled Middlesex – who had lost their first three wickets for seven – to post 407 and set up the tense finish.
Lancashire’s hopes of forcing victory were boosted by the first ball of the morning, when Tom Bailey (five for 79) captured one of Middlesex’s four remaining wickets by persuading nightwatchman Brookes to nudge to second slip.
However, Holden and Jack Davies applied themselves diligently against the Lancashire seam attack, dispatching loose deliveries to the short boundary as they extended their side’s lead further with a partnership of 69.
Holden slammed successive Williams half-volleys to the cover fence to pass 150, while Davies – having survived a series of edges that fell just short of the slips – became Bailey’s fifth victim, patting him tamely into the hands of gully.
The home side began to accelerate and Holden made room outside off stump to carve Tom Aspinwall for six – but the left-hander then attempted a repeat of the stroke to Ollie Sutton and holed out to third man, ending his vigil of almost eight hours at the crease.
Gohar’s knock of 22 hauled the Middlesex lead above 300 before he was last man out, leaving the visitors two full sessions in which to chase their target at an asking rate of 4.6 per over.
Jennings and Jones – who had shared a partnership of 97 first time around – launched Lancashire’s pursuit at a steady pace, picking out gaps in the field and taking boundaries off all of the home seamers.
Three successive maidens from Blake Cullen helped to stem the flow of runs and the bowler was unlucky not to remove Jennings when he drove hard and high to mid-on, with Brookes unable to hang onto the chance.
Cullen claimed the prize in his next over, though, when the Lancashire skipper chopped on one short of his 50 – and Josh Bohannon soon followed for a duck, bowled by a straight one from Gohar for the second time in the match.
Jones’ quest for a half-century on his Lancashire debut was ended as Toby Roland-Jones’ inswinging yorker clattered into his stumps shortly before tea and Ryan Higgins’ impressive reaction slip catch to dismiss Matty Hurst left the visitors four down.
Harris continued to whittle away at the target in tandem with Wells but, having just passed 50 for the second time on his Lancashire debut, the Australian reverse-swept Gohar to short third man.
Wells took up the baton in a partnership of 66 with Balderson, hammering Brookes over midwicket for six and the pendulum appeared to have swung back in favour of the Red Rose when Cullen returned to have him caught down the leg side for 47.
Brookes’ double strike then heaped the pressure back on Lancashire but, despite packing fielders around the bat and mixing the pace of Cullen with some turning deliveries from Gohar, Middlesex could not find another way through.
DAY THREE
Max Holden’s sixth first-class hundred led a Middlesex fightback on day three at Lord’s to set up the prospect of an exciting finish against Division Two title favourites Lancashire.
The Cambridge-born left-hander followed up his half-century of the first innings with an unbeaten 135 to rescue his side from the havoc of 7-3 in the wake of Tom Bailey’s superb three-wicket opening salvo. Holden shared stands of 106 with Ryan Higgins (43) and 163 with debutante Ben Geddes (74) as the hosts reached 288-6 at stumps.
Bailey (three for 47) couldn’t add to his pre-lunch heroics, but late wickets with the second new ball gave the visitors the edge once more ahead of day four.
All this unfolded after Lancashire added just six to their overnight first innings score to be bowled out for 359, Saturday’s centurion Marcus Harris last to go 138, Zafar Gohar finishing with 4-79.
It was only two seasons ago Middlesex found themselves 4-4 in the first game of the season with the top four all dismissed without scoring and while this wasn’t quite as calamitous, Tom Bailey’s new-ball spell still caused much scrambling on of pads in the home dressing-room.
Nathan Fernandes looked nervous from the get-go and Bailey soon lured him into fencing at one he should have left alone, allowing wicketkeeper Matty Hurst to gobble up the chance.
If Fernandes was culpable, then Sam Robson was undone by a super piece of bowling, Bailey squaring up the former England opener and rapping him on the pad. Any hope it would considered too high was quickly dashed as umpire Surendiran Shanmugan sent him on his way.
And two balls later 7-2 became 7-3 as Leus du Ploy slashed wildly at a ball around fifth stump giving Hurst his second catch in a very few minutes. Bailey had taken 3-2 in 15 balls, leaving the hosts staring at the prospect of defeat inside three days.
Calm heads were required and for the second time in the match it was former England Lions batter Holden who was first to raise his hand, employing a mix of studious defence with drives caressed through the covers and savage square cuts which carried something of a calypso feel.
Six such boundaries carried him past 50 and there would be seven more on the way to three figures, reached in style with an on-drive back past the stumps to the pavilion rope.
Fightbacks of course need co-conspirators and not for the first time, Ryan Higgins was first to come to the left-hander’s assistance. A classy pull shot in front of square got the all-rounder moving and he then dispatched Luke Wells deliveries to the fence twice in the same over.
Bailey returned immediately after lunch as a game of patience unfolded, the two batters resisting his second surge and a miserly spell from Will Williams to raise the 100 partnership.
It required a jaffer from George Balderson to castle Higgins with the hosts 14 in front, but Geddes, a young player hailed this week by Richard Johnson as a player with a ‘high ceiling’, came in to take the baton and after a shaky start he too blossomed, an off-drive through mid-wicket the pick of his early boundaries.
By tea the lead had swollen to 72 and the pair showed greater intent after the resumption to move the stand to 100 and beyond.
Geddes reached his half-century with five fours, before falling to the second new ball, though replays suggested he hadn’t made contact with the delivery which found its way to Hurst’s gloves.
Nightwatchman Blake Cullen also perished before stumps, but Holden remains to try and steer Middlesex to a defendable total on day four.
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
