MATCH REPORT: Lancashire suffer defeat to Middlesex
Tom Helm captured four wickets for the second time in the match as Middlesex’s seamers steamrollered Lancashire for 136 to seal a Rothesay County Championship victory inside three days.
Helm finished with four for 36, while fellow seamers Toby Roland-Jones, Naavya Sharma and Ryan Higgins weighed in with two wickets apiece to trigger Lancashire’s collapse from 97 for three after they were set a stiff victory target of 297 at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Earlier, Middlesex endured a similar slump, losing seven wickets for just 40 as they stumbled to 200 all out in their second innings, with Roland-Jones contributing a valuable knock of 37 to stretch his side’s overall advantage.
Lancashire’s George Balderson claimed his second five-wicket haul of the summer and Keaton Jennings and Matty Hurst shared an opening stand of 57 to give the Red Rose renewed hope – but it was not enough to stave off their fourth defeat in five games.
After a morning shower had delayed play by an hour, Balderson and James Anderson (three for 56) capitalised on the combination of a deteriorating surface and heavy cloud to rattle through seven wickets inside the first 12 overs.
Anderson’s fourth ball of the morning had Ben Geddes leg before, while Max Holden – who had galloped to his half-century late the previous day – added only a single to that 50 before steering the Lancashire captain to second slip.
Harry Duke had the temerity to dispatch Anderson for four boundaries in an over, but he and Leus du Plooy were both unseated by Balderson deliveries that jagged and stayed low, while Higgins became Anderson’s third victim.
Balderson finished with five for 54 after removing Zafar Gohar and Helm with successive balls, but Lancashire’s hopes of polishing off the innings quickly were thwarted as last man Sharma stuck around for the next 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, Roland-Jones embarked on a successful policy of hitting boundaries, including an imposing straight six off Balderson, and ensuring he retained the strike to increase the Middlesex total by another 40.
Ben Walkden eventually had Roland-Jones caught behind with the lead just shy of 300 and, having seen out three overs before lunch, Jennings and Hurst settled into the groove as they chipped away at the target.
Sharma’s first over cost 13 – but his next should have brought the wicket of Hurst, who was put down in the slips and Jennings, slicing at Higgins, was afforded a similar let-off soon afterwards as the visitors posted an opening stand above 50 for the first time this season.
However, Higgins eventually got his man, with Jennings looping a bat-pad catch to short leg and Sharma struck twice in as many deliveries, with Harry Singh taken at second slip before Helm dived low to remove Marcus Harris.
Middlesex handed the ball to Gohar for a solitary over after tea – the only instance of spin being employed in the match – but that was purely a means of allowing Roland-Jones to switch ends, a move that paid off as he trapped Rocky Flintoff in front.
Meanwhile, Helm resumed operating downhill from the Benham End, unleashing a ball that reared up at Hurst, who could only fend it to slip to end his dogged resistance of almost two and a half hours.
Arav Shetty followed two balls later, leg before, and Helm then castled Balderson before Tom Bailey, opting to go down all guns blazing, fell to Roland-Jones’ tumbling catch at mid-off.
It was Roland-Jones who finished off proceedings with another spectacular catch, running back to pluck out Noman Ali’s drive off Higgins and seal Middlesex’s victory.