Middlesex v Northants - Day Four
Northants 283 & 176
Middlesex 543-7 declared
Middlesex 23 points beat Northants 3 points by an innings and 84 runs
Toby Roland-Jones’ best ever match figures sent Middlesex top of the County Championship as they crushed Northants on day four at Wantage Road.
The England Lions’ pace-man bettered his career-best set in the first innings to take 6-50 and 12-105 in the match as the visitors wrapped up the remnants of home resistance shortly after lunch.
Having made his best first-class score with the bat (60) 24 hours earlier it meant this was the third day in a row the 26-year-old, Ashford-born bowler had walked off the field with a career best under his belt.
Heady times indeed for a man whose 2013 campaign was beset by injuries just as he had reached the fringes of international recognition.
Middlesex resumed needing six wickets to complete an emphatic win while Northants wanted 172 more runs just to make Chris Rogers’ men bat a second time.
The latter scenario never looked likely especially after Roland-Jones and his trusty opening bowling partner Tim Murtagh got among the wickets almost immediately.
Murtagh as he does so often struck the first blow inducing an edge from Rob Newton duly gobbled up by wicketkeeper John Simpson, but thereafter it was pretty much the Roland-Jones show.
Andrew Hall gave Simpson another catch before David Murphy’s stumps were scattered to leave the Tudor Rose county in disarray at 103-7.
The fact the game was prolonged into the afternoon owed everything to Ben Duckett (56) and New Zealand bowler Ian Butler (14) who resisted bravely for 38 overs in a stand of 62, the former hitting nine fours in his half century.
However, Roland-Jones returned to dismiss both with the new ball, Butler eventually giving Simpson his fifth catch of the match, before Duckett’s resistance ended when he was held by Ravi Patel.
The end came with a run-out meaning Middlesex now lead the standings by 19 points from Yorkshire with Sussex a further three points in arrears.
Both the chasers have a game in hand and Sussex, who beat Middlesex by an innings in the season curtain-raiser at Hove are next up for Rogers’ side in the Championship in a match hosted by Merchant Taylors School starting on Monday.
Before that, Middlesex Panthers will look for their first T20 win of the campaign against Gloucester at Bristol on Friday evening before entertaining Hampshire at Old Merchant Taylors on Sunday in the same competition.
