Middlesex v Lancashire - Day Four

Lancashire 266 & 223

Middlesex 459-8 dec & 31-0

Middlesex (22 points) beat Lancashire (four points) by 10 wickets

Tim Murtagh bowled Middlesex into third place in the championship standings as they beat Lancashire on an absorbing final day at Lord’s yesterday.

The Irish international, so often the go to man of the Seaxes attack, did it again with a haul of 6-60 to bowl out the red rose county a second time for 223, leaving openers Sam Robson and  skipper Chris Rogers to knock off the 31 needed for victory with 15 overs to spare.

Murtagh’s spell either side of the tea interval proved crucial, one in which he removed first Jos Butler (50) and then Ashwell Prince (86), just as it looked as if the pair would prevent Angus Fraser’s men making it three wins out of three at Lord’s so far in the campaign.

Such drama had looked unlikely earlier in the day as Middlesex tore into Lancashire’s top order.

Murtagh thought he had night-watchman Simon Kerrigan caught at third slip from the first ball of the day, only for the umpire to rule contact was with the batsman’s shoulder as oppose to the shoulder of the bat.

The former Surrey man’s response was to reel off four maidens in a row before making the breakthrough in the ninth over of the morning when Kerrigan duly nicked one which left him a fraction into the hands of John Simpson behind the stumps.

Karl Brown did not last long, falling plumb LBW to Toby Roland-Jones and then it was the turn of Steven Finn to make his mark.

The England pace-man trapped Paul Horton (32) with a full delivery before striking again to have Luke Proctor caught behind without scoring, leaving Lancashire in complete disarray at 45-5 with still half an hour to play before lunch.

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However, home hopes of an early finish disappeared as Prince and Butler mounted a superb rear-guard for much of the afternoon.

The duo added a century partnership, batting largely untroubled, raising hopes Glen Chapple’s side would escape with a draw.

It was Murtagh who broke through not once but twice in the last 10 minutes before tea.

Home hopes looked to have gone when Simpson grassed a simple chance from one Butler nick, but just three balls later Murtagh did get his man as the England hopeful tried to punch a ball just back of a length and simply guided it into the hands of Dawid Malan at first slip.

In his next over Murtagh struck again, getting one to leave new batsman Smith and take the edge – this time Simpson made no mistake.

That sent the players off for tea with Lancashire still 31 in arrears with just three wickets left.

Still it wasn’t over as new batsman Chapple joined forces with Prince after the interval to launch a counter offensive against bowling from Finn which was too short.

The pair rattled up a 50 partnership in no time only for that man Murtagh to produce a match-winning burst.

Prince’s wicket was the crucial one, his vigil of almost four hours ending when he nicked a wide one into Simpson’s gloves.

The end was swift as Chapple was trapped LBW by Roland-Jones before Murtagh had the last world by bowling Kyle Hogg for four.

With 19 overs left the 31 required proved a formality, Robson seeing Middlesex over the line with his unbeaten 19.

This was a great response by the tenants of Lord’s to last week’s humiliating defeat to Warwickshire, but they face a tough few days ahead with Saturday’s T20 double header against Sussex and Essex to be followed less than 24 hours later by their next red-ball assignment against basement boys Northants at Wantage Road.

Fraser’s men have lost both four-day games on the road so far this season, a stat they need to change next week if they are to be in contention cum September.