Middlesex Vs. Lancashire County Championship Day Two 5th Septmeber

Lancashire fight back on day two of Lords encounter.

Paul Horton led Lancashire’s response to

Middlesex’s score of 446, as the relegation-

threatened visitors fought back on day two

at Lord's. The hosts added 57 to their overnight

 score before being bowled out for 446, as Steven

Crook (66) made a season's best score against
his former county. Fifties from Tom Smith and

Ashwell Prince may prove vital as Lancashire

are still in search of an unlikely victory after

the first innings efforts of the hosts. Lancashire

eased to 236-3 by the close, 210 runs behind

the impressive score of Middlesex.

After the confidence of the evening session of the previous day, Steven Crook continued to excel with the bat, making his fifty in 64 balls with 6 fours and 1 six. Neil Dexter started the day in a much more disappointing style however, adding just 2 more runs to his overnight score of 123*. He was also dismissed softly, edging behind to Gareth Cross off of Glen Chapple, who claimed his third wicket of the innings.

Toby Roland-Jones joined Crook and despite the long tail of the hosts batting line up, they were able to pass 400, easily inside the 110 over limit for bonus points. Crook eventually departed for 66, caught by Paul Horton off of Ajmal Shahzad, with Middlesex 417-8. Roland Jones was shortly bowled by Chapple for 10, as Middlesex reached 427-9. Ravi Patel and Cory Collymore added 19 runs for the final wicket before Patel was bowled for 20, as Chapple finished with figures of 5-86 and Middlesex reached 446 all out.

Lancashire were facing a daunting task in reply to Middlesex’s score and opened with a new combination (Tom Smith and Luke Procter) to make matters even more unsettling. But all fears were soon silenced as both openers started the visitor’s response seemingly unfazed. In an opening stand worth 95 runs, the new opening combination gave Lancashire the exact start that was required if there was any chance of pulling off a miraculous victory. Tom Smith reached his 50 in 86 balls with 8 fours and Luke Procter (30) seemed to be following gin his footsteps, before he was caught by Sam Robson off of Steven Crook.

Typically, and for Lancashire unfortunately the fall of one wicket immediately brought another as Tom Smith (55) played a disappointing shot, resulting in a stumping from Simpson off of Ravi Patel. At 95-2, Lancashire’s efforts had been slightly minimised, but a partnership worth 130 between Paul Horton (64) and Ashwell Prince (57*) would put Lancashire back on course. Prince reached his 50 in 97 balls with 4 fours and also passed 2000 runs in County Championship matches when he reached 13. Horton’s recent form was exemplified by a sturdy 50 that came up in 87 balls with 8 fours, before he was caught behind off of all rounder Steven Crook, who led the way with the ball, finishing day two with 2-51. Karl Brown (5*) joined Prince with the visitors on 225-3, as Lancashire closed on 236-3.