Murtagh haul seals Middlesex victory.

Murtagh's efforts with the ball guided the hosts to a comfortable victory.

Tim Murtagh claimed 6-60 as Middlesex secured their third win of the LV County Championship campaign by ten wickets after Lancashire's second innings fightback was ended by the Middlesex seamer.

A 108-run partnership for the sixth-wicket between Ashwell Prince (86) and Jos Buttler (50) allowed Lancashire a route back into the match, but seven of the visitors batsmen made a combined total of 11 runs to minimise their efforts.

Lancashire experienced an all to familiar top-order collapse, stumbling to 45-5 to improve Middlesex's already dominant position on the fixture at Lord's. Night watchman Simon Kerrigan fell early on and was Murtagh's first scalp of a successful day for the Irishman and Karl Brown was removed for no score after being trapped LBW to Toby Roland-Jones.

At 24-3 the nerves were already starting to unsettle the visitors and when opener Paul Horton (32) was dismissed after an authoritative stand at the crease the hosts took charge of the match.

Luke Procter became the second player to be removed for a duck soon after Horton was removed, but the afternoon session saw a renewed approach from Lancashire, who are seventh in Division One after suffering their second defeat of the season.

Initially, Prince and Buttler played defensively, but as the wicket became easier to bat the visitors took charge, striking 19 boundaries between them. Successive boundaries gave Prince his half-centruy in 121 balls and Buttler seized his second fifty of the match in three fewer deliveries.

A wicketless afternoon session would have put the match week and truly in the balance, with Lancashire taking five second innings wickets into the final session of the match, but two quick wickets reduced the efforts of Prince and Buttler.

Soon after making his half-century, Buttler was dropped by keeper John Simpson, but two balls later managed an edge to first slip by Dawid Malan to give Murtagh his third wicket of the innings. Tom Smith (0) has been a rock in Lancashire's middle order so far this season and was unfortunate to also find an edge after receiving a superb delivery from Murtagh.

After losing two wickets on 162 the evening session now seemed to be an unfavourable proposition for Lancashire. Prince dded 55 for the eighth-wicket stand with Glen Chapple (32), who made a brisk addition to the total, but played a somewhat cavalier innings under the circumstances and became Roland-Jones' second victim of the innings.

The visits lost their last two wickets without making any addition to the total and were subsequently  bowled out for 223, leaving the nominal target of 31 runs to supply Middlesex a throughly deserved win.

Despite avoiding an innings defeat, Lancashire seemed adequately dejected by their batting collapse when they took to the field and it took just 23 balls for the hosts to reach the required target. Sam Robson (19) and Chris Rogers (3) guided Middlesex to a ten-wicket victory to put the hosts back on track after suffering an innings defeat to Warwickshire in their previous match.

Championship points: Middlesex 22, Lancashire 4.

Man of the match: Unlike the previous match against Sussex, this was a tough decision to make. Murtagh took seven wickets in the match and runs from several Middlesex players set up a winning position heading in to the final day. But of all the Middlesex batsmen, Eoin Morgan demonstrated why, a player with something to play for, is so valuable. It is difficult to select England's middle order this summer, but if the Irish batsman plays every innings the way he did on his way to 103, then he has every chance of being in Moores' plans.