Middlesex 23 for 0 trail Northamptonshire 219 (Zaib 49) by 196 runs
On the first day of play at Merchant Taylors’ School, Middlesex’s speed attack shared the honors as they bowled out fellow underachievers Northamptonshire for 219 runs.
Despite an outstanding 49 from all-rounder Saif Zaib, Toby-Roland Jones, Tom Helm, Ethan Bamber, and Ryan Higgins each seized two wickets to ensure that the visitors were unable to add to their one batting point this season.
The hosts sent Bamber in as the nightwatchman alongside Mark Stoneman, the usual opener, and the duo batted through the final five overs with great ease to close 23 for 0 in the replay.
This was, if you will, the antidote or a day for the connoisseur of county cricket for anyone who had had enough Bazball drama from the Headingley Test. It was a day of line-and-length bowling, with every run achieved with effort.
After winning the toss, Northamptonshire elected to bat, but scoring runs proved difficult right away. The visitors struggled to rotate the strike, which made boundaries unusual and let Middlesex control the game’s tempo. Furthermore, it was annoying for Northamptonshire because a wicket would slip whenever a batter appeared to be set.
A prime example of this was when Ricardo Vasconcelos fanned a ball from Higgins (2 for 33) through to wicketkeeper John Simpson immediately after reaching the boundary for the third time.
After signing a deal with the Steelbacks last month, Justin Broad, a German international, was taken to the crease to make his first-class debut. There was a lot of playing and missing as he and the opener, Emilio Gay, rode their luck, but every now and then, each broke free. Broad sliced one furiously to the fence at point while Gay unfurled one majestuous cover drive.
The turning point for Middlesex occurred when Josh de Caires received the ball for the required spinner’s over just before lunch. Fresh off a career-high 7 for 144 against Hampshire two weeks prior, he quickly outwitted Gay’s hesitant defensive prod to trap him on the crease.
The afternoon’s entertainment was sedative. Helm initially gave Broad several fours in a row, but as the bowler got even by catching his leg before, the runs all but dried up. Long stretches went by without a wicket, but Northamptonshire’s batters had trouble moving the game along.
Stephen Eskinazi, who had been brought up, received Higgins from Sam Whiteman’s nicked throw and quickly left the field. After learning that Middlesex’s white-ball captain had injured a finger, it was decided that he might bat lower in the order than initially intended.
Rob Keogh required 40 balls to get to 12, at which point Roland-Jones (2 for 49) castled him. Roland-Jones caught Luke Procter, Rob Keogh’s opponent, behind in his subsequent over.
Middlesex was nearly out at that point, but soon after tea, de Caires shelled the nick at first slip, giving wicketkeeper Lewis McManus a life.
The error cost them dearly because Zaib, who was more expansive and drove the ball more convincingly than his teammates higher in the lineup because the Kookaburra ball had become soft, found McManus to be a strong foil.
The new ball was struck in dimly lit conditions, and Bamber’s initial ball spit off a length and struck Zaib hard in the hand.
Before Bamber caught McManus lbw for 24, the third Northamptonshire batter to be out for that score, he swiftly recovered as the half-century stand was reached around a brief break for poor light.
Although Zaib hooked consecutive balls over the ropes for six shots that were out of context with everything that had come before, Helm’s attempts to catch him similarly in two minds failed spectacularly. Helm eliminated Tom Taylor with a short ball.
The blows increased the score to 200, but Bamber dismissed Zaib one short of what would have been a fantastic 50 before a funny run-out brought an end to the innings.
India
