Seaxes Suffer an Indifferent Start to Rothesay County Championship Division 2 Campaign

The Story of the Season So Far

MIDDLESEX on-field woes continue with the Lord's based county ending the opening six County Championship matches in 7th place out of eight teams in Division 2. Much pre-season promotion talk has been diminished after a disappointing start to the season. Middlesex CCC started their County Championship Division 2 season off indifferently with two wins, two draws and two losses in their first six games. They won against Gloucestershire at Lord's and against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford, drew with Northamptonshire and Durham the Division 2 promotion favourites but lost at home to both Worcestershire and Derbyshire. Had they won all four home games they would have been in a far better position to push for promotion but were undone during key stages of those two games.

Gloucestershire (Lord's) - Won by an innings and 14 runs

The opening game of the campaign saw the Lord's based county host Gloucestershire. Middlesex amassed 445 for 9 dec in 131 overs with Leus Du Plooy the captain hitting 182 runs from 274 balls with fourteen 4's. He was supported by wicket keeper Joe Cracknell with 97 runs from 143 balls in 186 minutes with fourteen 4's. The pair added 181 for the 6th wicket partnership. They then dismissed Gloucestershire for 216 and 215. Middlesex won by an innings and 14 runs. The pick of the bowlers was Toby Roland-Jones with 5 for 37 in the first innings and Zafar Gohar with 3 for 47. In the second innings Seb Morgan with 4 for 48, and Ryan Higgins with 3 for 18 were the pick of the bowlers.

Worcestershire (Lord's) - Worcestershire won by 57 runs

The second game the following week was another home game this time against Worcestershire. Worcestershire totalled 191 with skipper Brett D'Oliveira top scoring 75 and Ryan Higgins bagged 3 for 39. Middlesex responded with 183 with bowler Zafar Gohar top scoring with 42, Ben Geddes weighed in with 34, Max Holden 25 and Seb Morgan a useful 25. Quick bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby picked up 4 for 45 with the ball for the Pears. Worcestershire, in their second innings, made 253 with Jake Libby 79, Daniel Lategan 65 and Kasif Ali 34. Ryan Higgins bagged 4 for 68 and Toby Roland-Jones 3 for 40. Middlesex were set 261 to win but fell short by 57 runs on 204. Joe Cracknell 43, Max Holden 40, and Sam Robson 31 started well but all fell cheaply. Tom Taylor 3 for 50 was the pick of the Worcestershire bowlers and the visitors recorded a good victory at HQ.

Northamptonshire (Cinch County Ground, Northampton) - Match drawn

The first away game took the Seaxes up the M1 to Northampton at the newly named Cinch County Ground home of Northamptonshire. Middlesex batted first, scoring 341 with Zafar Gohar 83, Joe Cracknell 79, Ben Geddes 65, and Leus du Plooy 53 the top scorers. Ben Sanderson the Northamptonshire seamer bagged 5 for 62 and Harry Conway 3 for 74. Northamptonshire responded with 409 with James Sales 164 from 265 balls in 360 minutes with twenty-four 4's and two 6's, Nathan McSweeney 107 from 191 balls in 260 minutes with sixteen 4's, the pair adding 164 for the 5th wicket partnership together. Middlesex best bowler was Toby Roland-Jones 3 for 83 and Naavya Sharma 3 for 92. Middlesex batted again scoring 353 for 3 with Sam Robson 162 from 305 balls in 395 minutes with twenty-one 4's, Max Holden 86, Leus du Plooy 66 not out when stumps were drawn. Northamptonshire used eight bowlers in the second innings.

Durham (Lord's) - Match drawn

Middlesex batted first scoring 430 with Ryan Higgins top scoring with 131 from 273 balls in 340 minutes with ten 4's. He was supported by Sam Robson 87, Max Holden 65, Zafar Gohar 56, Joe Cracknell 42. Durham's best bowler was Ben Raine with 5 for 58. Durham replied with 567 with David Bedlingham 147 from 226 balls in 302 minutes with seventeen 4's and two 6's, Emilio Gay 129 from 198 balls in 290 minutes with fourteen 4's and one 6. Kasey Aldridge 99, Ben McKinney 58, Matthew Potts 38, and Ben Raine 33 also hit useful runs. Middlesex best bowler was 4 for 117. Middlesex, in their second innings made 146 for 4 with Holden 77 not out, Ben Raine was best Durham bowler with 3 for 23 before the game was drawn.

Lancashire (Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester) - Middlesex won by 6 wickets

Lancashire 201, Keaton Jennings top scoring with 67 being the only batsman who got in. Middlesex best bowlers were Toby Roland-Jones 3 for 45, Ryan Higgins 3 for 48 and Seb Morgan 3 for 41. Middlesex responded with 169, Leus du Plooy 67 and Ryan Higgins 32 were the pick of the batters, with Jimmy Anderson 4 for 67 causing some havoc with the ball for Lancashire. Lancashire, in their second innings, were skittled for just 84 with Ryan Higgins 4 for 27 and Naavya Sharma 4 for 17, Toby Roland-Jones 2 for 20 doing the damage. Middlesex knocked off the 117 required for the loss of just 4 wickets with Ben Geddes 73 not out carrying his bat. George Balderston 2 for 23 and Mitchell Stanley 2 for 35 were the best two bowlers for the hosts. Middlesex won by 6 wickets.

Derbyshire (Lord's) - Derbyshire won by 7 wickets

Middlesex were dismissed for 177 in their first innings with only Sam Robson 31, Eathan Bosch 29, and Zafar Gohar 24 troubling the scorers. Aitchison bagged 5 for 47 for the visitors. Derbyshire were 130 for 5 in their first innings but were thankful to Ben Aitchison 112 from 157 balls in 105 minutes with fourteen 4's and captain Wayne Madsen 119 from 161 balls in 97 minutes with eleven 4's and a six, as the pair took the total to 338 for 6 when Ben Aitchison the night watchman was out. Derbyshire ended on 376 - 199 runs ahead - with Higgins taking 4 for 98 for the hosts. Middlesex in their second innings made 320 with Leus du Plooy 95, Caleb Falconer 48, Harry Duke 43, Ryan Higgins 34, and Toby Roland-Jones weighing in with 28 useful runs. Ben Aitchison took 3 for 67 and Potts took 3 for 71. Shoaib Bashir, who was looking for an England Lord's Test call-up, bowled 0.5-0-0-1 and 16-1-52-0 - nothing to prompt England coach Brendan McCullum for a straight admission to the starting lineup. Derbyshire were set 122 to win and reached 37 for 1 at lunch but went on to reach 124 for 3 with opener Harry Came 34 and Wayne Madsen 34 not out seeing the East Midlands county home to victory. Naavya Sharma took 2 for 34 as the pick of the Seaxe bowlers.

After 6 games Middlesex are 7th on 71 points with only Gloucestershire (32 points, played 6 games) beneath them. The top three sides being promotion favourites Durham (105 points, played 6), Northamptonshire (85 points, played 6) and Kent (77 points, played 6).

Author's Seaxe Stars of the Opening Six Games

• Best Batter - Leus Du Plooy - 515 runs, average 51.50, highest score 182
• Centuries - Three hundreds from Du Plooy, Higgins and Robson
• Best All-Rounder - Zafar Gohar - 260 runs (HS 83) and 7 wickets (BB 3 for 47)
• Best Bowler - Ryan Higgins - 28 wickets, average 20.35, best bowling 4 for 27

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Photo: PaddyBriggs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons