Jon Batham of ECB Reporters Network reports from Lord’s

Lord’s Cricket Ground – Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

Middlesex: 170 & 77-5

Essex: 266

Essex’s seamers destroyed the Middlesex top order for the second time in 24 hours as they closed in on victory on day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Lord’s.

Nominally chasing 308 to win Middlesex’s first four batters were all on a pair after the havoc wreaked by Jamie Porter’s six-fer on day two. And the mental scars of that had clearly not healed as the hosts quickly plummeted to 15-3, Sam Cook the chief architect with an opening burst of two for four.

Max Holden and John Simpson also succumbed to the spin of Simon Harmer and Matt Critchley respectively as Middlesex closed on 77-5, Cook finishing on 2-16.

Earlier, Critchley’s 53 ensured Essex reached 211 in their second innings, Tim Murtagh taking 4-44.

The story once again revolved around Middlesex’s front-line batters crumbling in their first taste of Division One cricket since promotion last summer.

Mark Stoneman relieved Sam Robson of the responsibility of facing the first ball, though soon wished he hadn’t when three balls in first-innings nemesis Porter (one for 24) pinned him in front, though replays suggested he may have been outside the line.

Robson survived the king pair but reached only three before suffering the same fate at the hands of Cook, who then had Essex’s third lbw appeal against Pieter Malan upheld, the South African this time making four. It wasn’t quite 4-4, but the Seaxes were again in tatters.

Max Holden briefly lifted the gloom, driving the ball well, especially square of the wicket, but he was cut off in his prime, a victim of the wiles of Simon Harmer, the 13^th lbw of the match.

And Middlesex’s day was summed up in the penultimate over when Simpson clouted a full toss back into the hands of the grateful Critchley

Middlesex raised eyebrows at start of play by throwing the new ball to Ryan Higgins ahead of Murtagh at the Nursery End. The ploy nearly worked with the medium pacer rapping Sir Alastair Cook on the pad in the first few overs. His vociferous appeal was not upheld, though it looked adjacent.

Scare survived, Cook and Browne prospered against some initially wayward bowling. When Murtagh relieved Higgins he was immediately driven for four by Cook, who then deposited his next offering into the Mound Stand for six.

Murtagh gained recompense when Browne drove loosely to be caught at cover for soon after raising the half-century stand.

Cook too didn’t overly prosper from his earlier reprieve, brilliantly caught and bowled by Higgins and Tom Westley too departed before lunch to a leg-side strangle, but by then Essex had turned their 96-run lead into one of almost 200.

Critchley was Essex’s mainstay through the afternoon. The former Derbyshire all-rounder made a century on debut for Essex last season against Kent, but only passed 50 in the championship on one other occasion, a 90 in the reverse fixture at Canterbury.

Here, with Essex in the ascendancy he could play patiently and wait for the odd bad ball, and in company first with day one centurion Dan Lawrence and then Harmer he reached the landmark for the third time in Essex colours with the help of eight boundaries.

Critchley and Harmer were eventually victims of a frugal afternoon spell from Murtagh, unusually bowling from the Pavilion End, but by then Essex appeared to have enough in the bank.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.