Northants bundled out on final day as Seaxes maintain promotion push
Toby Roland-Jones took 11 for 107 in the match • Getty Images
Middlesex 250 for 7 (du Plooy 66*, Robson 58, Sanderson 5-58) and 114 for 2 (Robson 64*) beat Northamptonshire 207 (Gay 42, Sanderson 40, Roland-Jones 5-49) and 167 (Roland-Jones 6-58) by eight wickets
Toby Roland-Jones made it 11 wickets in the match as Middlesex beat Northamptonshire by eight wickets at Merchant Taylors’ School to go back to second in the table.
The 36-year-old Middlesex skipper added to his 5 for 49 from the first innings with 6 for 58, making 37 in all for the campaign as Northamptonshire were dismissed soon after tea on the final day for 167, Luke Proctor top-scoring with 33.
This left Middlesex 111 to win in a minimum of 25 overs and Sam Robson‘s second half-century of the match, made off 33 balls with 10 fours, ensured they got there with some comfort.
Earlier in the day, Middlesex lost their last three wickets for 14 runs to be bowled out for 264 in their first innings, Leus Du Plooy making 71, Ben Sanderson taking 6 for 64.
After the loss of day three to rain, Middlesex resumed 43 ahead with a plan to make quick runs which quickly unravelled. Only 13 balls had been bowled and eight runs scored when du Plooy was adjudged caught behind off Justin Broad. The batter dragged himself off clearly unhappy, replays suggesting he’d missed the ball. Roland-Jones fell lbw to the next ball from Sanderson as the tail were hustled out.
With their lead only 57, Middlesex needed quick wickets and Roland-Jones obliged, removing an out of sorts looking Ricardo Vasconcelos lbw for 2.
Emilio Gay didn’t bat with the same assurance he’d shown on the opening day, frequently playing and missing before being pinned in front by Tom Helm with Northamptonshire still 20 in arrears.
Proctor survived a vociferous lbw shout from Roland-Jones to play really well either side of lunch, driving the ball crisply. However, just when it seemed he and George Bartlett had drawn the sting from the Middlesex attack, the latter slapped a wide one from Henry Brookes straight to point. Roland Jones trapped Proctor on the crease soon afterwards and followed that by castling Prithvi Shaw who, hampered by a finger injury sustained when fielding, was batting at No. 6.
When the skipper finally took his leave of the Lake End, Helm replaced him and struck immediately having Rob Keogh caught at slip by which time Northamptonshire had slipped to 104 for 6.
Lewis McManus looked key to Northamptonshire’s survival. The diminutive wicketkeeper had provided stoic resistance in the first innings and did so again here with Broad proving an able ally. The pair chewed up 81 balls, adding 38 precious runs in the process.
The resistance forced Roland-Jones to return at the opposite end and he snared McManus with the last ball before tea which spat off the surface, took the shoulder of the bat and flew to gully.
Roland-Jones 10-for in the match moment came after the resumption when he pinned Dominic Leech in front, and he finished with six, grabbing the last wicket, that of Broad, caught behind for 30.
Despite the small target, Sanderson remained a thorn in Middlesex’s side, trapping Mark Stoneman lbw before rearranging Max Holden’s furniture to rejoin Roland-Jones at the head of the Division Two wicket-takers’ list.
Runs though flowed freely from the other end, courtesy of Robson, who unfurled a series of expansive drives, proving especially belligerent against Yuzvendra Chahal as he moved swiftly to 50. Du Plooy was badly dropped in the deep off the Indian spinner when on 14, before Middlesex coasted home, Robson finishing 64 not out.
