Middlesex close in on victory over Leicestershire

The Foxes were sniffing a way back into the contest, after being bowled out on day one for 149, when the hosts slipped to 218 for five shortly before lunch, Mark Stoneman having fallen for 108, his first century for Middlesex at Lord’s.

However, Simpson with 71 and Hollman 45 sucked the life out of those hopes by adding 112 for the sixth wicket, carrying Middlesex passed 300 in the first innings of a County Championship match for the third game in a row - the first time the Seaxes have achieved the feat since June 2017.

Ben Mike’s late spell of four for 15 saw Middlesex eventually dismissed for 370, but Shaheen Shah Afridi with two for 18 and Ethan Bamber (one for six) ripped out the Foxes’ top order once more to leave them 37 for three at stumps, still needing 184 to make the hosts bat again.

Middlesex’s resumed on 142-2, seven runs in arrears, but were soon ahead thanks to a flurry of boundaries from skipper Peter Handscomb.

However, with the hard work looking like it had been done the Australian fenced at one from Chris Wright to be caught at slip.

New batsman Max Holden was in a hurry, reverse sweeping Callum Parkinson to the boundary, but he never looked comfortable.

At the other end Stoneman got an attack of the nervous 90s, surviving a huge lbw appeal from Parkinson on 99.

His dab into the offside in search of his hundredth run saw a shy at the stumps which had it hit would have left Holden well short of his ground.

Holden’s skittish effort ended soon afterwards when he charged Parkinson only to jam the attempted drive into his foot, the ball rebounding onto his pads and then the stumps, disturbing the leg bail.

When Stoneman heaved across a long hop from the spinner the hosts were only 69 ahead, but Simpson and Hollman soon set about snuffing out any glimmer of light for the visitors.

Simpson, fresh from his hundred against Glamorgan last week, struck the ball purposefully from the off and Hollman caught the mood twice punching Parkinson through the covers for four.

The afternoon saw the pair grow in confidence, Simpson lofting Parkinson over mid-off for four, one of eight in a 50 reached in 83 balls. Hollman too was enjoying himself, flat-batting a wide one from Beuran Hendricks over point for six.

Middlesex’s record sixth-wicket partnership of 130 against Leicestershire by grandees Clive Radley and Fred Titmus back in 1965 was in sight when the belatedly introduced Mike yorked Hollman five short of a deserved half-century, Simpson following to the same bowler shortly afterwards caught at slip.

Mike ran through the tail, but some eccentric hitting including a huge six by Afridi (29) ensured a fourth batting point and a lead of 221.

Afridi’s batting antics served as a perfect warm-up for his new-ball burst and the Pakistani speedster struck in his third over, pinning Hassan Azad plumb in front and five balls later came the prize wicket of skipper Colin Ackerman, so often the scourge of Middlesex, who bagged a pair after edging to the safe hands of Hollman at slip.

Bamber, unusually bowling from the Nursery End to accommodate Afridi, joined in the fun by rearranging Louis Kimber’s furniture before mercifully for Leicestershire the fading light forced an early close.

Leicestershire pace-man Mike, who took four for 15 when asked if he'd been tempted to drop the catch off Wright's bowling which ended the innings so he could claim a fifer, said: "I said to Wrighty afterwards it would have been funny, but he said if I'd done that he would have been fuming.

"Obviously I was never going to do that.

"It's a team game at the end of the day, so it is best to get off the field as quick as possible.

"There are a lot of bowlers in the squad for this game, so I knew I wasn't necessarily going to bowl many overs, but it is always nice to be bowling and be involved.

"I warmed up a few times trying to catch the eye, but you've just got to stay patient.

"We've shown in patches we have got the fight in us and we can do it. It is about doing it from ball one and not getting taken out of the game as early as we have done in this game."