Middlesex slump to heavy Lord’s defeat

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Middlesex 276 & 254 lost to Durham 377 & 294 by 141 runs

Another disappointing batting display saw Middlesex crumble to a 141-run defeat to Durham which fails to dispel lingering relegation fears.

Needing to score an unlikely 352 runs on the final day for victory, the home side instead lost six wickets in the morning session, crumbling from 48-1 to 139-7.

Ollie Rayner (38) and Toby Roland-Jones (26) defied the bowlers with a swift half-century stand but it was merely delaying the inevitable.

Tim Murtagh (34) was the last man to fall, as he holed out to mid-off to confirm Durham’s victory midway through the afternoon session.

It means Middlesex drop below Durham into seventh, but they were kept at arms’ length from the relegation zone after Lancashire lost to Sussex.

Middlesex went into the final day at HQ knowing they would have to bat well and score quickly to even threaten the target of 396 they had been set by Durham.

But having lost skipper Chris Rogers the previous evening, they could have done without three wickets falling in the first hour.

Sam Robson (38) was lbw to the fifth ball of the day while the in-form Chris Rushworth also accounted for Eoin Morgan (21) and Neil Dexter (4).

John Simpson was trapped lbw by Peter Chase half an hour before lunch and Paul Stirling was bowled by Paul Collingwood as Middlesex collapsed to 126-6.

Dawid Malan, who scored 21 boundaries in making 97 in the first innings, was a little more circumspect second time around but was still proving difficult to dislodge.

He had compiled 46 from 113 balls but just as he thought he had survived into the afternoon, he was lbw to Collingwood off the final ball before the interval.

The end looked nigh but Rayner and Roland-Jones demonstrated the resilience of the Middlesex lower order, bringing up their 50 partnership off exactly 50 balls.

Roland-Jones was caught behind for 26 and, after he had put on another 32 with Tim Murtagh, Rayner had his middle stump ripped out by Ben Stokes.

Murtagh, who took 10 wickets in the match, decided to play a few shots and found a couple of boundaries but he tried one too many as he was caught by a backpedalling Chase to spark Durham celebrations.

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