Higgins, Roland-Jones land telling blows to keep Middlesex on top

Yorkshire 159 and 216 for 7 (Hill 52*, Higgins 3-41, Roland-Jones 3-54) lead Middlesex 246 (du Plooy 51, De Caires 50, Thompson 5-80) by 129 runs

Ryan Higgins struck twice in successive balls, including the scalp of Harry Brook for a golden duck, while Toby Roland-Jones also captured three wickets as Middlesex maintained the upper hand in their Vitality County Championship game against Yorkshire.

Medium-pacer Higgins, who picked up four wickets in the visitors’ first innings, dismissed Finlay Bean and Brook either side of tea at Lord’s, while Roland-Jones’ three victims included Joe Root as Yorkshire slumped to 83 for 5 second time around. George Hill led the White Rose fightback in the evening session with a patient unbeaten 52 to lift them to 216 for 7 at stumps, an advantage of 129.

Earlier, Jordan Thompson‘s five-wicket haul and an impressive spell by Ben Coad, who took 4 for 59, had bowled Yorkshire back into the game, slicing through the middle order as Middlesex posted 246 with half-centuries for Leus du Plooy and Josh De Caires.

Resuming on 23 overnight, du Plooy was up and running again as he hammered Thompson’s second delivery of the morning off the back foot for four to bring up the 50 partnership with Mark Stoneman. However, Thompson made the breakthrough in his next over, slanting the ball across Stoneman to induce an edge that was gathered low by Adam Lyth, springing to his right at second slip.

Du Plooy, using his feet against the seamers to good effect, reached his half-century from 43 balls – but he soon fell victim to Coad, who sent down an impressive 10-over spell from the Nursery End. Having already pierced Higgins’ defences, Coad produced another superb delivery that jagged back at du Plooy to take out his off stump before also pinning Jack Davies leg before moving across.

Those wickets sandwiched that of Stephen Eskinazi, caught in the slips off Thompson without scoring and, at 136 for 7, the first-innings lead which had looked a formality was very much in jeopardy.

However, Roland-Jones led the Middlesex counter-attack by dispatching Mickey Edwards for a string of boundaries, with De Caires following his captain’s lead as the pair shared a stand of 56. Roland-Jones’ knock of 30 was ended when he offered a return catch to Thompson, but Tom Helm helped De Caires to guide the total beyond 200 and within touching distance of a batting bonus point.

Having posted the second red-ball half-century of his career, De Caires succumbed at once to another snorter from Coad, swinging away to take the edge and, despite Ethan Bamber’s spirited effort with the bat, he was bowled for 11 to give Thompson figures of 5 of 80.

That left Yorkshire trailing by 87 and they had reduced that by just 13 when Roland-Jones removed Lyth, for the second time in the match, and Shan Masood to bring Root to the middle with the visitors under pressure.

Root took advantage of some stray leg-stump offerings from Helm to get the scoreboard moving as he and Bean added 46 – only for Higgins to strike with successive deliveries spanning different sessions. Yorkshire were still in the red when Root departed for 32, miscuing a hook off Roland-Jones and top-edging to De Caires in the slips, but Hill settled down to frustrate the home bowlers with a watchful innings.

He lost Jonny Tattersall, castled misjudging a straight ball from Helm, but Thompson hit a valuable 26 and Coad struck a belligerent 38 not out to keep Yorkshire hopes intact going into day three.

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