New makes half-century but County battling to avoid follow-on

Date: Wednesday 29 April 2009

Close of Day Two: Middlesex 493-7 (Strauss 150, Hughes 138, Morgan 114*, White 3-94, Harris 3-105) lead Leics 161-5 (New 66, Finn 3-42) by 332 runs.

Tom New made a welcome half-century but Leicestershire still face an uphill task to save the follow-on in the Championship game at Southgate.

After Middlesex called time on their first innings at 493-7, things had begun promisingly, but tailed off to 161-5 by the close.

New played nicely for 66, sharing decent stands with Matthew Boyce and HD Ackerman in the process.

However, when both New and Ackerman were dismissed in quick succession, County were wobbling at 125-4.

Josh Cobb (23*) and Paul Nixon set about rebuilding, but the skipper fell shortly before the close which left Leics in further trouble.

On the positive, New, who by his own admission has been out of touch so far this term, looked more like his usual self with a 12-four, 98-ball innings before being caught by Neil Dexter at extra-cover off the bowling of veteran home skipper Shaun Udal.

The left-hander had shared 49 with Matthew Boyce and a further 70 with HD Ackerman (29), who also looked the part before being trapped lbw by Alan Richardson.

New and Ackerman dug in after England prospect Steven Finn (3-42) rocked the boat just after tea.

Boyce and New had got through a tricky period prior to the interval, but Finn struck a double blow after the break to leave County in a spot of bother.

Firstly, the lively seamer had Boyce caught behind by keeper Ben Scott, and then trapped Boeta Dippenaar lbw with the first ball he received after the batsman elected not to play a shot.

He also had the final say of proceedings, dismissing Nixon for eight courtesy of a rare rash shot and a high catch by Richardson at cover.

Cobb, who made his maiden Championship ton in the corresponding fixture at Lord’s last season, was importantly still there at the close, alongside England under-19 colleague James Taylor (3*).

Earlier in the day, Eoin Morgan became Middlesex’s third centurion of the innings after Phil Hughes followed Andrew Strauss into three figures.

County’s seamers had a productive morning by claiming five wickets between them, but Morgan (114*) and Tim Murtagh (51*) frustrated County after lunch with an unbroken stand of 110.

Although Hughes went to and beyond his second Championship century for Middlesex and Morgan moved past 50, County chipped away impressively at the batting line-up.

Iain O’Brien made the first breakthrough, having Dexter caught behind by Nixon for 27.

The key wicket of Aussie Hughes was then made by AJ Harris as Nixon took a fine catch to end his 288-ball stay for 139, which included 13 fours and two maximums.

When the highly-rated Dawid Malan was bowled by Harris from the very next ball, County had their tails up.

And so it continued. Although Morgan made his way to 50, Nixon held a fourth catch of the innings to give Wayne White a second wicket when Scott edged behind, and the tall paceman bowled Udal shortly after.

That left the hosts on 385-7 at lunch, when at one stage they were 354-3.

There was less joy after the interval as the left-handed duo of Morgan and Murtagh pushed Middlesex past their full batting bonus points and towards 500.

The Irishman’s total came from 140 balls with 14 fours and a six, while the former Surrey bowler also scored at a fair pace, making his runs from 71 balls with three fours.

White ended with 3-94, while Harris finished with 3-105 as County’s two most successful bowlers.