Durham 147 & 191 (Robson 64; S.Steel 39, C.Steel 39; Harris 3/43, Finn 3/49) beat Middlesex 143 & 151 (Robson 65; Carse 6/26) by 44 runs
Brydon Carse produced a career-best six-wicket haul as Durham beat Middlesex by 44 runs at Lord’s to keep their promotion hopes alive going into the final two games of the season.
The South-African born seamer took 6-26 including a match-winning post-lunch burst of 5-9 as Durham bowled out the hosts for 151 on the third afternoon.
Middlesex began the day needing 175 more to win, but it didn’t take long for their chase to hit a bend in the road.
Nick Gubbins hit two early fours, but his stay was an all-too brief one as he nicked the 16th ball of the day bowled by Carse into the hands of Alex Lees at slip.
Stephen Eskinazi lasted just three balls before becoming Chris Rushworth’s 61st victim of the season, trapped LBW after only getting half forward.
And when the home side’s skipper and batting talisman Dawid Malan followed shortly afterwards LBW to Ben Raine, they were 45-3.
In contrast to his playing partners, Sam Robson (65) played with increasing authority, producing trademark square cuts and some beautiful on-drives in reaching 50 off 87 balls with 10 fours, the fifth time he had passed the landmark in Championship cricket this summer.
Max Holden, despite struggling to find any touch, provided valuable support in a stand of 54 before Raine returned to pin him in front shortly before lunch.
And when Rushworth ended Robson’s vigil with just the fourth ball after the resumption, the hosts were struggling again at 107-5.
Under clear skies, a sharp contrast to much of the rest of the match, batting should have been an easier proposition. But Carse struck twice in the space of three balls, first finding the edge of George Scott’s bat to give Ned Eckersley another catch, before removing the normally obdurate James Harris second ball for nought.
Debutante Miguel Cummins had shown some batting promise in the first innings but he too came under Carse’s spell, a Yorker ending his brief stay.
The five-for came when Simpson, Middlesex’s last hope of unlikely salvation, also had his furniture disturbed.
And the wicket which sealed the career-best brought victory when last man Tim Murtagh missed with a big slog, sending his stumps awry.
Durham 147 & 191 (Robson 64; S.Steel 39, C.Steel 39; Harris 3/43, Finn 3/49) lead Middlesex 143 & 21/0 by 175 runs
Angus Robson’s first Durham half-century enabled Durham to set Middlesex a tricky target of 196 for victory in their low-scoring County Championship clash at Lord’s.
Robson – the younger brother of Middlesex opener Sam – is making only his second appearance for Durham after impressing in their second XI earlier this summer.
The 27-year-old’s gritty knock of 64 from 156 deliveries anchored Durham’s second innings as they posted 191 all out to set up the prospect of a fascinating finish on the third day.
The elder Robson, along with Nick Gubbins, shaved 21 off the target during the five overs they faced before bad light ended play – but, with cloud cover expected again on Thursday, the bowlers may yet have the final word.
Middlesex began the day 60 runs in arrears at 87-7 and initially adopted a strategy of pure survival as James Harris and Miguel Cummins gradually reduced the deficit.
However, that changed after Ben Raine captured the wicket of Harris (14), with Cummins starting to play his shots and taking three boundaries from a single Chris Rushworth over.
Steven Finn added 11 before Raine (5-26) clipped the leg stump to complete his third five-for of the season, but Cummins (22*) and Tim Murtagh (14) took their side to within four of Durham’s first-innings 147.
Rushworth (3-54) eventually ended the Middlesex resistance by having Murtagh caught at backward point and then it was the turn of Durham’s batsmen to toil against the swinging ball.
Alex Lees and Cameron Steel did not seem overly troubled as they accelerated after lunch, with the latter unafraid to go for his shots in an opening partnership of 51.
Their opening stand came to an end. with Lees (13) run out by Murtagh’s throw from mid-wicket after a chaotic mix-up.
Cummins, who consistently beat the bat from the Pavilion End, got one to move away from Steel (39) and take a faint edge through to John Simpson.
Harris accounted for Peter Handscomb, leg before for three, and Durham were suddenly in difficulties at 80-4 when Gareth Harte (0) drifted across to be pinned in front of the stumps by Finn.
But Robson and Championship debutant Scott Steel, regrouped with a partnership of 47, dominated by the latter as he raced to 39 before chipping Murtagh to mid-wicket.
Harris (3-43) claimed two more lbw victims by nipping the ball back to remove Ned Eckersley (2) and Brydon Carse (0), but Robson inched towards his half-century after almost three and a half hours.
It was Finn (3-49) who finally wrapped up Durham’s innings, with Robson’s the final wicket to fall after Max Holden’s juggling act on the boundary – leaving Middlesex an awkward spell to negotiate before the close.
Gubbins began the chase by driving Rushworth’s first two deliveries to the boundary as he and Robson reached 21-0, with Middlesex requiring another 175 to win.
Day One: Durham Cricket 147-10 (Handscomb 52) lead Middlesex 87-7 (Raine 3-12, Rushworth 2-23) by 60 runs.
Ben Raine and Chris Rushworth reduced Middlesex to 87/7 on day one at Lord’s after Durham had been put into bat – bowled out for 147 by the hosts.
Australian Test star Peter Hanscomb showed runs could be made with a fluent half century for Durham, but his innings apart, this September pitch proved a graveyard for batsmen – Steven Finn doing the damage with four wickets.
But Durham fought back to reduce Middlesex to 87/7 before bad light stopped play.
For more than an hour, Middlesex skipper Dawid Malan would have been questioning his decision to bowl first after winning the toss as Cameron Steel and Alex Lees looked untroubled against the new-ball.
Steel in particular was in fluent form, stroking a glorious cover drive off Seaxes’ debutant Miguel Cummins before riding a lifting ball from Steven Finn to square cut it to the fence.
However, James Harris trapping of Lees (26) LBW in an impressive opening spell signalled the start of the bowlers’ dominance.
Just six balls later, Finn bowled Steel (29) off an inside edge and when Cummins claimed Angus Robson caught at slip for a duck from the first ball of his second spell, three wickets had fallen for three runs in 27 deliveries.
And Tim Murtagh (3-32) made the visitors’ lunch all the more indigestible when he found the edge of Gareth Harte’s bat to give wicketkeeper John Simpson his first catch of the innings from the last ball before the interval.
The trend was set and wickets continued to tumble on the resumption.
Murtagh, by now in his familiar groove from the Nursery End trapped Scott Steel LBW and Finn followed suit to send Durham skipper Ned Eckersley on his way. Harris accounted then accounted for Raine courtesy of a stunning catch by Sam Robson And Brydon Carse nicked Finn through to Simpson.
Hanscomb (54) looked a class above all else on show, standing firm to reach 50 in 66 balls with nine fours. Murtagh though retuned to castle him as the last three wickets fell for no addition to the score.
Any celebrations in the home dressing room would be short-lived however as Nick Gubbins fell LBW to Carse without a run on the board.
Eskinazi rode his luck to make 24 before Nathan Rimmington spread-eagled his stumps and then it was time for Rushworth.
He accounted for Robson with a beauty which committed the batsman to the shot, the ball taking the edge for Eckersley to pouch the catch.
His second scalp proved the better bowler you are the luckier you get as Max Holden, back in Middlesex ranks for the first time in four Championship games, flicked a ball crisply off his legs, but straight to Harte at square leg.
Another returnee for the hosts George Scott didn’t last long, bowled by a beauty from Raine, who then picked up Simpson three balls later LBW for a duck.
And the medium pacer then struck the most telling blow of all when his LBW shout against Malan (24) was upheld. His trio of scalps had come in just 11 balls.
Only the intervention of bad light seven balls later prevented further carnage on a joyous day for bowlers