Time for some floodlight cricket, Middlesex vs Somerset at Lord's, Middlesex won the toss and fielded meaning we got to see an early burst of the in form openers Marcus Trescothick and Pete Trego. It was only until the fourth over that the first boundary as Harris went for six and four over midwicket by Trescothick as Somerset raced to 50 in the 7th over, thanks to another six from Trescothick. The chaos soon stopped, with Ollie Rayner striking in his first over to bowl Trescothick for 41, and when Trego then edged Harris to Rossington for 35, it was 85-2. Things got better, with Nick Compton (6) hitting Rayner to Dexter at midwicket, 85-3 and the scoring rate now collapsed. James Hildreth and Dean Elgar plodded along, before Rayner picked up his third, Elgar swinging to Dexter at cover for 24, 121-4. Middlesex kept the pressure on and soon Alex Barrow fell, popping a return catch to Paul Stirling for 15, 158-5. In the midst of this, Hildreth completed a 72 ball 50 with his 2nd four. The spinner exerting good pressure on the middl order, which seemed to be wilting.
186-5 with five overs left, and Arul Suppiah gave Murtagh a wicket for 10, heaving to Malan in the deep, and Meschede came and went stumped off Roland-Jones (but not before hitting the same bowler into the pavilion) for 12. We come to the final over with Hildreth on strike, Harris serve up the first ball on a length, and it disappears into the Grand Stand over midwicket, the second ball is similar, and gets the same treatment. The third is fuller, and is swing squarer into the grand stand for another 6, the fourth sails away for four, and Hildreth completed a great hundred by reverse paddling a final full toss through third man for four, 102 off 94 balls as Somerset finished 247-7. Rayner the best bowler with 3-31 from his 8.
Stirling and Malan gave Middlesex a solid if unspectacular start, with runs coming fairly easily, as they kept up with the required rate, Stirling hitting consecutive fours off Kirby and Malan hitting Trego for a big six over midwicket. Stirling slammed Meschede to mid off to go for 27 with the score on 71, but this didn't put Malan off, who was hitting boundaries freely and completed 50 from 48 balls. His cover drives were particularly well hit and Joe Denly didn't want to be left out, striking Suppiah into the Tavern Stand for a huge six. The carnage didn't stop, Overton no-ball, hit for four, Waller drags one down, hit for four as the 150 came up in the 24th over. But the came wasn't over, as Denly top edged a sweep off Max Waller where Barrow took a good high catch running back for 31 from 40. Chris Roger went next over, edging Jamie Overton to slip where Trescothick took a sharp catch at the second attempt, with Barrow diving in front of him. Overton then had Rossington trapped LBW for 6, before Malan edged Meschede to Barrow for 99 off 100 balls, having looked nervous throughout the 90s with wickets falling around him, it was a poor end to a great innings.
The game was looking a bit more dodgy, 185-5, needing 63 off nine overs with 5 wickets left. Dexter and Berg took up the challenge, scoring steadily in the powerplay and had whittled it down to 30 off 24 when Meschede bowled a full toss, which Dexter nailed into the Grand Stand for six, and even though Berg swiped to Elgar at mid on off Meschede, Rayner (12 off 7) and Dexter (39) saw them home, a sweep from Rayner going for four to seal a nervy four wicket win with 5 balls to spare. Rayner given man of the match by Sky.
