CCD1: Toby Roland-Jones scores maiden century for Middlesex
Friday 11 September 2015 19:55, UK
A superb unbeaten maiden century from Toby Roland-Jones helped move Middlesex into a dominant position against champions Yorkshire at Lord's.
Middlesex began the day on 274-5, 81 runs ahead of Yorkshire, and soon lost James Franklin to Ryan Sidebottom for 63.
John Simpson arrived at the crease and put together a solid 97 run stand with Nick Compton for the seventh wicket. That steadying partnership was finally broken when Compton was trapped lbw by James Middlebrook for an impressive 149.
Simpson (47) fell just short of his half century shortly after to the part-time bowling of England's Adam Lyth.
However, Middlesex's lower order continued to score freely, with James Harris and Roland-Jones adding another 146 before the close of play.
The hosts eventually finished the day 380 runs ahead with Roland-Jones and Harris ending the day unbeaten on 103 and 67 respectively.
Elsewhere, an unbeaten 117 from Jimmy Adams helped Hampshire recover against Somerset at Taunton.
The hosts began the 569/5 but were restricted to 630, albeit 390 runs ahead, thanks to a good spell of bowling from Liam Dawson (5-139).
Hampshire openers Adams and Michael Carberry set about reducing the deficit and made 149 before the first wicket fell - Carberry caught leg before by Jack Leach for 56.
James Vince continued the away side's recovery and made 69 off 135 balls to help his team to 258-1 at the end of the day - still 132 runs behind.
Nottinghamshire moved up to third in the division with a 52 run victory over Durham in Nottingham.
The hosts began the day in trouble on 138-4, still 30 runs behind Durham's first innings total of 372.
However, a superb century from Samit Patel, who was ably assisted by Riki Wessels (85), helped the home side up to a competitive total of 382 - setting Durham a modest 215 to win.
Durham's chase got off to a poor start when Jack Burnham was bowled by Jake Ball for a first ball duck.
Scott Borthwick (25) and Mark Stoneman (31) steadily rebuilt the innings before both were dismissed in the same over by Harry Gurney to leave Durham 59-3.
Brett Hutton (5-29) then picked up the key wickets of Paul Collingwood (6) and Michael Richardson (5) as the visiting batting order collapsed.
Barry McCarthy briefly gave Durham fans hope of victory with a quickfire knock of 38 but the Irishman eventually ran out of partners, with the visitors dismissed for 162 all out.
