James Harris takes nine wickets as Middlesex skittle Durham
Tuesday 5 May 2015 16:02, UK
James Harris took a career-best 9-34 as he tore through Durham on day four of their County Championship Division One match at Lord’s, Middlesex dismissing the visitors for 71 to win by 187 runs.
Resuming the day on 24-2, Durham needed a further 234 runs to win after five-fors for John Hastings (5-24) and Chris Rushworth (5-38) had helped skittle Middlesex out for 89 on day three.
But their batsmen fared little better, as Harris took nine wickets to add to his four in the first innings for match figures of 13-103.
“It’s hard to take in," Harris told Sky Sports News HQ following the match. "We had a plan this morning to try and take some early wickets and put them under some pressure but I’m thrilled.
“It was predicted 40-50 mph gusts so the plan was for me to swap ends and bowl down-wind but I took a couple of early ones and got on a bit of a roll."
Scott Borthwick (14) and Michael Richardson (10) added six to the score in the morning before the first wicket fell, the latter bowled by Harris.
Harris followed that up with double-strikes in his next two overs, initially trapping Calum MacLeod lbw and bowling Paul Collingwood for ducks in consecutive balls to secure his five-for and leave him on a hat-trick.
Phil Mustard (three) survived the hat-trick ball but did not last too much longer as both he and Borthwick fell in Harris’ next over, the score only 39-7 at this point.
Steven Finn (1-35) denied Harris the chance of taking all 10 wickets when he picked up Usman Arshad for his sole wicket.
Paul Coughlin (13no) and Rushworth (11) provided some brief resistance late on after Hastings was the fourth batsman to fall for a duck to Harris in the innings, before Rushworth then edged behind to end the innings and seal a comfortable 187-run win.
On day one Sam Robson belied the troubles that would later be experienced by the batsmen, scoring 178 runs to set Middlesex up on their way to racking up 463 in their first innings.
Durham’s young promising opener, 22-year-old Keaton Jennings hit 98 in reply with his side reaching 294 before the carnage started on day three.
The win is Middlesex’s second in succession and Durham’s first defeat of the season.
