Curran punishes Middlesex after Roland-Jones heroics

Middlesex will have to fight hard on the final day to prevent defeat after Sam Curran impressed with both bat and ball at a sun-drenched Lord’s.

The 18-year-old all-rounder took four wickets in the morning session and then scored an unbeaten half-century in the evening as Surrey closed 356 ahead with four second innings wickets remaining.

Curran’s 13-ball burst of three wickets helped Surrey take a 122-run first-innings lead, which they extended handsomely despite a similar flurry of wickets by Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones (pictured).

He took 3-0 in seven balls as Surrey subsided from 47-0 to 47-4, a lead of only 169, raising the home side’s hopes of chasing a moderate target.

However, first-innings centurion Jason Roy (37) put on 60 with Steven Davies before Curran (71 not out) and Ben Foakes (50 not out) took the game away from Middlesex, adding an unbeaten 126 for the seventh wicket.

It was the younger Curran brother’s highest first-class score and built on the work done with the ball in the morning.

Surrey required less than an hour to polish Middlesex off with the second new ball, as not out batsmen James Franklin (17) and John Simpson (58) fell quickly.

They added only 44 to their overnight score, for the final five wickets, and were dismissed seven runs shy of a third batting bonus point.