Middlesex wrap up victory over Somerset
Middlesex 347 and 72-1 beat Somerset 152 and 265 by nine wickets
(Middlesex 22 pts, Somerset 3 pts)
Middlesex beat the rain and the clock to complete victory inside three days at Taunton and return to the top of the County Championship.
Tim Murtagh again shone with the ball, taking his 10th wicket of the match, and Middlesex knocked off their target of 70 in an extended evening session after bad weather had threatened to take the match into a fourth day.
Somerset, facing the possibility of a humiliating innings defeat, had earlier launched a counter attack to ensure Middlesex would need to bat again.
But Murtagh took the key scalp of the free-scoring Peter Trego (82) and last man Steve Kirby to bowl the hosts out for 265 and Middlesex needed just 12.3 overs to secure the win.
In truth, the groundwork had all been done on Thursday. Somerset, resuming on 112-5, still needed 83 to avoid an innings loss after Middlesex had taken 15 wickets the previous day.
But they were in the midst of a mini-recovery – Trego had joined Joss Buttler at 35-5 and on Friday morning the pair continued from where they had left off, with several boundaries in the first hour to push their stand beyond 100.
Enter Murtagh, the scourge of Somerset, who provided the crucial breakthrough when he had Trego caught for 82.
That left the home side on 157-6, still 38 behind, but Buttler’s partnerships with Alfonso Thomas and Jack Leach proved fruitful enough for Somerset to pass the 195 mark just before lunch and make Middlesex bat again.
Tom Smith picked up his first Championship wicket since last August when he bowled Leach and Gareth Berg ended Buttler’s fun and games as he had him caught for 85.
Murtagh wrapped things up with his sixth wicket of the innings – and tenth of the match – as Somerset were all out for 265, a lead of just 70.
Rogers wasted little time in setting about the Somerset bowling, scoring two boundaries in the first over, but bad light and then rain forced the players off after just nine balls.
Despite a bleak outlook, conditions improve enough for play to resume at about 6.20pm – and Middlesex scored quickly enough to bring the target ever closer and allow them to take the extra half hour.
Rogers hit 25 from 30 balls before he was bowled by Jamie Overton, but Sam Robson (24 not out) and Joe Denly (14 not out) eased Middlesex over the line.
They top Division One of the County Championship, three points ahead of Yorkshire.
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