Ollie Rayner’s 5-49 saw Middlesex ruthlessly seize control of their County Championship match at Edgbaston.
The off-spinner’s efforts earned his side a first-innings lead of 70, built on by an unbroken opening stand of 63 between Nick Gubbins and Sam Robson.
The game was evenly balanced in mid-afternoon with the home side, replying to 242, advancing slowly but steadily at 122-2.
But it lurched Middlesex’s way after a dramatic collapse instigated by the departure of Ian Westwood (81), whose valiant innings ended in a run out following a bad call by Ian Bell.
The malaise swept through the team as the last eight wickets fell for 50 runs against the spin of Rayner and Ravi Patel (2-54).
Warwickshire had resumed in the morning hoping to reel in Middlesex’s seemingly below par first innings, and reached 75-2 at lunch, after Varun Chopra and Jonathan Trott had edged fine balls from Harry Podmore and Toby Roland-Jones respectively.
Westwood was resolute and was heading towards a second century in successive Championship matches until Bell called for a single that was never there.
Six overs later, it was 128-6. Patel had Sam Hain taken at slip and Bell (19) caught behind, while Rayner snared Rikki Clarke lbw.
Alex Mellor and Keith Barker added 24 but, after tea, Rayner rifled through the lower order with four wickets in 16 balls, and at one stage was on a hat-trick.
In contrast to that clatter, Gubbins and Robson were untroubled before the close to cement their side’s superiority on a day which suggested they are more than ready to handle the pressures of a title race with champions Yorkshire.
This post was last modified on 03/09/2016