Middlesex 215 & 80-1 beat Derbyshire 231 & 60 by 9 wickets
(Middlesex 23 pts, Derbyshire 4 pts)
Tim Murtagh claimed five wickets and Toby Roland-Jones took a hat-trick as a sensational bowling display helped Middlesex to a second straight County Championship victory.
Having been bowled out in the morning 16 runs short of a first-innings lead, few would have predicted Middlesex would wrap up victory just a few hours later.
But a dramatic third day at Lord’s saw Murtagh and Roland-Jones perform heroics with the ball as Derbyshire were skittled out for just 60, their lowest-ever total against Middlesex.
And although the in-form Sam Robson fell for a first-ball duck, Chris Rogers and Joe Denly had little trouble in reaching the lowly victory target of 77.
Middlesex began the day on 180-6, with Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner at the crease, still 51 runs behind the visitors’ first innings.
Between them the pair edged the total beyond 200 but once Rayner was out lbw, the tail failed to wag and Berg was left stranded on 42 as Middlesex were bowled out for 215.
The match looked evenly poised at that stage – but Derbyshire were left stunned by some superb bowling which decimated their top order.
Billy Godleman, top scorer in the first innings with 55, fell in the third over, the first of Murtagh’s five victims.
By the time Murtagh had accounted for Jonathan Clare, his final wicket, Derbyshire had slumped to 26-6 – and Middlesex sensed a convincing victory.
The dogged Shivnarine Chanderpaul, so often a thorn in international bowlers’ sides, remained at the crease, but the 38-year-old watched lesser mortals come and go as Middlesex went in for the kill.
And the innings was wrapped up in the most perfect fashion possible – a hat-trick from Roland-Jones.
He had Antonio Palladino caught behind, then saw Tim Greoenewald caught by Dawid Malan first ball and cleaned up Mark Turner’s stumps with the hat-trick ball.
Derbyshire thought they might have had a sniff of a comeback when Robson, who has made three half-centuries in his last three innings, was out for a golden duck.
But Rogers (27 not out) and Denly (44 not out) ensured there were no further scares as Middlesex moved to the top of Division One.
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This post was last modified on 19/04/2013