Somerset recover after Finn’s double strike

By

Close, day two: Somerset 153-4 trail Middlesex 338 by 185 runs

Middlesex failed to press home their advantage with both bat and ball as Somerset recovered to leave the match evenly poised after day two at Uxbridge.

Dawid Malan completed his century and went on to make 124 while Paul Stirling scored 56, but Middlesex lost their final four wickets for just 19 runs as they were bowled out for 338.

Steven Finn then grabbed two wickets as Somerset slumped to 28-3 but again the home side couldn’t capitalise.

Nick Compton (58 not out) and James Hildreth (53) led the fightback and, after bad light curtailed the day’s play, Somerset closed on 153-4, 185 runs adrift.

Middlesex had resumed on 211-4, after rain had wiped out the entire evening session on Monday.

They lost John Simpson early on but Malan and Stirling shared a half-century partnership for the sixth wicket.

Malan made his second Championship century in a week but he was scuppered by the new ball, which was just a couple of overs old when he was caught behind off Alfonso Thomas’s bowling.

Stirling and Toby Roland-Jones (31) added a further 40 as the Irishman clocked up a fourth half-century in as many Championship matches this season.

Then, with lunch moments away, Stirling played on to Craig Overton for 56.

Somerset were further boosted with the very next ball, the first after the interval, as Overton completed his unfinished over by bowling Tim Murtagh for a golden duck.

Steven Finn fell for a duck a few overs later and Roland-Jones top edged to the wicket-keeper, as Middlesex slumped from 279-5 and 319-6 to 338 all out.

Finn immediately got among the Somerset top order, inducing an edge to slip from Chris Jones and getting former England batsman Marcus Trescothick caught behind for 14, leaving Somerset on 15-2.

When Alviro Petersen fell to Murtagh for just one, the visitors were reeling at 28-3 – still requiring another 160 to avoid the follow-on.

However, Compton and Hildreth dragged Somerset out of the wilderness with a stand of 75, ended when Neil Dexter bowled Hildreth.

Compton and Alex Barrow shared in an unbroken 50 partnership which took Somerset up to 153-4 when the light became unplayable.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook