Strauss struggles again as Notts make Middlesex suffer

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Close, day two: Nottinghamshire 423 v Middlesex 51-3

Andrew Strauss fell for just two runs in the evening after Middlesex failed to halt Nottinghamshire short of 400 runs.

The England captain has now failed to make double figures in three of his four innings for Middlesex since re-joining them last month.

But just as poor on day two at Trent Bridge was Middlesex’s bowling, with Michael Lumb able to bat an excellent 162 and Steven Mullaney adding a half-century in the afternoon.

In contrast to a rainswept day one, play went almost completely uninterrupted but so did Nottinghamshire’s batting for most of the day.

The hosts resumed the morning 132-1 after Alex Hales enjoyed what limited play there was on Wednesday.

But the England prospect managed just eight more runs before he was caught at slip by Strauss in the seventh over.

Middlesex would have hoped to grab more wickets but instead former England twenty20 batsman Lumb smashed his way to a century before lunch.

He led an excellent 83-run partnership with Riki Wessels before the Australian was run out by Middlesex captain Chris Rogers.

And then Lumb took the score past 300 after the first interval in partnership with Mullaney.

Lumb eventually fell in the 57th over of day two when he was caught by Murtagh off a Gareth Berg delivery.

Mullaney then hit two fours and a six in the same over to bring up his half-century before Strauss dropped a chance catch him out.

The players were off the field for a short time around 3.30pm because of a brief period of rain.

Mullaney was caught in the deep for 63 by Berg as England seamer Steve Finn took the first of three wickets after tea.

Finn made Broad clip to Strauss for 12 runs, took the catch that saw Notts captain Chris Read dismissed and then finally ended a flamboyant performance from Andre Adams that took Notts past their fourth century.

Strauss then survived just 11 deliveries before left-arm seamer Harry Gurney had the experienced opener’s scalp.

Fellow opener Sam Robson and the skipper Rogers also fell before close but Joe Denly remained 32 unbeaten.

See also: Middlesex capture Sri Lanka star Malinga

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