Middlesex vs Nottinghamshire Day 2: Duckett’s 177 puts Nottinghamshire in command
Ben Duckett built on his overnight total of 119 to finish on 177 off 250 balls to help Nottinghamshire reach 364 in their first innings.
The England opener eventually fell to the bowling of Ryan Higgins who had Martin Andersson to thank after holding onto a difficult catch.
A rain-delayed start meant play resumed at 14:10.
Steven Mullaney built a promising 90-run partnership with Duckett that continued from overnight. But, the Nottinghamshire captain was unable to reach the 50th half-century of his first-class career, falling for 46 LBW to Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones.
As soon as Mullaney departed, wickets fell in quick succession for Nottinghamshire, losing their final four wickets for just 49 runs.
Ethan Bamber was the pick of the bowlers for Middlesex, picking up 4-89 off 26 overs.
Middlesex started off their innings well with a 50-run partnership between openers Mark Stoneman and Sam Robson.
But the ball after they reached their 50 partnership, Robson fell LBW off the bowling of Lyndon James.
Stuart Broad picked up the wicket of Pieter Malan in the final over of the day, leaving Middlesex 111-2 at the end of the day’s play.
After a frustrating morning for both sides due to the delayed start, Nottinghamshire resumed their innings on 252-5 with Duckett and Mullaney returning to the middle 119 and 14 not out respectively.
Higgins and Anderson opened the bowling with 11 overs remaining till the second new ball was due. But, failed to challenge Duckett or Mullaney with little movement on offer for the bowlers.
After seeing out the first five overs of the second new ball, Middlesex eventually took their first wicket of the day, Mullaney falling four short of his half-century after being given out LBW to captain Roland-Jones.
Soon after, Duckett brought up his 150 off 222 balls with a cover drive for four off the bowling of Roland-Jones.
But not long after, the wickets began to fall more frequently.
Liam Patterson-White and Brett Hutton fell in quick succession at the hands of Bamber, caught behind and bowled respectively.
Just after tea, attempting to up the rate of scoring, Duckett finally fell for 177 off 257 balls. He picked out Andersson in the outfield who hardly had to move, taking the catch off the bowling of Higgins.
Nottinghamshire’s innings only lasted a single ball longer. Dane Paterson was bowled by Higgins who picked up his second wicket of the innings.
That signalled the end of Nottinghamshire’s innings, finishing with 364 off 99.3 overs.
In reply, Middlesex started strongly. An opening 50-run partnership between openers Stoneman and Robson gave the home side a solid base to build off.
But the next ball after Stoneman brought up the 50-run partnership, Robson was dismissed. He was trapped LBW off the bowling of Lyndon James.
That brought Pieter Malan to the crease, who steadied the ship with Stoneman.
The left-handed Stoneman then brought up his 50 in confident fashion, pulling a short ball to the mid-wicket boundary off the bowling of James.
Soon after, Stoneman brought up the second 50-run partnership of the innings, this time between himself and Malan.
Just as it looked as if the pair would bat until the end of the day, Stuart Broad struck.
He trapped Malan LBW for 26, which brought about the end of the day’s play with Middlesex 111-2, giving Nottinghamshire a lead of 253 runs at the end of day two.
