Rising England fast-bowler James Harris, on May 5, took his career-best haul of 9 for 34 as his county team Middlesex thrashed Durham by 187 runs in a strange LV= County Championship Division One match at Lord’s that saw both teams getting bundled out under hundred (in second innings) after posting a decent first innings score.
After being put into bat, Sam Robson played an incredible innings of 178 and with good support from Nick Compton and skipper Adam Voges, Middlesex put on a good total of 463 in their first innings. John Hastings was the pick of the bowlers for Durham as he finished with the figures of 33-8-87-4.
In reply, Durham never got going as their batters including skipper Paul Collingwood, Chris Rushworth failed to make their starts count and as a result of this, their innings stumbled for 294, giving Middlesex a first innings lead of 169 runs. Keaton Jennings fell short of his hundred by two runs whereas Harris picked the most wickets (4) for Middlesex.
With a solid first innings lead, Middlesex would have hoped to capitalize on it but Hastings and Rushworth both delivered an excellent spell as Middlesex got bowled out for 89 inside 25 overs. Both Rushworth and Hastings took five wickets apiece with the latter finishing with a total of 9 wickets in the match.
Defending the target of 259, Harris wrecked havoc on Durham’s batting line-up and they got skittled out for just 71. The match saw 20 wickets fall for just 160 runs over two days.
At the post-match presentation, Harris said:
“Once you get into a bit of a rhythm, you don’t tend to feel tired or any exterior things. It didn’t swing too much, it just did a little bit off the surface which is perfect for me. I was on a bit of a roll and thankfully it kept happening.”
Brief Scores:
Middlesex 463 (Robson 178, Simpson 58, Voges 57, Compton 50, Hastings 4-87) and 89 (Hastings 5-24, Rushworth 5-38) beat Durham 294 (Jennings 98, Harris 4-69) and 71 (Harris 9-34) by 187 runs