Middlesex 236 and 183 for 6 (Eskinazi 73, Patel 4-38) lead Warwickshire 276 (Rhodes 118, Harris 4-84, Murtagh 3-43) by 143 runs
Scorecard
Chris Woakes is struggling to push his claims for a place in England’s Test squad for the first Test against India. That the Test takes place on his home ground at Edgbaston is a point in his favour, but nobody looking on at Lord’s over the past two days would contend that a week out from the start of the series he is at the peak of his form.
Woakes’ first red-ball match of the season for Warwickshire – he has suffered knee and thigh injuries – has come at an opportune time, and there is nowhere better than Lord’s for drawing attention to yourself. But his 0 for 75 in 14 overs in the first innings against Middlesex has been followed by 1 for 43 in 10 overs second time around.
He will have limited opportunity to improve on that on the third day after determined Middlesex resistance fell apart in the post-tea session when the offspinner Jeetan Patel took four wickets. Here was a phase of the game which exemplified why Warwickshire are leaders and Middlesex are not. Middlesex closed the second day at 183 for 6, a lead of 143, after Will Rhodes’ second Championship hundred had given Warwickshire a 40-run advantage on first innings.
Woakes’ wicket was a decent one – a lifting delivery around off stump which Paul Stirling edged to first slip – but his low-key celebration had a hint of discontent about it, a signal perhaps that he knows his rhythm is not quite right. Ed Smith, the national selector, could build a case around the fact that Woakes is a key asset in balancing the side, but how much would that be seeing what he wants to see?
Smith also watched Woakes at New Road, playing for England Lions against India A last week. A bold selection that left him as high No. 6, with Ollie Pope keeping wicket and batting at five, enabled onlookers to compare Woakes directly with Pope’s Surrey team-mate Sam Curran, who batted at No. 7. Woakes took 3 for 49 in the match but Curran took the new ball in both innings and finished with seven wickets. It is not a straightforward call.
Warwickshire, four down overnight, extended their first innings beyond lunch, sustained by Rhodes’ diligent 118, an innings which ticked along by judicious square-of-the-wicket deflections. Twice this season, Rhodes has responded well to the loss of early wickets, engineering a Warwickshire victory against Northants at Edgbaston in May when he produced a maiden Championship hundred after losing four partners cheaply. Woakes’ fate, incidentally, was to be strangled down the leg side.
Rhodes was 94 when Warwickshire’s ninth wicket fell. A nudge through mid-on, which trickled down to the Warner Stand, took him to 98 and he then risked a single to got to 99, leaving Ryan Sidebottom with two balls to survive against Ollie Rayner. Sidebottom was up to the task – just – and Rhodes worked James Fuller off his hip to reach his hundred off the next ball. There followed one or two Buttler-esque flashes of invention before he hungrily skied a full-blooded pull at James Harris, who held an extremely challenging catch.
Middlesex responded well to the loss of Stirling, with Nick Gubbins and Stevie Eskinazi compiling a century stand for the second wicket, but visions of a victory to revitalise their season in the nick of time seem to have been arrested by Patel, who had 4 for 38 in 18 overs by the close.
Gubbins was outwitted as he pushed forward and Eskinazi’s firm prod was slickly picked up by Sam Hain at forward short leg. Eoin Morgan might change many a game in the middle order as England’s one-day captain, but such interventions are rare for Middlesex in the Championship: he fell for 3 off 25 balls as he pulled at Patel. Max Holden chose adventure and perished at mid-off, while Oliver Hannon-Dalby exposed Dawid Malan’s indeterminate footwork to bowl him. Five wickets had fallen in 18 overs and perhaps, finally, any thoughts that Middlesex might charge through the second division in the second half of the season had fallen with them.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo