Middlesex in control against Essex until two day’s of play
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 against Essex until close of the second day’s play on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. Essex still trail by 150 runs with
just three wickets in hand.
The visitors managed 385 runs in their first innings after their skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Neil-Dexter-c2091, elected to bat first. The pitch was very good for batting, as there was no pace and swing for the bowlers in it.
The star of the show for Middlesex in the first innings was, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sam-Robson-c2421, who amassed 146 runs off 317 balls with the help of 15 boundaries. The opening batsman played sensibly, guiding his team to a very strong total, which looked difficult at one stage
of the innings.
Robson also got some support from the middle-order batsmen, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/John-Simpson-c1722, who scored half-centuries. Both players were involved in century partnerships with the team’s opening batsman and ended up scoring 52 and 65 respectively.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-Napier-c1505 was the only bowler in the Essex team, who caused a few problems for the opposition. He took a five wicket haul in the innings.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jaik-Mickleburgh-c1627 and Mark Pettini, were unable to make an impression and were sent back to the pavilion after adding 23 and 13 runs to the total. They were
followed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Walker-c95903, who scored one and six in their respective outings.
The hosts were under immense pressure at one stage, losing four batsmen for just 85 runs, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/OA-Shah-c2134 came to the rescue of his side, scoring a brilliant 96 runs. He smashed 14 fours and one towering six in his valiant knock, but failed to convert it
into three figures.
Middle-order batsman, Adam Wheater, gave good support to Shah, scoring 39 runs. He would have liked to carry onto the start to his innings, but failed to do so.
The Essex skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Foster-c1644, batted nicely along with the tail-enders and remained unbeaten on 44 until close of the second day’s play. He will be looking forward to some support from the lower-order batsmen in order to take the team’s total past 300.
However, the Middlesex bowlers will not take things lightly and will try to restrict the hosts to a lesser total. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tim-Murtagh-c2673 was the pick of the bowlers for his team, taking three wickets in the day. He will be looking for a five for, when the play resumes
today.
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