Having taken the final Sussex wicket for no run, Middlesex knew they needed a good display to avoid the follow on. That never looked like happening, 4-31 for Martin-Jenkins, 3-24 for Mushtaq Ahmed and 3-42 Naved-ul-Hasan reduced Middlesex to 128 all out, with only Ed Joyce (36) scoring more then 20.

The second innings didn't get any better. 69 for Ed Smith, 42 from Chris Peploe, 21 from Ben Hutton and 14 Stuart Clark was all Middlesex could offer in terms of a fightback. Having collapsed from 45/0 to 48/7 (Owais Shah, Joyce, Jamie Dalrymple, Paul Weekes, Ben Scott and Peter Trego all getting ducks), a heavey defeat was always on the cards, despite Smith and Peploe enjoying a partnership of 97. In the end Mushy took 6-44 and Naved-ul-Hasan took 4-54. Leaving Middlesex with a lot to do to avoid the drop.

The Middlesex middle order (© Jeremy Horne)

Day 1:

Michael Yardy and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan hit blistering centuries as Sussex recovered from a shaky start to close on a huge 522-9 at the end of the first day at Lord's. Middlesex had initially gained the upper hand, with the visitors stumbling to 199-6 after winning the toss.

In a slow morning session, Sussex's batsmen found runs hard to come by and indeed were rocked by two wickets from the returning Nantie Hayward. Chris Adams then fell soon after the break, giving Peter Trego his second victim of the day, beforeMatt Prior and Michael Yardy led a mini recovery in a stand of 59, which was eventually ended with the introduction of Jamie Dalrymple.

The fun for the young spinner didn't end there either as he took a second wicket soon after, leaving Robin Martin-Jenkins back in the pavilion and Sussex 199-6, from which point, all went horribly wrong. Hard hitting saw the visitors amass over 200 runs in the afternoon session and nearly the same in the evening as Yardy andNaved-ul-Hasan added 228 for the 7th wicket, with the Pakistani making a Barmy-Kev predicted career best of 139 off just 124 balls. The stand was eventually broken when Yardy lofted a straightforward (although not in Middlesex terms) catch to Ed Joyce.

Joyce then had his own success, dismissing Naved, whilst Mushtaq Ahmed fell soon after, to one of the best full tosses Paul Weekes has ever bowled. The last wicket was not to be taken though as Mark Davis added insult to injury with a 45 ball half century that saw to sharks close on 522-9.

May i take this point in thanking the Sussex fans (a.k.a the visiting seagulls) for their loud and vocal support. A bit of a shame that you can only sing when you're winning.

Please click here for the scorecard for this match

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