County Championship: Middlesex race to verge of victory over Glamorgan

Middlesex's Toby Roland-Jones has taken 13 wickets in two Championship games against Glamorgan in 2022

Middlesex's seam attack tore Glamorgan apart as they raced to the verge of victory over their promotion rivals.

Toby Roland-Jones, captain Tim Murtagh, Ethan Bamber and Ryan Higgins proved irresistible as Glamorgan collapsed to 191-8.

The visitors began with a stand of 123 between David Lloyd (70) and Eddie Byrom before falling apart.

Glamorgan lead by just 15 runs, with Middlesex set to overtake them to go second in Division Two.

The game could have been over inside three days, but with Lord's bathed in shadows the umpires took the players off for bad light with five overs still left to bowl.

Middlesex extended their first-innings lead in the first session, adding 104 more runs for the loss of their last five wickets.

Luke Hollman made 58 as he tried to shepherd the tail, while James Harris picked up his first five-wicket haul since 2018 as he saved his best bowling for his former team-mates for the second time in the season.

New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel took 3-68, including the ninth wicket for the third bowling point with just two balls to spare.

Lloyd and Eddie Byrom put their first-innings woes behind them with an opening stand of 123 in the afternoon sunshine, Lloyd hitting 13 fours before steering Ethan Bamber to gully just before tea.

Byrom, who was dropped at slip first ball off Roland-Jones, looked solid for his 47 but fell to the same bowler immediately after the interval as Bamber took a fine catch at square-leg.

Northeast edged Roland-Jones to keeper John Simpson third ball and the game had turned dramatically within the space of 16 balls.

Shubman Gill and Kiran Carlson tried to dig in before Middlesex claimed three wickets in successive overs through captain Murtagh and Bamber, as Glamorgan's series of poor shots continued and the home fielders snapped up the edges.

James Harris and Chris Cooke tried to dig in, but Roland-Jones had Harris caught behind for 14 and Cooke fell for the same score to Higgins with Glamorgan still a run behind.

Despite the premature end to play, Middlesex - who awarded a county cap to Mark Stoneman after his third century of the season - are well placed to win early on day four.

Middlesex bowler Toby Roland-Jones:

"It was a really satisfying day, really good attritional cricket.

"They batted really nicely in the first-wicket partnership but we all had that belief that if we stuck to it and got one, things would start rolling though we didn't expect it to happen in that fashion. It was good reward for a lot of hard work.

"This bracket of fixtures was always going to be crucial at the end of the year, and when you get a chance to play your competitors for that promotion spot, it's important to come out on top.

"Once you're in control, if you play your best cricket you give yourself the best chance."

Glamorgan captain David Lloyd told BBC Sport Wales:

"We're extremely disappointed after the start we had. We got into a very good position to go forward in the game but there was some poor batting throughout the order.

"Their bowlers held their lengths well and we got caught in a mind-set, we could have been more proactive and when we had the opportunity to score we were stuck in that rut.

"(My form) hasn't been great, I've been struggling, ideally I would have carried on today but we've got to bounce back.

"However this game goes, we've got two more games and we've got to win them both. If we want to compete at the top end of the table and go higher into Division One, we've got to play better cricket than that."