Holden ton gives Middlesex control v Glamorgan
Max Holden added a century to his 69 and 184 in the opening game at Lord's this season
- Published
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Lord's (day two)
Glamorgan: 199 (69.5 overs): Ul Hassan 65, Kellaway 54*; Roland-Jones 3-44
Middlesex: 353-4 (117 overs): Holden 107, Du Plooy 85*, Fernandes 58, Geddes 51*; van der Gugten 3-55
Middlesex (5 pts) lead Glamorgan (1 pt) by 154 runs with six first-innings wickets standing
Max Holden's 107 steered Middlesex into a big lead as they reached 353-4 against Glamorgan, already 154 ahead.
Nathan Fernandes made a solid 58 before Holden and Leus du Plooy added 135 as they accelerated in the afternoon.
Du Plooy (85 not out) and Ben Geddes batted quietly through the evening session to stretch the home advantage.
Timm van der Gugten, with three for 55 in 28 overs, was an outstanding spearhead in the Glamorgan attack.
But Middlesex were well in control for most of day two.
- Published31 January
Resuming at 63-0, Middlesex lost Steve Eskinazi for 39, driving Van der Gugten to a diving Ben Kellaway at point as the Dutch international bowled four consecutive maidens and Ned Leonard also started tightly.
The attritional cricket continued as Max Holden dug in alongside Nathan Fernandes, who reached a solid and patient 50 off 102 balls before falling on the stroke of lunch edging Van der Gugten to slip for 58.
Only 55 runs came in the first session with the tempo changing afterwards as Holden got after England spinner Shoaib Bashir, swatting him leg-side for six and four before a lucky edge between keeper and slip.
Remarkably Bashir, in his third and final loan match, has only now matched his 15 Tests, taking 49 wickets, with 15 first-class appearances outside Tests.
Holden dominated the century stand with Du Plooy in the afternoon session, adding to his 184 against Lancashire at HQ, as Middlesex powered ahead with just two wickets down.
But Holden's intelligent innings, including 16 fours and a six off 198 balls, came to an end when Zain Ul Hassan took a fine low catch on the cover boundary to add to his economical bowling performance.
Ryan Higgins quickly followed him, caught behind down leg-side off the deserving Leonard.
But Middlesex's fifth wicket partnership of Du Plooy and Geddes concentrated on consolidating their team's advantage rather than racking up bonus points, settling for just two from their batting effort at 330-4 after 110 overs.
Geddes reached his half-century just before the close, but Middlesex will need to bat into the third day even though poor weather is possible on Monday afternoon.
Middlesex's Max Holden told BBC Sport Wales:
"It was all about playing the long game today, it wasn't the easiest wicket to score quickly at times when the Glammy guys bowled in good areas, so it was about being patient and grinding them down.
"You can get good value for your shots if you do the hard work early, which Nathan and me did in the first session to make things easier later on.
"There've been some tricky times for me here in the past, so I'm trying to make it count when I'm in good form and hopefully I can keep it going.
"The main thing was to try to get as big a lead as we can and give the bowlers as many runs as possible to play with, trying to play the long game rather than nick a point or two."
Glamorgan's Timm van der Gugten told BBC Sport Wales:
"I'm personally pretty happy with how the ball has been coming out in this game, we bowled quite well as a whole today and we were on top for periods but we didn't have any luck. We controlled the scoreboard but we didn't get as many opportunities as we would have liked.
"It's not too bad (bowling a lot), it is only April and playing at Lord's you don't have to get any extra energy to bowl, it's an amazing place to play and you relish any experience here.
"We'll try to take these wickets as quickly as we can, and just bat time, to see where the game leads us."