Middlesex set for win over Glamorgan
Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones contributed with bat and ball as his team took control
- Published
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Lord's (day three)
Glamorgan: 199: Ul Hassan 65, Kellaway 54*; Roland-Jones 3-44
& 186-5: Carlson 54*; Roland-Jones 2-50
Middlesex: 470-9 dec: Holden 107, Du Plooy 89, Geddes 83, Fernandes 58; Kellaway 4-61, van der Gugten 3-71
Glamorgan (1 pt) trail Middlesex (5 pts) by 85 runs with five second-innings wickets standing
Middlesex are strong favourites for a first win of the season after reducing Glamorgan to 186-5 in their second innings, still 85 runs behind.
The home bowlers took charge in the second half of the day, with captain Toby Roland-Jones hitting the stumps twice in two balls to ram home his team's advantage.
Glamorgan were left battling defeat for the third time in a row, despite Kiran Carlson's 54 not out.
Middlesex declared on 470-9 with Leus du Plooy making 89 and Ben Geddes 83, with 21-year-old off-spinner Ben Kellaway claiming 4-61 to follow his maiden first-class 50.
- Published31 January
After a sedate evening session on day two, Du Plooy and Geddes immediately moved up several gears as Middlesex looked to press on towards a declaration.
With both men looking set for three figures, Kellaway removed the pair in quick succession.
Glamorgan were rushing to erase an errant over-rate of minus six, and Kellaway out-bowled England Test spinner Shoaib Bashir, in his final game on loan.
A cameo of 31 off 27 balls from Roland-Jones allowed him to declare 20 minutes before lunch.
Middlesex's bowlers were held up by Zain Ul Hassan and Eddie Byrom for much of the afternoon as they made respectable progress in a stand of 93.
But Pakistan spinner Zafar Gohar made the breakthrough as Ul Hassan, on 44, top-edged a sweep to short fine leg and seamer Ryan Higgins found the edge of Byrom's bat for 43 in the next over.
With impressive South African quickie Dane Paterson winning an lbw verdict against Sam Northeast under the floodlights just after tea, Middlesex were completely on top.
Carlson and Colin Ingram (19) defended grimly before Ingram played down the wrong line to Roland-Jones, who then forced Kellaway to play on first ball to mar the youngster's fine match up until then.
Carlson, mostly moderating his natural attacking instincts, reached his half-century off 84 balls in murky light as the home side turned to double spin before being forced off by bad light four overs early.
A home win looks to be a matter of time, unless bad weather intervenes on the final day.
Middlesex's Ben Geddes said:
"We went out with the plan to get ourselves back in and see where we were after ten overs, but I felt like I was seeing it well and was able to put pressure back on the bowlers.
"We ended up going a bit quicker than planned but that gave us more time with the ball after the early declaration.
"It would have been nice to have converted a few scores into a hundred (this season since moving from Surrey), but my scores have put the team into the best position they can be.
"The weather's out of control but hopefully we can take five chances as quickly as possible, after a special couple of balls from Toby got the guys going again."
Glamorgan's Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:
"Another tough day, Middlesex are putting us under pressure with bat and ball so it's going to be a tough old scrap but hopefully we can make them work hard so we can try to salvage a draw.
"I've been trying to work on having more of a price on my wicket, and knowing as a senior player now there's a big job for me to do, especially at number four.
"We're not quite there (as a batting unit), we're doing good things in patches but not for long enough. So we'll need to look at how to put together a full two days of cricket, to get ourselves on the front foot and push for wins as Middlesex are now."