Glamorgan 151 for 1 v Middlesex 150
Scorecard

	James Harris rattled through Middlesex's batsmen to claim 5 for 41 © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Players/Officials: James Harris Matches: Middlesex v Glamorgan at Lord's Series/Tournaments: County Championship Division Two | England Domestic Season Teams: England | Glamorgan | Middlesex

Middlesex are yet to lose a Championship game this year, while Glamorgan's start to the season has been rather more mottled, but on the first day of their meeting at Lord's it was the Welsh county that played by far the better cricket.

James Harris, who already has 23 first-class wickets at an eye-catching average this summer, led the way with 5 for 41 as Middlesex folded for 150 after Neil Dexter had won the toss and opted to bat. Gareth Rees and William Bragg then both reached unbeaten half-centuries, putting on 102 for the second wicket to give Glamorgan full control as they passed Middlesex's effort in the final over of the day with nine wickets in hand.

Overlooked by the England Lions, Harris will nevertheless surely have made an impression on England Test captain Andrew Strauss, whom he trapped in front of his stumps in the seventh over of the morning to start Middlesex's slide. Chris Rogers, whose first season of Championship cricket with Middlesex has started reasonably well with half-centuries against Gloucestershire and his former team-mates Derbyshire, then departed to the ball of the day - a brutal lifter that took off up the hill, kissed the shoulder of the bat, and landed safely in Mark Wallace's gloves.

In an opening spell from the Nursery End that also included the scalp of a flat-footed Scott Newman, Harris lopped the top off Middlesex's batting line-up. After seven overs of bristling, energetic seam bowling, his wickets coming in the space of 10 electric deliveries, he had figures of 3 for 18. His efforts were enthusiastically cheered by a mob of several hundred schoolchildren, encamped in the Mound Stand, who shrieked their delight at every run and wicket, happily out of lessons and in the sunshine.

Amid the constant din from the animated youngsters and the changeable weather Middlesex flopped spinelessly to 33 for 4, Graham Wagg quickly getting the better of Dawid Malan, before, in a partnership that had the potential to add greatly to the day's narrative, Dexter and Jamie Dalrymple stopped the rot with some tenacious batting.

Dexter may well have been motivated by the wish to compensate for his decision to bat first under grey skies, but it is Dalrymple who surely had the greater incentive to dig in and prove a point against the team from which he was so unceremoniously dumped during a tumultuous offseason for Glamorgan. His knock thus leant something of an undercurrent to proceedings, and after seeing the shine off the ball he and his captain took Middlesex to the relative safety of 74 for 4 at lunch.

The interval belonged entirely to the children, who burst forth from the stands in a riotous explosion of reds, greens, yellows and blues to fill the outfield. Lost in the sea of colour and noise were the neon yellow vests of their teachers and minders, who were powerless to keep order amid the joyous mayhem. Not that there was anything mischievous in the youngsters' behaviour. They did as they were told by the stewards, who gently ushered them away from the square whenever their cartwheeling, tumbling games strayed too close, and at the end of the break the various groups trooped off the ground with charming politeness, forming orderly lines and trundling slowly back to their places in the stands.

Dexter's attempt to break free in the second session resulted only in a regulation nick to slip and when Dalrymple, who had showed his strength on the leg side off the fast bowlers and quick feet against the spinners in moving into the 40s, thrust his hands out at a slanting delivery from Graham Wagg to be caught at third slip Middlesex were in serious strife at 123 for 6.

Harris grabbed his fifth when a leg before appeal against John Simpson was upheld - a result perhaps a touch unfortunate for the batsman - and Middlesex's end was swift in coming thereafter. By three o'clock the sun had burnt off most of the cloud and in the bright afternoon the strange alchemy of the morning session dissipated with the departure of the schoolchildren.

The breeze dropped and as the sun baked some hardness into the pitch Glamorgan's batsmen showed the value of patience and application against the new ball. Tim Murtagh's opening spell was at times wildly erratic, while Corey Collymore was steady but unexceptional and it was left to Toby Roland-Jones to make the breakthrough. Alviro Petersen, who had looked classy on the drive but anonymous off the back foot, found himself in an awkward position as he went to pull, the top edge landing safely in Malan's hands as the opening stand was broken one short of fifty.

But that was Middlesex's last joy of the day, as both Rees and Bragg proved far more judicious and watchful outside off stump than the left-handers in Middlesex's top order had been, leaving a great many deliveries that they didn't need to play at and waiting for the bad ball to put away. Bragg was particularly strong through cover point off the back foot, and soon caught up - and passed - Rees as they set about putting together the highest stand of the day.

What chances there were went Glamorgan's way - Rees, on 19 at the time, was missed by Dalrymple in the slips off Collymore - and in an extended evening session they assumed a grip on this game that will be supremely difficult for Middlesex to shake off. Much like the schoolchildren, who enjoyed every moment of a day out of the classroom, at the end of the day Harris and Glamorgan must have thought: Why can't every day be like this?