Middlesex win brings promotion closer

Middlesex 496 for 2 dec and 36 for 0 beat Leicestershire 193 and 338 by six wickets
Scorecard

Middlesex strengthened their bid for promotion from Division Two in the County Championship by completing a ten-wicket victory over against Leicestershire 40 minutes before lunch on the final day at Lord's.

Middlesex now take over at the top of Division Two, where they will remain after the current round of matches have been completed unless Northamptonshire recover to beat Surrey. Leicestershire, meanwhile, stay rooted to the bottom and now look odds-on to claim the wooden spoon.

Toby Roland-Jones picked up two of Leicestershire's three remaining wickets to finish with figures of 4 for 64, leaving Chris Rogers and Andrew Strauss to knock off the 36 runs required for victory in less than six overs. With Leicestershire resuming on 308 for 7, Rob Taylor and Jigar Naik added a further seven, taking their eighth wicket partnership to 48, before Naik, playing a loose drive, was caught at gully off Tim Murtagh.

Having earlier pulled Corey Collymore for four, Taylor picked Murtagh up over mid-wicket for six. But in the ninth over of the day Nathan Buck, driving, was caught behind off the toe-end of his bat. Roland-Jones also accounted for Taylor, who was bowled off a thick inside edge within touching distance of his second championship half-century in as many matches. Taylor's entertaining innings of 49 from 75 balls had included six fours and two sixes.

Middlesex's seventh win of the season saw them claim the maximum 24 points, while, for the first time this season, Leicestershire went away from the contest with no points.