'Perfectionist' Harris secures Middlesex win

Middlesex 196 (Compton 71, Onions 7-68) and 280 (Dexter 112, Malan 63, Rushworth 5-49) beat Durham 169 (Muchall 64) and 236 (Borthwick 95, Harris 5-71) by 71 runs
Scorecard

Middlesex consolidated second place in LV= County Championship Division One after surviving a nervy start at Chester-le-Street to beat Durham by 71 runs.

James Harris took four of the remaining five wickets to finish with 5 for 71, his third five-wicket haul of the season, which included 9 for 34 in the home win against Durham.

Middlesex skipper James Franklin declined to get carried away after his side gained eight points on leaders Yorkshire, who are 30 ahead with a game in hand. The teams still have to meet at Lord's.

"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "But there are still a lot of points to play for and if can keep chipping away we might be able to put a bit of pressure on them.

"This was a very satisfying win. Scott Borthwick batted beautifully and they would have fancied themselves with five wickets left and 115 needed. But we stuck at it and we knew if we could get one wicket more would follow.

"James Harris is a perfectionist and he will not be satisfied, but he's a wicket-taker and I can't remember a spell this season when he hasn't taken one."

In the first 55 minutes, Scott Borthwick and Ryan Pringle added 56 runs and at 190 for 5, with 118 needed, Durham were in the ascendancy. But 50 minutes later it was all over.

A Harris yorker took out Pringle's off stump after the allrounder had hit three fours in a Tim Murtagh over in reaching 36.

While Toby Roland-Jones kept it tight, there were also 13 runs off Harris' first over before he struck with the first ball of his second.

Borthwick, on 68 overnight, reached 1,000 Championship runs after moving to 83 but he fell for 95 when he drove at a gentle swinger from Neil Dexter and edged to John Simpson. The wicketkeeper then held a leg-side catch when John Hastings gloved a short ball from Harris to depart for 8.

Chris Rushworth fended Harris to gully, leaving debut boy James Weighell to play a few shots after taking 17 balls to get off the mark. He reached 24 before skying Harris to Paul Stirling at deep backward square to end Durham's innings on 236.

Durham coach Jon Lewis said: "Our two batsmen played well for the first hour against some good bowling. But it was a long way to go and although they put on a good partnership we needed a great one.

"We probably can't argue with our position in the table because we've lost twice to each of the three teams above us."

Although their over-rate read minus two on the scoreboard, the adjustments spared Middlesex from a points deduction.