Ben Geddes hundred, Naavya Sharma burst plunge Leicestershire into trouble

Ben Geddes punished Leicestershire with his first century for Middlesex to put the Division Two leaders under pressure before teenage seamer Naavya Sharma left them facing a battle to avoid a first defeat of the season on day two of the Rothesay County Championship match at the Uptonsteel County Ground, where they closed 108 for 8 in reply to Middlesex's 534.

Badly dropped on 11 on the first evening, 23-year-old former Surrey man Geddes was eventually out for a career-best 137 as the visitors amassed their challenging total after being asked to bat first.

Then England Under-19 right-arm quick Sharma - playing in only his third first-class match at 19 years old - plunged them into disarray with four wickets in 11 balls as the promotion favourites found themselves in unfamiliar territory, despite a half-century from opener Rishi Patel.

Ben Green, the on-loan Somerset allrounder who had been guilty of the error from which Geddes profited so handsomely, had been the best of a depleted home attack with 3 for 54 from 28 overs, seamer Roman Walker finishing with a career-best 3 for 78.

Geddes supplemented Sam Robson's 133 on day one as next-to-bottom Middlesex posted their biggest total of the summer before Sharma, who has 4 for 24 from eight overs, showed the way to bowl with the much-criticised Kookaburra ball, finding movement that had eluded others, Tom Helm chipping in with two of his own as Leicestershire plunged from 39 for 1 to 99 for 8.

Earlier, Middlesex added a further 102 before lunch to their 336 for 5 overnight for the loss only of nightwatchman Sharma. The 19-year-old, who signed his first professional contract last November, kept out 46 deliveries, hammering left-arm spinner Liam Trevaskis down the ground for six but lobbing the next ball straight to mid-off.

Leicestershire could not make more inroads until the eighth over after lunch when Joe Cracknell nicked Green to first slip, the seventh-wicket pair having added 92.

Moments earlier, Geddes, who moved from the Kia Oval to Lord's over the winter, had pulled Sam Wood for his ninth four to complete his hundred from 167 balls.

Zafar Gohar was caught off bat and pad, before Geddes, having overtaken his previous best (124 for Surrey vs Kent in 2022), was bowled by Patel, whose offspin had not been seen in competitive professional cricket before last week but now has two wickets to his name.

Noah Cornwell, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer, was leg before without scoring but Middlesex would have been delighted with their work, even though it was worth only three bonus points.

They were happier still to have Leicestershire 39 for 2 inside nine overs in reply. Sol Budinger perished for 10 from eight balls, leg before to Cornwell past the inside edge. Trevaskis, promoted to No. 3 in the absence of the injured Rehan Ahmed, fell for 3, edging Ryan Higgins to first slip, asking for confirmation that the catch had carried before he left the field.

Patel and Lewis Hill battled to rebuild but after the third-wicket pair had added a painstaking 43 in 16 overs, the Middlesex tactic of bowling short to Hill paid off as the former Leicestershire captain was caught behind off the glove, pulling.

What looked initially like a well-worked breakthrough on a pitch that had hardly been helpful until then turned out to be the start of a devastating spell by Sharma that yielded four wickets in 11 balls without a run conceded.

The right-arm quick followed the dismissal of Hill by nipping one away to have Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb nicking behind, before taking two in three balls as Green fended to short leg and Ben Cox was beaten past the inside edge to be leg before, leaving Leicestershire in deep trouble at 88 for 6.

That became 99 for 8 as Tom Helm bowled Patel and had Logan van Beek caught behind from consecutive deliveries before Chris Wright survived the hat-trick ball.