Toby Roland-Jones led Middlesex’s fightback with his best County Championship bowling figures of the season after promotion rivals Derbyshire had threatened to dominate with the bat on the opening day at Lord’s.
Caleb Jewell and Harry Came both hit half-centuries as they forged a century partnership to give the visitors a strong platform at 124-1 before Roland-Jones struck back with four wickets in the space of 27 balls.
The former Middlesex captain eventually finished with 6-77, while Ryan Higgins and Zafar Gohar shared the other four wickets evenly as Derbyshire, who began the day with a 24-point gap to second-placed Glamorgan, were bowled out for 283.
In reply, Middlesex openers Sam Robson and Josh de Caires trimmed that deficit slightly prior to stumps, reaching 12 without loss.
The Seaxes’ pace attack included two red-ball debutants in the shape of Olly Stone, signed on a short-term loan from Nottinghamshire, and 18-year-old Sebastian Morgan – yet there were slim pickings for either when the visitors won the toss and chose to bat on a benign surface.
Higgins achieved the solitary breakthrough of the morning session, pinning Luis Reece in front of his stumps with a ball that nipped back down the slope, but Jewell and Came batted through to lunch largely untroubled.
The Australian was quick to punish anything loose outside off stump, dispatching an early short ball from Roland-Jones to the cover fence before handing the same treatment to a Stone half-volley.
Came settled in following an uncertain start, when Stone beat his outside edge a couple of times and began to take advantage of the short boundary on one side, keeping pace with his partner.
It was Jewell who reached his half-century first, nudging a single from the opening ball of the afternoon session, while Came’s arrival at that landmark was more eye-catching as he pulled Stone into the Mound Stand for six.
The pair extended their partnership to 105 before it was eventually broken by Higgins, returning for a second stint from the Nursery End and knocking back the left-hander’s off stump for 56.
Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen, marking his 500th overall appearance in the county’s colours, was soon up and running with two quick fours off Higgins, but his side’s momentum was stemmed by a destructive spell from Roland-Jones.
Came was first to go, caught behind off an inside edge for 64 and Brooke Guest was castled having misjudged the line before Roland-Jones got another delivery to rear back and trap former Middlesex man Martin Andersson leg before.
Roland-Jones claimed the prize wicket of Madsen in identical fashion to leave Derbyshire apparently wilting at 177-6, only for Anuj Dal and Zak Chappell to mount a recovery with their stand of 48.
Dal eventually departed on the stroke of tea, succumbing to a thin edge off Gohar and the spinner also picked up the wicket of Chappell, but Ben Aitchison’s watchful 36 secured his side a batting bonus point.
However, Roland-Jones wrapped up the innings by having both Aitchison and Jack Morley caught behind with the new ball and Middlesex successfully negotiated the day’s remaining seven overs without alarm.
Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay
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