County Championship 2022 | Nottinghamshire in complete command as Middlesex stutter under a mammoth target

Nottinghamshire persisted with their early domination over Middlesex for the third straight day of the county championship match. However, the latter is currently in a hassle with three wickets down and a mammoth target of 447 yet to be chased. 

Proceeding on day 3 with the lead of 226 runs, Nott's batters set a massive target of 516 runs, thanks to the miraculous century knock of their captain Steven Mullaney. 

Luke Fletcher started the day from where he finished yesterday and went on to smack another marvellous half-century at a startling strike rate of 72 at the same Lord's pitch where Middlesex batters couldn't cross the 50-run mark in their first inning. 

Haseeb Hameed, who set the foundation for Nottinghamshire in the 1st inning by scoring a brilliant hundred, departed with the score of just 5 off 20 balls in the 2nd inning. Hameed edged a beauty by Ronald Jones, who was swinging away from him and got caught at the second slip by Robson.  

Fletcher then joined hands with Ben Slater as the duo shared the partnership of 48 runs before the night watchman tried to flick the delivery off Anderson for a boundary and was trapped LBW for 71-ball 51, leaving the team reeling at 71-2. 

Ben Duckett (23 off 18) and Slater (25 off 72) made quick contributions with the bat before the former mistimed the shot and went back to the pavilion after playing a brief cameo. Slater followed him just after the gap of 3 overs as he smashed the full toss delivery of Hollman hard into his hand. 

In the end, Joe Clarke (66 off 92) and Lyndon James (16 off 30) did their bit for the team before captain Steven Mullaney (100 off 58) took over the charge and assaulted the Middlesex bowlers, taking them to the cleaners to score a sensational ton off just 55 balls, laced with six fours and eight sixes. 

Just after their captain reached the three-run mark, Nottinghamshire declared the inning, giving Peter Handscomb and co the mammoth target of 516 runs to chase. 

Middlesex, in reply, once again got off to a poor start with Mark Stoneman and Josh De Caires departing for a duck. Their captain Handscomb also went out cheaply, leaving the team languishing at 32-3. Robson and Holden are the last hope for them as their run chase is already out of their hands and all they can do is try hard to draw this. 

Brief Scores: 

Nottinghamshire 1st Innings: 415/10 

Hameed 112(217), Mullaney 92(153)

Roland Jones 4-64, Andersson 3-87

Middlesex 1st Innings: 196/10 

Stoneman 31(118), Handscomb 48(89)

J Pattinson 4-49, Stuart Broad 3-39

Nottinghamshire 2nd Innings: 295/5 (Declared) 

L Fletcher 51(71), Mullaney 100(58)

Middlesex 2nd Innings: 69-3

Robson 51*(109)

Fletcher 2-7

Middlesex needs 447 runs to win.