Sixteen wickets fall on opening day as Middlesex hold upper hand at Glamorgan

Middlesex finished the day on 171 for six, 49 runs in front of Glamorgan. While the lead is not yet significant, given the speed with which wickets have fallen in this game Middlesex were very well placed to push for their first win of the season.

Middlesex could have had their first wicket from the third ball of the match, David Lloyd getting a big edge off Afridi that was put down at third slip.

However, the visitors did not have to wait long for their first breakthrough, with Andrew Salter clipping a ball from Roland-Jones to mid-wicket for a nine-ball duck. Salter has now made 43 runs in five innings as Glamorgan’s makeshift opener.

The real prize came in the ninth over of Glamorgan’s innings when Afridi dismissed the world’s best Test batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, for just eight runs. The Australian attempted to leave a ball that got big on him and he edged it onto his stumps.

When Sam Northeast was out the very next ball caught at second slip Glamorgan were 21 for three and in real trouble.

That became 24 for four in the following over when Kiran Carlson played a big drive at a ball from Roland-Jones that he inside-edged to the wicketkeeper.

The fifth wicket fell with the score on 30 when Chris Cooke called for a single that was not there and Sam Robson threw down the stumps with Lloyd well short of his ground.

Collapse

The collapse continued into the second hour of the day with Callum Taylor and Michael Neser both departing in quick succession to leave Glamorgan 52 for seven.

A recovery of sorts followed as useful contributions from Cooke and James Harris took Glamorgan past the hundred mark.

Middlesex started brightly in their first innings with Sam Robson making a sprightly 21 from 29 balls before he was trapped lbw by the impressive Harris who was playing his first match against his old county since leaving them over the winter.

Mark Stoneman looked more comfortable than any other batter on this surface on his way to a well-made 52 before he edged behind off the bowling of Timm van der Gugten.

While Stoneman stood firm wickets tumbled at the other end as Harris held sway, finishing the day with figures of three for 48.

Glamorgan came right back into the match when five wickets fell for 42 runs with Middlesex going from 68 for one to 110 for six but the first partnership of over fifty for the match between John Simpson and Roland-Jones put their team in a strong position at the close.