Duo engineer Middlesex triumph
Steven Finn was one of three bowlers to capture two wickets against Scotland
Billy Godleman’s competition-best 82 coupled with 74 from Australia Test opener Phil Hughes set Middlesex on their way to a comfortable 162-run win over Scotland in their Friends Provident Trophy fixture at Lord’s.
The left-handed openers enjoyed a 147-run opening stand in glorious conditions at St John’s Wood that helped ease Middlesex to a 50-over total of 302 for seven after the hosts elected to bat first.
Hughes, fresh from scoring 183 on this same pitch against Glamorgan in this week’s LV= County Championship match, hardly played a false shot in clattering 11 fours and a six that sailed over the Old Father Time weathervane next to the Mound Stand and out of the ground.
The replacement ball got similar treatment and Godleman joined in by also flicking a six into the Tavern Stand.
Both men looked set to hundreds as the Saltires’ attack struggled to stem the run rate, but the introduction of spin at both ends finally gave Scotland their first breakthrough.
Hughes’s fun ended after 78 balls when he played inside the line and lost off stump to left-arm spinner Glenn Rogers.
Having survived a run out scare Godleman also perished when he chopped down too late on a full-length ball from Scotland captain Ryan Watson.
The Middlesex middle order suffered a wobble when Watson dismissed Neil Dexter cheaply and then Dewald Nel picked up 3-62 in the late flurry but some lusty hitting from home skipper Shaun Udal (23) and Gareth Berg (33) gave the Scots a mountain to climb if they were to win this first ever meeting between the sides.
They lost Watson, caught at cover point, to the eighth ball of their reply and never really looked capable of pulling off an upset after the setback.
Their only resistance came in a second-wicket stand worth 58 between Gavin Hamilton (30) and Kyle Coetzer, but once Hamilton miscued a catch to mid-on with the score on 62, wickets tumbled at regular intervals thereafter.
Steve Finn, Gareth Berg and Udal bagged two wickets apiece as Middlesex sealed their emphatic win with 77 balls to spare.
