Woakes inspires Warwickshire

Chris Woakes career-best figures helped Warwickshire beat Middlesex

Chris Woakes took a career-best five for 37 as Middlesex suffered a crushing innings defeat at the hands of promotion rivals Warwickshire in the LV County Championship match at Uxbridge.

Warwickshire’s win, by an innings and 56 runs, earns them 21 points and keeps them at the top of the Division Two table after they bowled out Middlesex in their second innings for 167.

Resuming the day on 20 without loss, Middlesex were still 203 runs behind Warwickshire’s first innings score of 393 and were soon in trouble when in the third over of the day, they lost opener Nick Compton with 31 runs on the board.

Compton had made just 14 when he only played half forward to a full length delivery from Chris Martin and edged to Tony Frost behind the stumps.

With the first ball of the next over Middlesex suffered another blow when fellow opener Dawid Malan departed for 16. The in-form Malan was deceived by the low bounce from Woakes and trapped leg before wicket.

Owais Shah immediately made his intentions clear with a four and a six off Martin, but then Middlesex lost two more wickets with the score on 57.

First Martin snapped up the wicket of Ed Joyce for 12 as the skipper drove at an out-swinger and edged to Darren Maddy who took a breathtaking catch low to his right at second slip.

In the next over Shah, on 13, again was surprised by some low bounce from Woakes and was given out leg before to leave Middlesex reeling on 57 for four after just an hour’s play.

Eoin Morgan and Ben Scott briefly managed to stem the flow of wickets. They shared a stand of 18 before Scott (eight) became the fifth wicket to fall when he edged a yorker from Maddy to third slip.

Just 11 runs were added before Morgan fell in the 34th over for 13. The left-hander played all around a straight one from Maddy and was trapped in front of his stumps.

In the fourth over after lunch Tim Murtagh (21) mistimed a drive and holed out to mid-on after he and Murali Kartik had shared a seventh-wicket stand of 46.

Kartik went on to score 44 from 53 balls before he drove to backward point, where Jim Troughton picked up a spectacular catch off a Woakes slower ball.

Woakes then snapped up his fifth wicket off the innings when he clean bowled Danny Evans to leave Middlesex on 166 for nine.

The match was completed soon after when Steven Finn was taken in the slips by Ant Botha.