Batty inspires Worcestershire romp

Five wickets in just 34 balls from Gareth Batty fired Worcestershire to a 10-wicket win over promotion rivals Middlesex in their LV County Championship Division Two match at Lord’s.

The inspired spell of bowling from the former England spinner, who took 5-33, saw him grab the wickets of Ben Scott, Shaun Udal and Dawid Malan without conceding a run as Middlesex were bowled out for 164, leaving the visitors to score 104 for victory.

Thanks to Stephen Moore’s 55 in 56 balls, they then polished off the runs in just 17 overs as Daryl Mitchell chipped in with 48.

The 21 points they gained moved them to the top of the table above Warwickshire, who have a game in hand.

It was another poor display from Middlesex, who suffered their second successive championship defeat to dent their hopes of gaining promotion.

Resuming the day on 350 for nine, Worcestershire extended their first-innings lead to 61 before Imran Arif was dismissed for five, trapped leg before on the back foot to Murali Kartik.

Gareth Batty picked up five wickets for Worcestershire

The experiment of using Ed Joyce as opener failed dismally as the skipper was dismissed for a third-ball duck, caught behind off Kabir Ali, who bowled beautifully during the first session.

He then claimed the wicket of Nick Compton for one in the fifth over to leave Middlesex struggling on four for two.

That soon became 21 for three when Eoin Morgan was unfortunately run out from Ali’s deflection following a straight drive by Owais Shah.

Gareth Andrew’s first over saw him take the wicket of Shah, who edged a drive to Graeme Hick at second slip.

Both Malan and Scott delayed the inevitable with a superb stand of 113 in 25 overs before the introduction of Batty saw him take the wicket of the latter for 58, beaten by the turn and caught at slip.

He followed that up in his next over with the wicket of Udal, who after his first-innings 91 was dismissed for a duck, caught off a top-edged sweep.

Batty then took a smart return catch as Malan fell for 52 to leave Middlesex 139 for seven.

The spinner then accounted for Kartik and Evans in quick succession, the pair caught at backward point for seven and pouched behind for nought respectively.

A brief stand of 13 between Steven Finn and Tim Murtagh was finally broken when Andrew bowled Finn for five in the over before tea, with Murtagh unbeaten on 13.