Seventh heaven for Shakib

Watch free daily video highlights from every LV= County Championship match here on ecb.co.uk this summer

Shakib Al Hasan's seven wickets at Lord's helped demolish Middlesex for 66 and keep Worcestershire in contention for promotion

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan took a career-best 7-32 to send woeful Middlesex spinning to a remarkable 111-run defeat at Lord’s and keep Worcestershire in the LV= County Championship promotion race.

Middlesex, set 178 to win when Worcestershire were bowled out after an hour’s play on the final morning for 256 in their second innings, crumbled to 66 all out in 31.1 overs.

Shakib took three wickets in an over and the turn he got from the wearing surface was simply too much for the Middlesex batsmen.

Only Owais Shah, with 25 in his final innings for the county, seemed to have any idea of how to flourish against Shakib’s left-arm spin - until, that is, he holed out to mid-on giving Shakib the charge.

Gareth Berg was caught at slip two balls later, pushing forward, and the last ball of Shakib’s sixth over saw Tim Murtagh slice a wildly optimistic drive to point.

That burst of three wickets in six balls left Middlesex 54 for seven, but they had long since been in deep trouble.

Alan Richardson, playing against the county he left at the end of last season, struck twice with the new ball before Shakib removed Dawid Malan just before lunch and Dan Housego after the interval.

Richardson trapped John Simpson in front first ball during his opening over, before angling one across Scott Newman to have the left-hander caught low down at second slip by Daryl Mitchell in his fifth.

Malan, having scored the single which took him to 1,000 first-class runs for the season, fell for two when he moved across his crease and had his leg stump clipped as he attempted a flick off his pads.

Housego was lbw as he tried to defend Shakib on the back foot, and Shah’s rush of blood, which produced a simple catch for Jack Shantry, merely hastened the end as the Middlesex lower order surrendered with barely a whimper.

Toby Roland-Jones was also leg before to Shakib, going back to a well-flighted ball when he should have been forward, and Neil Dexter - the home side’s last hope - was brilliantly caught for 21 by Vikram Solanki at backward short-leg off Moeen Ali.

Fittingly, Shakib picked up the final wicket when Steven Finn attempted a mow to leg but succeeded only in skying a catch to wicketkeeper Ben Cox.

The day had begun with Worcestershire just 116 ahead on 195 for seven in their second innings, and when Moeen fell for 81 - having added just 10 to his overnight score - and Shantry quickly followed for a duck, caught behind off Pedro Collins, it seemed as if the match was going Middlesex’s way.

But Gareth Andrew converted his overnight 34 into 73 with some cleanly-struck blows and Richardson hung around to help him add an important 34 for the last wicket.

Yet their victory target still seemed well within Middlesex’s reach - until Shakib began to weave his web of destruction.

Worcestershire are at home to Sussex in next week’s final round of championship matches, and could yet pip Glamorgan for the second promotion place.