Middlesex 196(Compton 71, Onions 7-68) and 280(Dexter 112, Rushworth 5-49) beat Durham 169(Muchall 64) and 236(Borthwick 95, Harris 5-71) by 71 runs.
Points: Durham 3 Middlesex 19.
For full scorecard, click here
Durham’s hopes of snatching a second place finish in the LV County Championship took a bruising setback after losing by 71 runs to Middlesex, despite a terrific knock of 95 by Scott Borthwick.
With a trio of matches still left this season there is time for Jon Lewis’s side to take second spot, but this defeat means Durham will almost certainly have to win all three of their remaining games in the final weeks of the season.
Lewis reflected on the loss, secured when debut maker James Weighell holed out in the deep 20 minutes before lunch, saying the target of over 300 was just too much.
Lewis told www.durhamccc.co.uk “I think if we had been chasing 220 or 230 it would have been a very interesting contest, but anything over 300 was always going to be a very tough ask.
“Borthwick batted outstandingly well for his 95 and we ran out just a bit short. We bowled well throughout the match, in a game where the bowlers have by and large been on top. We just gave ourselves a little too much to do and in the end we couldn’t quite get there.”
Lewis praised Weighell on his debut as the 21-year-old showed plenty of promise with both bat and ball.
“James was unfortunate not to take a wicket,” said Lewis. “He bowled pretty well and he got a couple of 20s with the bat. All in all he has now seen at close hand what it takes at this level. It is all part of his learning process.”
Durham coasted along in the morning and for the first hour Borthwick and Ryan Pringle looked in relatively little discomfort.
Pringle played a number of enterprising strokes, while Borthwick severely punished anything down the leg side.
But James Harris’ return to the attack ended Durham’s rising hopes of victory as the Middlesex seamer produced a terrific yorker to dismiss Pringle, with the pair having added 77 runs for the sixth wicket, their best of the match.
At 190-6 the contest was still very much alive, as long as Borthwick stayed at the crease, but just five runs shy of his century and having passed 1,000 LV County Championship runs for the season, the Durham batsmen nibbled at a teasing Neil Dexter delivery and was merrily snapped up by wicket keeper John Simpson.
It was the straw which broke the proverbial camel’s back as the Durham innings quickly folded with John Hastings nudging a rising Harris ball down the leg side to gloveman Simpson. Chris Rushworth could only fend at Harris in the Middlesex bowler’s next over and Sam Robson took a smart catch in the gully.
James Weighell hit a couple of meaty blows and Graham Onions lofted Toby Roland-Jones over the bowler’s head to long-on, but the end came at 12.40pm as Weighell’s attempted pull off Harris was taken in the deep by Paul Stirling.
Harris’ 5-71 was his third five-wicket haul in the championship this season and the Middlesex bowler now has 70 first class wickets to his name in the current campaign.
Middlesex skipper James Franklin said: “Borthwick batted beautifully and while he was still there we know it was a total which was gettable. We just stuck at it. We thought once one wicket goes another could follow quickly and that’s what happened.
“This was a very challenging contest and it was close all the way through. Harris bowled brilliantly for us to take eight wickets in the match the partnership between Dawid Malan and Dexter proved to be the difference.”